At night, our body temperature fluctuates and drops a little. Most people also tend to sleep in a colder room. It is thought that damaged nerves could interpret the change in temperature as pain or tingling, which may increase the feeling of neuropathy. If you suffer from neuropathy, you probably noticed that pain, tingling and other strange sensations often get much worse at night.
This can make it very difficult to sleep at night, especially if the pain continues to increase. Fortunately, you can seek neuropathy treatment to help reduce these painful sensations while working on the underlying condition that is causing neuropathy. It also helps to understand the different factors that contribute to increased neuropathic pain at night. One of the main complaints of people living with neuropathy is the increased pain in the nerves at night.
Restless and seemingly endless nights of little or no sleep not only disrupt your life but increase your overall nervous pain. According to the Center for Neuropathic Therapy at Loma Linda University, another reason you might experience pain at night is because of the change in temperature. When you have damaged nerves, the brain can interpret the change in colder temperature into a tingling, sharp or burning sensation. Cold temperatures also tend to cause the heart to beat more slowly, causing blood flow to move slower and making it difficult for the body to warm up.
But why does neuropathy get worse at night? One possible explanation is that there are fewer distractions. As a result, you may be more aware of what's around you. While treatable, diabetes-related nerve damage, or neuropathy, can cause pain and add complications to your life. You may need to monitor your diet and exercise, and it can be difficult to stand for long periods of time.
A less obvious impact is that many people find that their neuropathy worsens when they are lying down. Some even discover that they have symptoms of peripheral neuropathy in their feet only at night, if this describes you, you are not alone. A recent study confirmed that people who took medication for neuropathy reported that their pain was worse around 11 p.m. There are some medications that can worsen neuropathy or, in the case of some cancer treatments, be the cause of neuropathy in the short term.
