Many people suffer from nerve damage caused by illness or accidents, but some nerve pain and numbness can be a result of not getting the right vitamins and minerals in your diet. Your food is meant to provide fuel for your activities, but it should also supply the nutrients you need to do things like repair muscles, support eyesight and digest your food.

Vitamins and minerals are essential to nerve health. Some play a unique role in keeping your nervous system working the way it should. Here are the vitamins and minerals you need to support your nervous system.

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Multiple sclerosis (MS)—an autoimmune disease that leads to damage to the myelin coating around nerve fibers—causes symptoms such as fatigue, weakness or numbness in the limbs, tremors, unsteady gait, and tingling or pain in different areas of the body. Pain, including neck and back pain, is a common symptom that can be acute or chronic. While currently there is no cure for MS, there are treatments to help slow the progression of the disease and manage pain and other related symptoms.
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Arthritis of the spine can cause a number of symptoms including headaches, loss of flexibility, difficulty walking, loss of bowel or bladder control, and neck or back pain. Depending on whether cervical or lumbar spinal joints and nerve roots are affected, symptoms may include weakness and pain that radiates down one or both arms or legs.

When it comes to managing back pain associated with spinal arthritis, your doctor may recommend that you not rely on traditional medical treatment alone to control your pain symptoms. In working with a pain management physician and the treatment options he or she offers, there are steps you can also take on your own to help reduce the pain and improve your overall quality of life. (more…)

When you think about jobs that cause back pain, you might first think of jobs that involve physical labor. You might assume construction workers, warehouse workers, and farm workers are the most likely to experience back pain at work.

While jobs that involve physical labor certainly carry back pain risk, many other jobs do as well. If you have any of the following jobs, you’ll need to take steps to prevent and treat back pain.
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When you start to develop chronic pain in your back, your first reaction is probably to start resting more. You’ll be more reluctant to stay active and spend more time lying on the sofa or in bed. However, back pain is a complicated beast, and some research shows that lying down all the time will not make things better.

Here’s what you need to know about how excessive rest affects back pain and what you can do instead. (more…)

After you’ve been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, it will take you some time to really understand how the condition affects you on a daily basis. Some days, you might be almost pain free. But on other days, it may be tough to even wear clothing because you are in so much pain.

Flare-ups are unfortunately common with fibromyalgia, but they can sometimes be managed with a combination of medication and the avoidance of triggers. What triggers a flare-up depends on the person and the severity of the disease, but understanding common triggers and why they affect your body in such a negative way can help you take steps to manage your fibromyalgia. (more…)

If you suffer from persistent pain from an illness like fibromyalgia or from an injury to your neck or spine, your first line of defense is following the pain regimen your doctor prescribes, including rehabilitation activities. However, coping with daily pain is a complex challenge, and lifestyle choices can also have a mitigating effect.

Specifically, bonding with friends and family, enjoying social experiences, and receiving service from those you care about may modulate your pain levels. While engaging in social activities might not seem like a pain-killer, you’d be surprised how much it can help. (more…)

Sciatic nerve pain can be one of the most widespread and intense forms of pain. However, because sciatica is almost always a symptom rather than a condition of its own, it can be difficult to treat this nerve pain directly.

For long-term sciatica treatment, you will likely need the help of a pain management specialist and a physical therapist. You can learn more about the common causes of sciatica and how physical therapy works as a treatment for sciatica in our previous blog, “How Can Physical Therapy Help Sciatica?”

In this blog, we list seven techniques that can help you reduce the frequency and intensity of your sciatic nerve pain between appointments with your doctor or physical therapist. (more…)

The process to develop an effective approach to pain management is often complex. Your health care providers may have to account for several symptoms that aren’t necessarily directly related to the center of your pain.

For example, in our last blog, “The Connection Between Your Digestive Health and Back Pain,” we discussed how your diet and your digestive system health problems can contribute to spinal pain, and vice versa. (more…)

Have you ever heard that the gum you accidentally swallow sits in your digestive tract for the rest of your life? What about that spicy foods wear down your stomach lining?

There are a lot of myths floating around about what’s good and bad for your digestion, and some of them have been around for decades. Below, we’ll debunk a few of those myths and tell you what can actually impact your digestive health for the better. (more…)