Neuropathy
Neuropathy means a problem with a nerve or nerves, and is usually called peripheral neuropathy because it affects nerves outside the central nervous system. It can affect sensory nerves, producing numbness or tingling, or motor nerves causing difficulty with movement. It may be a problem affecting just one nerve, where the nerve might be trapped (such as the ulnar nerve at the elbow), called a mononeuropathy, or lots of nerves, which is a poly neuropathy. The nerve damage may affect the outer sheath, or myelin, or the inner part of the fibre, the axon. Since the peripheral nerves also contain the fibres of the autonomic nervous system this too can be affected, causing symptoms such as postural hypotension (lightheadedness on standing up) and diarrhoea. Since intact nerves are required to maintain the health of muscles, damage to these nerves means that over a period of time the muscles shrink.
There are many causes of Neuropathy that affect adults, from exposure to toxins to the complications of diabetes mellitus, but these do not affect children. There is, however, an inherited neuropathy, called Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease or hereditary motor sensory neuropathy. Type 1 involves loss of the myelin outer sheath of nerves affecting mainly the muscles of the lower leg, while in Type 2 it’s the middle of the nerves, the axons, which degenerate. Treatment is aimed at preserving function in the lower limb using physiotherapy and appropriate aids. Children may also be affected by Guillain-Barre syndrome, described in this section.
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