Your body is exhausted after a long day, and you’re looking forward to getting some much-needed restorative sleep. Unfortunately, sleep is hard to come by, thanks to burning sensations in your feet that seem to strike only at night.
While there’s never a good time for burning feet, the nighttime arrival of this symptom is most unwelcome, and it’s leaving you sleep-deprived and frustrated.
To help you get on the road to better sleep and pain-free feet, the team at World Medical Group dba Neuropathy & Pain Centers of Texas is taking this opportunity to outline a few of the more common culprits behind burning feet.
In most cases of burning feet, the issue comes down to nerve damage, or peripheral neuropathy. And there are several conditions that can lead to this, including:
More than 40 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, and about half of them will develop peripheral neuropathy, typically in the lower legs. This is due to high levels of glucose in the blood that can damage sensitive nerve fibers, typically in areas that are farthest from your heart, such as your legs and arms.
While peripheral neuropathy can lead to a host of symptoms, burning feet at night is certainly among them.
Another cause of burning feet at night is peripheral artery disease, which affects 200 million people around the globe. With PAD, the arteries that deliver blood down into your legs become blocked. Known as atherosclerosis, these blockages can limit the flow of blood into your legs, which can lead to nerve damage.
A vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to peripheral neuropathy, especially in the hands and feet. People develop this deficiency for many reasons, such as having a digestive disease like Crohn’s, which can prevent absorption of this key vitamin. Alcoholism, certain medications, and dietary issues can also lead to vitamin B12 deficiency.
Many of our patients want to know why the symptom only crops up at night. The explanation is twofold:
Between these two mechanisms, the burning sensations mainly attack at night, though they can also develop if you’re sitting for long periods.
As you might imagine, relieving your burning feet at night comes down to addressing the underlying cause. For example, managing glucose levels is paramount for preventing peripheral neuropathy among diabetics.
If PAD is behind your burning feet, we can look at ways to improve blood flow into and out of your legs to boost nerve health.
And, if a B12 deficiency is behind the problem, the solution boils down to replacing this important vitamin, which we can do with injections, supplements, and IV infusions.
To get on the road to relief from your burning feet at night, we invite you to call or message one of our offices in Arlington or Fort Worth, Texas, today to schedule a visit.
