Nerve Pain, Numbness, and Tingling Do Not Have to Stay a Mystery
A clear evaluation and a root-cause plan for neuropathy, built around your history and your goals.
Book Your ConsultationBurning feet at night. A sock-like numbness never quite lifting. Tingling spreading from your toes into your ankles. Weakness showing up as tripping on flat ground. If you have already had an EMG come back "normal" while your feet still feel like they are on fire, you know how frustrating a clean test result feels when the symptoms are anything but clean.
At Mind Body Neurology, Dr. Alexander Y. Zubkov, MD, PhD starts with two priorities: find what is driving your neuropathy and reduce its grip on your daily life. Many neuropathy cases improve once someone addresses the underlying cause and treats pain and function as one project instead of two separate problems. Each patient receives an individualized evaluation and care plan based on their health history and goals.
Dr. Zubkov sees neuropathy patients by telehealth in Minnesota, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
On This Page
What Is Neuropathy?
Neuropathy describes damage or irritation in the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. Most people notice it first in the feet or hands, since the longest nerves in the body run there and tend to show trouble first. Numbness, burning, tingling, and weakness are the classic signs, but neuropathy touches more than sensation. Balance, sleep, digestion, sweating, and bladder function all depend on healthy peripheral nerves, so problems in those areas sometimes trace back to the same source.
Neuropathy is not one disease with one cause. It is a pattern showing up for dozens of reasons, from metabolic issues to nutrient gaps to immune activity. The right treatment depends heavily on which driver is at play in your case. At Mind Body Neurology, the focus is on building a personalized strategy addressing both symptom relief and the underlying contributors, not naming a category and moving on. Anyone managing chronic fatigue alongside nerve symptoms should also look at our fatigue evaluation and treatment page, since the two often share root causes.
Neuropathy often feels like:
- Burning or electric-shock sensations in the feet or hands
- Numbness or a "sock and glove" pattern of reduced feeling
- Tingling or pins-and-needles sensations
- Muscle weakness, foot drop, or frequent tripping
- Balance trouble, especially in the dark or on uneven ground
- Heightened sensitivity to touch or temperature
- Lightheadedness on standing, unusual sweating, or bowel and bladder changes
These signs point toward nerve involvement, not a confirmed diagnosis on their own. A focused evaluation sorts out which pattern fits your history.
An Integrative Neurology Approach to Neuropathy
Deep Intake and Neurologic Evaluation
Detailed history, neurologic exam, and review of prior records, labs, and imaging, with enough time to get the full picture.
Advanced Testing
Targeted labs for metabolic health, nutrients, thyroid, inflammation, and immune activity, plus specialized nerve testing when the picture calls for it.
Personalized Treatment Plan
Nutrition, sleep, movement, medication when appropriate, and root-cause correction built around your specific pattern.
Why Neuropathy Happens
Diabetes and prediabetes account for a large share of neuropathy cases, but they are far from the whole story. Nutrient deficiencies, alcohol exposure, certain medications, infections, immune and inflammatory conditions, toxin exposures, thyroid disease, and nerve compression all produce the same kind of nerve irritation. Some patients never get a single clean answer, and in those cases, the plan shifts toward controlling symptoms and protecting function while screening for the drivers most likely to respond to treatment.
Small Fiber Neuropathy: Why Your Tests Might Look Normal
Small fiber neuropathy causes real burning pain and sensory symptoms while standard nerve conduction studies come back clean. Those studies test the large nerve fibers, not the small ones responsible for pain and temperature sensation. Diagnosis in these cases leans on your history, a careful exam, and specialized testing such as autonomic studies or a skin biopsy to measure nerve fiber density where indicated. A normal EMG never rules out neuropathy on its own.2
How Our Care Differs from Standard Neurology
Standard neurology visits often focus on naming the type of neuropathy, ruling out emergencies, and starting a pain medication. This approach helps plenty of people, but many stay stuck because nobody addresses the deeper driver, or the visit runs too short to build a real strategy.
The process at Mind Body Neurology starts with pattern recognition, then moves into a targeted root-cause workup shaped by your history, exam, and prior testing. We look closely at metabolic factors, nutrient status, medication effects, immune and inflammatory clues, toxin exposures, sleep, stress physiology, and the lifestyle factors keeping symptoms flaring. You leave with a stepwise plan covering both symptom control and function, plus clear next tests only when a result would change a decision.
What to Expect at Your Visit
You walk through your symptom timeline and share any prior labs, imaging, or EMG results on hand. Dr. Zubkov lays out what fits your pattern, what does not, and what matters next. From there, you get a plan built around your goals, with follow-up steps making sense for your life.
A clear evaluation beats another round of guessing. These pieces come together into one plan built around your neuropathy story.
Book Your ConsultationFind the Foods Triggering Your Nerve Inflammation
Oxford MRT is a lab test measuring how your immune system reacts to a wide range of foods and food chemicals. It flags the specific items driving inflammation in your body, and this inflammation often feeds nerve irritation and pain. Instead of guessing which foods to cut, MRT gives you a precise roadmap so your nutrition plan supports nerve healing from day one.
Get the MRT Food Sensitivity TestIs This Approach Right for You?
Good fit:
- Numbness, tingling, burning, or weakness with no clear diagnosis yet
- A prior neuropathy diagnosis where treatment has stalled
- Normal EMG results despite ongoing burning pain
- Interest in root-cause testing alongside symptom management
Not ideal:
- Sudden, severe weakness or rapidly spreading numbness
- New loss of bladder or bowel control
- Symptoms following a recent stroke or spinal injury needing urgent care
- Rapidly worsening neurologic symptoms. Please seek emergency or urgent neurology care
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions? Book a consultation and get answers specific to your case.
No. Diabetes drives a large share of cases, but nutrient deficiencies, alcohol exposure, certain medications, infections, immune conditions, toxin exposures, thyroid disease, and nerve compression all cause neuropathy too. A targeted workup helps find the drivers you have a chance to reverse.
Neuropathy tends to follow a length-dependent pattern, starting in the toes and spreading upward. A pinched nerve usually causes symptoms along one specific nerve root or nerve distribution. Exam findings and testing help tell the two apart.
Standard nerve conduction studies test large nerve fibers. Small fiber neuropathy affects the fibers those tests miss, so burning pain shows up while the EMG looks clean. Autonomic testing or a skin biopsy for nerve fiber density often fills in the picture.
Medication classes such as TCAs, SNRIs, gabapentinoids, and sodium channel blockers all have evidence behind them. Which one fits you depends on your symptom pattern, sleep, mood, and tolerance for side effects, alongside the root-cause work.
Advanced lab testing and integrative care sit outside standard insurance coverage. Your consultation is a flat $99, and you will know the cost of any recommended testing before you commit to it.
Yes. Dr. Zubkov sees patients by telehealth in Minnesota, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Lab kits ship straight to your home, so testing rarely means a trip to a draw site.
References
- Mayo Clinic Staff. "Peripheral Neuropathy: Symptoms and Causes." Mayo Clinic, 2023. Link
- Devigili, G. et al. "Diagnostic criteria for small fibre neuropathy in clinical practice and research." Brain, 2019, 142(12), 3728-3736. PubMed
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. "Peripheral Neuropathy." NINDS, 2023. Link
- Price, R. et al. "Oral and Topical Treatment of Painful Diabetic Polyneuropathy: Practice Guideline Update Summary: Report of the AAN Guideline Subcommittee." Neurology, 2022, 98(1), 31-43. PubMed
Dr. Alexander Y. Zubkov, MD, PhD treats patients across Minnesota and via telehealth in select states. Minnesota communities served include Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Edina, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Plymouth, Bloomington, Maple Grove, Eagan, Woodbury, Lakeville, Burnsville, Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, Champlin, Chanhassen, Crystal, Excelsior, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Minnetrista, New Hope, Orono, Robbinsdale, Rogers, St. Louis Park, Victoria, Waconia, Shakopee, Chaska, Coon Rapids, Blaine, St. Cloud, Stillwater, Hudson, and River Falls.
Get a Clear Answer on Your Nerve Pain
You have lived with the burning, the numbness, and the guessing long enough. Book your consultation and start building a plan around the actual driver behind your neuropathy.
Prescribed only after a medical consultation. Telehealth available in Minnesota and select states.
Email: support@mindbodyneurology.com • Tel: 952-209-6209