DIABETES AND NERVES (NEUROPATHY)

Diabetic neuropathy is nerve damage that is caused by diabetes. Over time, high blood glucose levels and high levels of fats, such as triglycerides, in the blood from diabetes can damage your nerves. Symptoms depend on which type of diabetic neuropathy you have.

Peripheral Neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy is a type of nerve damage that typically affects the feet and legs and sometimes affects the hands and arms.

Autonomic Neuropathy

Autonomic neuropathy is damage to nerves that control your internal organs, leading to problems with your heart rate and blood pressure, digestive system, bladder, sex organs, sweat glands, and eyes.

Focal Neuropathies

Focal neuropathies are conditions in which you typically have damage to single nerves, most often in your hand, head, torso, or leg.

The most common types of focal neuropathy are entrapment syndromes, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

Proximal Neuropathy

Proximal neuropathy is a rare and disabling type of nerve damage in your hip, buttock, or thigh. The damage typically affects one side of your body and may rarely spread to the other side.

Symptoms of neuropathy include:

• Pain, numbness, and tingling of hands and feet
• Muscle weakness such as foot drop, double vision, trouble climbing stairs and getting out of a chair
• Stomach symptoms including bloating, nausea, vomiting of undigested food many hours after a meal and feeling full without eating much food.
• Bowel trouble such as episodes of diarrhoea especially at night
• Difficulty with bladder emptying
• Sexual dysfunction
• Dizziness and light headedness from a very fast heart rate .

What is the treatment?

Near normal blood sugar control will usually improve all forms of diabetic neuropathy. Pain medications should be used as needed.