Skip to main content

Symptoms of Diabetic Neuropathy

Diabetic neuropathy has various forms...there are four classes, or subtypes.




The first subtype is Autonomic neuropathy.  This can affect the heart, blood vessels, GI tract, urinary tract, sex organs, sweat glands, eyes, and lungs. Autonomic neuropathy causes changes in digestion, bowel and bladder function, sexual response, and perspiration. Also affected are the nerves of the heart, and control blood pressure, as well as nerves in the lungs and eyes. Autonomic neuropathy can also trigger  hypoglycemia unawareness, a condition in which people no longer experience the warning symptoms of low blood glucose levels.

The second subtype  is known as Focal neuropathy.  Affected body parts include eyes, facial muscles, ears, pelvis/low back, chest, abdomen, thighs, legs and feet. Patients with this subtype experience sudden muscle weakness or pain. Literally any body part can be affected.

The third subtype  is known as Proximal neuropathy.  This problem causes pain in the hips, buttocks, thighs, or legs.

The fourth and final subtype is known as Peripheral neuropathy.  This is the most common subtype, and a common cause of chronic pain in the diabetic population.  Peripheral neuropathy expresses itself as numbness, tingling, or pain in the arms, fingers, toes, legs, and/or feet.  This is due to nerve damage.  These patients experience symptoms such as

  • numbness or insensitivity to pain or temperature
  • a tingling, burning, or prickling sensation
  • sharp pains or cramps
  • extreme sensitivity to touch, even light touch
  • loss of balance and coordination.
Sadly, over time these patients can loose their reflexes, their gait can be affected in such a way that foot deformities can occur. Nerve damage can prevent the affected from awareness to heat or cold, leading to tissue damage from burns or frostbite.   Serious health issues like broken bones or infection can be present unbeknownst to the patient due to loss of sensation. 
 Source: NIH 

Tomorrow: diagnosis and treatment of diabetic neuropathy

Labels:

Comments

  1. samantha stevensDecember 3, 2018 at 1:46 AM

    Reading articles help us boost our confidence and be positive no matter what. I found this article really very useful. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Living with Chronic pain hits the big screen!

Been to the movies lately?  Jennifer Aniston is on the big screen in a recent release titled "Cake." Her character, Claire is a victim of chronic pain...she belongs to a support group, where all of the members are coming to terms with the suicide of one of their members.  Of course, she also takes pain medication and addiction is another of her problems...and of course there's more! I guess I am writing this post just to bring readers' attention to the fact that Hollywood has become aware of the crisis that is chronic pain.  This movie is a testament to that. People that don't have to live with this kind of pain don't fully understand the whole story.  Maybe this movie will shed some light on the issues. Here is the official trailer for the movie: Sources: prweb;NorthJersey.com;YouTube
Post a Comment
Read more

Effectiveness Of Ozone Injections Is No Longer Up In The Air

Most of us know someone who has osteoarthritis, if we don't have it ourselves.  Joint replacement surgery is a pretty common remedy when the joint becomes severely damaged and the patient is in a lot of pain.  With risk of complications from such a surgery, perhaps an alternative treatment should be tried first. One such remedy is the injection of a synthetic version of collagen(e.g. Synvisc®) into the affected joint.  This procedure restores the cushioning to a joint that has degenerated over the years. It can diminish the pain substantially and help put off joint replacement surgery for months to years.  The biggest drawback is that these products are expensive.   GoodRX , a web site that can be used to estimate the cost of medications, estimates the cost of these products to be over $1,000 each. Here's another example--and I am not sure how widely accepted this protocol has become since study authors introduced it in November 2015.  Are you r...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fibromyalgia Week: Day 2

Tender points...click caption for WebMD animation Tender points are a unique feature of fibromaylgia.  There are 18 such points on the human body (9 pairs as shown).  Using special technique by hand or a dolorimeter, a fibromyalgia patient will experience pain in at least 11 points, and there will be at least one painful tender point in each quadrant of the body! One study found that up to 96% of fibromyalgia patients suffer from sleep disorders. It is believed that this is responsible for a deprivation of delta sleep, during which human growth hormone is produced. This hormone is essential to tissue repair. Other common problems in fibromyalgia are fatigue, concentration/memory ("fibro fog"), and depression.  There is no doubt in my mind that just enabling the patient to sleep well on a regular basis would be of great benefit! It is not uncommon for fibromyalgia patients to have coexisting conditions--some of these are lupus, disease, irritable bowel syndrom...
Post a Comment
Read more