Diabetic Neuropathy 101

Diabetic neuropathy is condition related to diabetes mellitus

. This is a complication as a result of the body's inability to produce the hormone insulin totally or in the right quantities. The hormone insulin helps cells metabolize blood sugar for their normal processes. The lack of or low levels of insulin thus makes blood sugar levels high leading to complications.

This complication affects the peripheral nerves in the body, which are the pain fibers, motor neurons and the autonomic nervous system. Thus, this type of complication affects all organs and systems in the body. There are many symptoms related to this complication, which are as follows:

Numbness and tingling of the extremities, namely hands and feet;

Dysesthesia or the abnormal sensation to a body part;

Diarrhea or loose bowel movement;

Erectile Dysfunction or other sexual dysfunction;

Urinary incontinence or loss of bladder control;

Facial muscle atrophy, such as drooping eyelids, mouth or other facial muscles;

Vision changes;

Dizziness or vertigo;

Overall muscle weakness;

Difficulty in swallowing or tightness in the throat;

Speech impairment such as slurring or sudden lisping;

Fasciculation or involuntary muscle contraction;

Burning or electric pain to extremities;

The above conditions present itself because of the condition of blood vessels that provide rich nutrients to the nerve endings. Because of the restriction in blood flow due to the lack of proper nourishment as well as increased viscosity of the blood because of the high glucose content. When blood vessels get injured, they grow over the previous injury causing constriction in the flow. This constriction results in restriction of blood flow resulting in hypoxia. The lack of blood flow results in neural damage and death, thus the presented symptoms discussed above.

Most of the body's cells require insulin for glucose to gain entry into the cell. On the other hand, the cells of the retina and nerve tissues are very insulin dependent. Thus glucose freely enters the nerve cells regardless of use. This free entry would pose no problems if insulin levels are normal. In diabetes, the low levels or lack of insulin causes injury to the nerve cells.

Despite the great strides in the determination of the complications associated with diabetes, there is still no fail-safe cure for neuropathy. While some inroads have been reached in reducing the injuries sustained because of the deterioration of neural pathways, the cure is still far from being found. Thus, it is still recommended that once these symptoms are felt by the individual, immediately seek medical consultation for diabetes. Once determined, a proper regimen for diabetes management would be the best way to prevent diabetic neuropathy from progressing. For current conditions, only pain reduction as well as corrective surgery is the known means to manage diabetic neuropathy.

by: Bobby Castro

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