Learn what diabetic neuropathy is, what symptoms occur, testing that can be done, consequences that occur if it isn't monitored properly and the treatments that should be in place if diagnosed.
Diabetic neuropathy is a complication associated with diabetes and is a progressive disease that leads to loss of nerve function. Diabetic neuropathy can affect the nerves of the autonomic and involuntary nervous system that controls the blood vessels, glands, heart and smooth muscle, but more often it is the peripheral nervous system that suffers. Because of this, diabetic neuropathy is often referred to as peripheral neuropathy.
It is difficult to determine the prevalence of diabetic neuropathy, but it is estimated that between twenty and forty percent of people who suffer from diabetes develop the disease. This doesn’t take into account the thousands of undiagnosed diabetics world wide.
A study conducted in the United Kingdom in the early 1990’s showed that diabetic neuropathy increases as diabetics age. The incident of neuropathy in diabetics between the ages of seventy and seventy-nine years was forty four percent.
Though the cause of peripheral neuropathy for non-diabetics is not known, people in this category do suffer from the disease. In diabetics the cause of neuropathy is poor control of blood sugar levels, which results in hyperglycemia. The longer the blood sugar level is elevated, the more severe the case of peripheral neuropathy. The precise link between high glucose levels and nerve damage hasn’t been determined. However, other factors such as cardiovascular disease and nerve growth factors are suspected to be contributing factors.
Metabolic Disturbances
Metabolic disturbances are thought to contribute to neuropathic disease in diabetics. A reduction in co-enzymes, which are important for metabolic processing, including fat metabolism, can change the metabolic balance in the body. This leads to cell structure damage, which causes nerve damage and loss of nerve functions.
It is also suspected that nerves starved of oxygen are a contributing factor to diabetic neuropathy because there isn’t sufficient blood supply to reach the extremities of the body. People who suffer from Type 2 diabetes suffer from heart attacks and strokes and peripheral neuropathy four times more often than non-diabetics.