Diabetic Neuropathy | diabetic nerve disease | Treatment for diabetes neuropathy

Diabetic neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes mellitus. This diabetic nerve disease is responsible for nerve damage in people who suffer from diabetes. These nerves are responsible for our ability to feel different sensations in our arms and legs – such as pain.

When these nerves are damage, as in the case of neuropathy, the ability to feel pain will diminished or lost. The inability to feel pain may result in minor injuries to diabetics’ arms and/or legs that would be picked up early to go unnoticed for extended periods of time.

Injuries left Untreated could lead to further more severe complications sometimes leading to unnecessary amputation of the toes, legs fingers or arms.

There are four types of diabetic neuropathy:

• Peripheral – affects mainly the arms and legs
• Autonomic - affect the internal systems and organs such as the digestive system
• Proximal - causes pain in the bigger muscles of the body and tend to affect one side only
• Focal - affects nerves in the head, torso, or leg, causing muscle weakness or pain.
• Neuropathy Affects Nerves throughout the Body

Peripheral neuropathy affects

• toes• feet• legs• hands• arms

Autonomic neuropathy affects

• heart and blood vessels• digestive system• urinary tract• sex organs• sweat glands• eyes• lungs

Proximal neuropathy affects

• thighs• hips• buttocks• legs

Focal neuropathy affects

• eyes• facial muscles• ears• pelvis and lower back• chest• abdomen• thighs• legs• feet

Treatment of diabetic neuropathy include
The goals of treating diabetic neuropathy are to prevent the disease from getting worse and to reduce the symptoms of the disease.

Tight control of blood sugar (glucose) is important to prevent symptoms and problems from getting worse. Medications may be used to reduce the symptoms in the feet, legs, and arms. These medications include:

• Antidepressant drugs, such as amitriptyline (Elavil), doxepin (Sinequan), or duloxetine (Cymbalta)
• Antiseizure medications, such as gabapentin (Neurontin), pregabalin (Lyrica), carbamazepine (Tegretol), and valproate (Depakote)
• Drugs that block bladder contractions may be used to help with urinary control problems.
• Erythromycin, domperidone (Motilium), or metoclopramide (Reglan) may help with nausea and vomiting.
• Pain medications (analgesics) may work for some patients on a short-term basis, but in most cases they do not provide much benefit.
• Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) drugs, such as sildenafil (Viagra), vardenafil (Levitra), and tadalafil (Cialis) are safe and effective for treating impotence in patients with diabetes.
• Capsaicin can be used topically to reduce pain.Regular foot exams are important to identify small infections and prevent foot injuries from getting worse. If foot injuries go unnoticed for too long, amputation may be required. (1)

Treatment for this condition:(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001713/