The Nerve Damage Of Diabetes
Diabetic neuropathy is a nerve disorder caused by diabetes. Symptoms of neuropathy include numbness and sometimes pain in the hands, feet, or legs. Nerve damage caused by diabetes can also lead to problems with internal organs such as the digestive tract, heart, and sexual organs, causing indigestion, diarrhea or constipation, dizziness, bladder infections, and impotence. In some cases, neuropathy can flare up suddenly, causing weakness and weight loss. Depression may follow. While some treatments are available, a great deal of research is still needed to understand how diabetes affects the nerves and to find more effective treatments for this complication. A 10-year clinical study that involved 1,441 volunteers with insulin-dependent diabetes (IDDM) was recently completed by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The study proved that keeping blood sugar levels as close to the normal range as possible slows the onset and progression of nerve disease caused by diabetes. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) studied two groups of volunteers: those who followed a standard diabetes management routine and those who intensively managed their diabetes. Persons in the intensive management group took multiple injections of insulin daily or used an insulin pump and monitored their blood glucose at least four times a day to try to lower their blood glucose levels to the normal range. After 5 years, tests of neurological function showed that the risk of nerve damage was reduced by 60 percent in the intensively managed group. People in the standard treatment group, whose average blood glucose levels were higher, had higher rates of neuropathy. Although the DCCT included only patients with IDDM, researchers believe that people with nonins Continue reading >>
Nerve Damage (diabetic Neuropathies)
What are diabetic neuropathies? Diabetic neuropathies are a family of nerve disorders caused by diabetes. People with diabetes can, over time, develop nerve damage throughout the body. Some people with nerve damage have no symptoms. Others may have symptoms such as pain, tingling, or numbness—loss of feeling—in the hands, arms, feet, and legs. Nerve problems can occur in every organ system, including the digestive tract, heart, and sex organs. About 60 to 70 percent of people with diabetes have some form of neuropathy. People with diabetes can develop nerve problems at any time, but risk rises with age and longer duration of diabetes. The highest rates of neuropathy are among people who have had diabetes for at least 25 years. Diabetic neuropathies also appear to be more common in people who have problems controlling their blood glucose, also called blood sugar, as well as those with high levels of blood fat and blood pressure and those who are overweight. What causes diabetic neuropathies? The causes are probably different for different types of diabetic neuropathy. Researchers are studying how prolonged exposure to high blood glucose causes nerve damage. Nerve damage is likely due to a combination of factors: metabolic factors, such as high blood glucose, long duration of diabetes, abnormal blood fat levels, and possibly low levels of insulin neurovascular factors, leading to damage to the blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to nerves autoimmune factors that cause inflammation in nerves mechanical injury to nerves, such as carpal tunnel syndrome inherited traits that increase susceptibility to nerve disease lifestyle factors, such as smoking or alcohol use What are the symptoms of diabetic neuropathies? Symptoms depend on the type of neuropathy and which Continue reading >>
Complications
If diabetes isn't treated, it can lead to a number of other health problems. High glucose levels can damage blood vessels, nerves and organs. Even a mildly raised glucose level that doesn't cause any symptoms can have long-term damaging effects. Heart disease and stroke If you have diabetes, you're up to five times more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke. Prolonged, poorly controlled blood glucose levels increase the likelihood of atherosclerosis, where the blood vessels become clogged up and narrowed by fatty substances. This may result in poor blood supply to your heart, causing angina, which is a dull, heavy or tight pain in the chest. It also increases the chance that a blood vessel in your heart or brain will become blocked, leading to a heart attack or stroke. Nerve damage High blood glucose levels can damage the tiny blood vessels in your nerves. This can cause a tingling or burning pain that spreads from your fingers and toes up through your limbs. It can also cause numbness, which can lead to ulceration of the feet. Damage to the peripheral nervous system, which includes all parts of the nervous system that lie outside the central nervous system, is known as peripheral neuropathy. If the nerves in your digestive system are affected, you may experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation. Diabetic retinopathy Diabetic retinopathy is when the retina, the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye, becomes damaged. Blood vessels in the retina can become blocked or leaky, or can grow haphazardly. This prevents light fully passing through to your retina. If it isn't treated, it can damage your vision. Annual eye checks are usually organised by a regional photographic unit. If significant damage is detected, you may be referred to a Continue reading >>
Leg, Foot, And Organ Damage With Diabetes
Healthy nerves carry messages to our muscles and organs. Having high blood sugar levels for a long time can damage nerves throughout the body. Also, the older people get and the longer they have diabetes, the more likely they are to have some nerve damage. When nerves become damaged, they can't send messages, the messages they send get interrupted, or the messages get mixed up. This is a condition called diabetic neuropathy. High blood sugar affects: Long nerves from the spinal cord that allow us to move and feel. Smaller nerves that support our body organs including the heart, stomach, and bladder. Leg and Foot Damage Long nerves from the spinal cord send messages to the lower legs and feet. When blood sugar levels stay high, the nerve cells swell and scar. After a while, the nerves can't send messages to the legs and feet the way they should. When this happens, it can cause people to lose feeling in their legs and feet, making it hard to sense pressure or pain. It can also cause uncomfortable feelings in the arms and legs, like tingling, shooting pains, or aching. This condition is known as peripheral neuropathy. Damaged nerves can also affect the muscles in the legs and feet, causing them to lose shape. When muscles in the foot lose their shape, they aren't able to hold the bones and joints of the feet together, or they can pull up on the bones, causing the foot to become deformed. These kinds of changes can put pressure on parts of the foot that aren't meant for walking, making it harder and more painful to walk. Sometimes people lose feeling in their feet without realizing it. When people don't know they've lost feeling, it can lead to very serious foot problems, including wounds that won't heal. Treatment Ask your doctor or other member of your health care team to Continue reading >>
How Type 2 Diabetes Can Damage Your Body
Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure in the U.S.(ISTOKEPHOTO) Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes by farmaking up more than 90% of the 24 million cases in the U.S. Experts use words like "epidemic" and "worldwide crisis" when they talk about it: Millions of people have it and a staggering number are expected to get it (300 million worldwide by 2025, according to one study). Diabetes doesn't get the attention of, say, cancer or scary viruses. One reason might be because type 2 diabetes is so incredibly commonabout 20% of people over age 60 get it. A large chunk of the population just seems to have the genetic programming to develop the disease with age. Type 2 diabetes is showing up in young people However, diabetes is also on the rise because our modern lifestylelots of food and little exercisespeeds up the process. So people who might have developed this "old-age disease" in their 60s and 70s are now developing the disease much earlier due to obesity and lack of exercise; sometimes in their teens or in childhood. Anyone can get diabetes. But some people are at much higher risk, particularly those who are obese. (Are you overweight? Use this body mass index calculator to find out.) One in three children born in the U.S. in 2000 will develop diabetes at some point in their life (including more than half of Hispanic females), according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published in 2003. But not all is gloom and doom. If you have diabetes, you have a lot more control over the disease now than just about any other point in history. And if you have prediabetes, you have a good chance of preventing or delaying the disease by making lifestyle changes or taking medication. What happens in the body when you have type 2 diabetes Wit Continue reading >>
Effects Of Diabetes On The Body And Organs
Over time, the raised blood sugar levels that result from diabetes can cause a wide range of serious health issues. But what do these health issues involve, and how are the organs of the body affected? Can these effects be minimized? When people have diabetes, the body either does not make enough insulin or cannot use what it has effectively. As a result, the amount of sugar in the blood becomes higher than it should be. Glucose, or blood sugar, is the main power source for the human body. It comes from the food people eat. The hormone insulin helps the cells of the body convert glucose into fuel. Fortunately, taking a proactive approach to this chronic disease through medical care, lifestyle changes, and medication can help limit its effects. Effect on systems and organs The effects of diabetes can be seen on systems throughout the body, including: The circulatory system Diabetes can damage large blood vessels, causing macrovascular disease. It can also damage small blood vessels, causing what is called microvascular disease. Complications from macrovascular disease include heart attack and stroke. However, macrovascular disease can be prevented by: Microvascular disease can cause eye, kidney, and nerve problems, but good control of diabetes can help prevent these complications. The cardiovascular system Excess blood sugar decreases the elasticity of blood vessels and causes them to narrow, impeding blood flow. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute say diabetes is as big a risk factor for heart disease as smoking or high cholesterol. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the risk of stroke or dying of heart disease increases by 200-400 percent for adults with diabetes. The nervous system When people have diabetes, they can develop n Continue reading >>
Diabetic Neuropathydiabetic Neuropathy Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, And Treatment
Diabetic neuropathy definition and facts Diabetes is thought to damage nerves as a result of prolonged elevated levels of blood glucose. Peripheral neuropathy most commonly causes: Autonomic neuropathy causes symptoms related to dysfunction of an organ system, such as: Diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy is usually done by a clinical exam. There is no cure for diabetic neuropathy, but treatments are available to manage the symptoms. Diabetic nerve pain may be controlled by medications such as tricyclic antidepressants, duloxetine (Cymbalta), or certain antiseizure medications. Keeping tight control of blood sugar levels is the best way to prevent diabetic neuropathy and other complications of diabetes. Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy: Improve Diabetes Nerve Pain What are the symptoms and signs of diabetic neuropathy? The symptoms and signs of diabetic neuropathy depend upon the type of neuropathy that is present. Signs and symptoms can also vary in severity among affected people. Signs and symptoms of diabetic peripheral neuropathy include: Numbness or tingling of the feet and lower legs Pain or burning sensations Loss of sensation in the feet or lower legs Sometimes, but less commonly, these symptoms can occur in the hands or arms Signs and symptoms of diabetic proximal neuropathy include: Pain, usually on one side, in the hips, buttocks, or thighs Signs and symptoms of diabetic autonomic neuropathy depend upon the organ system that is involved and can include: Feeling full after eating a small amount Inability to empty the bladder completely Decrease in vaginal lubrication in women Rapid resting heartbeat Signs and symptoms of diabetic focal neuropathy also depend upon the location of the affected nerve. The symptoms can appear suddenly. It usually does not cause a long t Continue reading >>
Diabetes Mellitus And The Nervous System
Classification The division of diabetes into two major types has long been known. The current classification1 (table 1) distinguishes type 1 (otherwise known as insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, IDDM) and type 2 (non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, NIDDM). This classification is important because the two types are distinct both in causation and management and is thus of direct clinical relevance. In Western Europe, type 1 diabetes accounts for perhaps 10%-20% of all patients, although in the world at large there seems to be an extraordinary increase in type 2 diabetes from an estimated 124 million at present to a predicted 221 million by the year 2010 with only 3% of all patients with type 1 diabetes. The many other types of diabetes, either secondary to other causes or specific genetic syndromes, account for only a small proportion of patients (table 1). MITOCHONDRIAL DISORDERS Mitochondria possess their own DNA (mtDNA), which is arranged as a discrete circular molecule encoding for a proportion of the peptides required for the components of the respiratory chain. MtDNA is passed exclusively down the maternal line of inheritance. There are several reported mutations in the tRNA Leu(UUR) gene, the one most often found occurring at position 3243.2 3 These mutations are associated with maternally inherited diabetes combined with sensorineural deafness (MIDD) and accounts for around two type 2 diabetic patients in every 1000 and less than half that number among type 1 patients. Diabetes has also been reported in patients with the same mutation causing the MELAS syndrome—that is, patients with associated myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes, and in the Kearns-Sayre syndrome. Mitochondrial related diabetes usually presents at between Continue reading >>
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Tips For Treating Diabetic Nerve Pain
Diabetes can cause long-term problems throughout your body, especially if you don’t control your blood sugar effectively, and sugar levels remain high for many years. High blood sugar can cause diabetic neuropathy, which damages the nerves that send signals from your hands and feet. Diabetic neuropathy can cause numbness or tingling in your fingers, toes, hands, and feet. Another symptom is a burning, sharp, or aching pain (diabetic nerve pain). The pain may be mild at first, but it can get worse over time and spread up your legs or arms. Walking can be painful, and even the softest touch can feel unbearable. Up to 50 percent of people with diabetes may experience nerve pain. Nerve damage can affect your ability to sleep, decrease your quality of life, and can also cause depression. Damaged nerves can’t be replaced. However, there are ways that you can prevent further damage and relieve your pain. First, control your blood sugar so the damage doesn’t progress. Talk to your doctor about setting your blood sugar goal, and learn to monitor it. You may be asked to lower your blood sugar before meals to 70 to 130 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) and your blood sugar after meals to less than 180 mg/dL. Use diets, exercise, and medications to decrease your blood sugar to a healthier range. Monitor other health risks that can worsen your diabetes, such as your weight and smoking. Ask your doctor about effective ways to lose weight or quit smoking, if necessary. Your doctor might suggest trying an over-the-counter pain reliever, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), aspirin (Bufferin), or ibuprofen (Motrin IB, Advil), which are available without a prescription but can cause side effects. Use a low dose for a short time to control your symptoms. Other options exist for stronger Continue reading >>
Caring For Diabetes-related Nerve Disorders (neuropathy)
What is diabetic neuropathy? Some diseases consume the body like wildfire. Others are more like a slow burn. Diabetes is a malady that takes its time. If not controlled, diabetes slowly eats away at the body's cells, especially nerve cells. Doctors call the gradual breakdown of nerve cells "neuropathy." At first, nobody misses a few dead cells here and there. But after a decade or two, the damage can be impossible to ignore. Many patients suffer numbness or the opposite, extreme pain. As a result of decreased sensation, many people with diabetes may not be aware when they've broken the skin or suffered a cut or scrape on one of their feet. Bacteria can then set up housekeeping -- an invasion aided by impaired circulation and small vessel disease caused by diabetes. In some cases, these unnoticed infections can lead to raging infections and loss of the limb. Despite many recent advances in diabetes treatment, neuropathy remains frighteningly common. About 60 to 70 percent of people with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes will eventually develop nerve damage, though not all of them will have symptoms. But if you have diabetes, remember this: the key to avoiding nerve damage is prevention. By carefully controlling your blood sugar, you can help keep your nerve cells out of harm's way. What causes diabetic neuropathy? When people with diabetes experience pain, tingling, numbness or other sensory symptoms, typically in the feet, high blood sugar seems to be the real culprit. In general, nerve cells only start dying when blood sugar stays too high over a long period of time. Nobody knows why extra sugar is so toxic. Perhaps it upsets the chemical balance in the nerves. Or perhaps the sugar slows down blood circulation and cuts off the oxygen supply to the nervous system. Expert Continue reading >>
Diabetic Neuropathy: Causes And Symptoms
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy—DPN for short—is diabetes-related damage to nerves that sit near the surface of your skin. DPN usually affects the feet and the hands, but can also harm nerves in arms and legs. Approximately 50 percent of people with type 2 diabetes and 20% of those with type 1 diabetes develop this kind of nerve damage.1 DPN can be extremely painful—or cause numbness so that you have little feeling, especially in your feet. DPN damages two different types of nerves close to the surface of your skin. DPN can affect small nerves that protect your body by sending signals about pain and temperature changes to your brain. This condition can also attack large nerves that detect touch, pressure and help you keep your balance. 2 Symptoms are different for each type. Most people with DPN have damage to both types of nerves. DPN usually affects extremities—feet, hands, legs and arms—where nerve fibers are the longest and most numerous. 3 Causes Experts are still investigating exactly how diabetes harms and kills these nerve cells. “The causes remain unknown,” the American Diabetes Association noted in a definitive 2017 review. One thing is certain: The conventional wisdom—that high blood sugar is the cause—is just part of the story. New research is revealing a bigger cast of culprits. These include high cholesterol, high triglycerides (another blood fat), high blood pressure, obesity and smoking, according to a British research report in a widely-cited 2005 study that tracked 1,172 people with diabetes for seven years. 4 The threats are major: Obesity and high triglycerides each doubled risk in people with diabetes in a 2013 University of Utah study of 218 people with type 2 diabetes. 5 Smoking increased risk by as much as 42% in a 2015 Harvard M Continue reading >>
Diabetes And Your Eyes, Heart, Nerves, Feet, And Kidneys
Diabetes is a serious disease that can affect your eyes, heart, nerves, feet and kidneys. Understanding how diabetes affects your body is important. It can help you follow your treatment plan and stay as healthy as possible. If your diabetes is not well controlled, the sugar level in your blood goes up. This is called “hyperglycemia” (high blood sugar). High blood sugar can cause damage to very small blood vessels in your body. Imagine what happens to sugar when it is left unwrapped overnight. It gets sticky. Now imagine how sugar “sticks” to your small blood vessels and makes it hard for blood to get to your organs. Damage to blood vessels occurs most often in the eyes, heart, nerves, feet, and kidneys. Let’s look at how this damage happens. Eyes. Having high levels of sugar in your blood for a long time can harm the tiny blood vessels in your eyes. This can result in vision problems or blindness. Heart. High blood sugar may also harm larger blood vessels in your body that supply oxygen to your heart and brain. Fat can build up in the blood vessels as well. This can lead to a heart attack or stroke. Nerves. Nerves carry important messages between your brain and other parts of your body. Having high levels of sugar in your blood for many years can damage the blood vessels that bring oxygen to some nerves. Damaged nerves may stop sending pain signals. Feet. Diabetes can harm your feet in two ways. First, it can damage your body’s nerves. Nerve damage stops you from feeling pain or other problems in your feet. Another way that diabetes can cause damage to your feet is from poor blood circulation. Poor blood flow makes it hard for a sore or infection to heal. If sores don’t heal and get infected, it can lead to amputation. Kidneys. Think of your kidneys like Continue reading >>
Diabetic Neuropathy (nerve Damage) - An Update
Nerve damage or diabetic neuropathy resulting from chronically high blood glucose can be one of the most frustrating and debilitating complications of diabetes because of the pain, discomfort and disability it can cause, and because available treatments are not uniformly successful. Some patients find some relief from this nerve damage or neuropathy by keeping blood sugars as closely controlled as possible, getting regular exercise and keeping their weight under control. Using non-narcotic pain relievers consistently throughout the day—rather than waiting until nighttime when symptoms can become more severe—also seems to help if pain is the major symptom. Surprisingly, clinicians have also found that certain antidepressants may be helpful and can take the edge off the pain of neuropathy. Although pain or numbness in the legs or feet may be the most common complaint from people diagnosed with neuropathy, it is not the only symptom of this complication. Neuropathy can cause a host of different types of symptoms, depending on whether nerves in the legs, gastrointestinal tract, or elsewhere in the body are affected. If you have any of these symptoms, neuropathy may be the culprit: inability to adequately empty the bladder of its contents, resulting in frequent infections; nausea, vomiting, abdominal fullness or bloating, diarrhea, or constipation; low blood pressure upon standing that causes fainting or dizziness; inability to lift the foot or new deformities of the foot, or foot ulcers; trouble achieving or maintaining an erection. Although physicians have found some medications and other treatments that help ease these symptoms in some people, prevention continues to be the key. "Hemoglobin A1C readings should ideally be at 7.0% or lower. Those that are consistently n Continue reading >>
How Diabetes Can Affect Your Nerves
According to the International Diabetes Federation diabetics run the risk of developing serious health problems affecting the nerves, eyes, kidneys, heart and blood vessels. They also have a higher risk of developing infections. It is important that diabetics maintain cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose at normal or close to normal levels in order to avoid the above problems. Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to lower limb amputation, kidney failure, blindness and cardiovascular disease. Diabetic neuropathy Nerve damage as a result of diabetes is referred to as diabetic neuropathy and is a common complication of the disease. Neuropathy means damage to the nerves, something that prevents one from feeling sensations like pain. Consistently high blood sugar levels can damage the nerves in a number of ways, but the damage is mostly experienced as numbness, pain and weakness in the arms, hands, feet and legs. Read: Eric Clapton: Nerve pain like 'electric shocks' The pain caused by diabetes-related nerve damage usually isn’t severe and may be overlooked by the patient. There are four types of diabetic neuropathy: Peripheral neuropathy causes pain or loss of feeling in the hands, arms, feet, and legs. Autonomic neuropathy can cause changes in digestion, bowel and bladder control, and erectile dysfunction. It can also affect the nerves that serve the heart and control blood pressure. Proximal neuropathy causes pain in the thighs and hips and weakness in the legs. Focal neuropathy can affect any nerve in the body, leading to pain or weakness. How does it happen? Endocrine Web explains that there is still a lot uncertainty about exactly how elevated blood glucose levels affect the nerves. A long-term study published in 1993 clearly showed that neuropathy (and other compl Continue reading >>
Nervous System
Tweet The nervous system is the system of nerves which travel throughout the body passages messages via electrical impulses. The brain is key to the nervous system and provides the processing power to make sense of information provided by the nerves and gives instruction back through the nerves to guide our physical responses. Role of the nervous system The nervous system allows the body to take in and process information on what is happening around and inside us and take appropriate action. Some of these actions will be automatic or reflex responses, whereas other actions will come directly from our own choice. What are the components of the nervous system? The nervous system is made up of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system encompasses the brain and the spine. The brain is the processing centre of the nervous system. The spinal cord is like the trunk of a tree, extends from the brain down our back and branching off into the many different nerves which make up the peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous system is made up of all the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system includes the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary functions such as our heart rate and perspiration, and also includes the enteric nervous system which governs our gastrointestinal response. The brain The brain is a key organ enabling us to understand and interact with our surroundings. The brain communicates with the rest of our body via the nerves. The skull keeps the brain intact from the outside and the blood-brain barrier helps to allow certain nutrients into the brain whilst keeping any harmful substances in the blood away from the brain. Diabetes and the brain Spine The spine acts as Continue reading >>
