When you have diabetes, your risks for some serious health issues jump considerably. One of the most common is neuropathy, or nerve damage, which develops in as many as half of people with diabetes.
If you consider that diabetes affects nearly 12% of the adult population in the United States, it follows that millions of Americans are dealing with diabetic neuropathy.
While November is National Diabetes Awareness Month in our nation, the team here at Neuropathy & Pain Centers of Texas helps patients with diabetic neuropathy year round. And here’s what we want them (and you) to know about diabetes-related nerve damage.
When you have diabetes, you have elevated levels of glucose in your bloodstream thanks to a lack of insulin and insulin resistance. These high levels of sugar can damage your blood vessels, including those delicate vessels that supply your nerves. And when your nerves don’t have good access to the oxygen and nutrients that your blood delivers, they can become damaged and die off.
This complication is called diabetic neuropathy. It causes nerve damage, usually in areas far from your heart, such as your lower legs and feet, as well as your arms and hands, though lower limb nerve damage is far more prevalent.
One type of diabetic neuropathy is peripheral neuropathy, which affects your peripheral nerves, those that don’t include your brain and spinal cord. When these nerves become damaged due to poor blood flow in your lower limbs, the first signs of a problem typically present as:
These symptoms typically tend to get worse over time as more of your nerves die off because of lack of blood flow.
One of our biggest concerns when it comes to peripheral neuropathy is that you can’t feel when there’s a problem in your lower limbs because of the numbness. Unfortunately, even the slightest break in your skin can become a major problem because the lack of blood flow that causes nerve damage also prevents healing. And that allows limb-threatening infection to set in.
To paint a more detailed picture, a tiny blister that goes unnoticed and untreated can turn into an infected ulcer. Due to your compromised blood flow, your body can’t fight infection as well, which places you at greater risk for gangrene and amputation.
And if you think this isn’t a real threat, about half of diabetic foot ulcers become infected, and 20% of these infections lead to amputation.
Our goal with this blog post is to prevent you from going down the frightening road we just mapped out.
As neuropathy experts, we can attest to how critical it is that you manage your neuropathy from the start to avoid ulcers and infections.
If we determine you have diabetic neuropathy through our nerve testing, we’ll make a few recommendations, such as:
These should be daily practices, and the moment you see any wound or ulcer on your foot, you need to see us right away so we can prevent infection from taking hold.
To address your symptoms, we also offer a wide range of treatments that are designed to treat nerve damage and relieve neuropathic pain, such as:
As you can see, we have plenty of ways in which we can help you navigate diabetic neuropathy, and we’re happy to design a plan that works well for your needs and goals.
For expert care of your diabetic neuropathy, please call or message one of our locations in Waco, Arlington, Wichita Falls, or Fort Worth, Texas, today to schedule an appointment.
