Tingling, numbness, pain in the arms, legs, hands, or feet — these are all common signs of diabetic neuropathy, or nerve damage. Up to 70 percent of people with diabetes will develop some type of neuropathy, making it one of the most common side effects of this disease.
Although tingling, numbness, or pain in the extremi-ties are common signs of neuropathy, others may experience no symptoms at all. Nerve damage can also occur in internal organs, such as the heart or digestive tract. Diabetes-related neuropathy can affect muscle strength, sensation in various parts of the body, and even sexual function.
People who develop diabetic neuropathy are typically those who have trouble controlling their blood glucose levels, blood pressure, cholesterol, and body weight. Although researchers haven’t quite figured out exactly why this happens, they know that neu-ropathy can occur due to:
Here are some of the specific types of neuropathy that occur in people with diabetes:
Autonomic neuropathy impairs the functioning of the digestive system, resulting in diarrhea or constipation as well as impaired bladder function. This type of neuropathy also affects how you perspire and even your sexual response — men may have trouble getting an erection and women may experience vaginal dryness. This neuropathy also masks the symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose).
Focal neuropathy can attack any nerve in the body and often causes sudden weakness.
Peripheral neuropathy, the most common diabetic complication, can cause numbness or pain in the legs, feet, toes, arms, and hands.
Proximal neuropathy may cause weakness in your legs and pain in your hips, buttocks, and thighs.
Because diabetes-related neuropathy can cause such a wide variety of symptoms, there is no single diag-nostic test for the condition. Your doctor will rely heavily on a complete physical exam and your de-scription of symptoms to diagnose this condition.
In some cases, tools such as nerve conduction studies, a heart rate variability test, and ultrasound may be used to aid in the diagnosis.
