Peripheral Neuropathy Treatment

What is Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy?

Diabetic Neuropathy is nerve damage that takes place due to diabetes. It usually takes place at the extremities of your body like feet, legs, and hands. Almost 60% of diabetic patients suffer from peripheral damage to their nerves leading to symptoms like pain, numbness, and sensation loss. It is not necessary that every diabetic patient will suffer from this condition; if people keep their blood sugar levels in check then this condition can be avoided.

Causes of Peripheral Neuropathy

Diabetic Neuropathy is caused by persistently high blood sugar levels that affect the periphery of the nerves. The damaged nerve is unable to transmit signals in a proper manner to the brain. This leads to complicated conditions in which a person might lose sensation in the limbs and may not feel pain at all. Therefore, some injury or a cut might go unnoticed and slowly form an infectious wound which can have serious consequences.

The Various Types of Neuropathy and Symptoms

There are various types of diabetic neuropathy that people suffer from. Each type of neuropathy impacts specific organs in the body and has different symptoms.

Peripheral Neuropathy: The most common form of neuropathy, affects the extremities of the body like hands and feet. Symptoms include altered sensation in the limbs, extreme pain, sensitivity to touch, and insensitivity to temperature is observed, weakness in the muscles and numbness are also seen.

Autonomic Neuropathy: This impacts organs over which a person has no conscious control like the stomach, heart, urinary bladder, intestines, and genitalia. People having this form of neuropathy suffer from poor digestion, gastroparesis (improper emptying of the stomach), sexual issues like erectile dysfunction and low libido, losing control over the bladder or incontinence, cardiovascular issues like abnormal blood pressure and heart rate.

Proximal Neuropathy: It is a rare form of neuropathy that impacts the patient’s buttocks, thighs, and legs. People feel severe pain accompanied by weakness in their legs. However, it is seen that people recover from it automatically after a certain time.

Mononeuropathy: It is also called focal neuropathy and affects the nerve groups present in the hand, legs, head, and torso. It is similar to proximal neuropathy as the pain appears suddenly and automatically goes away after a certain interval of time. Symptoms include pain, numbness, altered sensation, pain at the back of the eyes, and vision related issues.

Visit a doctor if at all you experience:

A cut that does not heal.
Reduction in sexual indicators like erectile dysfunction or vaginal dryness.
Issues with digestion and urine.
Numbness, sensitivity to touch, pain, or tingling feeling in the hands, feet, or legs.

Treatment at Dunes Pain

At Dunes Pain Clinic, there are a host of treatments and therapies that we undertake to cure Diabetic Neuropathy. Our physicians and doctors perform various tests to detect this condition. The doctor will:

Check the overall strength and flexibility of your muscles.
Check your reflexes.
Perform tests like filament testing, autonomic testing, nerve conduction testing, and muscle response testing to check sensitivity, nerve reflexes, and muscle reactions of the body.

After diagnosis, stepwise treatment begins for arresting the effects of diabetic neuropathy.

Controlling the Blood Sugar Levels: The first step in the treatment is to get diabetes in check by controlling the blood sugar levels. The prescribed blood sugar limit for adults with diabetes is between 80 mg/dL to 130 mg/dL – it is between 4.4 and 7.2 millimoles per liter before meals and less than 180 mg/dL post two hours of taking a meal. An active physical life is desired, and the doctors might also advise weight reduction if you have obesity problems. Relaxation techniques like meditation, deep breathing, and Yoga are also beneficial.

Reducing Pain and Discomfort: You can be put on medication if you are suffering from pain and discomfort. Over-the-counter medication like aspirin and ibuprofen can be prescribed. Antidepressants, like amitriptyline and desipramine, might be administered which are known to relax the nerves.

Restoring other body functions: Conditions like sexual dysfunction, cardiovascular diseases, digestive and urinary tract issues are tackled by administering medications, exercises, and lifestyle changes.

Call Dunes Pain Clinic for a holistic treatment from our specialists!