Diabetic Neuropathy Research Paper

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Diabetic neuropathy is a peripheral nerve disorder caused by diabetes or poor blood sugar control. The most common types of diabetic neuropathy result in problems with sensation in the feet. It can develop slowly after many years of diabetes or may occur early in the disease. The symptoms are numbness, pain, or tingling in the feet or lower legs. The pain can be intense and require treatment to relieve the discomfort. The loss of sensation in the feet may also increase the possibility that foot injuries will go unnoticed and develop into ulcers or lesions that become infected. In some cases, diabetic neuropathy can be associated with difficulty walking and some weakness in the foot muscles. There are other types of diabetic-related neuropathies that affect specific parts of the body. For example, diabetic amyotrophy causes pain, weakness and wasting of the thigh muscles, or cranial nerve infarcts that may result in double vision, a drooping eyelid, or dizziness. Diabetes can also affect the autonomic nerves that control blood pressure, the digestive tract, bladder function, and sexual organs. Problems with the autonomic nerves may cause light headedness, indigestion, diarrhoea …show more content…
Approximately one in four people with diabetes may be affected by chronic neuropathic pain. Patients often present with discomfort, typically starting in the distal feet, but progressing proximally over time. Patients may describe symptoms of numbness, tingling, burning, aching, electric shocks, or lancinating pains .Other sites that are often affected include the legs, arms, hands, and fingers. The pain may be constant or intermittent and there may be associated nocturnal worsening. Patients may also experience allodia, when no painful stimuli are painful (commonly reported by patients when bed sheets become unbearably irritating), or hyperesthesia, when normally painful stimuli become excruciatingly