The Dangers of Diabetes Patients Not Understanding Disease Risks

Written by Kevin Flatt

Diabetic neuropathy is the medical term for damage to the nervous system from diabetes. Having high blood glucose for many years can damage the blood vessels that bring oxygen to some nerves. High blood glucose can also hurt the covering on the nerves. In people with diabetes, damaged nerves may stop sending messages. Or they may send messages too slowly or at the wrong times.

The majority of people with diabetes have never heard of diabetic neuropathy - nerve damage that causes pain, numbness, or tingling in the feet and hands - researchers report.

Study author Dr. Aaron I. Vinik of the Strelitz Diabetes Research Institute in Norfolk, Virginia, told Reuters Health that the numbers are spectacular. People with neuropathy are at increased risk of foot injury and even amputation, because injuries can go unnoticed due to lack of sensation and then develop into ulcers or lesions that become infected. Even without serious injuries, diabetics with neuropathy can become hypersensitive to even the lightest touch, so that wearing socks or touching bed sheets, for example, can be very painful.

According to the American Diabetes Association, which commissioned the study, an estimated 50 percent of diabetics develop neuropathy. However, 56 percent of the people who were having symptoms had never heard of diabetic neuropathy. Nearly 1 in 7 diabetics with symptoms of neuropathy who had mentioned their symptoms to their doctors said that their doctors had not mentioned anything about a potential cause. (www.nlm.nih.gov 1/5/2005).

Peripheral nerves go to the arms, hands, legs, and feet.

Damage to these nerves can make your arms, hands, legs, or feet feel numb. Also, you might not be able to feel pain, heat, or cold when you should. You may feel shooting pains or burning or tingling, like “pins and needles.” These feelings are often worse at night. They can make it hard to sleep. Most of the time these feelings are on both sides of your body, like in both of your feet. But they can be on just one side.

Autonomic nerves help you know your blood glucose is low.

Some people take diabetes medicines that can accidentally make their blood glucose too low. Damage to the autonomic nerves can make it hard for them to feel the symptoms of hypoglycemia, also called low blood glucose. This kind of damage is more likely to happen if you have had diabetes for a long time. It can also happen if your blood glucose has been too low very often.

Autonomic nerves go from your spinal cord to your lungs, heart, stomach, intestines, bladder, and sex organs.

Damage to these nerves can make food pass through the digestive system too slowly or too quickly. Nerve problems can cause nausea (feeling sick to your stomach), vomiting, constipation, or diarrhea. Nerve damage to your stomach is called gastroparesis. When nerves to the stomach are damaged, the muscles of the stomach do not work well and food may stay in the stomach too long. Gastroparesis makes it hard to keep blood glucose under control.


Other possible consequences of damage to the autonomic nerves:

Erectile dysfunction or impotence. Many men who have had diabetes for many years experience it. In the case of a woman this damage can prevent a woman’s vagina from getting wet when she wants to have sex. A woman might also have less feeling around her vagina.

Might make your heart beat faster or at different speeds.

Nerves leading to the bladder can make it hard to know when you should go to the bathroom. The damage can also make it hard to feel when your bladder is empty. Both problems can cause you to hold urine for too long, which can lead to bladder infections. Another problem can be leaking drops of urine accidentally.

Nerves to the blood vessels that keep your blood pressure steady. Damage to these nerves makes your blood move too slowly to keep your blood pressure steady when you change position. When you go from lying down to standing up or when you exercise a lot, the sudden changes in blood pressure can make you dizzy.

Cranial nerves go from your brain to your eyes, mouth, ears, and other parts of your head.

Damage to these nerves usually happens in one eye, causing double vision. This problem happens all of a sudden and usually lasts for a short time.

Damage to these nerves usually happens on only one side of the face. This nerve damage causes that side of the face to hang lower or sag. Usually the lower eyelid and lips sag. This problem is called Bell’s palsy. It happens all of a sudden and tends to correct itself.

How do I know if I have nerve damage?

If you have one or more of the problems mentioned above, you may have some nerve damage from diabetes. Tell your doctor about the problem. Ask your doctor what you can do to make the problem better and to stop it from getting worse.

This article was in part adapted from: The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC) NIH Publication No. 06–4284, March 2006. This publication is not copyrighted.