Diabetic neuropathy is a nerve injury that produces sharp, throbbing pain. It is not relieved by conventional analgesics and can affect both the quality of life that even modifies the personality of the sufferer. In the long term, it is one of the most frequent consequences of diabetes: according to experts, 1 in 4 people with this disease will end up developing a painful neuropathy throughout their lives. However, it can be prevented and treated. Its prevention can be made possible if detected and a test kit gets the job done.
What is Diabetic Neuropathy and What are its Causes
Diabetic neuropathy is damage or injury to the nerves caused by diabetes. The reason why neuropathies develop in diabetics is that fluctuations in blood glucose levels end up destroying the small blood vessels that nourish the nerves. This causes the nerve endings to suffer from lack of oxygen and nutrients, which ends up destroying them little by little.
When diabetic neuropathy is accompanied by pain, it is because it affects the nerves that transmit sensations, such as touch, cold, heat or pain. When the nerves are injured, the perception of these signs is affected, and sometimes pain appears without obvious injury to the naked eye.
The damage can occur in any organ or tissue, but the most frequent are the skin, the digestive system, the heart and the sexual organs. Depending on the affected area, the consequences will vary from one patient to another.
Symptoms of diabetic neuropathy
The most common symptoms in people who develop diabetic neuropathy are:
- Tingling sensation, numbness or lack of sensitivity in hands or feet.
- Sharp and throbbing pain that appears without any justification and does not improve with the usual analgesics.
- Extreme sensitivity in hands and
- Weakness in the extremities (legs, arms, hands).
- The appearance of ulcers or skin lesions that do not heal easily, especially in the feet and calves.
- Not all people suffer the same symptoms with the same intensity. They appear more frequently in elderly people and in diabetics who have lived with the disease for many years, especially if they have not had good control of their blood glucose.
In any case, if you are diabetic and you notice some of these symptoms, go to your doctor to assess your general health and perform the necessary diagnostic tests to ascertain if critical factors can be determined and MTHFR treatment and MTHFR home test can be done.