Nerve Damage

Another common complication of diabetes is neuropathy, damage to the nerves of the body.

More than 70 percent of all people who have had diabetes for more than 15 years have some form of nerve damage. Young people do not usually have neuropathy, but may develop it later. Type 2 diabetics, who are diagnosed with diabetes later in life, may have nerve damage soon after diagnosis.

nerves in various parts of the body may be affected by diabetes. The autonomic nerves help to regulate the speed of your heartbeat, your blood pressure, and your perspiration. They also help with the control of your bladder, your digestive system, and your sex organs. In the diabetic, damage to the autonomic nerves may result in diarrhea or constipation. It may make it difficult to pass all the urine stored in the bladder, which may result in urinary infection. Autonomic neuropathy can lead to postural hypotension, which simply means that the blood pressure drops when you stand up quickly, making you feel dizzy or giddy.

Neuropathy may also affect the motor nerves, which carry signals to the muscles telling them to move. In a person with diabetes, the most likely muscles to be affected are those which control eye movements. However, motor neuropathy may also cause a person to have difficulty in walking.

Of all the kinds of nerve damage which a diabetic may experience, the most common is called peripheral neuropathy, which affects the nerves in the arms and legs.

This nerve damage cause numbness and loss of feeling, especially in the feet, so the person no longer feels pain or other sensations such as hot and cold. Injuries may occur without the person’s knowledge. Then, with the poorer blood circulation which diabetics often have, serious infections and even gangrene can easily occur.

Peripheral neuropathy causes at least half of all foot and leg amputations in the USA and many other countries.

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