How Do You Know If You Have Diabetic Nerve Damage?

Learn how to spot the symptoms so that you can get the proper treatment.

By Laurie Salomon

Reviewed by QualityHealth's Medical Advisory Board

Diabetes is a disease that doesn't discriminate--the damage it causes often takes place throughout the body. And one of the things the disease attacks is your nerves. About 60 to 70 percent of diabetics suffer some type of nerve damage, or neuropathy, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. And the most likely to have it are people who've had diabetes for at lesat 25 years, who are overweight, who have high blood pressure, or who have trouble controlling their blood-sugar levels.

While doctors cannot always pinpoint exactly how diabetes causes nerve damage, some of the most likely culprits, either singly responsible or working in combination, include high blood sugar and other metabolic factors such as high levels of blood fats and low levels of insulin; vascular difficulties affecting the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to nerves; and autoimmune problems that cause nerve inflammation.

How do you know if you've got diabetic neuropathy? The first symptom of nerve damage is often numbness, tingling or pain in the feet, although some diabetics with nerve damage may never notice any symptoms at all. Symptoms may start gradually and build over time, or they may come on suddenly and aggressively. Typically, they include:

• numbness, tingling and pain in the legs and feet (this is the most common type of diabetic neuropathy, and it's why experts recommend that diabetics get thorough foot exams each year)
• numbness, tingling and pain in the arms, hands, and fingers
• atrophying of the foot and hand muscles
• gastrointestinal distress
• dizziness due to blood-pressure drops
• urinary problems
• erectile difficulties

Updated: May 21, 2009
2009 QualityHealth.com

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