Diabetic peripheral neuropathy refers to a condition that happens due to damage to the nerve. This may lead to painful symptoms or some minor symptoms or even no symptoms. More than half of those suffering from diabetes have some kind of neuropathy which is in the form of strange sensations being experienced by the body.

Nerve Damage

This type of nerve damage is due to high levels of glucose in the body or due to low levels of insulin present in the blood stream or due to both these reasons. This high glucose level tends to damage interplay between the blood vessels and nerve fibers. This impacts the amount of nutrients reaching the nerves.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy appears initially in the feet and legs. Later on it can happen in the hands and arms. A common symptom here is numbness. This means being unable to feel your feet while you walk. Or else there may be a tingling or burning sensation in your hands or feet or both. This pain can be sudden and sharp. At other times, you might feel some kind of a cramp in your hands or feet. It can lead to you dropping items that you may be holding.

Other symptoms of this condition include losing your balance. This means that you would be walking in a wobbly manner. Hence you need to wear orthopedic shoes in order to help with this condition.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy can make you lose coordination. This is because weakness of muscles can affect your ankles, which will impact your gait. Your feet may start looking deformed. All this happens as there will be unusual shifts in weight over your feet and ankles as you are walking in an abnormal manner due to losing your nerve function.

Another type of deformity is known as hammertoe. In this one of the three toes between your big toe and the little one tends to get misshapen at its joint.

There may be sores or blisters that appear on your feet. But you do not know when and how they appeared and you did not feel the pain too. This is because the brain was not able to send a pain signal as the nerves had been damaged. This is actually a very dangerous situation as you can hurt yourself badly and not feel the pain.

This is not all. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy can lead to exaggerated sensations too. Even if you hold something warm in your hands, it may feel painfully hot. Or, your hands or feet may be feeling hot or cold for no specific reason. All this can affect your sleeping pattern too making you feel miserable.

Treating This Condition

If you are experiencing this condition you need to take good care of yourself. Eat good, nutritious food and exercise. Your body needs nutrients like vitamins in order to exacerbate this condition. Also, avoid alcohol and tobacco as that may worsen this condition.

DISCLAIMER: The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.