To many of the 23.6 million American adults and children the American Diabetes Association estimates have diabetes, the complications and treatments of the disease remain a mystery. Many people are familiar with common symptoms like lightheadedness and muscle weakness but are unaware of other complications like heart and kidney failure, blindness and loss of limbs. For these reasons, unmanaged diabetes can be a serious disease that affects literally every organ in your body, including your eyes, digestive tract, heart, lungs, legs and even your facial muscles.
Diabetic Neuropathies
Diabetic neuropathies are nerve disorders that affect nearly every organ in your body from your hands and feet to your heart and sex organs. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), 60 to 70 percent of diabetics suffer from some form of diabetic neuropathy. The diseases typically begin early and remain undetected until symptoms begin to appear after you've been diabetic for at least 25 years. After years of unmanaged diabetes, you may begin to experience one or more of four types of diabetic neuropathies: peripheral, autonomic, proximal and focal neuropathies.
Peripheral Neuropathy
Peripheral neuropathy is damage to the nerves of the arms, legs, feet and hands. Generally, you begin to feel numbness, tingling, sharp pains, cramps and extreme sensitivity in your feet and legs before feeling them in your hands and arms. The symptoms of peripheral neuropathy tend to get worse at night and ultimately result in weakness and loss of reflexes that can lead to problems with walking. Even simple symptoms, such as blisters, can cause infections that spread to the bone and can ultimately lead to having feet or legs amputated.
Autonomic Neuropathy
Autonomic neuropathy affects nerves that control your heart and blood pressure. It can also affect our blood pressure, digestive system, respiratory system, sight and sexual responses. More importantly, your autonomic system restores blood glucose levels to normal after hypoglycemic episodes.
Autonomic neuropathy is particularly important because it can affect your heart and blood vessels, leading to heart disease. It also contributes to constipation due to a condition called gastroparesis, problems with urination and sexual function. Diabetics with autonomic neuropathy are prone to urinary incontinence, urinary tract infections and uncontrolled diarrhea, especially at night.
Proximal Neuropathy
Proximal neuropathy affects the thighs, hips, buttocks, legs and can affect just one or both sides of your body. It is most common with older type II diabetics who have suffered from the disease for a number of years. It causes weakness in the legs that makes getting up from a chair to a standing position difficult without assistance.
Focal Neuropathy
While focal neuropathy affects the eyes, it can also cause paralysis on one side of the face, pain in the lower back or pelvis, the thighs, chest, stomach, shins and is one of the most commonly mistaken diagnoses for a heart attack among diabetics.
