Diabetic Neuropathy and High Blood Glucose Levels
The high blood glucose levels that are often present in people with diabetes can cause significant damage to their vascular system, nerves, and organs of the body.
Many people with diabetes, especially those diabetics of long duration, experience a sensation of numbness, tingling, or burning in their feet or hands. And there is, in fact, a diabetic condition referred to as “burning toe syndrome”.
Classified as diabetic peripheral neuropathies, the sensations mentioned above are often quite painful and usually affect the extremities, the hands, the feet, and the lower legs. But other nerve problems, referred to as autonomic neuropathies, can occur anywhere in the body.
Neuropathies are caused by above normal blood glucose levels that have existed over a lengthy period of time, when sugar proteins, called glycoproteins, become attached to the nerves, especially of the lower extremities. And high blood sugar levels can also cause blood circulation problems that can lead to nerve damage. Other possible peripheral symptoms include itching, sores, and a decreased sense of touch, the latter being an easy way for a doctor to test for a loss of the normal sense of feeling.
Peripheral neuropathy
Severe peripheral neuropathy is more that an aggravation or inconvenience, it is often at its worse at night, painful enough to delay or interrupt sleep and there is not much that can be done to alleviate it, although there are several types of pain medication that might help. As a diabetic myself, my neuropathy shows up as a feeling of extreme coldness in my feet in bed, even though my feet may not actually be cold. If it keeps me from falling asleep, I find it sometimes helps to get up and walk around for a while. Why that helps I don’t know, perhaps it is the weight pressing down on the lower extremities forcing more blood to the feet. My endocrinologists has heard the same from other patients.
Autonomic neuropathy
Perhaps more serious is the neuropathy caused by damage to the body’s organs. These are sometimes manifested in a difficulty to urinate, bladder infections, impotence in men and sometimes stomach ailments. Although those conditions can be caused for other reasons, as a male type-2 diabetic I can attest to the fact that impotence is definitely part of the diabetes package for every male. And because of that, in addition to all the other reasons to do so, I can warn every young man to do their utmost to get their above normal blood sugar levels under control — or suffer a much diminished quality of life, and perhaps an annoyance from a significant other, to use a contemporary euphemism.
Care, prevention and treatment
Blood sugar control is the answer. The goal is to achieve better blood sugar levels and avoid above normal blood sugar levels. The sugar in the blood, reduced during the body’s digestion process to the simpler form of glucose, is needed by the cells of the body for energy. Sugar is an essential component of the food we eat daily but when our body’s system of managing the glucose load becomes impaired, as it does in the case of diabetes, sugar becomes a potential problem that causes damage to our tissues and organs.
The feet can be a major problem area and to avoid complications that may follow from foot infections, the American Diabetes Association publications suggest a daily foot inspections and immediate treatment of any infection that may occur.
Capsaicin for pain relief
I have learned about two possible simple treatments for pain relief from a favorite book by a doctor who is also a type-1 diabetic, Joseph Juliano, M.D. In his book, The Diabetic Male’s Essential Guide to Living Well, published 1998 by Henry Holt, Dr. Juliano suggests the application of capsaicin, which is apparently extracted from hot peppers and is the ingredient that gives them their fiery taste. Capsaicin is available from pharmacies as an “over-the-counter” item and is relatively inexpensive and has found use in other non-diabetic instances involving pain. In addition to the relief of nerve pain, it has been recommended for pain relief in osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, muscle and joint pains.
Capsaicin works, in part, by interfering with the transmission of pain impulses to the brain. Capsaicin has ben researched in a controlled clinical study with a long-term follow up where it was found to be effective in providing relief of painful diabetic neuropathy. Brief details of a 1992 study can be found Here.
Dr. Juliano’s pain relief recipe
Dr. Juliano’s personal source of relief is the hot sauce Salsa, that he eats every day and for which he claims that the natural capsaicin in the hot peppers, that are a main ingredient in the dish, have reduced his neuropathy to zero.
For a couple of recipe sources, check out the Food Network and/or All Recipes, I cannot wait to try them myself.
Go to List of Topics for this website
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment