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Information About Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy, the most common type of diabetic neuropathy, is a nerve disorder that can cause pain or loss of feeling in the toes, feet, legs, hands, and arms. Here's what you can do to prevent, treat, and feel better with this complication of diabetes.
What Is Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy?
Peripheral neuropathy occurs when the nerves of the peripheral nervous system are damaged. These nerves run from the brain and spinal cord to the peripheral nervous system, which reaches all areas of the body, including arms, hands, legs, and feet.
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy affects these nerves:
Motor: Nerves that control how your muscles move and function
Sensory: Nerves that receive sensations such as touch, heat, and pain. "These sensations can be either positive or negative," says Kent Holtorf, M.D., endocrinologist and medical director of the Holtorf Medical Group in Torrance, California. "Positive means you have hypersensation, or a lot of pain with a light touch. Or there can be negative, which is numbness, or a lack of feeling with light touch."
Autonomic: Nerves that control automatic functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, digestion, and bladder function
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