Diabetic neuropathy
Diabetic neuropathy is a condition that arises as a result of the damage to nerves caused by diabetes mellitus. The most common features are numbness and tingling in the feet with lack of sensation to light touch and vibration, together with, in men, erectile dysfunction producing impotence. There are also effects on the autonomic nervous system producing postural hypotension (we are dizzy when we stand up) diarrhoea and disturbances of heart rate. The condition can also affect single motor nerves producing paralysis of the affected muscle (such as one of those involved in the movement of the eye) or predispose to conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, where there is compression of the median nerve at the front of the wrist causing pins and needles in the thumb and the first two fingers and pain up the forearm.
Diabetic neuropathy causing numbness in the feet can lead to infection, since patients do not feel the pain of minor injury - and since diabetics and infection do not go well together this can be a major problem, eventually leading to amputation. As with the other complications of diabetes mellitus, this is best managed by attention to control of the underlying disease, and thereby prevention.
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