Diabetic Nerve Pain What You Need To Know

Diabetic nerve pain is very uncomfortable for people suffering from the devastating effects of this disease. Diabetes is becoming an epidemic in the US as more and more people are diagnosed with both Type 1 and Type 2 with growth of the second form exploding into epidemic levels. We are currently seeing teenagers who are developing this disease which we never saw before.

There are many good websites that offer a very detailed discription of causes, and possible treatments for diabetic pain medications.  If you can't find what you are looking for then checking out these sources and other offline sources is an excellent idea.  There is information to be found if you continue to search for it.

Diabetic nerve pain affects about 60% of the people who contract this disease. This is caused by a condition called diabetic neuropathy. This means a disorder of the nerves caused by diabetes. The levels of pain from this condition can range from the mild to the the level where it is almost intolerable. Unfortunately, there is really now cure for the pain caused from diabetes. The only hope is to offer what relief we can to the patients who are suffering.

The most common cause of pain from diabetes is diabetic peripheral neuropathy which indicates the problems with the nerves is predominately in the extremities or in the toes, fingers, feet, hands, arms and legs. This makes sense as the parts of the body affected first by diabetes and poor circulation are these areas.

If you have pain that you feel may be caused by diabetes you need to contact your doctor immediately so he or she can determine what the cause of the pain is.  When checking for diabetic neuropathy in feet the physician will check for pain of course but there are also other indicators.  The doctor will asses the health of the muscles, skin, circulation, bones, and sensations in the feet.  He or she will test the feeling in the foot by touching it with different items.  These include a nylon monofilament line such as a light fishing line which will determine if there as been soft touch lost.  The doctor will also try to prick the feet to see if the pain sensation mechanism is still activity.

Losing the ability to feel pain is very dangerous for someone suffering from the effects of diabetic peripheral neuropathy because the person no longer can feel when something is injuring the foot.  So a cut or sore can appear on the foot and the patient will not do anything about it because they don't know it is there.  In fact they may let the problem go untreated to the point where major infection sets in just because they did not know they had injured the foot or toe.

People with diabetes should have a comprehensive foot exam each year in order to check for foot neuropathy.  If you are diagnosed with the condition hopefully you would be able to take better care of you feet with that knowledge.

There is not any cure for diabetic peripheral neuropathy just like there is no cure for diabetes.  The best a person can do is try to control the effects of the disease.  The treatment for diabetic neuropathy usually revolves around pain lessening.  The pair associated with this condition can be very great indeed and many people really can't find relief from it.

Pain relievers for this condition are usually antidepressants,  anticonvulsants, and opiods and opiod like drugs.  As I said before, these medications do not cure the problem they just allow the pain associated to be managed.