What Is Diabetic Neuropathy?

Causes and Symptoms

If you are diabetic and have neuropathy, then you are familiar with the painful, burning, and sometimes tingling sensation of neuropathy. Neuropathy is thought to be caused by a loss of blood supply to nerves in the body. This is a dangerous condition and can caused fatalities. Nerves affected can be any of those in the human body, including the nervous system that is associated with internal organs, such as the heart, lungs, and liver.

In some cases, the neuropathy can give a diabetic the appearance of someone who has had a stroke. Drooping in the face, mainly around the eyes and mouth can occur. Difficulty swallowing, speech impairment, vision problems, and erectile dysfunction are only a few of the problems caused by neuropathy.

Control

The only known way to prevent neuropathy or to control its’ spread is by having very strict control of your blood glucose levels. Even with this strict attention, the neuropathy can only be reversed or prevented if the onset is recent. Years of neuropathy cannot be reversed. This means: If you have diabetes, start a tight regimen now. Do not delay. Years of damage cannot be repaired!

There are some drugs which can give some relief of symptoms, but due to the amount of side effects at this time, stronger drugs are not available. In some cases the drugs that are the strongest have debilitating side effects. Your doctor can be consulted for your best options, you should not rely on research alone to choose a medicine for this disability. This is extremely important in this day and age when drugs are available over the internet for purchase.

I want to be very clear here. If you purchase medication online for this disability, you can die. Only use the medication your doctor prescribes.

Alternative Treatments

New approaches are being studied to treat neuropathy with good results. One of the most recent is the study of a special form of the vitamin B12. The results were mixed with this treatment. Another diet additive was an anti-oxidant known as a-lipoid acid. A dose of under 1800 milligrams was used, as higher doses caused nausea. Some benefit was shown in the clinical trials, though the study has not been published.

Vegans will not be surprised that a vegan diet with moderate exercise has been shown to improve diabetes symptoms, including neuropathy. This diet is high in vitamins, anti-oxidants, and the vitamins the body needs. Low in cholesterol and other body harming byproducts, a vegan diet promotes good health and good glucose control for diabetics.