Contents:
- Medical Video: What is Diabetic neuropathy?
- What is diabetic neuropathy?
- How do you treat this condition?
- 1. Keep blood sugar levels normal
- 2. Healthy life
- 3. Take medication
- How to control diabetes so you don't get complications
- Is there a way to prevent diabetic neuropathy?
Medical Video: What is Diabetic neuropathy?
Diabetes can cause several complications, one of which is diabetic neuropathy. What is diabetic neuropathy? Are people suffering from diabetes affected by this condition? See further information below.
What is diabetic neuropathy?
Diabetes can cause several problems in your body. Especially if you don't keep your blood sugar levels normal and let them stay high for years. High blood sugar can damage the nerves that send signals from the hands and feet. This damage is referred to as diabetic neuropathy.
Diabetic neuropathy can cause numbness or tingling on your fingers, be it toes or hands. Other symptoms are pain such as burning, sharp objects, and pain (diabetes nerve pain).
Pain may be mild at first, but can become more painful over time and can spread to your legs or arms. Walking may also feel very painful, even just because of the soft touch you will feel pain.
According to American Academy of Family Physicians10 to 20 percent of people with diabetes have experienced nerve pain. Nerve damage can affect sleep and even the quality of your life as a whole. This condition can also cause diabetics (the term for diabetic people) susceptible to stress.
How do you treat this condition?
Although damaged nerves cannot be replaced, there are other ways to prevent further damage and reduce pain. Here are some of the ways you must do:
1. Keep blood sugar levels normal
The first step to treating pain is to control your blood sugar, so that damage does not develop. Talk to your doctor about controlling blood sugar, and learn how to keep blood sugar normal.
You may be asked to lower blood sugar by 70-130 mg / dL before meals and less than 180 mg / dL of blood sugar after meals.
2. Healthy life
Manage your diet, exercise, and consumption of medicines from your doctor to lower your blood sugar to normal numbers that are targeted. Also pay attention to other health risks that can make your diabetes worse. Keep your body weight always ideal.
If you smoke, ask your doctor to explain various effective ways to stop smoking.
3. Take medication
To overcome this diabetic neuropathy, the doctor will initially advise you to take pain relievers such as acetaminophen, aspirin, or ibuprofen. This drug is available without a prescription and can cause side effects. Try using a low dose in a short time to control the symptoms. There are other options if you need a longer-term pain reliever or a stronger pain reliever.
Antidepressant medication
These drugs are most often used to treat depression. However, antidepressants are also often prescribed to treat nerve pain in diabetes, because it can affect chemicals in your brain that cause you to feel sick. Doctors may recommend tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline (Elavil), imipramine (Tofranil), and desipramine (Norpramin).
Antidepressants can cause unpleasant side effects such as dry mouth, fatigue, and sweating. You may not be advised to take tricyclic antidepressants if you have a troubled heart history.
The latest generation of serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI) such as venlafaxine (Effexor) and duloxetine (Cymbalta) are alternatives to tricyclics. These drugs tend to have fewer side effects.
Anticonvulsant medicine
Medications used to prevent seizures in people with epilepsy such as pregabalin, gabapentin, phenytoin and carbamazepine generally can also help with nerve pain. Pregabalin can also help you sleep better. Side effects of this drug include drowsiness, swelling and dizziness.
Opioid pain medication
For stronger pain relief, there are drugs such as oxycodone (Oxycontin) and opioids such as the drug tramadol (Conzip, Ultram). This drug tends to be the last choice to deal with pain. You can switch to these drugs if pain medications such as paracetamol and aspirin do not work.
Although these drugs can help reduce pain, this drug is not to be taken in the long term. This is because of the risk of major side effects and the potential for addiction. Be careful when taking opioid drugs and consult your doctor before taking them.
Topical pain relievers
There are also products that you can rub or paste onto your skin in areas that are painful. Capsaicin cream (Arthricare, Zostrix) can help prevent pain signals using ingredients found in chili. Capsaicin products can cause skin irritation in some people.
Patch lidocaine provides local anesthetics through patch which is placed on the skin. Please remember, treatment like this can sometimes cause mild skin irritation.
Alternative medicine
Several alternative therapies have been studied for diabetic nerve pain, although this therapy has not proven to be effective in treating nerve pain. Alternative treatments that you can try to reduce the symptoms of diabetic neuropathy are:
- supplements such as alpha lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine
- biofeedback
- meditation
- acupuncture
- hypnosis
How to control diabetes so you don't get complications
Nerve damage in diabetes can cause pain, but it can also affect your ability to feel pain. That's why it's important to keep your feet healthy. Try the following techniques to treat your feet better:
- Check your feet every day to see wounds, swelling and other problems. You might not know this problem until your feet are completely infected. Untreated infections can cause serious complications to amputation.
- Wash your feet every day with warm water and dry afterwards. Then apply lotion to keep it moist. Do not apply lotion between your toes. Enough on the back and soles of the feet.
- Wear shoes that are comfortable, flexible, fit your feet, and give enough space to move. Use your new shoes slowly, so as not to hurt your feet. Ask your doctor how to get special shoes if ordinary shoes are not suitable.
- Always cover your feet with shoes, sandals or socks to protect your feet and prevent injury.
Is there a way to prevent diabetic neuropathy?
The best way to avoid nerve pain is to control blood sugar to prevent nerve damage early. Follow your doctor's advice for proper diet, exercise and care.
Hello Health Group does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
