Fwd: Special Edition: Diabetic Nerve Pain a Growing Problem

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Diabetic Nerve Pain - A Growing Problem

Nerve pain is one of the most common symptoms associated with diabetes. But how common is diabetic nerve pain? About half of all diabetic patients may have some form of it, according to the National Institutes of Health.

But you don't have to have full-blown diabetes to get diabetic nerve pain. Studies are finding nerve problems in people at risk for diabetes. Such people are classified as "prediabetic." The sense of tingling, pain or numbness is often the first sign that a person is prediabetic or diabetic. Nearly 43 million people may have prediabetes.

Damage to the nerves also can dull your senses and impair your ability to control muscles.

Initially, you may experience tingling, numbness and pain in the hands and feet that comes and goes. If you feel this occasional numbness or tingling, tell your doctor. Such warning signs indicate damage to the nerves known as diabetic neuropathy. As the neuropathy progresses, the pain becomes stronger and more constant.

Eventually, your pain may be replaced with loss of feeling. This stage is especially dangerous because your inability to sense pain can lead to more serious complications, including infections and foot ulcers.

Damage to the nerves also can dull your senses and impair your ability to control muscles. It impairs your body's ability to regulate functions not under conscious control and may cause weakness or sexual dysfunction.

As with many conditions, prevention is better than treatment. Diabetic nerve pain is more likely to appear in people who have a long history of diabetes, problems controlling their blood sugar levels, and high cholesterol and blood pressure. Preventing or controlling these conditions can help.

Other preventive treatments include good skin and foot care, exercise programs, avoiding smoking (which causes circulatory problems), and avoiding or restricting alcohol (which can be toxic to nerves).

Controlling these factors can prevent or mitigate diabetic nerve pain. To treat diabetic nerve pain, a physician may recommend prescription or over-the-counter medications or topical creams.

Although difficult to treat, new discoveries continue to be made into methods of preventing diabetic nerve damage. For example, researchers have discovered a link between the molecular mechanism RNA interference (RNAi) and the rebuilding and repair of periphery nerves, which run from the spinal cord to other parts of the body.

Scientists are hopeful that they will be able to use RNAi to treat people whose nerves are damaged by diseases such as diabetes or through injury.

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Diabetic nerve pain is more likely to appear in people who have a long history of diabetes, problems controlling their blood sugar levels, and high cholesterol and blood pressure.

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