What causes peripheral neuropathy? Chronically high blood sugar levels
damage nerves not only in your extremities but also in other parts of
your body. These damaged nerves cannot effectively carry messages
between the brain and other parts of the body.
This means you may not feel heat, cold, or pain in your feet, legs, or hands. If you get a cut or sore on your foot,
you may not know it, which is why it's so important to inspect your
feet daily. If a shoe doesn't fit properly, you could even develop a
foot ulcer and not know it.
An estimated 20 million people in the United States have some form of
peripheral neuropathy, a condition that develops as
a result of damage to the peripheral
nervous system — the vast communications network that transmits
information between the
central nervous system (the brain
and spinal cord) and every other part of the body. (Neuropathy means
nerve disease or damage.)
Symptoms can range from numbness or
tingling, to pricking sensations (paresthesia), or muscle weakness.
Areas of the body
may become abnormally sensitive
leading to an exaggeratedly intense or distorted experience of touch
(allodynia). In such
cases, pain may occur in response to
a stimulus that does not normally provoke pain. Severe symptoms may
include burning pain
(especially at night), muscle
wasting, paralysis, or organ or gland dysfunction. Damage to nerves that
supply internal organs
may impair digestion, sweating,
sexual function, and urination. In the most extreme cases, breathing may
become difficult,
or organ failure may occur.
