What are Diabetic Neuropathies

What a paper clip, a safety pin, a Lego block, a key, a hair pin, a rock, and a dime all have in common? They were all undetected foreign objects found in the shoes of people with diabetic neuropathy.

What Is Diabetic Neuropathy?
Diabetic neuropathy is a nerve disorder most commonly caused by the high levels of sugar in the blood. It represents the most common complication of diabetes. It is also the major contributor of the triad of diabetic neuropathy, Peripheral Vascular Disease and infection, which are the primary causes of all chronic foot diabetic ulceration that can lead to amputation. In fact in over 20 years in private practice I can not ever recall seeing a severe diabetic foot ulcer without diabetic neuropathy being present. As such they represent an ongoing health problem to the public of major importance. The most common form of diabetic neuropathy seen is known as “distal symmetrical polyneuropathy.” In layman’s terms this means the nerves affected are the far reaching nerves seen in the hands and feet, normally on both right and left sides, involving more than one nerve. People with diabetes can develop nerve problems at any time. Significant clinical neuropathy can develop within the first 10 years after diagnosis of diabetes and the risk of nerve damage increases the longer the patient is a diabetic. It has been published that as high of 60% of diabetics have nerve damage. Diabetic neuropathy emerges more commonly in patients over 40 who are smokers and who don’t keep their blood sugar under control.

What Causes Diabetic Neuropathy?
Many factors have been mentioned in medical literature as possible causes of diabetic neuropathies, but scientists do not know exactly what causes the condition. However, several factors are likely to contribute to the disorder. They are high blood sugar levels, disease of the blood vessels, high lipid levels (cholesterol and triglycerides), environment and genetic consideration. Far and away the common cause is high blood glucose, a condition that causes chemical changes in nerves. Again, we don’t know why high glucose affects the nerves, but we do know that it does. Studies have shown that high glucose levels affect many chemical pathways to the nerves, causing a build up in the nerve of a chemical known as sorbitol while decreasing the chemical called myoinositol. Several scientists feel this may be the “missing link” in the ultimate treatment of diabetic neuropathies, but as of now no one is sure.
High blood glucose also damages large and small blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to the nerves. If there is not enough blood being sent to the nerve, the nerves ability to work will be effected. That is why it is so important that the blood supply to the feet and legs in a diabetic not be hampered.
Inherited factors also come in to play, but at the present time no one knows exactly why.

About the Author:  Dr. Burton S. Schuler foot doctor, foot specialist, podiatrist  of Panama City, Fl and the director of the Ambulatory Foot Clinics Podiatric Pain Management Center  and is a leading authority on the Morton’s Toe,  Long Second Toe and it associated problems. He is the author of the newly published book about The Morton’s Toe, Why You Really Hurt: It All Starts In the Foot. The book is published by the La Luz Press, Inc and is disturbed national by the Cardinal Publishing Group.  Why You Really Hurt: It All Starts In The Foot, is the story of how one bone in your foot could be the real reason for pains thru out your whole body. It is important because it offer the public new information about why millions of people suffer everyday with aches and pains, and offers new hope to get rid of problems they believed they would have to live with forever. It literally can be the “medical missing link”

Dr. Schuler, graduated from the N. Y. College of Podiatric Medicine in 1975 at the age of twenty-four, and has been in private practice ever since. In 1982, he published his first book, The Agony of De-Feet: A Podiatrist Guide to Foot Care. During his thirty-five year professional career, he has written for Collier’s Encyclopedia and various podiatric journals and publications. He has been interviewed by The New York Times, First in Women, and other publications. Dr. Schuler has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs both here and aboard. He is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Pain Management, and the National Board of Podiatric Examiners. Dr. Schuler is certified as a wound specialist from the American Academy of Wound Management. His professional and civic accomplishments have earned his inclusion in the 1999-2002 Who’s Who in America (Marquis).