What is the nature of the “nerve damage” in diabetic neuropathy?

4 Responses to What is the nature of the “nerve damage” in diabetic neuropathy?

1. Clarissa says:

   May 30, 2010 at 6:51 pm

   I don’t know the physiology behind this, but many people with diabetes, especially those with neuropathy and obesity also have celiac disease. 1 in 25 people with diabetes also have celiac disease. And celiac disease causes neuropathy and other neurological problems (I’m not diabetic, but I became very clumsy and had weird aches and pains before finding out that I was celiac). It’s entirely possible that neuropathy is related to the chronic b-12 deficiency that celiacs suffer from. I have not found any studies on how many people with neuropathy and diabetes also have celiac, but your friend should get tested. Many physicians are very out of date with their knowledge of celiac disease and believe that celiac disease only causes weight loss, but all the new research is showing that people can be normal weight or overweight too, and in fact most are. This is one road block in convincing his doctor to do the testing, but I think it’s very important. The cure for it is a gluten free diet, so it’s very simple. If that is the cause of his neuropathy, it should improve with diet.

   http://millercenter. uchicago. edu/learnaboutpn/typesofpn/inflammatory/celiac. shtml
2. kla374 says:

   May 30, 2010 at 7:34 pm

   nerve damage resulting from diabetic neuropathy involves:

   - thickening of the walls of the blood vessels that supply nerves, which causes a decrease in nutrients
   - a slowed nerve conduction due to a breakdown of the myelin sheath (insulator) around the nerves
   - & formation & accumulation of sorbitol within the nerves, impairing conduction

   hope that answers your question!
3. lady lust says:

   May 30, 2010 at 7:38 pm

   I”m a diabetic and I suffer from Neuropathy for a couple of years now but I’m not over weight it was due to poor control of my blood sugars and I was in a very bad state of mind during this time and wasn’t caring for my self like I use to. Now that I was in a very bad car accident I got rear ended it have bad nerve problems with my legs and back so i’m on Lyrica. Now this medication works but the only thing about it is that it cause weight gan. So your friend should keep watch their blood sugar it will help not cause any other problems. Also tell your friend to wear socks because it will prevent anything from entering the feet, so with having Diabetic Neuropathy your friend will probably wont fell anything touching the feet if it’s really bad and is not on medication. Check out websites like Wikipeida, yahoo health, american diabetes association.
4. Daniel says:

   May 30, 2010 at 7:58 pm

   Diabetes is a disease condition where a person’s cells cannot properly absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Glucose is the primary source of energy for your nerve cells. An individual nerve cell is a neuron. Without the energy that they need, your neurons will begin to die. Once damaged, the neurons have little to no capacity to repair themselves.

   Simply put, diabetes creates a condition where your nerve cells starve to death.