If you have diabetes, you know that there is more to the disease than just managing your blood glucose levels. Diabetes can be extremely painful. While managing your diet and glucose is critical to your health, diabetes impacts many other systems in the body, including the nervous system. Some of the most difficult symptoms of diabetes are the ones you can’t measure with a glucose meter or adjust with your diet.
Diabetic Neuropathy
Diabetes can often go undetected for years, and when this occurs, the elevated sugar levels can damage your body over time. A sustained high blood glucose level can contribute to diabetic neuropathy. Diabetic neuropathy is a complication of diabetes that causes damage to the nerves in your extremities. Initially, the symptoms may just be numbness and tingling in your hands and feet. Over time, the nerves that send the messages to your hands and feet can become further damaged. You may experience sharp, burning pain. The pain can become so severe that it becomes difficult to walk or even tolerate a soft touch.
Diabetic Neuropathy Impacts Life Quality
More than half of all people with diabetes suffer from some level of diabetic neuropathy. In addition to decreasing your mobility, the pain usually becomes worse at night and can impact your ability to sleep. Over time, living with such severe pain and discomfort can cause depression. Quality of life can be severely impacted by the level of pain experienced, and if you’re unable to remain active, managing your blood sugar becomes more difficult, causing a vicious cycle that only continues to get worse over time. Eventually, the condition can result in a loss of sensation in the foot or leg, and in some cases the back and neck. Patients who experience a reduced sensation or numbness in their feet may be at risk for suffering other foot injuries that can go unnoticed and become bigger problems.
Spine LLC Can Treat Your Diabetic Neuropathy
At Spine LLC, we help patients deal with both diabetes and its resultant physical discomfort. We use a variety of treatments that are customized to your needs, including guided active therapy and physical therapy. In addition, we offer innovative treatments, such as peripheral nerve stimulation and stem cell therapy, both of which have been proven to reduce the discomfort associated with diabetic neuropathy.
Don’t Settle for a Life of Pain
If you’re struggling with diabetic neuropathy, you don’t have to live with the pain. At Spine LLC, our focus is on giving our patients the ability to reclaim their lives through better pain management, more innovative healing therapies, and increased mobility. We specialize in treating pain conditions with a spectrum of proven therapy options ranging from conventional procedures to the latest technology- and science-based approaches. Talk to your primary care physician today for a referral to our specialized pain management clinic and to arrange for a consultation. Let us determine which approach might be most effective for you.
Step away from chronic pain.
