Diabetic neuropathy is a disease that affects people with diabetes. It is a nerve damage condition that affects the nerves in your body due to high blood sugar. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and managing blood sugar can help prevent and maintain diabetic neuropathy.
There are four types of this illness, namely autonomic neuropathy, peripheral neuropathy proximal neuropathy, and mononeuropathy. Depending on which type you have, the symptoms may be gradual, and different nerves may be affected. Once you get diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy, you will get treatment, but you can maintain it in the following ways:
Maintain Blood Sugar
Regular workouts, a balanced diet, taking medication, and testing blood sugar as advised by the doctor, are some ways to maintain diabetic neuropathy. You can check out Neuropathy Help to know which supplements, herbs, and vitamins to use. The natural herbs and supplements can help control blood sugar, alleviate pain, and regenerate nerve cells with continued use.
High blood sugar is the cause of diabetic neuropathy. As such, to maintain it, lowering it down is your first course of action.
Checkup Your Feet Daily
With diabetes, it can be hard to feel a cut or injury in your feet. The injury may be severe and may need immediate medical attention. Daily check-ups will help you notice anything wrong and see your doctor if there is any damage. If it was a minor injury, but it is taking time to heal, you still need to see a doctor.
The best time to do a checkup is in the evening after your day’s activities are over. You can look between toes, soles, and the upper feet. Ignoring a small injury such as a blister can lead to severe infections that would have otherwise been treatable easily.
Avoid Smoking
If there’s a factor that triggers diabetic neuropathy, and it would help keep your health in check if you stopped it, then it is smoking. Smoking affects circulation in your body, which can lead to serious foot problems. If quitting on your own is hard, you can talk to your doctor.
The doctor may administer drugs to help you stop or tell you of a program that can help you from smoking. Smoking is addictive, and not everyone can stop on their own.
Take the Right Medication
Various treatments can treat or help maintain diabetic neuropathy. Before taking any over the counter medicines, it would help if you talked with your doctor to ensure it is the right medicine for your condition. The primary remedy is for pain relief due to nerve pain.
The doctor may prescribe anti-seizure and antidepressants. After you get your prescription, ensure you follow the instructions from your doctor. Sometimes you may experience side effects after taking medicine, do not hesitate to call your doctor in any eventuality.
Maintain Proper Feet Care
Your feet need proper cleansing, and you can offer them that by washing in lukewarm water with a mild soap at least once each day. After washing, dry between your toes with a clean, dry towel to avoid moisture getting trapped inside them. To prevent cracks, use a moisturizer but do not apply between your toes.
When trimming your toenails, trim them in a way they still maintain their natural curve and use a file to smoothen the rough edges. Cutting the nails deep in the corners can cause nail damage. If there’s an ingrown nail seeing a podiatrist will help take care of it.
Another way to ensure no injuries is to have shoes at all times, even when you are at home. Walking barefoot is dangerous as you can harm your feet and not notice. It would help if you put on comfortable shoes with a pair of socks to give your feet more cushioning. However, to give your feet a more relaxed feeling while walking, you could change the padding from your shoes and add new insoles.
Eating Well
A proper diet is essential for healthy living, and it is more important to adhere to it when you have diabetes. To get vitamins, antioxidants, fiber, and minerals, you need to include vegetables and fruits in your diet. These foods help maintain a healthy lifestyle and also lower blood sugar. When it comes to fats, you may need to avoid high-fat foods and instead use low-fat ones. Low-fat products include poultry, lean meat, oily fish, avocados, nuts, and vegetable oils.
High fats such as trans fats apart from deteriorating your condition can cause obesity and high cholesterol. Excess sugar and highly refined carbohydrates are a no-go zone if you desire to be well.
Getting Adequate Sleep
Sleep is essential for a healthy body, and with diabetic neuropathy, a patient needs it more. Sleeping helps manage the disease as well as regulate the rate of metabolism. Poor sleep habits may cause your glucose levels to rise and cause more problems.
Types of diabetic neuropathy
There are four main types of neuropathy in people with diabetes.
✔ Peripheral neuropathy
✔ Focal neuropathy
✔ Autonomic neuropathy
✔ Proximal neuropathy
Diabetic Neuropathy Symptoms
Symptoms vary depending on the areas affected. Common signs and symptoms of the different types of diabetic neuropathy include:
✔ Sensitivity to touch
✔ Loss of sense of touch
✔ Burning sensation in feet, especially at night
✔ Diarrhea or constipation
✔ Dizziness when you stand up
✔ Difficulty with coordination when walking
✔ Numbness or pain in your hands or feet
✔ Muscle weakness or wasting
✔ Bladder problems, such as incomplete bladder emptying
✔ Vaginal dryness
✔ Erectile dysfunction
✔ Inability to sense low blood glucose
✔ Vision trouble, such as double vision
✔ Increased heart rate
✔ Bloating or fullness
✔ Nausea, indigestion, or vomiting
✔ Excessive or decreased sweating