Diabetic Neuropathy: Understand What Your Doctor Means

Diabetic neuropathy, or the pathology of diabetic neuropathy, can appear mysterious and complicated to understand, for anyone who's first introduced to these terms. They are particularly difficult to understand for someone with a small amount of previous knowledge of the nervous system. You may be presenting to your doctor with a symptom like a certain pain, or loss of feeling in your feet, and instantly, your health care provider knows these as diabetic neuropathy symptoms. Most likely, you'll be confronted with some medical terms that you have never heard of previously. It seems that no matter how old we are, men and alike need to understand why we have a certain symptom, and the best way to treat it.

For example, maybe you have scheduled a physician visit due to pain, and your doctor instantly recognizes this as neuropathic pain, and starts to explain neuropathy affects which are related to diabetes. Additionally, in place of hearing about your levels of blood sugars, this talk has grown to talking about levels of sorbitol. It may be overwhelming for a patient to hear a barrage of new terms all at 1 time, or going from 1 subject to the other, such as flitting from discussing blood, to talking about a nerve. When doctors bring in new words to patients, such as nitric oxide and, it's not unheard of for a patient to leave the office with more questions than they went in with.

Diabetic neuropathy is actually divided into four groups: Peripheral neuropathy which affects the arms, hands, legs, feet, & toes; autonomic neuropathy affects the blood vessels & heart, the digestive system, urinary tract, sex organs, eyes, sweat glands & lungs; proximal neuropathy affects the hips, buttocks legs and thighs; & focal neuropathy which affects the lower back & pelvis, abdomen, chest, thighs, legs, feet, eyes, ears & facial muscles.

As you can see, diabetic neuropathy can affect the nerves throughout the body. Because of this, there can be several different kinds of symptoms. Because pain, numbness, sensitivity to temperatures, sweating, etc. are very noticeable symptoms of neuropathy from diabetes, there are several other more hard to determine signs that you can miss. This is why it's very important to inform your doctor of any physical changes you may notice.

Neuropathy may manifest in such a variety of ways that symptoms like high blood pressure, constipation, sexual dysfunction, blurry eyesight, heavy perspiration and so on, need to be assessed by a professional before they evidence themselves as, or are attributed to, diabetic neuropathy. In order to properly diagnose you, your physician can order specialized tests i.e. nerve conduction studies to see how well your nerves are transmitting and how the muscles surrounding them respond, use ultrasound to look at various organs, and they may check for a variance in your heart beat.

By understanding the diabestes abcs you will have a better chance to know if you have symptoms of diabetic neuropathy or any other diseases associated with diabetes.

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Making the Most of Your Time With Your Doctor to Treat Your Peripheral Neuropathy

If you've been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, chances are that diagnosis was made by your family doctor.

Chances are even better that he's sent you to a specialist to confirm that diagnosis and begin immediate treatment (if you're lucky).

If you're reading this, you've probably been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy as a result of:

Diabetes
Shingles
Chemotherapy
HIV/AIDS or some other immune deficiency disease
Exposure to toxins
Alcohol or drug abuse

If your treating physician hasn't referred you to a specialist, one of the best things you can do is request a referral to a specialist in treating peripheral neuropathy, like your local neuropathy clinician.

Once that referral is made, you need to take advantage of every minute you have with your specialist. Peripheral neuropathy is not a condition forgiving of delayed treatment. The longer you wait, the more severe and long-lasting (potentially permanent) your nerve damage can be.

So What Should You Do?

First, realize that your appointment with your specialist is much more than just time blocked on both your schedules. It's a chance to take your life back. If you have peripheral neuropathy, your body is at war and this is your chance to win.

You want to be prepared so you can take advantage of every minute and get started with an effective treatment program ASAP.

To do that, you need to

Write your symptoms down, even if you don't think they have anything to do with your peripheral neuropathy. Making a list will ensure that you don't forget anything.
Make a list of every medication you take. That includes vitamins, herbal supplements and anything over the counter. Those liquid glucosamine drinks you may be taking to alleviate joint pain count as a medication.
Line up someone to go with you, either a family member or a friend. You'll want someone there to write down what the doctor tells you. There's no way you'll remember it all.
Write down any questions you want to ask. There is no such thing as a stupid question so ask about anything you're not sure about. Here are a few samples:

1.) What causes peripheral neuropathy?

2.) Does everyone have the same symptoms or are mine different?

3.) What else could be causing my symptoms?

4.) Are there any tests I need?

5.) What are my chances of a full recovery?

6.) Will the treatment you're prescribing have any side effects?

7.) What are my treatment options?

8.) Do you have any reading material I can take home to learn more about peripheral neuropathy?

These are just suggestions so don't limit yourself to these questions. Again, write down anything you're not sure about.

Be Ready to Help Your Doctor

Depending on your symptoms, your underlying medical conditions and any other issues that are specific to you and your peripheral neuropathy, your doctor will ask you quite a few questions.

To make the most efficient use of your time with him, do what you can to help him. Think about the answers to these basic questions before your appointment:

Do you have any underlying medical conditions (like the ones we listed above?)
When did you first notice your symptoms?
How often do you experience your symptoms? Do you have problems at specific times of the day or after any specific activity?
On a scale of 1 to 10, (1 being mild and 10 being severe), how would you rate your symptoms?
Have you noticed anything that makes your symptoms better or worse?

Just thinking about these questions ahead of time and actually putting together answers will make your time with your clinician or other specialist more efficient and productive. You'll both be much happier with the result if you know what to expect.

And don't be afraid to ask your doctor for suggestions to help you manage your peripheral neuropathy symptoms. Your neuropathy clinician specializes in treating the whole patient, including recommending lifestyle changes, preparing diet plans, whatever it takes to make your treatment plan effective for you.

We hope this gives you a head start on taking charge of your peripheral neuropathy and making sure that you and your medical professional get the most out of your time together.

Dr. John Hayes, Jr. is an Evvy Award Nominee and author of "Living and Practicing by Design" and "Beating Neuropathy-Taking Misery to Miracles in Just 5 Weeks!".

As a chiropractic consultant, his work on peripheral neuropathy has expanded practice building to MDs, PTs and DPMs as well. A free CD and information packet on his unique services among healthcare consultants can be obtained by registering your information at http://perfectpracticeweb.com.

For more information on treating and recovering from peripheral neuropathy, get our Free E-Book and subscription to the Weekly Ezine "Beating Neuropathy" at http://neuropathydr.com. Peripheral neuropathy doctors, physical therapists and patients will find more information as well as post comments and questions at this site as well.

Resources: http://peripheralneuropathycenter.uchicago.edu/faq/
http://www.neuropathy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Living_Ten_Questions

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