[쉬운 신경질환사전]is a series of articles designed by neurologist Hanseung Lee (Herb Neurology Clinic) and Hidak on the topic of neurological diseases in everyday life. Common but vague symptoms such as ‘eyelid tremors’, ‘dizziness’, ‘numbness of hands and feet’, and ‘various headaches’ are explained in an easy-to-understand manner for the general public.
Diabetes adversely affects the nervous system. It can cause all types of peripheral neuropathy, and even peripheral neuropathy caused by other causes is easily exacerbated by diabetes. For this reason, diabetes accounts for most of the causes of autonomic disorders. There are not many peripheral neuropathy that causes autonomic neuropathy other than diabetes. If diabetes is not managed well, it can impair brain function, increasing the likelihood of cognitive dysfunction.
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Nervous tissue with high fuel efficiency, diabetes that interferes with energy flow
All cells and tissues in the human body basically use oxygen to oxidize glucose to obtain energy. Nervous tissue consumes a lot of glucose and oxygen compared to other tissues. Therefore, if the energy supply is insufficient, the function will be damaged.
The problem is that diabetes is a disease that prevents glucose in the blood from getting into cells. When diabetes occurs, the energy inflow into the nerve cells is drastically reduced, so the function of the nervous tissue begins to deteriorate. If not properly maintained, nerves eventually become ill and die. If diabetes is not properly controlled, this process can eventually lead to peripheral neuropathy.
There are three main types of symptoms when there is an abnormality in the peripheral nerves. If the motor nerve is abnormal, skeletal muscle or internal organ function will suffer. Most of the dysfunction of internal organs develops into symptoms of autonomic disorder. When there is an abnormality in the sensory nerve, tingling occurs, and when the function is lost, the sensation disappears. The following are the characteristics and locations of peripheral neuropathy symptoms.
– Mononeuropathy: Only one peripheral nerve is involved. Only that nerve area is affected.
-Polyneuropathy: Mononeuropathy is scattered throughout the body.
-Polyneuropathy: All peripheral nerves deteriorate at once, and the pathology develops in a long nerve sequence, and the symptoms are severe. Therefore, it is characteristic that abnormalities appear from the toes.
-Neurorootopathy: Multiple nerve roots are intertwined to form one peripheral nerve. In neuroroot pathology, abnormalities in an area different from that of the peripheral nerves appear.
-Plexusopathy: The section before nerve roots are organized into peripheral nerves is the plexus. When the disease occurs here, severe neuralgia occurs in the affected upper or lower extremities.
If you have diabetes, you can develop any of the forms of peripheral neuropathy listed above, but polyneuropathy is the most common. This is because diabetes affects not only certain nerves, but all peripheral nerves.
Blood sugar control is very important for prevention.
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is difficult to improve once it occurs. Rather, it continues to worsen, so thorough prevention is necessary. A large, recently published study found that continued control of blood sugar provided some relief from symptoms. Therefore, proper blood sugar management is very important.
In my experience, when the patient’s glycated hemoglobin is 7.0% or higher, the neuropathy does not improve, and the symptoms of neuropathy due to other causes also worsen. On the other hand, no neurological problems were found in patients with 6.7% or less control.
Help = Hidak Consulting Doctor Hanseung Lee (Neurologist at Herb Neurology Clinic)