Impact of diabetes mellitus on nerves

ABSTRACT

Background: Involvement of the peripheral and autonomic nervous systems is probably the most common complication of diabetes. The main symptoms of diabetic polyneuropathy include negative symptoms (those related to nerve fiber loss or dysfunction) such as numbness and weakness, and positive symptoms (those related to abnormal function of surviving nerve fibers) such as tingling and pain.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study held in diabetic clinic of Nishter hospital, Multan, Pakistan. The study included any diabetic patients showing symptoms of neuropathy.Results: There were total of 140 in this study. This study included 85% of male and 15% of female. Most common symptoms of diabetic neuropathy were pain (70%) and tingling (70%) followed by numbness in 65% of patients. There were 28 patients in 5 years duration of diabetes, 35 people in 6-10 years duration, 21 patients in 11-15 years duration, and 14 patients in 20+ years duration.Conclusions: Neuropathy due to diabetes is crippling especially when pain is the prominent symptoms. Autonomic symptoms like constipation and lightheadedness are discomforting for the patients. The most commonly used screening test is vibrating tuning fork test which is east to perform is clinical setting and is not time consuming. Diabetic patients need to take special care of.