Diabetic Neuropathy Treatment in Brooklyn, NYC & NJ

What Is Diabetic Neuropathy?

Diabetes is behind diabetic neuropathy, which is a type of nerve injury. High blood sugar levels harm nerves throughout the body, but diabetic neuropathy primarily affects neurons in the legs and feet. It’s a dangerous diabetes complication that affects nearly 50 percent of diabetics. It damages nerves in various ways, primarily due to chronic exposure to high blood glucose levels.

Common types include:

• Peripheral neuropathy. This is the most common kind of diabetic neuropathy. It first affects the feet and legs, then the hands and arms.
• Autonomic neuropathy. This is a kind of nerve injury affecting the autonomic nervous system.
• Proximal neuropathy. Nerves in the thighs, hips, buttocks or legs are often impacted by this type of neuropathy.
• Focal neuropathy. Damage to a single nerve is referred to as focal neuropathy.

Usually, diabetic neuropathy treatment involves controlling blood sugar levels, managing pain and addressing specific symptoms. Spinal cord stimulation is the newest advanced treatment for this disease. Your search for diabetic neuropathy doctors near me in New York and New Jersey ends with the medical experts  at Neuro Injury Specialists. Dr Mark Cohen is an experienced board certified neurologist, Dr. Dmitriy Dvoskin is a trained physical medicine & rehabilitation expert and Dr. Leon Reyfman is a board certified pain management specialist.

What Causes Diabetic Neuropathy?

Diabetic neuropathy is one of diabetes’s complications that continues indefinitely for some people.

The specific cause is unknown, but it’s thought to be the result of a combination of causes:

• Prolonged high sugar levels harm blood vessels and neurons, resulting in neuropathy.
• Diabetes-related chronic inflammation contributes to nerve damage.
• Some research suggests autoimmune factors play a role in diabetic neuropathy.
• Nerve injury can result from changes in the blood vessels that supply the nerves.
• Diabetic neuropathy may also be influenced by a family history.

Understanding and addressing additional risk factors lowers your risk of developing diabetic neuropathy and related complications.

Other risk factors include:

• Allowing your blood sugar levels to remain high
• Being overweight or obese
• Having high blood pressure
• Going too long with untreated high cholesterol levels
• Using tobacco products
• Lacking sufficient physical activity
• Suffering from other medical diseases like kidney disease and autoimmune disorders

Diabetic neuropathy doctors near me at Neuro Injury Specialists regularly monitor these risk factors when you come in for regular checkups. The sooner other conditions receive diabetic neuropathy treatment, the fewer complications you’re likely to develop.

Which Are the Best Diabetic Neuropathy Treatments for Me?

The effectiveness of treatment is determined by the accuracy of the diagnosis. Typically, your doctor undertakes a complete physical examination and evaluates your medical history, including any diabetes history.

Other diagnostic tools include:

• Assessing reflexes, muscle strength, and sensitivity to touch, temperature and vibration
• Measuring blood sugar levels, renal function and overall metabolic health
• Measuring nerve signal speed because slower speeds indicate nerve injury
• Giving you an electromyography (EMG) test to assess muscle and nerve electrical activity for potential injury
• Detecting sensory nerve injury by assessing reaction to touch, temperature and vibration
• Examining the autonomic nerve system, heart rate variability and sweat response

Usually, treatments of diabetic neuropathy aim to ease symptoms, stop the course of nerve damage, and prevent complications. You work closely with your neurologist to establish a diabetic neuropathy treatment plan that’s suited to your unique requirements and symptoms. Often, spinal cord stimulation or peripheral nerve stimulation, an FDA-approved treatment, is recommended.

Other common treatment options include:

• Maintaining stable blood sugar levels with food, exercise, and medication
• Receiving pain treatments like antidepressants, anticonvulsants and opioids
• Using capsaicin cream that’s applied topically to relieve discomfort
• Considering tricyclic antidepressants for pain relief
• Trying gabapentin and pregabalin for nerve pain, which are anticonvulsants used to treat pain
• Improving muscle strength, balance and coordination with physical therapy
• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), a technique that uses low-voltage electrical currents to relieve pain and stimulate nerve regeneration

What Does Diabetic Neuropathy Look Like?

The symptoms of diabetic neuropathy depend on the specific type you have. Understanding those specific symptoms allows your doctor to diagnose your condition early and proceed with the most effective treatments of diabetic neuropathy.

Symptoms based on types include:

• Peripheral neuropathy. Symptoms usually begin with numbness or decreased sensation in your feet. Sharp, jabbing pain, extreme sensitivity to touch, muscle weakness, loss of coordination and balance, and foot deformities begin in the toes or feet and progress upward. Charcot’s foot causes changes in foot shape and structure.
• Autonomic neuropathy. Symptoms include digestion problems like bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation, swallowing difficulties, erratic blood sugar levels, bladder problems, such as urinary incontinence or urinary tract infections, erectile dysfunction in men, vaginal dryness or difficulty reaching orgasm in women, and orthostatic hypotension, which causes dizziness or fainting when standing up.
• Proximal neuropathy. Symptoms include severe discomfort in the hips, thighs or buttocks, usually on one side of the body, weakness in the legs, making it difficult to get up from a seated posture or climb stairs, and abdominal swelling or weight loss.
• Focal neuropathy. Symptoms include sudden acute pain in specific nerves, such as the head, chest or leg, muscle weakness or pain in the affected area, difficulties focusing the eyes, double vision, or throbbing behind one eye.

If left untreated or managed improperly for a long period of time, symptoms worsen and develop into more serious complications that have a major impact on your health and quality of life.

Potential complications include:

• Foot ulcers and infections
• Charcot’s foot
• Chronic and severe pain
• Issues with balance and movement

What Are the Chances of Preventing Neuropathy?

It may not always be easy to totally prevent diabetic neuropathy. But you can substantially reduce your chances of getting it by properly controlling your blood sugar levels, getting regular exercise, eating a balanced diet and not smoking.

If you or someone you know is experiencing diabetic neuropathy symptoms, don’t wait. The earlier the diagnosis, the greater the odds of recovery. Contact the team at Neuro Injury Specialists  right away so an expert can walk you through the process and help you manage the symptoms more effectively, while also improving your overall health.

Neuro Injury Specialists in the NY/NJ area not only treat diabetic neuropathy but also other nerve-related conditions like tibial nerve, tarsal tunnel syndrome and peroneal nerve problems.

They also offer a wide range of neurological services, some of which include:

• Pharmacological intervention
• TMS
• CBT
• Cognitive behavioral therapy and neurofeedback
• Vision, vestibular and balance therapy