By Dr. Femi Ogunyemi
How can something so sweet cause so much pain? Those were the ominous words a patient said to me some years ago in the small town of Moultrie in the deep south of the state of Georgia. You might want to ponder on this as you chop through that bowl of starch-full rice and wash it own with the 12 plus cubes of sugar in your choice of “mineral”. Mineral? What a term for a bottle of sugar! The rate we are seeing diabetes increase in Nigeria is quite alarming.
Type 2 diabetes, the one developed usually in adulthood, is simply an “acquired” inability to remove sugar from our blood efficiently. The sugar hangs around in the bloodstream and slowly poisons and disrupts many important structures in the body.
Especially the nerves. Types of diabetic nerve damage? Diabetic neuropathy can be classified as peripheral, autonomic, proximal, or focal. Each affects different parts of the body in various ways.
Peripheral neuropathy, the most common type of diabetic neuropathy, causes pain or loss of feeling in the toes, feet, legs, hands, and arms.
Autonomic neuropathy causes changes in digestion, bowel and bladder function, sexual response, and perspiration. It can also affect the nerves that serve the heart and control blood pressure, as well as nerves in the lungs and eyes. Autonomic neuropathy can also cause hypoglycemia unawareness, a condition in which people no longer experience the warning symptoms of low blood glucose levels.
Proximal neuropathy causes pain in the thighs, hips, or buttocks and leads to weakness in the legs. Focal neuropathy results in the sudden weakness of one nerve or a group of nerves, causing muscle weakness or pain. Any nerve in the body can be affected.
Can diabetic neuropathies be prevented?
The best way to prevent neuropathy is to keep blood glucose levels as close to the normal range as possible. Maintaining safe blood glucose levels protects nerves throughout the body. One way I explain diabetes to patients is to describe insulin as a hormone in our body that we use to break down and remove sugar from our blood. The sugar is then used for energy by our tissues.
I hypothesize that we are born with a limited x number of insulin. As we grow older our insulin stores are depleted depending on our sugar intake; and our body’s ability to use the sugar also becomes directly dependent on our level of exercise. That is, the more sugar we consume, the less insulin we have. And the less exercise we do, the less our bodies can burn up the sugar in our blood.
It is not exactly so scientifically. But the explanation is pretty close. Pain Relief“We treat painful diabetic neuropathy with oral medications, although other types of treatments may help some people. People with severe nerve pain may benefit from a combination of medications or treatments.
Medications used to help relieve diabetic nerve pain include tricyclic antidepressants, such as amitriptyline, imipramine, and desipramine (Norpramin,Pertofrane)
other types of antidepressants, such as duloxetine (Cymbalta), venlafaxine, bupropion (Wellbutrin), paroxetine (Paxil), and citalopram (Celexa) anticonvulsants, such as pregabalin (Lyrica), gabapentin (Gabarone, Neurontin), carbamazepine, and lamotrigine (Lamictal) opioids and opioid-like drugs, such as controlled-release oxycodone, an opioid; and tramadol (Ultram), an opioid that also acts as an antidepressant
Duloxetine and pregabalin are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration specifically for treating painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy. People do not have to be depressed for an antidepressant to help relieve their nerve pain. Overthe-counter pain medicines such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen may not work well for treating most nerve pain and can have serious side effects.
The bottom line is ….reduce your sugar and exercise more. And don’t smoke. Finally, if, as an adult, you have not checked your blood sugar in the last six months or more, please do so….er..today. Yes…haven’t we all heard this before?
SOURCE- http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/sugar-and-pain/
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