Neuropathy usually affects the feet first (peripheral neuropathy). But it can also affect nerves that control the heart, digestion, bladder, and sex organs (autonomic neuropathy).
"Diabetic peripheral neuropathy develops in the longest nerves of the body and if blood sugar is not controlled it tends to work its way back up the body," says Joseph LeMaster, MD, assistant professor at the University of Missouri–Columbia School of Medicine. "People will often start to have tingling or pain in their feet, and sometimes they describe it as bees stinging their feet or ants stinging their feet."
However, one-half to two-thirds of people with diabetes who develop neuropathy have no symptoms at all, which is "even more dangerous because people can injure themselves without being aware of it," says Dr. LeMaster.
Sometimes, people experience numbness or pain—or bouts of both. Kathy Davis, who lives in a small suburb of Toledo, Ohio, has numbness and tingling in both her hands and her feet, as well as burning and searing pain in just her feet.
"As a nurse it has definitely affected my career," Davis says. "It's becoming more and more difficult to start IVs or draw blood. The sensation's just not there."
The symptoms of neuropathy can vary depending on the type.
Last Updated:
June 3, 2008