3 Ways Doctors Can Test You For Diabetic Neuropathy (Nerve Damage)

Because diabetes is such a powerful and dangerous illness, there are many symptoms that stem from this terrible disease.  One such example is nerve disease, which is the result of having high blood glucose levels for 10 years or more.  Once nerve disease is rooted from diabetes, this is called diabetic neuropathy.

In order to diagnose a nerve disorder, a person's nerve conduction velocity (NCV for short) is severely slowed down.  Nerve conduction velocity is simply the speed at which nervous impulses travel down a nerve fiber. Unfortunately a person may not show any symptoms for a long time to come even though their body is experiencing slow NCV. Therefore, getting tested to find out the speed of their NCV is a way to diagnose neuropathy in diabetics who are not yet showing symptoms of nerve damage. Medications can then be supplied to the patient and in many cases their nerve symptoms will improve.

WARNING:  Diabetic neuropathy is most prevalent in men and women over the age of 40.  And this illness tends to hit people that are taller than average.  This is probably due to the fact that they have longer nerve fibers which gets damaged more easily. And if you drink,  then you must know that even a small quantity of any type of alcohol can make your neuropathy worsen.

How A Doctor Can Test The Functions Of Your Nerves

There are various ways your doctor can test the function of your nerves in order to determine whether or not you have diabetic neuropathy.  Because there are different nerve fibers that seem to be responsible for different kinds of sensations throughout the body, doctors can test the connections between those sensations (touch, temperature, vibration, and light) and your nerves to create an analysis.

1. Testing Using Vibration: Vibration testing is a rather simple test that can be initiated by a tuning fork.  Using vibration testing is what doctors prefer to utilize in order to bring out any abnormalities of the body's larger nerve fibers.

2. Testing Using Temperature: Temperature testing is very important because it can determine the status of the body's smaller nerve fibers.  Knowing the status of the small fibers is extremely important because if the small fibers are damaged, then it is possible for you to lose your ability to feel the sensations of extremely hot temperatures such as boiling water.

3. Testing Using Light Touch: By testing a patient using light touch methods, doctors can determine which large fibers are damaged, if any. Larger fibers within the body pick up and sense anything that touches the skin, sending signals to our brain that we are experiencing a sensation.  A person in good health and without nerve damage can feel a filament tool that is tested with 1 gram of force to bend.