Diabetic Neuropathy
The most common type of diabetic neuropathy is diabetic peripheral neuropathy: pain in your hands or feet.
In the early stages of diabetic neuropathy, you may have no signs. You may have numbness or tingling in the hands, feet, or both. Because nerve damage can occur over several years, these cases may go unnoticed. You may only become aware of neuropathy if the nerve damage gets worse and becomes painful. Pain caused by nerve damage from diabetes is called diabetic nerve pain. Diabetic nerve pain is a growing problem.
It is estimated that more than 25 million Americans are affected by diabetes. Unfortunately, this number is only growing. As would be expected, the number of people suffering from diabetic nerve pain has also increased. Diabetic nerve pain is a common diabetes complication, as are kidney and eye (retinopathy) conditions. Approximately 21% of patients with diabetes have diabetic nerve pain. This adds up to 5 million Americans with diabetic nerve pain.
Until now, diabetic neuropathy has been typically treated with oral and topical (rubbed on the skin) medications, and sometimes special forms of physical therapy. The physicians at Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists are now treating diabetic neuropathy with 10 kHz Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS). SCS uses high-frequency stimulation of the spinal nerves to block or scramble pain signals. SCS has been shown to be effective in treating other pain conditions, such as chronic back and leg pain. It is now FDA-approved to treat diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
At Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, our providers can help patients with diabetic neuropathy find relief from pain with SCS. In addition, we encourage our patients with diabetic neuropathy to continue working with their diabetes provider to manage blood sugar levels to prevent the worsening of the neuropathy condition.
