Symptoms of Diabetic Nerve Damage

If you have high blood sugar levels as in pre-diabetes or diabetes, chances are you probably already have some form of nerve pain or nerve damage.

Generally, people suffering from peripheral nerve damage would experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• Tingling and numbness.
• Loss of ability to feel pain.
• Burning or shooting pains – these may be worse at night.
• Loss of ability to detect changes in temperature.
• Loss of co-ordination – this is because you lose your joint position sense (the ability to determine the position of your joints).

Your feet and hands are often affected first in diabetic nerve damage. This means that walking or picking up objects may become difficult. If left untreated, it may lead to drastic consequences.

Nerve damage can also be “silent”, meaning you have no symptoms at all. This is especially dangerous for people with diabetes and pre-diabetes.