Do you have type 2 diabetes? If so, you probably see your diabetes doctor regularly and closely monitor your food intake, as well as check your blood sugar and exercise too. All of these methods work together to help keep your type 2 diabetes in check.
But all too often, the focus of diabetes care is solely on blood sugar and controlling it. Type 2 diabetes does far more than just affect the level of sugar in your blood. In truth, your whole body can be affected by diabetes. Besides the expected ups and downs of blood sugar, diabetes can affect the eyes by causing diabetic retinopathy. This is where diabetes causes the tiny blood vessels in the eyes to leak, and the blood which leaks out causes vision problems.
Another area where diabetes can affect the body is called diabetic neuropathy. This is where diabetes damages the nerves and circulation in the legs, which can cause a variety of symptoms. For some, they experience numbness or a lack of sensation which causes problems because you can step on something sharp and cut your foot but not actually feel it, and so it goes unnoticed until it is infected. By that point, since circulation has also been negatively affected, the healing process is slowed down considerably. In severe cases, people suffer wounds like this and then are unable to heal.
Other ways that people experience diabetic neuropathy are through painful twinges in the nerves, or a near-constant pins and needles feeling.
As you can see, diabetes can affect multiple areas of the body. It might surprise you to learn that diabetes can also affect the brain. It is believed to alter the actual structure of the brain as well as some of its functions. Both too-high and too-low blood sugar are believed to have a negative impact on the brain, so it is important to preserve its function.
Functional neurologists believe that you should stick to your diabetes care plan as advised by your diabetes doctor. Functional neurologists use a holistic approach to helping you to manage your diabetes. They will do more than test your blood sugar, and as a matter of fact they will dig deep in your medical history to try and find a source of your neuropathy which doesn’t simply apply blame to your type 2 diabetes. It turns out that neuropathy can have multiple causes, such as food sensitivities or even chronic inflammation.
Functional neurologists use more than just the standard array of tests, such as blood work or urine samples. They employ a series of test which give them the most accurate, up to date picture of your state of health. They may routinely test your strength, your balance and your reflexes. They do them at first to get a baseline, then periodically as time passes to see if you have improved or worsened.