How does hyperglycemia damage nerves

Some calcium may end up in parts of your body where it does not belong, like your heart and blood vessels. This can lead to heart disease.

Kidney failure. Your kidneys filter wastes from your blood and manage other functions of your body. There are five stages of kidney disease.

Treatment in the early stages can help keep kidney disease from getting worse. If your kidneys fail, you will need treatment with dialysis for the rest of your life, or a kidney transplant. CARES Serious problems from diabetes. Having kidney disease makes your diabetes worse.

You are more likely to develop heart disease, stroke, blindness, nerve damage, and foot amputations from diabetes if you also have kidney disease. How do I know if I have kidney disease? What happens if I have kidney disease? How can I prevent kidney disease and other problems from diabetes? What else can I do to protect my eyes, heart, nerves, feet, and kidneys from diabetes? Work with your healthcare team to develop a treatment plan that helps you manage diabetes.

Get regular exercise. Lose weight, if you need to. Eat healthy foods and follow your diabetes meal plan. Take all your medicines as instructed by your healthcare provider.

Get regular checkups for your eyes. Get regular checkups for your feet. Nerve damage can affect your hands, feet, legs, and arms. Nerve Damage and Digestion.

Risk Factors for Nerve Damage. Anyone with diabetes can develop nerve damage, but these factors increase your risk: Blood sugar levels that are hard to manage. Having diabetes for a long time, especially if your blood sugar is often higher than your target levels.

Being overweight. Being older than Having high blood pressure. Having high cholesterol. Learn More. To receive updates about diabetes topics, enter your email address: Email Address. What's this. But for others, diabetic neuropathy can be quite painful and disabling.

But you can often prevent diabetic neuropathy or slow its progress with consistent blood sugar management and a healthy lifestyle. There are four main types of diabetic neuropathy. You can have one type or more than one type of neuropathy. Your symptoms will depend on the type you have and which nerves are affected. Usually, symptoms develop gradually. You may not notice anything is wrong until considerable nerve damage has occurred. This type of neuropathy may also be called distal symmetric peripheral neuropathy.

It's the most common type of diabetic neuropathy. It affects the feet and legs first, followed by the hands and arms. Signs and symptoms of peripheral neuropathy are often worse at night, and may include:. The autonomic nervous system controls your heart, bladder, stomach, intestines, sex organs and eyes. Diabetes can affect nerves in any of these areas, possibly causing:. This type of neuropathy — also called diabetic amyotrophy — often affects nerves in the thighs, hips, buttocks or legs.

It can also affect the abdominal and chest area. Symptoms are usually on one side of the body, but may spread to the other side. You may have:. Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Diabetic neuropathy typically starts in your toes, feet or ankles and creeps up your body as the condition worsens, he says.

However, nerve damage also can affect your hands and wrists as well as your heart, digestive system, sex organs and more. Unfortunately, even patients with very mild cases of diabetes may be affected with severe cases of nerve pain, he says, while others can be spared.