Diabetic Neuropathy Tests

Diabetes is a serious disease that affects millions of people around the world. In the United States, close to 30 million children and adults are diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetes has many symptoms, one such symptom is nerve disease. Nerve disease stems from having high blood sugar levels for more than 10 years. Once it is established that the nerve disease is caused by diabetes, the affected person is then known to have diabetic neuropathy.

A nerve disorder is diagnosed based on the patient's nerve conduction velocity or NCV. NCV refers to how fast nervous impulses travel down a nerve fiber. However, the patient may not exhibit any symptoms of a nerve disorder for quite a while despite a slow NCV. Thus, testing for the the NCV speed is a good way to diagnose if a diabetic patient has neuropathy. Once neuropathy is confirmed, the diabetic can then be prescribed the necessary medications to treat the nerve symptoms.

Important sidenote: Men over 40 years old are more predisposed to developing diabetic neuropathy than women. In addition, diabetic neuropathy tends to develop in people who are taller than the average person. It is believed that taller people have longer nerve fibers, and the longer the nerve fibers, the easier they can get damaged. Diabetic neuropathy is worsened by drinking even a small amount of alcohol.

There are methods that a doctor can test the nerves to diagnose if a patient has diabetic neuropathy. Different nerve fibers are responsible for the various sensations throughout the body so doctors would often test connections between these sensations (temperature, touch, light and vibration) and the nerves in order to come up with an analysis.

Vibration Testing

This test is rather simple and involves using a tuning fork. Most doctors prefer to use vibration testing to see if there are any abnormalities in the larger nerve fibers.

Temperature Testing

Doctors use temperature testing to find out if there are any abnormalities in the smaller nerve fibers. It is important for doctors to know the status of the smaller nerve fibers. If they are damaged, the patient may lose his ability to feel hot temperatures.

Light Touch Testing Light touch testing is used by doctors to identify which of the large fibers are damaged. The large nerve fibers in the body can sense everything that touches the skin. They then send signals to the brain about the sensation. Basically, a patient that does not have diabetic neuropathy is able to feel a filament tool tested with one gram of force to bend.