More than 50% of people with diabetes have neuropathy which cause different problems such as abnormal sensation, foot deformity, gastroparesis, urine retention, etc. Numbness and pain are common symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. The pain can be described in many ways, such as burning, sharp, tearing, etc. Some pains are allodynia, triggering pain when clothes touch the body. A diabetic patient once mentioned that when she changed her clothes at night, her body felt like it was being shocked by a million volts. It was excruciating.

Peripheral neuropathy can desensitize temperature sensations, easily causing burns. It sometimes causes muscle weakness and even atrophy. A diabetic patient said he did not feel his slipper slipping off and continued to walk barefoot. Initially, the symptoms progress upwards from the lower limbs. The extremities have glove and stocking sensations that are aggravated at night, affecting the quality of life of people with diabetes.

The ADA recommends that people with diabetes should have annual neuropathy examinations. The examination times are right after the diagnosis for type 2 people with diabetes and 5 years after the diagnosis for type 1 people with diabetes. Early detection, early treatment, and ideal blood sugar control can effectively postpone and prevent neuropathy.