03/15/2023
Diabetes-related nerve damage (diabetic neuropathy) affects the peripheral nervous system, which occurs outside the brain and spinal cord. Worsened by poorly controlled blood sugar levels, diabetic neuropathy affects as many as 50% of people with diabetes.
High blood sugar eventually damages sensory nerves that sense pain and temperature, motor nerves that control movement, and autonomic nerves that control blood pressure, digestive processes, and other involuntary bodily functions.
The most common type of diabetic neuropathy affects sensory and motor nerves in the feet, legs, hands, and arms.
Sciatica, on the other hand, is caused by compression of the sciatic nerve root, where it exits the lower spinal canal.
It’s most often related to a herniated disc or degenerative changes in the lumbar spine that narrow the space the nerve travels through, crowding or pinching the nerve. This leads to inflammation and irritation of the nerve, resulting in pain.
Diabetes causes nerve damage that may feel like sciatica, but there’s a big difference between the underlying cause of diabetes-related nerve pain versus scia