Q: My father has the problem of diabetic neuropathy - Thoracoabdominal neuropathy. He is 60 years old and is almost retired. He is a diabetic patient since the last 10 years. He has burning and severe pain in the left-lower-side chest which became most severe at night. He had weight loss of around 12 kg in last one year and has lost almost all muscles of legs and thighs. His diet reduced by 60 % in last one year. He sleeps almost 12-15 hours a day. His glucose level is almost normal. Although we are consulting a doctor and we have observed that now he is getting back to normal with a weight gain of about 1.5 kgs in last 2 months, but still he is not totally relieved from pain and is not able to increase his diet. He is unable to do any physical work i.e. drive a vehicle, walk for 10 mins., sit for a long time. What are the further complications in this conditions? How to improve the condition of damaged nerves? How he can improve his physical strength? What kind of precautions does he need to take?

A:Diabetes is a chronic disease and despite best efforts complication do take place. Diabetes can involve almost all organs of the body, most troublesome are painful neuropathies, that your father has. Involvement of eyes, kidney, heart, gastric-intestinal tract are the other common complications. In early stage of neuropathy improvement can be significant but later on response to best treatment is not satisfactory. Normalisation of blood glucose, BP and other metabolic parameters like S. creatinine, uric acid, cholesterol, S. sodium, potassium etc. are the only means. In addition , specific, symptoms related therapy can be added. No specific precautions required except low -sugar episodes and regular checks are required. precaution re required in children of patients to prevent diabetes in them eg. regular exercise, healthy food and avoid unnecessary stress.