When the involuntary body functions get damaged by the nerves that control them, it results in a medical condition called autonomic neuropathy. This condition may affect the sexual function, bladder function, digestion, temperature control, and also the blood pressure.

Owing to the nerve damage, the messages sent by the brain to other organs in the autonomic nervous system like the heart, sweat glands, and blood vessels are tampered. While physicians have found diabetes to be the main cause behind neuropathy, other health issues, like even an injection could cause this condition. Some medicines may also be the cause of damaging nerves. Symptoms as well as treatment could vary based on which of the nerves got damaged.

Symptoms

Symptoms and signs of autonomic neuropathy could depend upon which nerves got affected. These might include:

• Fainting and dizziness: A person may experience this condition while standing because of sudden blood pressure drop.
• Urinary issues: Issues such as difficult in passing urine, difficulty in understanding when the bladder is full, incontinence, incomplete emptying of the bladder, most of the conditions leading to urinary tract infection.
• Sexual issues: could include erectile dysfunction, ejaculating in case of men. In women, it could be dryness of the vagina, difficult to reach orgasm or low libido.
• Food digestion issues: feeling appetite loss, feeling full just after nibbling a few bites, heartburn, swallowing difficulty, vomiting, nausea, bloating of the abdomen, constipation, diarrhoea, all the changes owing to changes within digestive function.
• Recognizing inability: As the warning signals like getting shaky are absent, conditions like hypoglycaemia (low level of blood sugar) goes unnoticed.
• Sluggish reaction of the pupil makes it difficult in adjusting from light to that of dark, also seeing properly while driving in the night.
• Intolerance to exercise can happen in case the heart rate remains exactly the same rather than adjusting to the activity state.

Visit to the Physician

Look for immediate medical care in case you begin to have any signs plus symptoms of the condition, mainly if your diabetes is poorly controlled. In case you suffer from Diabetes type 2, physician’s advice immediate screening of autonomic neuropathy from the date you receive your diagnosis. For all those suffering from Type 1, the annual screening is suggested to begin five years from the day of diagnosis.

Causes

There are many health conditions that could develop autonomic neuropathy in an individual. It could also surface from the side affect of treatments done on other conditions, like cancer. Some of the causes behind autonomic neuropathy could be:

Diabetes: mainly when it is poorly controlled and can gradually bring  about nerve damage in the entire body.

Amyliodosis: This is abnormal build-up of protein that affects the nervous system and the organs.

Autoimmune diseases: Where your immune functions attack those parts of the body that are damaged, including the nerves.

Certain medications: Conditions like HIV and certain medications administered in lyme and botulism disease.

Hereditary disorders: These can be triggers to autonomic neuropathy.

Suresh Hospital’s Treatment

at Suresh Hospital, our physicians not just treat you; they make you aware of the risks involved with conditions pertaining to autonomic neuropathy. They inform you of which conditions to carefully monitor so that in case you have not developed the condition of autonomic neuropathy, you may tend to get it in future.

Our physicians come with certain best training and university degrees. Our entire medical staffs are carefully picked so that the best of treatment and cure is guided to you. They will take detailed tests and other required procedures to administer the treatment procedure for you.