Contact Michelle to enroll!

913-588-1045

We are conducing a clinical study to understand how the nerves in the skin are affected by pre-diabetes and how that relates to pain in the legs.

Chronic pain develops in a range of diseases including prediabetes. However, not everyone afflicted with develops chronic pain, and we don’t fully understand the factors that cause pain. This is true for diabetes, where roughly 70% of patients develop diabetic neuropathy (DN), and within that neuropathic group, approximately 20-30% of neuropathy patients develop painful DN. Little evidence is available about why certain DN patients develop pain and others develop insensate neuropathy or temporary pain followed by insensate neuropathy.

The epidermis is innervated by two axonal populations. Referred to as peptidergic or nonpeptidergic axons, these two sensory axon subtypes innervate the epidermis and provide important information about sensation and pain from the skin. We hypothesize that disruptions in the balance of epidermal axon subtypes can lead to sensory abnormalities associated with prediabetes and diabetes. Our goal is to identify changes in epidermal innervation that lead to pain associated with DN in humans.

How can you participate?

You can participate if you:

• are male or female, between 45-75 years of age

• are normal with no pre-diabetes or diabetes

• have symptoms of pre-diabetes , with or without neuropathy

• have no open wounds on the feet or serious skin problems on the legs

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Attend a first visit (approx 3hrs)

• have a blood draw and complete a test to measure how well your body handles sugar

• Attend a 2nd visit (approx 30 min) where a doctor will test you for neuropathy and take a skin biopsy from above your ankle.

Benefits!

• Receive a pre-diabetes and neuropathy evaluation at no cost to you!

• Receive $100 dollars to offset travel expenses!

• Help us understand how pre-diabetes can lead to limb pain!