Movement disorders in patients with diabetes mellitus

Movement disorders are not infrequent in patients with diabetes mellitus. These may occur on the basis of both central and peripheral nervous system dysfunction and can be secondary to severe hyperglycemia, complications of diabetes or its treatment and less often to diseases in which both diabetes and a movement disorder are primary manifestations of the same underlying disease. We present a typical case of a severe movement disorder complicating diabetes as a springboard to review the spectrum of disorders associated with this condition.