NOVEMBER IS NATIONAL DIABETES AWARENESS MONTH
Don't Lose Your Nerve to Diabetes
Diabetes is the number-one cause of neuropathy, damage to the nerves in your feet. Statistics show that 60–70 percent of those with diabetes suffer from neuropathy. This condition causes burning, tingling, or numbness in the feet, which could drastically alter a patient’s quality of life.
Seeing a podiatrist regularly is an important part of managing your condition and preventing complications. If you do experience a problem with your feet, your podiatrist is the best-qualified physician to treat it.
When you add a podiatrist to your health-care team, he or she can provide you with important information so you're better able to manage the effects of diabetes on your feet. If you are looking for a podiatrist in your area, check out our Find a Podiatrist tool.
Whether you've been diagnosed recently or have been fighting diabetes for years, the resources below will help you to monitor your feet and prevent complications.
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The feet become dry, scaly and cracked
- This is because of neuropathy problems and pH problems with the skin
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The feet become susceptible to fungus and bacterial infections
- The resistance the skin has to these invaders involve the health of the protective mantle of the skin. Building a healthier protective mantle is of foremost importance in eliminating this problem. Building a healthier skin mantle involves optimizing the health and chemistry of the body, level of inflammation and the pH of the skin.
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The nails get thick and develop fungus and become ingrown with overgrown cuticles and calloused nail borders.
- The nails are analogous to the teeth and mouth. If the mouth is not washed out with mouthwash and teeth are not brushed regularly, they develop contaminants such as tartar, because of their unique warm, moist bacterial-laden environment of the mouth. Likewise, if the nails are not cleansed and brushed regularly, they become contaminated with debris, fungus, yeast and bacteria because of the unique warm moist environment of the shoe; and therefore cause the toenails to become thickened, diseased and ingrown.
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The bottoms of the feet develop very thick callouses
- With diabetes and also aging the protective fat pad gets thinner and loss of this cushioning in the heel and ball of the feet leave the feet more vulnerable to the pounding, tearing and rubbing pressure the foot undergoes with each step, developing thick callouses on top of the dry skin. Optimizing the health of the skin, the resilience of the skin making it less stiff with movements combined with the use of specific inserts, cushions, orthoses, socks, shoes and other foot wear is essential to dealing with this problem
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They either burn, hurt or numb or all three
- This is called diabetic sensory neuropathy. The reason this happens is that the covering of the nerves have diminished circulation and they are missing some nutrients that cannot penetrate the affected nerve.
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The toes become crooked and stiff and become susceptible to corns and ulcerations
- This is due to what is called in medical books “ the intrinsic minus foot” from diabetes and neuropathy involving the toe muscles. These symptoms of neuropathy can be controlled by appropriate foot wear, orthoses, skin health, exercise, stretching and massage.