What is Neuropathy and What is the Diabetes Connection?
By Dr. Jane Fore
It is common for people who have diabetes to get injuries on the legs and feet that lead to amputations. Why is this?
The three main reasons are a condition called neuropathy leading to unintentional injury, poor circulation due to disease of the arteries taking circulation to the feet and difficulty fighting infection due to high blood sugars and the effects on the body’s normal functions.
The focus is on neuropathy. Neuropathy indicates a malfunction of the nerves. The main neuropathy in diabetes is called polyneuropathy and commonly starts in the toes and moves up the feet and legs. Nerves warn us about our environment like telling us about pain, hot and cold, vibration, and our balance. When nerves are damaged from diabetes, they give us false sensations. They send pain signals when we are not in a threatening situation, feet feel too hot or cold when they are normal temperature and not sensing when too hot or cold. We fall if we cannot feel our feet and we cannot sense when we are getting injured. Blisters and ulcers form without feeling any pain. When a person is injured, they do not have pain, so they do not stop what they are doing and allow healing.
Our nerves betray us. If we do not have pain, we do not avoid further damage and do not protect the area that needs to heal.
A minor injury on the feet is not a minor problem with neuropathy. Diabetics do not have the pain sensations that lead to protection. This allows a small problem to become bigger and is the primary reasons for loss of part of the foot or leg or even a life.
The best way to not have diabetic neuropathy is to PREVENT DIABETIC NEUROPATHY. Once it starts to develop it, it can be slowed, but to completely reverse neuropathy is usually not successful. Good control of diabetes is the best prevention. It is unfortunate that many people do not take diabetes seriously until complications occur. Let’s jump aboard the prevention movement.