Diabetic Foot Care

Diabetic foot care is very important as it can mean a difference between living a fairly normal life and one that is filled with discomfort and pain.  If you suffer from diabetes is important the you find out all the information you possibly can on how to treat diabetic feet so that you can live as a life that does not center around the diabetes foot pain.  This is a miserable condition that has no cure just like the disease itself.

One of the symptoms of diabetes is diabetic peripheral neuropathy which means a malfunctioning of the nervous system in the patient's extremities caused by diabetes.  Diabetic foot neuropathy is concerned with the nerve damage caused to the foot.  There is no cure for this condition but there are certain things that can be done to prolong the time before it becomes too great.

This diabetic foot symptom also causes a loss of feeling in the feet.  This can result in injury to the foot because the patient does not feel anything when the foot is being injured.  If not treated these injuries can become infected and cause even more damage.

Diabteic foot care involves inspecting the feet for any damage that may have been caused by injuries which the patient didn't even know he or she sustained.  Your doctor will do a foot exam probably every time you have an appointment in order to track the extent of nerve damage that has been caused by the disease.

He or she will be looking for two things.  The first is the ability to feel touch or tactile functioning.  This is usually done by touching the foot with a mono filament line, like a fishing line, attached to to a rod.  If you can feel this being touched to the foot then that indicates the nerve damge from diabetes has not progressed very far.

The second test will involve checking to see if you can experience pain.  The doctor will prick the foot with a needle in several spots to check the functioning of the pain nervous system.  If you can't feel the pricks then this means you must be especially careful of injury your feet because you won't even know it is happening.

Along with the inspection from your doctor you also must check your feet daily and preferably more often to see if there are any problems.  What used to be a small problem like a blister can now deteriorate into a much bigger problem due to the painful diabetic neuropathy and the restricted blood flow caused by the disease.

If you do have diabetic foot pain one help is diabetic socks that can be worn as the disease progrsses.  These are specially made socks that address the symptoms of diabetic neuropathy and the loss of circulation caused by the diabetes.  These socks are made out of materials that tend to fit infection and that wick the moisture away from the foot to keep them dry.  They are also designed to be looser at the top to help blood circulation to and from the feet.

If you have diabetic foot pain or circulation problems these may help to relieve some of the symptoms.