Podiatric when a diabetic patient.. Destroy the nerves of the foot that leads to pain

Podiatric when a diabetic patient

Definition and causes

High blood sugar causes a series of chemical changes in the body that eventually damage the nerves. The alteration can range from functional damage (slowing of electrical conduction) to structural damage to the nerve. The alteration is then more and more difficult to reverse. Diabetes can affect all the nerves in the body. It affects two types of nerves: peripheral nerves that control muscles and feel in the skin; and the nerves of the autonomic nervous system which control the functioning of the viscera.

Symptoms

The symptoms, which vary according to the affected nerves and the patients, can result in disorders, accompanied or not by various pains and sometimes nocturnal at the level:

• lower limbs (feet, legs, etc.).
• the digestive tract (diarrhea, constipation, etc.)
• urinary system (poor bladder and urination control)
• heart rate and blood pressure, with feelings of dizziness at the lever due to a drop in blood pressure (orthostatic hypotension)

sexual activity (erection disorder, impotence,...) (See the sexual complications of diabetes in this file) etc.

The disappearance of reflexes can also be a sign of neuropathy. But the presence and evolution of the disease can be silent. Because the particularity of diabetic neuropathy is that it disturbs the sensitivity to pain. In some patients, it causes terrible pain on contact with a simple sheet. In others, on the contrary, it can make a foot injury painless, or the feeling of sweating and the acceleration of the heart rate imperceptible (during hypoglycemia, for example).

Treatments and prevention

If one or more of these signs appear or appear, talk to your doctor. Report any noticeable deficit, even if the symptoms seem to fade over time! Because variations in blood sugar affect the feeling of pain. Your doctor will be able to carry out a more detailed search for the signs of the disease, using different measuring instruments.

Blood sugar control prevents neuropathy because it is strongly correlated with blood sugar control. When it is already installed, it stabilizes it, or even corrects it. It also improves nerve conduction and sensitivity.