Dr. Andrew Schneider

Numb Feet is a Disaster Waiting To Happen

Foot pain can often be an unwanted presence, but for someone with diabetes it is a precious commodity. Peripheral neuropathy is a syndrome when the feet can be constantly numb or painful. This article discusses this syndrome and offers some available options for treatment.

Pain. Everyone seeks to avoid it. No one likes physical pain. We choose our relationships and hope to avoid emotional pain. Generally speaking we seek a life without pain...

...then you get your wish and realize that you miss it.

That's exactly how millions feel who are suffering from peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy is a condition that commonly affects people with diabetes. It can also be caused by a result of chemotherapy, alcoholism, autoimmune disorders, and a host of other conditions that we may not even know about.

So why does it happen? That answer's not so simple. Neuropathy as a complication of diabetes is caused by microvascular disease. That's the small vessels that branch of from the main pipeline arteries. They stop sending blood, which carries oxygen and nutrients, to the nerves and they begin to fail. So how do we correct this? Not easily. If that's the reason, sometimes the individual needs a procedure to restore circulation. Other times, when the main circulation is in good shape, there may be other modalities. One therapy is called MicroVas, which is a non-invasive treatment that stimulates the microvascular circulation to reverse diabetic neuropathy. It is effective based on the cause of the neuropathy. Studies have shown it to be very effective for diabetic patients, but less so for those that have neuropathy due to other reasons.

For conditions other than diabetes, the cause of neuropathy is not clear. If we don't know the cause, then it's really hard to find a solution. Sometimes the cause is a compression of the nerve, sometimes a nutritional deficiency, and sometimes for a reason that cannot be determined.

So big deal, why is this so important. Think about how you react when you touch a hot stove. Your reflex is to quickly draw your hand back because your brain reacts to the pain even before you can feel it. And if you had no pain? You'd get a pretty nasty burn.

Now think about your feet. We wedge them into shoes every day. What if your shoes didn't fit? The average person would take them off and figure out why. If you had no pain, you'd keep walking. What if you had a pebble in your shoe. Again, the pain would cause you to take care of it. If you were walking barefoot and stepped on a piece of glass? You see where this is going...

People with diabetes will not feel these minor injuries and can develop sores, blisters, and skin ulcers. These ulcers can become easily infected. The infetion spreads to the bone and can then cause major problems. More than 60% of amputations not caused by some sort of trauma is due to complications from diabetes. This is why all people with diabetes should be familiar with a podiatrist. I routinely tell my diabetic patients that they should check their feet daily before they go to sleep and call me if they see anything that wasn't there the night before. I tell them that I'd rather they call me and it be nothing than let it go and let it develop into a problem.

The research documents that a comprehensive foot care program can reduce the rate of amputations in people with diabetes by 45%-85%. With those numbers, you should run (carefully) to your podiatrist's office. It's the first step in keeping you walking for years to come.

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