Diabetic Neuropathy Treatment

Diabetes is known to cause many problems, including heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, and blindness. However, at the Amputation Prevention Center, we deal with another complication of diabetes that causes nerve problems in the foot, also called diabetic neuropathy.

Diabetic neuropathy can sometimes be painful but is most often painless, simply leaving the feet numb. This numbness is dangerous because pain is necessary to protect the body from injury. When your feet are numb, you can cause damage by walking on an inflamed area.  Doing this develops a callus without knowing.  You are also more vulnerable to stepping on an object when your feet are numb, which causes direct injury.

If you have ill-fitting shoes, you may experience “repetitive trauma,” which means injuring the same area over and over. The injured area becomes inflamed and can turn into a deep blister, which eventually breaks open into a wound.  This called a Diabetic Foot Ulcer, or DFU for short.

A wound or ulcer is a break in the skin exposing the tissue under the skin. The ulcer can become infected (see Diabetic Foot Infection). Diabetes can lead to poor circulation (see Peripheral Artery Disease), which impairs the ability of the body to heal the wound. Ulcers can become deep with exposed tendon, muscle or bone. The deeper a wound, the more complicated it is to heal.

Contact the Amputation Prevention Centers of America for more information about diabetic neuropathy and foot ulcers.