What Are Diabetes' Effects on Your Feet?

It's very difficult to begin coping with diabetes, but the first thing that you should do is work on finding out about all of diabetes' effects on your body. The causes of diabetes are still unknown, but once diagnosed there are certain things that you need to be aware of. When you have diabetes, your body no longer produces enough insulin to break down the glucose in your body. After several years of having high glucose levels, your blood vessels can become damaged which will lower the amount of oxygen that gets to the nerves and nerve coverings. This damages the nerves and causes them to stop sending messages to the brain, or send those messages too slowly or at the wrong time. These damaged nerves can create weakness, pain, and numbness in the limbs. They can also cause problems in various organs throughout the body.

Diabetes' effect on your feet is this damage of the nerves, causing you to not know if something is wrong. You should always examine your feet regularly, checking for cuts or breaks in the skin, ingrown nails, corns, and calluses. With the damage to your nerves, you may not notice these problems without checking for them. Look for red spots, cuts, swelling, and blisters. If you notice anything, it is important to go see your doctor as quickly as you can. You also need to make sure that you always wear your shoes, so you can protect your feet from all the elements. To help increase your blood circulation, it is recommended to move your feet, toes, and ankles around at least a couple times each day.