If you have diabetes or a family history of diabetes, you should take extra care of your feet. You might have heard that people who have diabetes are at a higher risk of losing their toes, feet or legs. Why is this so? Diabetes makes you lose the feeling in your feet. When this happens, you can't tell when you have a cut, sore, blister or callus. To make matters worse, diabetes reduces blood flow to your feet, which reduces healing time. Delayed healing leads to problems because your leg, foot or toe can become infected. At times, it gets too late to treat infections and you end up losing the appendage. Note the important things you need to do to keep healthy.

Diabetes

When diagnosed with diabetes, your doctor discusses several options with you. You first learn that there is diabetes type 1 and type 2, which do not have a cure. What is mainly done is controlling your blood sugar level to avoid complications brought about by the disease.

If you have diabetes type 1, your pancreas cannot produce insulin and you, therefore, need insulin injections, exercise and dietary changes.

If you have diabetes type 2, insulin is being produced, but your cells are unable to use insulin. Different methods are used to manage type 2 diabetes, and they depend on various factors like side effects, medication compliance, underlying health issues, etc. You might need insulin injections, exercises to lose weight, dietary changes and other non-insulin medications.

Your Medical Team

You need a diabetes doctor, a diabetes podiatrist and help from your loved ones or family. Your doctor helps manage diabetes and your podiatrist helps you care for your feet. Your loved ones and family offer the needed support and also help you with your insulin injections.

You already know the role your family and doctor play, but not your podiatrist. A podiatrist inspects your feet to make sure blood is flowing correctly and that you do not have any injuries. He or she also educates you on proper foot care.

You should wash your feet daily with warm water and examine them for cuts, spots, swelling, blisters, calluses or sores. Avoid soaking your feet and always check the water temperature using your hands, not your feet. Remember, it is possible to lose sensation to your feet. After your feet are clean, dry them completely, including in between your toes.

Tips

There are key things you should never fail to do. These include getting your insulin shot, keeping appointments with your diabetic doctor and podiatrist, ensuring that there is communication between your doctor and podiatrist and taking good care of your feet.