Really? How can this
be? To talk to most people, they will do
just about anything to avoid pain.
Indeed, I spend a lot of my time treating patients who have pain that
keeps them from doing the things they enjoy in life. Just ask a person with heel pain, or a
painful ingrown toenail, and they will tell you how much pain is, well, a
pain! But pain is there for a
reason. Pain lets us know that there is
something wrong and needs attention.
Imagine if you were to break a bone in your arm and have no pain. You would likely not think there was anything
wrong. You would not protect the arm or
seek treatment. And it is likely that
the fracture would not heal properly.
This is why pain is good, even though no one likes it.
For my diabetic patients, pain is not only good, but
vital. Problem is, many patients with
diabetes develop a condition called peripheral neuropathy. With peripheral neuropathy, the sensory
nerves (primarily in the feet and lower legs) do not function as they
should. The pain signal is not
transmitted to the brain. This leads to
some severe consequences.
A patient I saw recently was a perfect example the consequences
of peripheral neuropathy. He was working
and stated that at the end of his work shift, his foot felt uncomfortable. When he took off his shoe, he found that he
had stepped on a nail that had gone through his shoe and into one of the bones
in his foot. Now, if I had stepped on a
nail, you can bet that I would know right away that something was very much
wrong. I suspect that everyone around me
would be aware as well, as they would likely cover their ears from my
screaming. However, this patient likely walked
around for at least a few hours with a nail in his foot! This of course made a bad situation worse.
Most of the time, the problems I see are not as dramatic in
their presentation, but have the potential to be equally as devastating. Quite often, it is not the nail in the foot
that causes the ulcer or sore to form, but the constant light pressure from a
callus or ill-fitting shoes that causes damage to the skin. For this reason, I strongly urge all my
diabetic patients to inspect their feet daily looking for signs of an ulcer
developing. These signs can include
redness, swelling, bleeding. If calluses
are present, darkening of the callus can be a sign of bleeding and skin
breakdown. A best case scenario is to
have a spouse, partner or friend inspect the feet, as it can be difficult to
fully examine your own feet. And by all
means, if anything is seen that raises a concern, DO NOT DELAY calling your
podiatrist to have your feet looked at!
It may save you from a long, difficult healing process. It may avoid the need to amputate your leg.
To learn more about diabetes and its effects on the feet, please visit my website at http://www.concordfootdr.com/diabetic-foot-care.html
