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Looking after your feet, swelling and bulletproof coffee
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The importance of good foot care can’t be stressed enough. It’s essential to good diabetes management. Why? Because diabetes makes your feet particularly prone to neuropathy, or nerve damage, which makes your feet turn numb.

If they’re not properly looked after at this point, small wounds can become infected, and this can lead to all sorts of problems.
Hot Diabetes and foot care
Foot amputation is a problem that can occur from poor foot care. Statistics are a worrying read: over 6,000 leg, toe, or foot amputations are performed in England every year. The importance of proper foot care really can’t be overstated.

Foot problems can quickly become serious so it’s important to check your feet daily for signs of damage or change in addition to attending foot examinations.

The general rule for people with diabetes is to notify your doctor if you notice any change in feeling or appearance in your feet.
Hot Signs and symptoms of foot damage
Amputations usually occur because of foot ulcers. Over time, prolonged exposure to high blood glucose levels can lead to nerve damage. And nerve damage leads to numbness. Small wounds on the foot, therefore, can easily go unnoticed in people with neuropathy.

To make matters worse, high blood glucose levels can also cause impaired healing, making minor injuries more likely to get infected. The result is foot ulcers; small patches of skin that get damaged but don’t heal.
Hot Diabetes and foot ulcers
Here’s what you can do avoid any foot-related diabetes issues: look after your skin and make sure you check your feet.
Hot How to check your feet
The symptoms of neuropathy-related foot damage are many and varied. Look no further for a comprehensive guide to foot damage and diabetes:
Hot Foot care symptoms
Over on the Diabetes Forum, Shecat has a question about numbness in the feet:

Hi everyone, I have been Diabetic for 32 years now and my question is about my feet. I have developed large entirely numb external areas on the soles of my feet, I have had foot changes for some time or I have felt them happening thanks to Neuropathy. My balance is off now when I stand and walk. I see a Vascular Surgeon next week to have a closer look at the circulation in my legs and feet. I guess I am just so sick and fed up of being damaged by Diabetes and I feel so down about it all today, there is just no end to the complications, pain and well Diabetes and everything to do with it. My biggest fear is landing up with amputations!
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Swelling can be common, too. Swollen ankles and legs will often be brought on, or aggravated, by long periods of standing.

Edema (or oedema in the UK where real English is spoken) is a build up of fluid in the body (water retention) which causes swelling. Edema commonly affects the legs, ankles, feet and wrist.
Hot Swelling and diabetes
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Checking your feet
Video guide
Excessively high blood sugar over a long period of time can cause damage to your feet – you should know how to check your feet properly and be able to identify any signs of nerve damage. Diabetes and foot care »
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