Diabetes – Harsh Climate Protection

Image via WikipediaPatients who suffer Type I or Type II Diabetes are at greater risk during the cold winter months. This is because they deal with the loss of feeling in their feet, as a result of nerve damage. Therefore, it is necessary that Diabetic patients use extra care to avoid lengthy exposure to the elements, especially during the winter months. Excessive exposure could cause frostbite, damaging skin and other cells.

When it is necessary to be outside, try to plan ahead. A common sense approach and a few items can be very helpful. Move around to stimulate circulation. Take more regular breaks to get inside out of the cold. Make sure your foot wear fits appropriately, is non-restrictive and allows enough room for an extra pair of socks. Keep an extra pair or two of warm, dry socks with you, in case your feet get damp or perspire. Make sure your outer footwear is waterproof, and replace inadequate shoes and boots as soon as possible. If you travel, allow for periodic rest stops to get out and get moving. This will allow for better circulation. Also, it is a good plan to pack along a blanket. Keep the blanket in the automobile passenger compartment with you, not in the trunk.

If you suspect that prolonged exposure to cold, snow, wind or sleet may have caused skin damage or frostbite, use caution and warm up slowly. The affected area should not be rubbed or massaged. This could cause further damage. Instead, wrap in a blanket and allow for gradual re-warming, allowing circulation to slowly improve.

If you are Diabetic and suspect over-exposure, it is recommended that you seek the advice of your foot-care specialist. The freezing of the skin or other tissue could have serious health consequences. Your doctor can advise you.

If you have any questions concerning diabetes and the affects it causes to the feet, contact Dr. Teichman at East Penn Foot & Ankle Associates on our website.

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Losing Weight with Diabetes

Image via WikipediaAs the New Year’s resolutions are either going strong or dwindling out, the ever so present goal of weight loss thrives around this time of year.  Makes sense though, with all the higher fatty foods from the holidays and not exercising as much due to the colder weather.  If you have diabetes and want to lose weight, great!  You just might want to do something differently than people who jump on the next diet craze or the hottest workout. 

Having diabetes only adds problems if you’re overweight and by losing weight you can actually reduce your risk of health problems.  To do this, you don’t need a fancy diet or a crazy workout plan, you just need to eat healthy and be physically active.  You should check out the blog we wrote earlier about making your diet a rainbow, it talks about a fun way to approach your meal planning. 

As for exercising, don’t go crazy pushing yourself too hard.  If you push yourself too hard, you’re asking for an injury or complications.  Take up walking or if you’re up for it, jogging.  Make sure you ease yourself into it, though, especially if you have not been physically active for a while.  This way, you will actually enjoy being active and you won’t burn yourself out.  You should also challenge a family member or friend to get out and get active with you, that way you’ll be accountable to each other and can challenge each other.  Don’t get crazy competitive though, and risk pushing yourself or your partner to giving up.  You could also join a swimming class at the rec center, or take up playing basketball with a group of family and/or friends.  You could go walking at a park or window shopping at the mall.  Find what works for you and enjoy yourself!

For more tips on how to lose weight with diabetes or how diabetes effects your feet, contact your diabetes specialist or contact Dr. Teichman at East Penn Foot & Ankle Associates.

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The Glucose Tolerance Test

Image by J. Star via FlickrIf you have ever been pregnant, you have probably had to endure the infamous Glucose Tolerance Test.  This test isn’t just for women who are pregnant when they test for gestational diabetes, but this test can be used to check for diabetes in general.  The most common form of this test is done by ingesting a set amount of glucose and then the doctor checking your blood about two hours later. 

In order for this test to work correctly, you’ll have to fast for at least 8 hours prior to the test.  For your comfort and for the best results, have the test done in the morning.  That way, you can eat dinner by 8pm the night before, and then just don’t eat anything before bedtime.  You can get a good nights’ rest and after 7 hours of sleep, go to the doctor first thing in the morning, without eating anything for breakfast of course, and have the test done.  Once you’re out of the test, go get something to eat and get on with your day.  It makes the process really easy and then you don’t have to starve yourself through the day to take the test.  One thing to remember though is that you are going to have to ingest a pretty good dose of glucose, so you might want to drink some water to get your stomach ready.  That way you be able to hopefully keep it down and not have to retake the test on a later date.

Dr. Teichman can point you in the right direction if you need a good doctor to check you out, because if you think you might have diabetes, you need to get checked out by a doctor asap!  If you have this test coming up in your future, though I have never taken the test myself, I have heard good things about the orange flavor of glucose.  Something to think about.

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What is Gestational Diabetes?

Image by o5com via FlickrYou might have heard the term “gestational diabetes,” but what is it exactly?  Well gestational diabetes is what women can get while they’re pregnant, being one of the most common pregnancy complications.  Often, there aren’t any symptoms that women who get gestation diabetes, but rather this condition is detected through screening measures.  Before you run out and see if you have it or not, there are six risk factors that your doctor will take into consideration before having you tested. 

The first risk factor is your age.  If you are older then twenty five years, you are at more of a risk than a women under twenty five.  Your ethnicity also plays a part, with non-Hispanic Caucasian women having the lowest risk than other ethnicities.  If you are overweight before the pregnancy, you run a higher risk and if you had problems with your blood sugar being too high before the pregnancy, chances are you’ll have this condition.  The last two factors are whether your family has a history of diabetes or not, and your previous pregnancy outcomes.  If you developed gestational diabetes in a previous pregnancy, chances are you’ll get it again, or if you had a a baby that weighed more than nine pounds, your risk is higher.

If you want to lower your risk of getting gestational diabetes when you’re pregnant, there are some things that you can do.  The first one is to make sure that you are eating healthy.  If you lower the sugar and carbohydrates, and eat more fiber, you’ll lower you risk.  If you do that before you get pregnant and keep it up during pregnancy, you’ll really lower your chances.  The other way is to be more physically active.  Don’t stop exercising just because you’re pregnant, but keep active.  No you don’t and probably shouldn’t be running marathons, but go for walks, take trips to the mall, park or wherever you like. 

If you have any questions on how gestational diabetes can effect your feet, or just pregnancy in general effecting your feet, contact us at East Penn Foot & Ankle Associates.

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Diabetes - Living with Diabetes

Image by Newbirth35 via FlickrImage by Getty Images via @daylifeWhether you have just been diagnosed with diabetes or have had it for years, you know that life is different (or going to be) for those with diabetes than for those without.  If you are new to it, know that isn’t the end of your life.  Living with diabetes is much easier these days then it use to be.  There are just a couple things you now have to deal with. 

First of all, you need to make sure you watch what you eat.  Things with a lot of sugar should be avoided (though they should be avoided by everyone) so that you don’t spike your blood sugar exponentially.  But you also need to make sure that you are getting enough in your diet to keep your blood sugar from dropping too low.  Too high and your be in risk of eye, kidney, heart disease and nerve damage.  Too low and your run into feeling lethargic, possibly shaking, and you even might lose consciousness, which is never a good thing.  Make sure to watch your blood sugar levels regularly, but don’t get crazy about it.  It’s too much stress to be taking your blood sugar every hour, not to mention how much your finger tips will probably not like you. 

Second, make sure you take your medication when you’re suppose to.  If you have type two diabetes, this means that you inject your insulin when you need it.  Your doctor will let you know how much and how many times you need to take insulin in a day.  If you have type one diabetes, this means taking your pills on time.

The third major difference is that you are at a higher risk of developing neuropathy, which is a nerve damage in your feet, resulting in a inability to feel your feet.  If you have this already, make sure you monitor your feet daily for wounds.  For more on how to take care of your feet, click here. 

East Penn Foot & Ankle Associates would love to talk to you if you have any questions on how diabetes can effect your feet.  Contact us if you have  any questions.

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Diabetes and Charcot Foot

Image via WikipediaWhen you read that title you might wander what charcoal has to do with feet?  Just know that this has nothing to do with charcoal, but Charcot (pronounced “sharko”) foot is a real problem that many, mostly diabetics, face.

Charcot foot is a extreme condition that happens to someone who can’t feel their feet.  The reason Charcot foot is more common with people with diabetes is because of diabetic Neuropathy, where the feeling in the foot is lost because of nerve damage.  Charcot foot is where your foot actually changes shape because of bones fracture and disintegrate.  The fact that you can’t feel the extreme pain because your foot is numb, allows you to continue walking on the foot, thus damaging the bones more.  If the Charcot foot is caught early, the problem can be treated with a total contact cast.  If the problem goes on without being treated, reconstructive surgery or amputation will be needed.

If you do catch it early enough, the cast you’ll get will be molded to fit your foot and will control your foot movement, supporting your foot in all areas.  This allows the foot to heal fully, as long as you stay off the foot, thus not damaging the foot further.  The cast will be changed frequently to continually move the shape of your foot back to normal or as close as possible without reconstructive surgery.  To get the total contact cast though, you must have good blood flow through you foot.

The other route you can go if the Charcot foot is caught early on is a custom walking boot, but this will take longer to heal because you’ll be putting weight on your foot.  The boot helps reduce the swelling in your foot, thus allowing your body’s natural healing processes to get into the injury and fix it.  The fastest way to heal a Charcot foot is to keep your weight off of it though.

If you have any questions on Charcot foot or how diabetes effects your feet, contact Dr. Adam Teichman at East Penn Foot & Ankle Associates.

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Diabetes Blog - Don’t Let Calluses Slow You Down

Image by Jill A. Brown via FlickrImage via WikipediaWhen a person has diabetes they also can develop neuropathy, which can cause damage to the nerves in the feet and can lead to loss of feeling and sensation, there is the heightened danger of developing ulcers from this loss of sensation or protective threshold.  Since people with diabetes lose the feeling in their feet, ulcers develop easier because they do not feel the discomfort that the ulcers cause. Since calluses are caused by the constant rubbing of a certain part of the shoe on a person’s foot, again – it isn’t felt and so the problem develops into a ulcer. Without neuropathy, this is usually felt and taken care of, but someone with neuropathy can’t feel the constant rubbing. Other issues can arise as a result of this rubbing – the next stage of an ulcer that hasn’t been taken care of can become very dangerous and can possibly lead to infection or even worse loss of limb.  

The danger comes in the next stage as a result of diabetic complications. A callus can be taken care of easily with routine visit to your podiatrist.  But the danger arises when a callus is fully developed and the constant rubbing continues to wear on the callus, the skin can and probably will split open and become an ulcer.  For a diabetic, a wound raises the risk of infections that can lead to that person having to have their foot amputated if it goes untreated or ignored.  This is why it is extremely important to make sure that if you have neuropathy, you need to check your feet daily!  If you catch the developing callus early, you’ll be able to take care of it before it gets worse.  It is highly recommended that you visit your podiatrist to treat the callus rather than getting treatments from the store, because your podiatrist can treat the callus more effectively and the callus will be controlled, rather than continue to develop and your podiatrist can make sure other problems do not arise.  Make sure you check your feet daily!  Getting that callus treated could save your foot from becoming a problem in the future!

If you do not have a podiatrist, Dr. Adam Teichman at East Penn Foot & Ankle Associates would love to be your podiatrist.  Check out our website at www.eastpennfoot.com or give us a call at 610-432-9593.

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