Numbness in the feet of diabetics is a manifestation of diabetic peripheral neuropathy, one of the most common chronic complications of diabetes. The manifestations of the diabetic nervous system are dominated by sensory hypersensitivity and sensory deficits.
1. Sensory hypersensitivity is usually present in the early stages, and patients tend to have an ant-crawling sensation , pins-and-needles pain, mostly mild and more localized to the lower extremities, which can lead to generalized pain if there are dramatic fluctuations in blood glucose in a short period of time.
2. Sensory loss is the most common clinical manifestation of diabetes. As the disease progresses, the patient develops numbness in the front of the toes, symmetrically in both feet, starting with numbness and more severely with wood. The numbness gradually progresses to the proximal end, and when the numbness progresses near the knee joint, symptoms begin to appear in both fingers.
The presentation of these symptoms may vary very much from patient to patient. In some patients, symptoms are asymmetrical or heavy on one side, or they may be only in the hand. The severity of symptoms is related to multiple factors such as the patient’s age, the duration of the disease, the degree of neuropathy, and fluctuations in blood glucose. Electromyography, which is often performed on patients in endocrinology, is a way to understand the degree of neuropathy. Once a diabetic patient has symptoms of numbness and pain in the extremities, it is recommended to visit a specialist hospital as soon as possible.
There is no specific treatment. The main treatment includes glucose lowering, nerve nutrition, improving peripheral blood circulation, pain relief and symptomatic treatment to reduce patient pain and improve quality of life.