Hi friends!
I am currently doing a paper and I wanna know why diabetics do not follow/comply to the recommendations of their doctors in taking care of their feet.
could you help me please!!!
Carmela:
Whew! That’s a loaded question!! It depends on what demands are being made. My DR doesn;'t want me to go around without shoes for several reasons. And I DO want to go around without shoes for several reasons. (1) I’m a hillbilliy from way back. When I get home the first thing I shed is my shoes or boots.
Carmela:
Ooops! Got distracted with the laundry and sent the first message before I was done with it. Sorry.
(1) continued … I have always been hard to keep in shoes … even when I was a kid.
(2) My feet hurt from the shoes/braces I have to wear and it’s made much worse from the lymphedema I suffer from. I get all swollen up. I know that I should wear them to stabilize my feet and ankles. I have drop foot and often trip on my own two feet.
(3) I should wear them to protect my toes which are all messed up from the falls I take. Because of my drop foot, my feet drop and I actually trip over my toes. Then they get scraped up from the carpet or the floor.
Why? My feet hurt, DA**-IT. They hurft so bad sometimes, they burn … and
itch! You just can’t get a good scratch through old lady shoes!!! Not only that, but you drag all sorts of dirt through the house on the bottom of your shoes. It is also a habit from my mother and I’m 55 years old so those habits are well set in.
I think the other recommendation would be to let a podiatrist take care of our feet. But that costs money. Of which I have little!! Let the DR pay for it!!!
Any other questions, sweetie? Just click on my name or whatever and leave me a message.
I have a question or two for you. Are you diabetic? How old are you? Who put you up to asking on this web site?
Hope to hear from you and how your paper went. I hope you get an A. Either way, let us know.
Thank you.
Lois La Rose
Milwaukee, WI
depends on the care–I too am a barefooter–will wear sock/slippers when its really cold…but I prefer mine bare
I like getting a pedicure occasioanlly as a treat—he would prefer I do not—
I do check my feet every day for any issues
try to lotion them every night to keep the skin from drying out (I live in the desert–easy to get dry cracked feet–even if one wears shoes and socks)
keep the feet clean, if it is clean, it will be less prone to infection.
It’s either two thing, it just went out of control, or some people could not care kless about the all important feet…
I would say that taking care of your feet, watching for sores that don’t heal, going to the podiatrist, and noting circulation issues are actually pretty far down on the immediate priority list for many diabetics. Whether it is the expense of care, the minutiae of ONE MORE THING to concern yourself with EVERY day, or the “put off for tomorrow what doesn’t seem to be a problem today” mentality, diabetics who don’t care for their feet usually have much more going on in their heads and with their care than their tootsies.
Many of us come from or have parents from the generation where you heard “diabetics lose their feet” constantly. My mother used to fear it for me and she actually has a friend who lost all his toes from poorly managed diabetes. But I have NEVER felt that my feet were an immediate concern. If my blood sugars are well-managed, my feet will be fine. To me, bad feet are a symptom of bad care.
Of course, that being said, I did get a podiatrist at the first sign of any unfamiliar foot pain. Found out it was just a bone spur from plantar fasciitis, was given some exercises and orthotics to treat it, and was praised for my proactive response to foot care. Once all was pronounced well, I went right back to NOT checking my feet or rubbing them down with lotion like my mom used to rag me about. It just seems hyper-concerned to me. My endo checks my feet every three months, so I don’t feel the need to obsess.
You know, I was the first one to respond but now I’m sorry I didn’t wait. I never looked at it the way a couple of you do. I never realized it was affecting me that way. Yes, it IS just one more thing to have to pay attention to. It seems relatively minor, but when you are doing all the other things you have to do, it just seems petty. Besides, with my physical back condition, bending down to take care of my feet is like trying to fold a grapefruit in half!!!
Lois La Rose
Milwaukee, WI