Diabetic Pain Relief

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By Lischni


One of the worst parts of having this disease is the diabetic pain. After a while this can become absolutely devastating to anyone trying to lead a semi normal life while having diabetes. There is a lot of information of diabetes pain because there are so many people who are coming down with this disease. There is new information becoming available every day. Keep looking and you may find just the answer you have been looking for.

Like everything else involved with diabetes there is no cure for the pain associated with it. The only thing that can be done is to manage the pain as best as possible. There are several drugs that can tried to alleviate some of the discomfort and pain.

Diabetes causes a nerve problem known as Diabetic peripheral neuropathy. This just means nerve damage caused by the symptom of Diabetes.When a person suffers from diabetic neuropathy two things happen. First, the patient starts to lose feeling in his or her feet and hands. This is caused by nerve damage and the constriction of the blood vessels.


Checking For Nerve Damage

To check for this condition a physician will do two test. First he or she takes a piece of monfilament line like fishing line and touches the soles of the feet. The doctor continues to press harder and harder with the line until the patient feels it. This tells the doctor how advanced the nerve damage associated with the disease is. If there is no feeling in the feet this means the disease has progressed pretty far in the feet.

The second test is the pin prick test. In this one the physician uses a pin or needle to prick the skin on the soles of the feet. Pressure, or tactile, and pain are two different nervous systems for touch that can be affected by diabetic neuropathy.  Generally speaking the patient begins to lose the light touch feeling first.  Then as the disease progresses he or she will lose the ability to feel pain pain caused by an external source.

This can be very dangerous for a person because our bodies naturally use the sensation of pain as a form of protection.  For example, if you touch something hot you pull your hand away when your body senses the pain or if you step on something sharp you pick your foot back up before the item jabs clear through it.  The pain acts as a signal to stop doing what ever we are doing.

When people are suffering from diabetic peripheral neuropathy they lose this protective measure and can harm there feet and hands without even knowing it.  For this reason it is very important to inspect your feet everyday and preferably several times a day for injury.  I left untreated these small injuries can become infected and lead to more pronounced problems.


The foot wear a person uses can help with the pain associated with diabetes.  For example diabetic socks and diabetic shoes are specially formulated for people who need a foot covering designed with the disease in mind.

Diabetic socks are made of a antibacterial material that can help to lessen the chance of infection in the feet.  As stated above patients tend to lose feeling in the feet so they don't know when an infection is occurring.  By using socks for diabetics you can combat against the chances of infection.  The material also wicks the moisture from perspiration away from the body and allows it to dry.  This keeps the feet from staying moist and again having problems with infection.

The diabetic socks are also designed and constructed differently than normal socks.  These socks are woven in such a way that the area around the ankle up to the calf actually gets bigger and bigger to accommodate the swelling that is normally found in the calf.

Pain Treatment

Usually the pain is treated with oral medications but other types of treatments help some people.  Drugs used to control pain include antidepressants and anticonvulsants.  Both of these have side effects that seem to help with pain management in diabetes.  This means you don't necessarily take an antidepressant drug because you are depressed, although that could be the case, but instead you take it because the side effects from the drug help to relieve some of the pain.

Doctors may also prescribe opiods and opiod-like drugs such as oxycodone as a way to relieve some of the pain.

Treatments applied to the skin such as capsaician cream and lidocaine also may help with pain management.  Over the counter drugs such as acetaminophen (Tylenolo) and ibuprofin (Advil) are not particularly effective for this pain and thus considering the side effects are not usually recommended.

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Bob Ewing profile image

Bob Ewing  says:
6 months ago

I find socks designed for people who have diabetes do make a difference.

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