Itchy feet and legs

[loracm31]

My mom was diagnosed with diabetes type 2 in 2014. She had a period during the past few months when her average blood sugar levels were around 220, but right now she's managed to keep it around 130 (she does have spikes when she eats during the day). She's taking glimepiride 2 mg in the morning and Metformin 2500 mg throughout the day.

For the past 2 days, she's had a terrible itch in her lower legs and top of feet, but only during the day. It goes away during the night. There is no rash. She does have diabetic dermopathy in that area but she's had it for years. She's going to the doctor next week, but in the meantime, has anyone had this? She's putting on betamethasone and it helps a bit but not too much.

I would like to get some insight, does this sound like poor circulation or diabetic neuropathy? She exercises 30 minutes each day, her BMI is good, and she rarely has neuropathy pain (she has had it before in her hands). Thanks for any help.

 

[trophywench]

Hiya - don't think you live in the UK as your mom is measuring her BG in mg/dl and we measure ours in mmol/l, so dividing her readings by 18 to get mmol/l, 220 is 12.8 and 130 is 7.2. As we're all aiming for the same level in general, around 5 in the UK and so 90 where you are, having too high BG for too much of the time is of course likely to have some adverse effect.

That cream sounds very much like hydrocortisone cream to me - in which case she shouldn't be applying it anywhere not specifically advised to by a doctor, because it thins the skin, and that can cause more problems - hence they only prescribe it where it's truly necessary.

Not heard of any effective treatment for diabetic dermopathy, to be honest, so a bit surprised to hear of anything prescribed for it.

 

[IrvineHimself]

Not heard of any effective treatment for diabetic dermopathy,

Apparently it is a recognised treatment:

The disease can be controlled with blood glucose management and with the help of topical creams containing fusidic acid or a combination of fusidic acid with a corticosteroid such as betamethasone or hydrocortisone 1%

I edited the following to make clear when I am writing about neuropathy and when I am writing about dermopathy

Doing a Google search of the main Diabetes UK domain with:

diabetic "dermopathy" site:diabetes.org.uk

We get only one, very uninformative, post from over 7 years ago. So, dermopathy is not something that has had a lot of discussion on these boards.

I would like to get some insight, does this sound like poor circulation or diabetic neuropathy?

According to this section of the same Wikipedia page:

The cause is unknown but is thought to be associated with diabetic neuropathy and vascular complications ........ It is seen more commonly in patients with longstanding diabetes and poor glucose control.

So. it is definitely possible the itchy feet and legs are in some way related to neuropathy.

Welcome to the forums by the way.
Irvine

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @loracm31

Hope your mum gets some helpful advice at her appointment.

Changes in sensation and tingling can be related to damage to the nerves following exposure to elevated blood glucose levels.

Diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage)

What is diabetic neuropathy? Diabetic neuropathy is when diabetes causes damage to your nerves. It can affect different types of nerves in your body, including in your feet, organs and muscles. Nerves carry messages between the brain and every part of our bodies so that we can see, hear, feel...

www.diabetes.org.uk

Forum members who have seen nerve changes over the years seem to suggest that keeping their BG levels as stable and as in range as possible for as much of the time as then can manage can help reduce symptoms.

What sort of spikes is your Mum seeing after eating? It might be work looking at rebalancing meal choices with the meds she is taking to try to reduce post-meal glucose variation?