Diabetes affects about 3.7 million people in the UK.
About 90 per cent of all those cases are caused by type 2 diabetes.
You could be at risk of high blood sugar if you have strange feelings in your feet, it’s been revealed.
Diabetes can cause nerve damage in the extremities, including in the feet.
So, patients may have a strange, numb sensation around their toes, according to Dr Ronald Tamler, Director of the Mount Sinai Clinical Diabetes Institute.
“For the most part, diabetes is silent and insidious,” he told medical website Health.
“Most of the time people have no symptoms early on.
“You may feel a strange, electric tingling in your feet, or have decreased sensation or decreased balance.”
Between 10 and 20 per cent of all diabetes patients already have some nerve damage in their feet.
During the early phases of the disease, the nerve damage may be barely noticeable.
In diabetes, nerve damage is known as diabetic neuropathy, said the NHS.
It usually affects the feet, but could also affect other parts of the body.
Patients must check their feet everyday, it warned.
Neuropathy is caused by a reduced amount of blood being supplied to the feet.
This means that foot injuries don’t heal as well, and patients may not notice that their feet are sore or infected.
The nerve damage could lead to loss of feeling, numbness, a slight pain or tingling, or even constipation.
Speak to a GP if you notice any changes to your feet, including cuts, cracks, blisters, pains, or numbness.
Diabetes symptoms can also include weight loss, having an unquenchable thirst, and feeling extremely tired.
Diabetes type 2 is caused by the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the body not reacting to insulin.
Without enough insulin, the body struggles to convert sugar in the blood into useable energy.
