Meet Your Diabetes Support Team (page 3 of 4)

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Feet, Teeth, and the Role of Your Pharmacy

Your Foot Doctor
High blood sugar makes you prone to foot problems partly because it hinders circulation: Blood has trouble getting all the way from the heart to the feet and back. Small sores and calluses, which are common with diabetes, can quickly become worse if you don't keep on top of them with the help of a podiatrist -- a medical doctor who specializes in foot care. Your primary-care physician should always check your feet when you go for an exam (and you should too, every day). But your podiatrist -- known as a D.P.M., for doctor of podiatric medicine -- is the best person to treat sores, calluses, corns, bunions, infections, or any other problem that may develop. He can also give you pointers on keeping your feet healthy. Ask your primary-care physician or endocrinologist to refer you to a podiatrist who has a lot of patients with diabetes.

Your Dentist
As every cavity-prone eight-year-old knows (or will eventually find out), bacteria thrive on sugar. Unfortunately, if you have diabetes, high blood sugar makes you prone to the destructive effects of gingivitis -- infection of the gums -- even if you faithfully brush your teeth every day. There's no reason to change your dentist if you have diabetes; you just need to make sure you actually go for a checkup and a cleaning every six months, as everyone should (but usually doesn't). Do tell your dentist you have diabetes, however, and ask how you can improve your brushing and flossing techniques.

Your Pharmacist
You may know your pharmacist only as someone who stands behind a counter and puts medicines in bottles. But don't take this member of your team for granted. The special training that pharmacists receive about how drugs affect the body (in both good ways and bad) and how medicines interact with each other can make them an invaluable source of information. Try to find a pharmacist who works well with you; you may end up seeing this person more often than anybody else on your team. Then keep going back to the same pharmacy so the pharmacist can keep an up-to-date record of all your medications. Whenever you start a new drug -- including over-the-counter remedies -- or make a change in your prescriptions, your pharmacist can give you pointers on how your body may react. He can also give you a printout of all the drugs you take (along with their doses and side effects) to take with you when you see other members of your medical team.

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