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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Weakness In The Legs While Suffering From Diabetes?

My husband is 83.He has angina and is diabetic which he controls with medicines. His legs feel weak over the last two months and is unsteady sometimes and walks with a stick He also gets leg cramps in bed which are getting progressively worse.What could be the problem?
Thu, 27 Jul 2017
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General Surgeon,  's  Response
Hi and welcome to Healthcaremagic. I understand your concerns and I will try to help you as much as I can.
This may be caused by three things. Neuropathy or ischemic changes in legs or celulitis.
Cellulitis which is inflammation of subcutaneous tissues and may develop into diabetic foot with redness or pain in legs. Neuropathy may also be caused by diabetes but also other metabolic causes may be present or injury of spine. It is presented with burning pain without skin changes.
Last, ischemic changes happens due to poor circulation in legs.
If this is not your case then these symptoms are indicating circulatory problems in legs which are common in this age and there may be present atherosclerosis that obstructs blood vessels and causes pain and blisters to form.
You should do Doppler ultrasound of the leg or CT angiography to rule out such obstructive changes and then it can be treated properly by medications or by surgical and radiological procedures.

I hope I have answered you query. If you have any further questions you can contact us in every time.

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What Causes Weakness In The Legs While Suffering From Diabetes?

Hi and welcome to Healthcaremagic. I understand your concerns and I will try to help you as much as I can. This may be caused by three things. Neuropathy or ischemic changes in legs or celulitis. Cellulitis which is inflammation of subcutaneous tissues and may develop into diabetic foot with redness or pain in legs. Neuropathy may also be caused by diabetes but also other metabolic causes may be present or injury of spine. It is presented with burning pain without skin changes. Last, ischemic changes happens due to poor circulation in legs. If this is not your case then these symptoms are indicating circulatory problems in legs which are common in this age and there may be present atherosclerosis that obstructs blood vessels and causes pain and blisters to form. You should do Doppler ultrasound of the leg or CT angiography to rule out such obstructive changes and then it can be treated properly by medications or by surgical and radiological procedures. I hope I have answered you query. If you have any further questions you can contact us in every time.