Random Diabetes Question

[Eeyores Butterfly]

In my quest to understand more about diabetes, I have a question for y'all.

In the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Billy Black is confined to a wheelchair. The book never tells you why, but in an interview she states it is because of diabetes. He has not had an amputation, but he can no longer walk.

I know the mechanism behind peripheral neuropathy and how it damages the blood vessels resulting in loss of feeling in the legs and feet which means that if you get a cut you can't feel it, which leads to infection. Infections are also slower to heal because of the thickening of hte blood which makes them more dangerous, resulting in amputations of the legs. This happened to a family friend of ours. I have never heard of somebody being confined to a wheelchair due to diabetes complications without having an amputation. Is this a mistake on her part, or is this a real complication that people experience? What causes it?

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

Peripheral neuropathy can not only make you lose feeling in a limb, but can result in pain, sometimes excruciating, in that same limb. Which would then make it difficult to walk on that limb.

Also, have you ever sat on your foot, then tried to walk? Yipes. I do med transcription and have a habit of doing that. I have almost fallen more than once trying to walk on a foot that is sound asleep.

So, yes, I could see someone needing a wheelchair for diabetic neuropathy, definitely.

I also found this on the National Institute of Neurological Disorders website:
What is Diabetic Neuropathy?
Diabetic neuropathy is a peripheral nerve disorder caused by diabetes. The symptoms of diabetic neuropathy are often slight at first. In fact, some mild cases may go unnoticed for a long time. Numbness, pain, or tingling in the feet, or legs may, after several years, lead to weakness in the muscles of the feet. Occasionally, diabetic neuropathy can flare up suddenly and affect specific nerves so that an affected individual will develop double vision or drooping eyelids, or weakness and atrophy of the thigh muscles. Nerve damage caused by diabetes generally occurs over a period of years and may lead to problems with the digestive tract and sexual organs, which can cause indigestion, diarrhea or constipation, dizziness, bladder infections, and impotence. The loss of sensation in the feet may increase the possibility for foot injuries to go unnoticed and develop into ulcers or lesions that become infected.