My 67 year old grandmother, who has type�2 diabetes, has constant pain in her right side and was told that it was a symptom of her diabetes and associated with internal organ infections. Is this true?

The pain in her right side could be from a number of things, one of which might be diabetic neuropathy. The nerve damage can cause pain, numbness or tingling. It is possible that she is experiencing this problem.

The best person to diagnose this would be a diabetologist or a neurologist. It would be important to know how long she has been diagnosed with diabetes, her history with the diabetes and how well controlled it has been, and whether or not she is experiencing other diabetes complications. I would recommend a total medical workup. She could be experiencing arthritis as well or perhaps some other medical problem. If she had an internal organ infection, I would expect that she might have a fever, or an increased white blood cell count. Again, a full work up is probably in order here.

SH