February 21, 2000
Complications, Other Illnesses
Question from Nebraska, USA:
My daughter has swelling, pain, and redness to the bottom of her toes and pads behind her toes on both feet. The pediatrician thinks it is diabetes related as in diabetic neuropathy. The podiatrist and allergist both think it is contact dermatitis. She has had this problem on and off for the past month. She is going to have a nerve conduction test soon. She is 12 diagnosed at age 2.
Her symptoms do not fit into the neuropathy category from what I have read. Have you heard of children this age having this problem? She also has had blistering and when a prescription prednisone cream is applied, they burn. Her feet feel great in the morning after sleeping all night. The first time this happened she was outside all day and the symptoms started that evening and lasted for about a week. This time, again, she was outside all day and started having this trouble at night; not as severe as the first time. It has been a week and her feet seem to be not as swollen and red but she still has some pain. Can a test confirm or rule out diabetic neuropathy completely?
Answer:
I don’t believe that your daughter’s problem could be a contact dermatitis and it would be very unusual indeed to develop a neuropathy at age 12 even with quite poor control. You might therefore ask her diabetes doctor about the possibility of Raynaud’s Phenomenon which although it has not been shown to be an autoimmune phenomenon, is quite often associated with them. A platelet aggregation test could define this.
DOB
