Warning Signs by Our Feet

Many times when we feel ill, we rush to the mirror in the house and examine our faces to check if we are pale, flushed, or show other signs of illness. However, instead of looking at the obvious whenever you aren’t feeling well, you may want to try to look a little further down at your feet that contain quite a few clues about your health, and sometimes even alert you to the feasibility of many serious diseases. From diabetes to cardiovascular disease, these are seven symptoms that appear in your feet which you shouldn’t ignore.
The body is an amazing thing. When something isn’t quite right, it has subtle ways of letting you know. It does this through a variety of mechanisms – one of which is your feet!

Knowing and understanding what your feet are trying to say about your health can help you become more in tune with your body, and address any issues.

1. Hairless Feet

If your feet are smooth with absolutely zero hair, you might think you’ve won the beauty lottery. But actually, that can be a sign of serious circulation problems.

It's usually caused by a cardiovascular disease like arteriosclerosis; when your arteries become hardened, making your heart work harder to pump blood throughout your body.
Your heart goes into recovery mode and prioritizes certain vital areas of your body, sending reduced blood to extremities like your feet.

2. Sunken-in Toenails

Are your toes slightly sunken, with a bit of a spoon shape? This happens when your body's doesn't have enough iron  – a condition known as anemia.

And considering that anemia is by far the most common blood disorder in the nation , a whole lot of you reading this have sunken toenails.
When left untreated anemia can make you feel tired, weak and short of breath. Iron deficiency can be easily solved by eating more red meat, seafood, dark green vegetables and dried fruit.

You can also take iron supplements.

3. Long-term Sores

A sore on your feet that won’t heal is a hallmark warning sign of diabetes.

You see, an elevated blood sugar level leads to nerve damage – particularly in your feet. Cuts and sores that your body would normally heal, stick around indefinitely. In extreme cases, this can lead to severe infection in which amputation is necessary.

4. Cold Feet

Most of us some suffer from cold feet, a phenomenon that is quite common during the cold winter months. But if you notice that you can’t warm your feet up despite all the efforts, it is very possible that the problem is due to insufficient blood flow to the area. This symptom should be taken seriously, especially during menopause, due to the prevalence of peripheral artery disease (PAD) at these ages, a disease that is manifested in the blockage of arteries, especially in the lower extremities.

Apart from the possible appearance of foot wounds and edema, peripheral artery disease increases the risk of heart disease. As a preventive measure, the Dr. recommends reducing salt-rich foods and avoiding harmful habits such as smoking, both of which can partially alleviate the problem.

Look, we’re all a little hesitant from time to time. But if you’ve got actual, literal cold feet for no apparent reason, that’s a serious problem.
It could be a sign that your thyroid – the gland responsible for warming your body – is malfunctioning by producing too much homocysteine.
Excess homocysteine can also cause heart disease, poor circulation and stiffness.

5. Yellow Toenails

Thick, yellow toenails are most often the handiwork (pun wholly intended) of a fungal infection.
You could have gotten said infection from a number of sources; culprits tend to include non-breathable shoes, public swimming pools and improper drying of your toes when they get wet.

6. Heel Pain

Do you notice sharp, shooting pains in your heel – especially when you stand up? Ah, you've met plantar fasciitis.
It’s a common foot condition in which the plantar fascia ligament in your foot becomes irregularly stretched. The ligament develops small tears and inflammation.
What causes plantar fasciitis? Repetitive strain and improper shoes are the common culprits. There are a number of natural ways to treat plantar fasciitis.

7. Numbness

Tingling in the feet is a well-known phenomenon that appears when we inadvertently block blood flow by sitting cross-legged, lotus style, or placing a foot on a leg. If you notice that there is a feeling of tingling that appears without you sitting in one of these positions, the Dr. warns that this symptom may indicate serious health problems from diabetes to excessive alcohol consumption.
Diabetes reduces blood flow to the feet and in extreme cases can lead to nerve damage and may even require amputation due to the formation of necrosis. In addition, numbness in the legs may be caused by excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, due to the products of decomposition of alcohol that cause the destruction of nerve cells in the body.
Diabetes causes what is known as neuropathy – numbness and loss of feeling in the extremities. Roughly 60-70% of all people with diabetes will experience neuropathy. It usually pops up after about 25 years of poorly-managed diabetes.
If that sounds like you, check in with your doctor to see what you can do to improve your diabetes treatment.

8. Sore Foot Joints

Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory disorder in which your immune system makes the mistake of attacking normal tissue.
As a result, the lining of your joints becomes sore. Painful swelling soon follows.
If this sounds familiar, you’ll definitely want to get your joints checked out as soon as possible. Left untreated, rheumatoid arthritis can cause bone erosion and deformity.

9. Flaky Feet

When you’ve got flakes falling off your body, it’s never a good thing.
Flaky feet – especially if the flakes originate from between your toes –can be a sign og athlete's foot. 
It’s a very common (and contagious) fungal infection caused by tinea bacteria. Walking barefoot in public locker rooms or sharing sneakers can cause the infection.
Athlete’s foot can usually be eradicated easily, with anti-fungal creams but if you’ve also got diabetes or a weak immune system, it's recommended that you see your doctor.

10. Digital Clubbing

No, it’s not a sort of virtual reality Friday night out for shy folk. Digital clubbing is not fun at all. 
It’s a condition that leads to a change in shape in your toes. It can involve one, a few or all of your toes. The most common cause of digital clubbing is lung cancer. Other causes include pulmonary fibrosis, a heart defect and brochiectasis.
No matter what you suspect the cause of your digital clubbing to be, you’ll definitely want to have it checked out by a doctor.

11. Toes That Turn Colors

At first, you might think it’s a cool party trick. But it gets old pretty quickly, especially when you realize it's a prime feature of Raynaud's disease.
If you’ve got Raynaud’s disease, the change in color will be linked to temperature. When your feet begin to feel cold, your toes will turn white or blue. It will take about 15 minutes for your toes to return to normal color after warming.
It’s caused by abnormal blood vessels in the toes that become narrow in response to cold or stress. It’s not a life threatening disease and can be managed with a physician’s help.

Unfortunately, our natural tendency is to ignore our feet completely until they hurt, when in fact they function like any other organ in the body, and they may “quietly” allude to a variety of illnesses, including cancer. According to a Podiatrist, skin cancer is one of the most common diseases in the foot area, as many of us do not protect it with sunscreen as we do the upper body and face. "If you see a mole that has grown abnormally or notice unexplained color changes in the skin, this should be carefully examined."
In addition, the Dr. strongly recommends not skipping the toes and fingernails in search of dark spots that may signal the development of melanoma, one of the most common skin cancers.

12. Pitted Toenails

If your toenails have more holes than an episode of CSI, you may have a condition known as psoriatic arthritis. It most commonly affects those with psoriasis – a disease causing scaly, red skin.
The toenail abnormality can pop up even before skin damage and may also occur on the fingernails.
Without treatment, psoriatic arthritis can become disabling.

13.Pain

We all suffer from foot pain from time to time, especially after a long day of running from place to place. But what happens if the pain appears for no apparent reason? According to the Dr. , unexplained pain can signal a host of diseases, and severe pain that occurs immediately when we get out of bed and fades throughout the day can indicate the onset of inflammation in one of the leg joints because the joint heats up as we are active and hardens when we rest.
In order to prevent inflammation, it is recommended that you don’t compromise on good sports shoes and make sure to change them every year. If this is a pain that worsens throughout the day, this symptom may indicate a stress fracture caused by an unbalanced workout routine, which may worsen over time, so you may want to consult a specialist as soon as possible if you experience this type of pain.

14.Swelling

In addition to our feet swelling after standing on them for long hours without rest, swollen feet may also indicate heart, liver and kidney disease. According to Dr. Andersen, excessive swelling in an area with no history of unusual physical injury or exertion may occur as a result of the accumulation of salts and fluids, which is considered to be one of the known symptoms of heart failure and kidney failure. Liver disease can also lead to the accumulation of fluid in the legs, due to lack of a protein called albumin produced in the liver, which is responsible for the balance of fluids in the body.

15. Constant itching

Apart from the constant itching and bad smell, foot fungus that isn’t treated in time can also cause nail damage and even increase the chances of foot infections. In addition, fungi have a tendency to attack and infect other parts of the body, which can only prolong treatment. It is worth knowing that as you get older, your body's ability to fight infections decreases and the chances are that the disease will worsen and develop beyond a specific infection, therefore, it is important to treat it when first noticed.

16. Sudden change in walking

Each and every one of us has a unique style of walking, and such habits don’t change overnight. If you notice that your walking is changing or you hear it from people around you, you should seek medical advice immediately because sudden changes in walking may result from the appearance of various neurological problems, primarily stroke and multiple sclerosis.
In cases of multiple sclerosis, the damage to the nervous system can lead to the "numbness" of areas of the foot, sometimes without our noticing it. Another reason that can cause changes in walking is pain in the back area due to various physical infections and injuries, which can cause us to change our walking and posture unconsciously to prevent putting a heavy load on the affected area.

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