I have been a type 2 diabetic for 12 years, and keep my blood sugars under control. My doctor even calls me a "model patient." Imagine my surprise that when I went for a routine checkup with a nurologist that I was told that I have beginings of diabetic neuropathy. Since I do a good job managing my diabetes, what can I do to control this? Will this only get worse with time, even if I keep my diet and sugars under control. Right now, I only have pain in my feet when I do a lot of standing or walking, which I thought was normal. I am looking to see if anyone else has had similiar surprises.
Neuropathy is almost inevitable when you are diabetic. It's damage to the nerve endings and usually affects the hands, arms, legs or feet the most. It can affect the face and the rest of the body in severe cases. It is burning, tingling sensations. In some more severe cases, it causes loss of feeling all together. The only thing you can do is what you have already been doing very well……control your disease. I have it in my feet. Sometimes my feet are cold and tingling, other times they feel hot and tingling. My doctor sent me to a neurologist and said that this condition can not be reversed. There are medications that can help a little if you have a lot of pain, but most have a lot of side effects. Some of the more common side effects are drowsiness and weight gain. Lyrica is one of the popular drugs, but it made me feel like a zombie. You must be careful about injuring your feet . Don't go in your bare feet while outside. You could get a foot injury and not be able to feel it.
I could list all the info but this is much easier
http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/neuropathies/
As A diabetic myself I wish you better health. I have had it before but only because my blood sugars were out of control and once I got them back under control it stopped and I seem to be fine now.
By the way, the doc put me on an antidepresant to help reverse the neuropathy and it seemed to help. You should talke to your doc about it as well.
BOB PHX !
There are a variety of treatments for pain due to neuropathy, and ?nding the best treatment is really a matter of trying them out. Good glucose control is important because the pain is worse with poor control. Simple things such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) at night might be suf?cient. Your doctor may also prescribe tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline (Elavil) taken one to two hours before bedtime to help the pain. Amitriptyline causes drowsiness, and this can be a good thing for a good night’s sleep. Sometimes, however, the sleepiness extends into the day, in which case your doctor may ask you to try another tricyclic antidepressant that causes less drowsiness. Other side effects that can occur include dry eyes and dry mouth, constipation, and dif?culty urinating. If these side effects cannot be tolerated, then one of the newer anticonvulsants, gabapentin (Neurontin), can be used. The common side effects of gabapentin are drowsiness, fatigue, and imbalance. Recently, a medicine related to gabapentin, called pregabalin (Lyrica), was approved for painful neuropathy. There is no evidence that it is any better than gabapentin. Duloxetine (Cymbalta) is another antidepressant that is also useful in treating neuropathy.
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I have a friend that has neuropathy. He has no feeling in his big toe, so when he stubbed it he didn't feel it and it cause a big problem with his toe. He had to see a foot doctor to help clear it up. You have to be very careful with your feet. He also has neuropthay in his stomach nerves. For along time he had vomiting and diahrea and spent alot of time in hospital before they diagnoised that it was neuropthay of his stomach nerves. He now takes medication to help with the vomiting and diahrea but it will never get better the nerves are damaged and will not heal. Here is a website that I have found that might help you to understand more about neuropathy http://www.neurologychannel.com/neuropathy/index.shtml
I hope this information will help you.
My mother is a type II diabetic and she has neuropathy in her feet and he doctor told her to rub Vicks Vapor Rub on her feet before bed each night.
I know it sounds crazy but the vapors do something to the blood vessels that make the pain more bearable.
She has been a diabetic for about 8 years now and the neuropathy just started recently out of the blue last year and like you she has been exercising and watching her sugar intake, so we have no idea why it started.