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Can neuropathy be intermittent?

catapillar

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,390
Location
UK
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Over the past 5-6 weeks I have now and again noticed a weird feeling of numbness in one or two fingers. Only one finger at a time, almost like you've been sitting on it or it's really cold. When it feels like this the finger goes white and sort of looks like it's been pinched up on the finger tip & wont regain its normal shape - so it seems like there is absolutely no capillary refill & it just doesn't pink up, it can last like this for an hour or two. I didn't click it could be anything diabetic until yesterday when the same thing happened to my little toe, I'd been out in the garden in my wellies in the cold & my little toe had gone completely numb and white & weird. But it resolved after an hour or two. The fact that it's doing something in my feet has made me worry it might be a neuropathy thing - can that be possible? Can neuropathy affect variable fingers & toes and be intermittent?

Any advice much appreciated
 
In a way (which I accept is probably a bit stupid & will probably make anyone who does suffer from reynards want to throw something at me -sorry) I would kinda prefer it if it was reynards rather than a diabetic complication. But I don't think it is because I've never had any circulatory problem before & doesn't seem to be directly connected to cold - I can rummage about in the freezer with no ill effects.

Of course I would much prefer it if it were just a weird thing that I can write off as a weird thing & ignore. I am very good at denial, but I maybe/might have to ask the DSN about it.
 
Is there any correlation with high bg at the time it happens?

I have seen MANY posts from T2s on here saying that their neuropathy pains are worse at certain bgs (usually higher than ideal) - which leads them to living inside a very narrow window. But that, over time, the neuropathy then improves if they keep under the trigger bg level.

I believe both Bernstein and Jenny Rhul have supporting evidence for this - normal bg levels allowing reversal of neuropathy pains...
 
Fair enough, although circulation problems are also very much a diabetic thing. Probably good to ask your DSN about it though.
 
Brunneria said:
Is there any correlation with high bg at the time it happens?
Click to expand...

I have been running much higher than I would usually allow over the past week or so - certainly yesterday morning when my toe was being weird it was in double figures & had been for hours - but that's because my DSN has forbidden me from correcting, because she doesn't want me to die of a hypo. But I'm sure it's happened previously in my fingers when I've been low, or at least not high, but because I didn't make a connection it could be a diabetic thing until it happened in my toe I probably wasn't paying much attention to what my blood sugar was.
 
I believe that @andcol used to be able to use the feelings in his fingers and toes as accurate meter readings, because they were so predictable and correlated... but I am afraid I can no longer remember the details. He may be willing to explain better.

Whatever the cause, I hope you get to the bottom of it, and manage to find a resolution.
 
I'm not doubting anything you say @catapillar , but wouldn't you be out in the garden working longer than you might be rummaging in the freezer?

If not, you've really got gardening licked and I want to know the secret!!
 

Not throwing anything at you, lol. I have raynaud's and the attacks were not temperature related with me. I get the whole preference thing, however whatever it is please do see your dr about it. I do agree that it sounds like raynaud's and you don't have to have any other circulatory problem to get it.
 
I have wondered this exact same thing and mentioned it to my Consultant a couple of years ago.

his response was to test all my fingers and toes with the little funny filament wire thingymabob , and then declared I had absolutely no neuropathy.

but I still get a slight tingling and numbness in my fingers sometimes
just out of curiousity @catapillar -- do you work on a computer a lot
I do and wonder sometimes if it a connection with a form of repetitive strain injury
( wouldn't explain the toes though )
 
I suffer with gout and often get a tingling in my fingers and toes so until something goes drastically wrong l wouldn't know
 
AndBreathe said:
I'm not doubting anything you say @catapillar , but wouldn't you be out in the garden working longer than you might be rummaging in the freezer?

If not, you've really got gardening licked and I want to know the secret!!
Click to expand...

O yeah I was definitely out in the garden for a couple of hours & in one position (attempting to sort out a waist high flower bed) & it was a little chilly but the sun was out... But I can't recall any connection with being outside/cold when it has happened in my fingers. It has definitely happened in my finger after a work out on the cross trainer when I should have been pretty warm. I remember thinking maybe I had just been gripping the hand holds a bit tight! Here's hoping
 
This might be carpal tunnel syndrome which result in loss of feeling in the fingertips so if it is that, a simple opp can sort it out
 
Had one of those episodes ... one finger went white and numb and took hours to come right. For me, it was a pinched nerve
 
Erm. What's this about not correcting? If you're running double figures that seems odd? Have you been too enthusiastic with the fast acting recently? I'm not sure your DSN can forbid you from anything...
 
@catapillar is doing this to satisfy her DSN that her normal interventions are not the cause of her BG variability
she is a hero for putting up with it for 2 weeks
 
tim2000s said:
Erm. What's this about not correcting? If you're running double figures that seems odd? Have you been too enthusiastic with the fast acting recently? I'm not sure your DSN can forbid you from anything...
Click to expand...

As she holds the pump power in her hands, she can forbid me from doing anything she likes at the minute! They don't think I'm safe using insulin & therefore won't support me for a pump, so they have suggested rules (less basal, lower ratio & no corrections) I don't think I was correcting that often, because I wasn't hitting double figures, & I don't think it is over enthusiastic to correct at 10, or 8 & rising. But I have no awareness & was hypo at least twice a day (now I'm just hyper all day long) so I can see where they are coming from. Even if their rules are stupid & im only following them to prove them wrong.

In the meantime I shall just hope that none of my toes drop off!
 
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