Can this be due to diabetes type 2

[mrbobowen]

I was diagnosed 4 -5 years ago. I requested a test on a hunch after experiencing odd symptoms, mainly severe urinary incontinence, also being very tired after work - going to bed early and at times feeling mentally fogged and fatigued in hot weather. Two years ago, my left leg started momentarily giving way suddenly without explanation, causing me to drop/dip down before recovering myself. Over a few months, this got worse but was always intermittent; when occuring it could be as much as four to five times in a minute. It gradually got much better, but still happens less dramatically a few times a day, though now my leg often wobbles back and forth about the knee several times a day. Experienced other symptoms about that time - e.g. retrograde ejaculation, bowel weakness, now gone, or much improved. I wondered if the medication might have caused this. I know diabetes causes peripheral nerve damage and I assume this usually starts at extremities and moves back. My foot sensitivity is ok when tested by the doc. Anybody know if it is possible for damage to first affect nerves that are not at the extremities i.e. nerves to a leg muscle before any measurable impact on the feet, and for this to improve. I have been checked out for other things but this has drawn a blank.

 

[Yorksman]

I've not heard of those sort of symptoms before though quite a few of us have leg problems which are not just at the extremities. Cramps seems to be common enough. Poor circulation is often the cause and keeping warm, calf stretching exercises and even bed socks help sooth things. Whether or not your symptoms are just a more extreme example of the same though I couldn't say. If I wash my feet and calfs in warm soapy with a rough loofer daily, most of these problems disappear until I get lazy again and stop doing it. I'd have a go at pampering your legs and feet and get good quality shoes. I was very unsteady on my feet but got some quality trecking shoes and am now much more footsure. If you have had this for a long time, a part of the problem may be that you have lost a bit of confidence, going down stairs for example, where you wonder if your knee will give way. Will it simply fold as you start to put weight on it? A lot of older people get that.

 

[Squire Fulwood]

I am no expert at this but I thought that diabetes can cause damage throughout the body and to any organ. It just presents itself first in the extremities because these have circulation issues even in people without diabetes. Smokers, for example can lose feet etc. just because smoking aggravates the circulation issues.

A very high percentage of male diabetics have erectile dysfunction and can still walk ok and since that's not near the feet it demonstrates that damage can indeed manifest itself elsewhere.

You can't rule out diabetes as the cause of your problems but you may have other issues as well. I wouldn't know.

 

[mrbobowen]

I am only 53, and was physically robust before this. The best way I can describe it is as if the control signal/power to the muscle helping to stiffen/straighten the knee briefly switches off so that it begins to fold, then come back on. I don't know if weight-bearing is a factor in this, because it could also be happening for example when I am lying down, but I just wouldn't notice since the knee wouldn't fold, and it is not associated with any sensation. The other way I think of it is in terms of a lack of muscle tone, so that the muscle becomes too relaxed when it should be stiffened to bear weight and the drop happens as it is adjusting the tone up to what it should be. By the way, my outer left thigh of the same leg is often numb and this does seem to get worse when standing for a long period.

Thanks Squire, though just thinking that the genitals are at a nerve extremity in that the nerves are as small and finely branched as they become once they reach them (though the distance is clearly shorter than to the feet)

 

[Hobs]

Have you every had a back injury (even minor)of any description or other spinal problems?

 

[mrbobowen]

Did have a back injury maybe 20 years ago which then caused a lot of pain and aggravation over several years, but very little trouble at all nowadays. A compressed disc showing on recent scan but the direction of the bulge suggests that it would only be aggravating the nerve going to the right leg nerve if anything, but this is absolutely fine.