Need help?

[Alex_B]

I know you are not doctors but I just need to know if these are common signs of diabetic neuropathy.

These are some of my symptoms from the past 3 weeks:

Non stop stomach pains and diarrhoea for 3 weeks, even when I don't eat anything.

Back and leg pain for just over a week with no cause, I haven't hit my back and my legs feel like I have walked for hours without stopping, even though I've been in bed.

Cramps and pains in both my hands. Pains in both my feet, also always really cold even with socks on. Pain is also in my toes.

These pains I have been having have caused a loss of sleep from either having a few hours sleep or none at all.

I am going to get into doctors Monday but I'm terrified of them thinking I'm making it up because I'm 21 and shouldn't be having all these pains.

Please help??

 

[Jaylee]

Hi Alex,

You seem to have a fair few symptoms happening at the same time..

I'm not a doc, but one thing stands out regarding experience with any excessively high BG levels.. The legs feeling like I've run a marathon of cycled for a massive distance?

How have your BGs been in the last 3 weeks?

Your doctor is certainly the best port of call regarding your current problems. You've done the right thing booking an apointment.

 

[kitedoc]

Hi @Alex_B, Seeing your doctor is your best bet so I am glad you have an appointment for tomorrow.
Each of us T1Ds should have our own sick days plan; as an example, but not as professional advice or opinion: mine is:
# to keep taking my insulin, and measuring my BSLs - reporting any hypos or BSLs > 15 mmol/l &/or appearance of ketones)
# take plenty of fluids such as the ones in the chemist used for "gastro" as we call it in Australia (these are fluid or powder to be reconstituted with water and have some salts and glucose in them) and report if no urine is passed in any 12 hour period
# report if the symptoms have not settled within 10 days as a usual tummy bug settles in 10 days and at any time if blood is passed or temperature > 38.5C or other symptoms should develop.
# report if I had recently travelled overseas or been in close contact with someone that has.
Perhaps if you emphasise that it has been going on for 3 weeks, what your insulin and BSLs have been like, what fluid and other treatment you might have taken, mention your aches and pains ( I was told that we lose various salts from our body and this can cause muscle cramps)and whether you have been travelling etc.
Best Wishes for a good hearing and things being sorted out quickly !!

 

[DCUKMod]

I know you are not doctors but I just need to know if these are common signs of diabetic neuropathy.

These are some of my symptoms from the past 3 weeks:

Non stop stomach pains and diarrhoea for 3 weeks, even when I don't eat anything.

Back and leg pain for just over a week with no cause, I haven't hit my back and my legs feel like I have walked for hours without stopping, even though I've been in bed.

Cramps and pains in both my hands. Pains in both my feet, also always really cold even with socks on. Pain is also in my toes.

These pains I have been having have caused a loss of sleep from either having a few hours sleep or none at all.

I am going to get into doctors Monday but I'm terrified of them thinking I'm making it up because I'm 21 and shouldn't be having all these pains.

Please help??

Alex_B - I may have got this wrong, but wasn't there a discussion with you recently about gluten and having some tests run around that?

As I think I might have said in that discussion, I'd want a range of blood tests done, including the antibody tests for Coeliac disease.

In general terms, how are you managing to eat these days? I recall you had some extreme dental work done which significantly impacted what you could and couldn't tackle. Some of your digestive issues might be as simple as related to your challenges around chewing well enough for digestion.

I'm not Coeliac - my antibodies were withing the "normal" range, but then I have low carbed for some years now, but if I do, mistakenly, eat gluten I really do suffer. I recently ate a small amount of orzo pasta, mistaking it for risotto rice. Doh!

When that happens, I firstly feel like I've been hit by a bus and the fatigue is crippling. My hands, feet and shoulders ache and I get bloated and uncomfortable around the tummy area. I the don't use the bathroom for a few days, then I do, a lot, for a few days. It's quite horrid.

I can't comment on your feeling the cold, because I always feel the cold, although a trial of some low dose thyroid medications have helped that a bit in recent months.

Alex, our bodies are a bit of a jigsaw puzzle sometimes, and not everything always takes on the classic signs or symptoms.

Honestly, a good chat with your Doctor, outlining your concerns and a good, broad range of blood tests would be a great starting point for you. I know it's sometimes easy to tether everything we feel back to our diabetes, but sometimes we need to look a bit wider and dig a bit deeper to see the real picture.

I do hope things improve for you Alex. I know you don't really like seeing your Doctors, but sometimes we just have to do it, to start a process to become more well.

 

[Antechinus]

So what happened with the doc? Any diagnosis or improvement?

 

[Member496333]

Sounds like initial side effects of Metformin. I experienced similar when I started on it, and perhaps bizarrely, also when I stopped it.

But then again I also suffered from very serious neuropathy in my feet, independent of Metformin. Sometimes the body also just reacts heavily to rapidly changing blood glucose, particularly if you’ve had high numbers for years. The path to recovery can be a rocky road

 

[Alex_B]

@Antechinus The doctor refused to help me as he was too obsessed with my diabetes, saying I was in DKA with 0.1 ketones in urine..... obviously doesn't know much about diabetes, checked my blood ketones when I left the doctors and they were the same as urine ones! So I'm no further forward in finding the issue, still in pain, still can't sleep and still can't eat anything as I don't want to keep running to the toilet. Yesterday my legs gave way half way down the stairs, flipped me and i banged my head on the door!! My mum seems to think it might be Fibromyalgia as I have all the symptoms but one, so hopefully try again next week and see a different doctor that knows what they are doing! Just fed up with going there and it being all about my diabetes, soon just gonna not bother having a doctors surgery and dealing with it myself

 

[bmtest]

Basically if you have pulse as far as doctor is concerned you are alive and well however taking the fact you are 21 and that your contol is not too bad the symptoms are nothing out of ordinary. I oftern have cramp that will throw me straight off bed screaming for pain and modern beds are high these days, the cramp leaves you with pain threshold to overcome before you can even walk a few steps. Stomach pains 3 weeks how bad ? try drinkng contaminated water it takes months to ovecome, leg pain could be anything try stretching, this winter virus is causing back and leg weakness give it a month or so. Only hit the sack when pysically & mentally tired even if you only get 3 hours, if the body is tired you will sleep standing. Stretch the toes both ways,walk for and hour with trainers and thick socks are they still cold ? Try yoga and mediation to control mind you may have got into a burnt thought path.

The doctors vist is a bit like MOT test its basic but 9 times out of 10 your fit for service