I've got my T2db well under control. My HbA1c is now 42(USA 6.0) - that's down from 61(USA 7.7) last year.
However, my doctor has just told me that the numbness in my toes and feet is because of the diabetes and he has diagnosed me as having "Diabetic Neuropathy".
I am surprised by his diagnosis. I'd welcome group members' comments on this please.
Hi. I'm another neuropathy sufferer, or was.
I had diabetic neuropathy (along with a number of other diabetic symptoms) long before my BG was high enough for me to be "diagnosed" - the neuropathy seems to have started while my BG was about 43 or 44 in 2014. I had the burning feet, pins and needles, stabbing pains, but no numbness. The current medical view (taken from the Bilous and Donnelly "Handbook of Diabetes") is that about a third of all patients with diabetes have evidence of neuropathy but some of these are asymptomatic. There is therefore clearly not a direct and straightforward relationship between blood glucose levels and neuropathy.
The pain and numbness is caused by the dying back of axons that begins in the long nerves - the longest are in the feet so they tend to be affected first.
Although there is quite a lot of descriptive stuff about neuropathy and how to recognise it in the handbook it is extremely short on how to alleviate or remove it:
"Various topical and systemic therapies have been tried for painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy , but few have been subjected to well-designed random controlled trials. ....acupuncture may be helpful and and the antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid is used in some countries. The US Food and Drug Administration has only licensed duloxetine and pregabalin for painful diabetic neuropathy".
It's possible there is more recent information than what is in the text book. I found that very little helped with the pain, apart form walking around, but it meant I had several years of disturbed sleep.
My neuropathy however vanished very quickly when I brought my blood glucose levels down to 36 in April 2020. Nothing else changed - I went on a 20g carb/day keto lifestyle and BG levels fell. No exercise, and obviously the proportion and quantity of fat in my diet increased.
Since then I have had only a residual tingle, which is probably permanent damage, but I couldn't describe it as "pain" - it's very mild. It doesn't interfere with anything and certainly wouldn't keep me awake.
