Hi all,
I registered a while ago and can't remember if I introduced myself!!
My name is Alison and I registered for my gran, who is 84 and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes just over a year ago - although I suspect she had been suffering from it for a long time before that. I had a gut feeling she had diabetes with all the symptoms she had been describing and eventually I managed to persuade a locum GP to test her. At the same time, her gastro consultant informed us that her blood sugars had been consistently high for over a year (and nobody at the doctor's surgery thought to mention it!!).
Anyway, she started off on Metformin but it didn't particularly agree with her and it upset her ulcerative colitis. She was changed to Gliclazide 40mg in the morning and 40mg in the evening. This seemed to be suiting her much better, but on her review at the diabetic clinic, they changed her to Diamicron MR 30mg in the morning only.
Recently, she has been experiencing excrutiating pain in both her hips, across the small of her back and down her legs. She cannot stand for any more than a couple of seconds without being in excrutiating pain. She says it's extremely painful in bed and it's extremely painful when walking. The biggest problem is just standing still. She's almost crying it's so sore. She also says that it feels like there's a tight band round the tops of her legs. She's also complaining of constant pins and needles in her hands. She also says that her feet feel funny - kind of dead and it's like she's walking on stones or sand or something.
The GP sent her for x-rays and said that there was signs of arthritis in both hips and "wedging" on her spine and also slightly thinning bones.
Without any other examination, he said she has diabetic neuropathy and prescribed her Gabapentin 300mg, three times a day. She's been on it for two weeks and it's made no difference to the pain, but is making her extremely tired and disorientated - to the point that she'd rather not take them. She also has Co-Codamol and Tramadol painkillers but they aren't doing anything for the pain.
Does it sound like she has neuropathy? If so, is there any other treatment we can try other than the Gabapentin - that maybe doesn't have such horrible side effects?
I'd appreciate any help - it's awful seeing her so distressed. She's a very active lady and this is really depressing her and getting her down.
Many thanks,
Alison;
I registered a while ago and can't remember if I introduced myself!!
My name is Alison and I registered for my gran, who is 84 and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes just over a year ago - although I suspect she had been suffering from it for a long time before that. I had a gut feeling she had diabetes with all the symptoms she had been describing and eventually I managed to persuade a locum GP to test her. At the same time, her gastro consultant informed us that her blood sugars had been consistently high for over a year (and nobody at the doctor's surgery thought to mention it!!).
Anyway, she started off on Metformin but it didn't particularly agree with her and it upset her ulcerative colitis. She was changed to Gliclazide 40mg in the morning and 40mg in the evening. This seemed to be suiting her much better, but on her review at the diabetic clinic, they changed her to Diamicron MR 30mg in the morning only.
Recently, she has been experiencing excrutiating pain in both her hips, across the small of her back and down her legs. She cannot stand for any more than a couple of seconds without being in excrutiating pain. She says it's extremely painful in bed and it's extremely painful when walking. The biggest problem is just standing still. She's almost crying it's so sore. She also says that it feels like there's a tight band round the tops of her legs. She's also complaining of constant pins and needles in her hands. She also says that her feet feel funny - kind of dead and it's like she's walking on stones or sand or something.
The GP sent her for x-rays and said that there was signs of arthritis in both hips and "wedging" on her spine and also slightly thinning bones.
Without any other examination, he said she has diabetic neuropathy and prescribed her Gabapentin 300mg, three times a day. She's been on it for two weeks and it's made no difference to the pain, but is making her extremely tired and disorientated - to the point that she'd rather not take them. She also has Co-Codamol and Tramadol painkillers but they aren't doing anything for the pain.
Does it sound like she has neuropathy? If so, is there any other treatment we can try other than the Gabapentin - that maybe doesn't have such horrible side effects?
I'd appreciate any help - it's awful seeing her so distressed. She's a very active lady and this is really depressing her and getting her down.
Many thanks,
Alison;
that sounds awful. Unfortunately, I have no clue as to what could be the problem. I think Neuropathy feels like sharp pains. It can also lead to IBS and eye sight problems.
