Numbness in lower leg

Yes. I had this odd numbness in my right thigh in 2000, & after few months went to the Dr, who arranged blood tests & diagnoses diabetes. That numb feeling persisted for years, & only disappeared after reducing carbs.

I recommend you always ask for a print-out of your results, & not accept a verbal summary. You will be diabetic for the rest of your life, & those print-outs will give YOU the knowledge of how you are progressing. You may not understand them now, but you will. Also those results will enable informed advice to be given on the forum.

Hi Louie,

I think you would benefit from the advice given to newly diagnosed diabetics,
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=17088

Any questions, ask away.

Louie1974 said:

My GP surgery just gets me to phone in for the results, and the last one went like this:

Me: "Hi I've just phoned to get the results of my recent blood test, I'm diabetic."
Nurse/receptionist: "Oh yes here they are, yes it's fine, goodbye."

Are you saying I could have requested an actual print-out of those results for my own records?

Click to expand...

yes you can and it's well worth doing. Make sure you get everything they've done; they should be doing a range of checks and tests every year. It's a bit vague to know that "it's fine" - over time you'll want to know whether things are moving up or down, whether they are near the acceptable upper or lower limits etc etc.

The things they should be checking for each year (or more often at first) are:

HbA1c (your average blood sugar over the last few weeks). You are entitled to one of these blood tests every 3 months if you want one.

Blood fats (lipids) - tests for cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides and cholesterol/HDL ratio - these give info about your risks of heart disease

They should also be doing urine and blood tests for albumin creatinine ratio (ACR) and estimated globular filtration rate (eGFR) - these check your kidneys are working ok.

they should check your feet each year for the kinds of numbness you are describing, they should check your blood pressure each year, and your weight.

Also very important to get your eyes checked each year to make sure you are not getting eye complications such as retinopathy (although an ophthalmologist may do this not your doctor).

that's a lot of info to take in but let me know if you need more info, eg on what sort of levels are 'good' for these tests.

Louie,

I trust you have had this numbness investigated by your gp?

Nigel

My GP suspected diabetic neuropathy & confirmed diabetes. It was never investigated. That area served as an "early warning system" & was the first to react to simvastatin (which I stopped taking) & later to the much more debilitating peripheral neuropathy which was "cured" by low carb. My Dr prescribed quinine & suggested referral to hospital. I needed neither. I now have no such problems.

But don't let me stop you getting advice from your Dr.

I had a motorbike accident a while ago and damaged a nerve in that area, it may be the common peronial nerve. It is the nerve responsible for lifting your foot up and down (when it's damaged as mine was you get what's called footdrop). So while it's definately worth having investigated don't panic if you have full movement of the foot-just get it checked in case so you can keep that movement!