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Pain in muscles and bones, diabetes related?

M

Max68

Well-Known Member
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Just wondering if diabetes creates either muscle or bone pain in others?

All started with a left wrist problem last year. Assumed it was due to my bad golf swing and ended up having an x-ray which came back clear and was going to have further investigation but it was postponed due to lockdown.

However recently similar pain has popped up in my right forearm, ball of my left foot and right shin and in many ways I just feel like I am aching all over.

The pain certainly in the ball of my foot seems to be like a bruised bone which is uncomfortable to walk on whereas in my arm and shin it throbs with a piercing jabbing which is making it difficult to sleep.

It could be all that walking I was doing in poor trainers, but that wouldn't affect the arms and I wouldn't usually be concerned but it's not going away!! It could be arthritis spreading as I've had arthritic hips for years.

Could be stress I guess with everything that's going on but wondered if diabetes could cause this sort of thing. No pins and needles or numbness though in any of the extremities.

Anyone suffer similar?
 

Hi,

Only occasionally, accompanied with flu symptoms? A few historical strains & wot not can come back to nag..
 
Have you had your vitamin d levels checked @Max68 ? That’s another potential influencer.
 
Goonergal said:
Have you had your vitamin d levels checked @Max68 ? That’s another potential influencer.
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I'm on Fultium Vitamin D funnily enough and have been on it the last few years. When I spoke to my GP a few months ago to ask if I needed to up it because of Covid and the Vitamin D link she said that I was on the correct dosage so I assume all is ok with that. Not sure if it shows up on the six monthly blood tests or you need a special one for that?
 

You’d need a separate test, it’s not one that GPs generally run routinely. Since you’re supplementing - presumably because of something previously identified? - I’d definitely see about having it checked to make sure the supplement is doing it’s job.
 
@Max68 - You need to know the level of your Vitamin D. In UK, most GPs are fine with anything in range. For me, anything around the 100 mark is fine, a little closer to the upper limits would suit me right now.
 
Thanks all, I'll ask for another blood test again to check as it was low a few years ago but with the supplement it was fine but no idea when it was last checked.

@Daibell Yes I'm on Pravastatin. Was wondering actually since lockdown I've had my meds delivered by another company and whilst I am on the same meds the odd one is a different name ie made by a different company. Not sure if that could have an affect.
 
I few weeks on Atorvastatin and Metformin and I was in agony with muscles and joints aching all the time. My leg muscles were very weak and took months to regain strength after I stopped the tablets.
 

Max, I am "fortunate" enough to only take meds to help my thyroid gland, which has, annoyingly, lost the plot. There is one brand of Levothyroxine, "Teva", which leaves me nauseous and just "off", whereas all the others (I have had dispensed) have been fine. Clearly it isn't the active ingredient that's problematic to me, but more likely a filler, stabilising or preservative.

My GP has since appended my repeat to instruct that Teva Levothyroxine is not dispensed to me.

Your challenge would be a pinpoint which medication and which brand was causing the issues, if that was the case.

In the meantime, do have your Vit D checked. It can be quite a dynamic thing, with results varying across time. If you have been staying indoors more of late, it could be your supplement is simply not enough to keep your numbers up, in a decent place.
 
My GP requested my serum Vit D be checked as a matter of routine during a blood test. The result showed I was at the high range of 'norm' and was asked to cut back on what I was taking which was 5000 iu of Vit D3 a day. I now have one 3000 iu a day.

Vit D3 is pretty low cost to buy and overdosing is rare according to a google search.

In Nordic countries I believe Vit D is supplemented in foods. Funnily enough when I lived in sunny Spain I used to buy milk fortified with Vit D, I could even buy eggs high in Vit D (presumably the hens were fed a higher amount of Vit D in their feed?).

There has been calls after research at Birmingham University for foods in the UK to be fortified with Vit D https://www.healtheuropa.eu/vitamin-d-nhs/92961/ - the article was written Aug 2019 pre Covid.

The researchers put forward a new strategy for implementation in the UK. This consists of adding 400IU of vitamin D per 100g of flour, whilst at the same time, offering free supplements at the same dose for children up to 18 years of age and to those over 65.​
 
Max68 said:
Just wondering if diabetes creates either muscle or bone pain in others?

Anyone suffer similar?
Click to expand...

Diabetic neuropathy can cause muscle pain (or what appears as muscle pain but is in fact damaged nerves firing off pain signals). Damaged nerves can lead to muscle wasting too.
 
Well I'm hoping it's not the Neuropathy with an HBA1c of 51 but I'll definitely get my Vitamin D checked again as bar a daily walk I was indoors a lot during lockdown.,
 
Well spoke to the GP today and he is sending me for a blood test. Checking Vitamin D, Calcium Bone Profile, PSA and Inflammatory conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis although from my history he thought that unlikely.
 

Thank you. I'm getting quite concerned by it actually and three of my little toes on my right foot are now giving me a lot of pain for no reason at all. So it's now ball of left foot, toes on right foot, left wrist and right forearm! Thankfully the right shin pain has gone away.

My GP asked if I had any lumps on my shins and my answer was no but I then remembered I had a bruise like bump on it a few weeks ago like I'd been kicked on the football pitch, but have long retired!! Thankfully that went away.

It's most odd because it's like random injuries but I'm not doing anything to get injured! Rang last night re my results. Bloods back but GP hasn't looked at them yet!
 
Max68 said:
Well spoke to the GP today and he is sending me for a blood test. Checking Vitamin D, Calcium Bone Profile, PSA and Inflammatory conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis although from my history he thought that unlikely.
Click to expand...
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/in-depth/diabetes/art-20049314
This seems like a useful summary of the associated conditions. Looks as if you are being sent down an osteopathy route mainly.
Vitamin D is an interesting one! To be able to absorb the vitamin D we need cholesterol in our diet and to not have too much insulin resistance (not sure if you are type 1 or 2 Max ?). The study that was done was small scale and showed efficacy because the form of vitamin D given to the patients was D3 which I gather is the useful form of the vitamin D that gets made once it has been converted by the body.
 
Thanks all. I'm type 2 by the way but "reasonably" controlled with an HBA1c of 53, down from 58 in December, so not sure if diabetic related other bits can hit if sugars aren't too bad or not. Had sight test the other day and they can now look for changes in the blood vessels that a retinopathy scan can't apparently, and all was fine with the eyes.

Had a few pimples, almost like a red rash, on the side and sole of foot a couple of months back, but that's cleared up and plenty of hair on the foot so that's a good sign for decent circulation apparently. That's on the top by the way, not the soles so I can rule out lycanthropy!!

My memory is a bit hazy but I'm wondering if last week as I walked into the living room I "might" have caught my toes on the table. If I did it didn't hurt much at the time so it could well be that with the toes.

So much stuff going on I can't remember it all!!
 
With my PT hat on I'd agree that motion is lotion so to speak! Keeping muscles strong and supple protects joints so always go through gentle movement patterns before doing anything more strenuous e.g. teeing off!
Static stretching is out of fashion and not thought to prevent injuries.
Movement helps prevent blood clots and keeping muscles strong helps to prevent falls particularly in older people who naturally lose muscle unless they do something to prevent it!
 
Hi. Keep an eye on the healing process and anything you can do to further reduce your insulin resistance (the core of type 2 diabetes) will certainly promote general health and wellbeing as you start new life plans etc!!!
Your hba1c is a good indicator but also make sure you've got a good hdl/triglycerides ratio (with the former ideally being higher than the latter). It is also a great predictor of cardiovascular health more so than LDl cholesterol.
Hope your investigations go well.
 
Well my Vitamin D results are back, although they bizarrely appeared on the Patient website rather than via the receptionist who said they weren't back!!

Could actually see my old results as well which were interesting.

Serum total 25-OH vit D level 74 nmol/L 50 - 120 Normal 25 Sep 2020

Serum total 25-OH vit D level 27 nmol/L 50 - 120 Abnormal 25 Oct 2017

Serum total 25-OH vit D level 18 nmol/L 50 - 120 Abnormal 5 Dec 2016

So all normal for now although wonder if higher would be better! Quite shocked how low it was in 2016 and 2017.

Nothing on my Calcium profile, Inflammatory conditions or PSA which is a a tad concerning as to why they weren't posted!
 
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