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Peripheral Neuropathy

L

Loukay1

Well-Known Member
Messages
114
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Does anybody know if you can have Peripheral Neuropathy without having any foot problems?
I've got all of the symptoms but my feet are fine, I've got a gp appointment in a couple of weeks but was hoping someone could give me some advice in the mean time, TIA x
 
When you say your feet are fine but you have all the symptoms what do you mean? Do you mean that they are healthy in terms of injury, skin health etc?
 
I have that. I discussed it with my GP the other day. Whilst my feet condition has improved (fungal affected toe nails excepting) the condition of my legs hasn’t changed a lot. My GP said it might well reverse yet if I reduce my body weight. However he gives a different name “varicose something or other” ( not varicose veins)
 
Where you put on any medication for it? X
 
I had very severe neuropathy but my feet appeared outwardly fine. I did develop one or two ulcers on my toes but they weren’t common. Everything is now perfect and my feet look and feel amazing. In retrospect I probably had pretty bad nails but nothing you’d immediately associate with diabetes.
 
Loukay1 said:
Where you put on any medication for it? X
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No. I manage it with Aqueous Cream soap and a foot care cream on my legs. This does help keep it in check - for sure.

Ultimately I am hoping the doc is right and it will reverse as I lose weight. I think he said the same happened to himself.
 
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Listlad said:
No. I manage it with Aqueaus Cream soap and a foot care cream on my legs. This does help keep it in check - for sure.

Ultimately I am hoping the doc is right and it will reverse as I lose weight. I think he said the same happened to himself.
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Thanks, I might just give my doctor a miss then, hope yours get better soon
 
Guzzler said:
When you say your feet are fine but you have all the symptoms what do you mean? Do you mean that they are healthy in terms of injury, skin health etc?
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So sorry I didn't notice your reply, my feet have no cuts, grazes, broken skin or blisters, however I have started getting a feeling of hot pins & needles & tenderness & a lot of pain when standing, not sure what I can do for it? Tia
 
Loukay1 said:
So sorry I didn't notice your reply, my feet have no cuts, grazes, broken skin or blisters, however I have started getting a feeling of hot pins & needles & tenderness & a lot of pain when standing, not sure what I can do for it? Tia
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I was diagnosed with Peripheral Neuropathy in February. No obvious outward signs however, the shooting pains, tingling and burning sensations on my feet and toes were horrendous. Could feel like a kettle of boiling water was been poured over the top of my feet. I have now been put on a low dose of Pregabalin (Lyrica) which helps. I'd recommend speaking to your doctor
 
Thank you, I think I'm going to have to as the pain isn't leaving, the only way I can describe it is having hundreds of fire ants crawling over (mostly) the soles of my feet & periodically shooting pains up my big toes, it's so sore to even stand
I thought I was OK because I was told to look out for cuts, blisters ect but there's no outward problems? Will make a gp appointment, thanks again x
 
No problem at all Loukay1. I put up with it for ages and put the additional pain down to a bad Sciatica flare up. Until one night when I was taking a dish out of the microwave when I helped in pain. I honestly thought the dish had sprung a leak and the burning hot contents had dropped into my feet. I also found my pain seemed to get worse at night (it still does). I'm already on Co-Codamol for my Sciatica but it doesn't work on Neuropathy pain hence having to go on Pregabalin (Lyrica). Hope you get it sorted and are soon pain free
 
I'm exactly the same & on co-codamol for scatica too but it doesn't touch new pain (now for obvious reasons lol) thanks again
 
Apologies, I see that I'm late to this conversation.

Testing for B vitamin deficiencies is prohibitively expensive for most of us, but an elevated homocysteine level can indicate a deficiency. There's some thought that all diabetics should take a B-complex.

I've taken a B-complex off and on for most of my adult life. More recently, I stopped taking the B-complex thinking the multi-vitamin would meet my B-vitamin needs. Hadn't had any lab work done in 2 years, so made my bucket list of lab tests to check in February, and at the last minute decided to check my homocysteine level for the first time. It was in the high range of normal, definitely not optimal. I did some reading and discovered that perhaps 40% of the population have methylation problems and have to supplement their B vitamins.

I restarted my B-complex and two months later had my homocysteine level checked again. It's not in the optimal range yet, but dropped significantly.

So why is this possibly relevant to you @Loukay1? Because diabetics with peripheral neuropathy often benefit from taking a B-complex, 600 mg alpha lipoic acid, and magnesium. It's worth a try. And if you haven't had your vitamin D level checked, please do so. It's important too.
 
All advice at any time is welcome! I'll definitely give it a go, it can't hurt can it & I'll as gp about vitamin D aswell, thank you
 
Loukay1 I read a previous thread that you started a few months ago.

I'm not familiar with peripheral neuropathy starting in the legs rather than the feet. That got me thinking. I usually look at the side effects of the person's medications first when a symptom is unusual and not easily explained. I didn't do that with you. Apologies...my bad.

Sometimes, a "symptom" is actually medication side effect. I did a search on "glipizide side effects" and found this listed under "Less Common" side effects... "burning, crawling, itching, numbness, prickling, "pins and needles", or tingling feelings" here... https://www.drugs.com/sfx/glipizide-side-effects.html

Are you still taking this medication?

I know you're likely still struggling with figuring out how to make the low carb diet work for you. We're ALL terrified of eating a higher fat diet initially, myself included, but it takes away the need to eat every two hours. I don't know if this will reassure you or not, but I've been using the low carb ketogenic diet for 4+ years and my lab work continues to be quite good. Diabetes is essentially a "carbohydrate intolerance". Medication can work with the low carb diet, but only works temporarily without reducing the carb load.

Perhaps you could revisit learning about the low carb diet by becoming a member of DietDoctor.com for just a few months so you can get more familiar with how to do it and how it works. I personally learned so much by watching the videos and movies there.

After you've made some progress with your diet, you could then read Canadian nephrologist Jason Fung's newest book, The Diabetes Code (2018). There you'll learn another strategy to manage your diabetes, intermittent fasting. You could also listen to any of his recent lectures on YouTube.com.

One of the things that makes me uneasy with glipizide is that it forces the pancreas to produce more insulin, hypos are a common side effect (1 to 10%), and while the medication will likely improve your glucose levels, at the same time, it will worsen you insulin resistance. If you decide to try eating low carb again, be sure to reduce the dosage of the glipizide first. Hoping, hoping your symptoms are a side effect of the medication. If it is, stopping the medication my cause the symptoms to subside.
 
 
I have had peripheral neuropathy for about 8 months and have no foot problems at all but at night I cannot lie down flat or turn over in bed, its agony! and when I try to sit up it can take me up to 10 mins, the burning sensation is crippling and when I do get going I can hardly walk, its got so bad that I now sit in a chair most nights for sleep and at 58 years of age its not the best solution! I am on 3 Duloxitine and 2 pregabalin non of which appear to be working! I sympathize with anyone having this condition!
 
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