Hello, I've been a diabetic for 31 years but have only recently within the past decade developed pheripheral neuropathy where i feel like im always low and going to collapse as my legs and knees feel weak. This happens every day and sometimes it gets bad enough that i cannot do anything as i always feel like id be the boy who cried wolf as my legs constantly say i'm having a hypo yet blood tests say opposite. My diabetes is not fully controlled at the moment as it doesnt seem to follow anything the doctors and nurses suggest as blood sugars can drop from 19.6 down to 2.0 within an hour of me doing nothing. I cannot go to the gym to exercise currently as I always feel low and know that exercising in the gym lowers blood sugar so that has stopped me going as i don't have anyone around to assist me when i get low at home. If there is anyone out there who has same or similar neuropathy and has any suggestions can you help me out please?
-
Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »
Pheripheral Neuropathy
- Thread starter kage20
- Start Date
ThePenguinPimp
Well-Known Member
Hey, sorry to hear you are suffering.. now I know that neuropathy is a strange beast and can affect everyone differently (and changes over the years as I have a lot of personal experience of) but to me this doesnt sound like a neuropathic problem (others may say different so I am open to being corrected).
It sounds like ketones and vastly swinging blood sugars to me.. (something else I have a lot of experience with). The higher your blood sugars run the higher you can be when you feel low.. a friend of mine always describes when she has ketones that the lower half of her legs feel like they have lead running through them. and the swinging can definitely make you feel weird and totally lacking in energy..
You do not say whether you are t1 or 2.. what does your doc say?
The first I would be looking to do would be to get your blood sugars more under control and the first thing to do would be reducing your carbohydrate intake. I used to suffer from actual fits as a result of hypos.. sometimes one a week at the worst 3 a day.. I have not had a fit in a year and a half because I did a big detox and went really low carb. Have a look at some of the pinned posts in the forums. Low carb is the key to gaining control of your diabetes.
It sounds like ketones and vastly swinging blood sugars to me.. (something else I have a lot of experience with). The higher your blood sugars run the higher you can be when you feel low.. a friend of mine always describes when she has ketones that the lower half of her legs feel like they have lead running through them. and the swinging can definitely make you feel weird and totally lacking in energy..
You do not say whether you are t1 or 2.. what does your doc say?
The first I would be looking to do would be to get your blood sugars more under control and the first thing to do would be reducing your carbohydrate intake. I used to suffer from actual fits as a result of hypos.. sometimes one a week at the worst 3 a day.. I have not had a fit in a year and a half because I did a big detox and went really low carb. Have a look at some of the pinned posts in the forums. Low carb is the key to gaining control of your diabetes.
Hey sorry I'm type 1. The doctors have said that the erratic blood results have to be controlled but the dietician and nurse meet with me every three or so months to work and so far nothing they suggest has worked out as they have compared my diabetes to a temperamental teenager who does the opposite of what should be done. I eat healthily and have a proper meat potato and vegetable meal once a day at least and have stopped snacking between meals on advice from the diabetes team. They were the ones who told me about it and what is going on as it started to be scary feeling low and weak when blood sugars were between the range of 5.0 up to 19.5 or more. Mostly throughout the week i do have many low blood sugars but i'm not always that high possibly over 15 maybe twice a week and i do as the nurses suggest and take correction doses. I aim to keep blood sugar to a maintainable level but when this started i was feeling very weak as in having a hypo all day 24/7 and half the time even lying down in bed i felt the same like i'm about to collapse.
The diabetes centre in Liverpool have taken blood tests and with the results being regular their only conclusion was peripheral neuropathy which is as much a hinderance as a result for my feelings.
ThePenguinPimp
Well-Known Member
I have been T1 for 30 years.. it was only a year and a half ago that I had a revelation that T1 diabetics can also develop insulin resistance and effectively be T2 at the same time. I used to describe what my blood sugars would do by saying I would do exactly the same thing and get different results every time. I was pretty low carb at the time but I did a big detox (only eating low carb veg and cutting out all dairy and coffee (this may or not be necessary but it was what I was doing at the time) and a miracle happened.. my blood sugars stabalised. Previous to that when I had high blood sugars and got advice the advice was always to correct with insulin.. never did anyone ever suggest lowering my carbs.
I gradually introduced more food back into my diet and discovered that I can only tolerate a small amount of carb before I start to go erratic again. I recently started on metformin (I previously believed this was only for T2 diabetics or T1 who wanted to lose weight) and it has made a big difference to me. But in your case I would start by looking at what you eat and reducing the amount of carbohydrate. I am not a medical professional though I am a strong believer that the NHS guidelines are not necessarily the best way to go as the page for T2 diabetes on food and exercice does not even mention the word carbohydrate..
This forum and site is a great place to start. You may or may not need to do a 'detox' going really low carb to regain some insulin sensitivity but if you do not see results by reducing carbs it may be necessary.. There are lots of pinned posts in the forums and low carb advice on the rest of the site. Here is a video that I found really useful:
The worse your insulin resistance the weirder things your blood sugars will do. I used to suffer terribly with hypos and would have fits as a result. Regularly one a week, on occasion 3 a day.. I have not had an actual fit since I did the detox at the beginning of the year. This has been an awakening for me. But as I say you are in the right place to get started! Low carb is key!
I gradually introduced more food back into my diet and discovered that I can only tolerate a small amount of carb before I start to go erratic again. I recently started on metformin (I previously believed this was only for T2 diabetics or T1 who wanted to lose weight) and it has made a big difference to me. But in your case I would start by looking at what you eat and reducing the amount of carbohydrate. I am not a medical professional though I am a strong believer that the NHS guidelines are not necessarily the best way to go as the page for T2 diabetes on food and exercice does not even mention the word carbohydrate..
This forum and site is a great place to start. You may or may not need to do a 'detox' going really low carb to regain some insulin sensitivity but if you do not see results by reducing carbs it may be necessary.. There are lots of pinned posts in the forums and low carb advice on the rest of the site. Here is a video that I found really useful:
The worse your insulin resistance the weirder things your blood sugars will do. I used to suffer terribly with hypos and would have fits as a result. Regularly one a week, on occasion 3 a day.. I have not had an actual fit since I did the detox at the beginning of the year. This has been an awakening for me. But as I say you are in the right place to get started! Low carb is key!
