What does diabetic neuropathy feel like?

[Geoff-O]

Odd feeling, can't decide if numb or not, but like walking on pebbles under my toes. With bare feet off the ground (no pressure at all) it feels as if paper or cotton wool is stuffed under my toes. Occasional brief stabbing pain in one big toe. .

Exactly - if walking barefoot!! And the occasional brief stabbing pain in one toe. Been like that for 20 years.

 

[david+puddle]

Neuropophy is quite a debilitating disease,buy, I was diagnosed about 3 or 4 years when a bout hit and really knocked the stuffing out of me. First tingling, cramp in my calf muscles, cramp in my right arm.and a numbness in my right leg. Went to the doctors and he was a little baffled. Hr suggested grin and bear it while I get you an outpatient appointment. The consultant seemed to be able to separate each illness and prescribe for me, Pregabalin! What a horror of a drug: my feel and ankles started to swell to twice their normal size and more, I was on these for three or more ;proscriptions before I persuaded the doctors to find something else.. They did and the swelling came down, but the tingling, persistent cramp sand numbness were back. I now take a cocktail of ten tablets in the morning, and eleven at night. The main thrust seems to be 40mg of amitriptyline and 1.05 Mirepexin at night and 0.88 mg in the morning. Comfortable most of the time but subject to bouts of shakes and cramps, not to mention sharp twinges in my feet and hands and sore knuckles. It is most unpleasant, but, whilst commiserating, with you, my only advice is to grin and bear it put on the happy face, put a spring in your step and let life take you along. Find some hobbies that will fill your time. I found Raspberry P and technology; I found an organisation called University of the 3rd Age where I plat bridge and join in with the history group. Life is only dull if you make it so. Look up, cheer up, and forget the twitches and trembles and jerking sessions. You life has to be more that sum of your illnesses.

 

[RAPS_od]

Hi! I've been T1 for 47 years. When I first got neuropathy, I had numbness in the sides of my big toes and a buzzing feeling in other spots. Later, I developed shooting pains like a bite from a red ant that would not go away no matter how much I rubbed them or what cream I used. My doctor prescribed nortriptylene for me (after a few other abortive prescriptions) and that has helped me greatly.
It's different than standing on your feet for a long time; that weariness goes away with time. Neuropathy pain does not go away. But neuropathy is not a given! Tight control can help you avoid it. I will tell you that if you can avoid it, every effort you make to that end is worth it. Neuropathy sucks... and it leads to things like Charcot, which sucks harder.

 

[chrisnt2002]

Hello T2 for fourteen years, HbA1c 53. I had symptoms of neuropathic pain for about eight years before they discovered I was diabetic. A burning feeling in my feet and sometimes elsewhere. I had a scan to check that it wasn't a neuroma then I had a nerve scan that confirmed "generalised peripheral neuropathy". Before visiting the hospital I had been prescribed Amytriptiline which made it very difficult to get up in the morning and was pretty "zombiefying". Switched to Pregabalin (500m x 2) and the pain is now localised to the ball of one foot although I do occasionally get a twinge elsewhere.My pulses in my feet are OK but I have absolutely no feeling whatsoever. I also use capsaicin and find it invaluable. You have to be careful with it, in fact I think that I have only just got it absolutely right after about nine years. It may be a psychological effect but it works for me. I find the pain disappears when I am distracted, either busy with an absorbing task or in the company of friends. Unfortunately I do suffer from disturbed nights. Anybody tried acupuncture ?

 

[numan43]

Anybody tried acupuncture ?

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