Diabetic Neuropathy

Ok so Im wondering if I in fact had neuropathy in my left foot up to me knee. I was suffering with the symptoms and could barely walk on my foot or sleep at night. I was placed on gabapentin to relieve any symptoms…which worked. I had to have it increased due to every seven hours the medication was wearing off. After a month I could not take the medication “one day” because it made me (bluntly) feel like I was drunk or heavily drugged. My foot slightly aches after quitting the meds
( going on 3 days now) but no sensation like before. Does neuropathy come and go? Perhaps its a b vitamin deficiency?

Check into a treatment called anodyne therapy. It is infra red heat therapy and has been proven to help neuropathy. I had it done 30 min a day 3 times a week for 3 months and got 95% feeling back.

Im suprised at what the drs do not tell me, or seem to know for that fact. thanks Ill run it by my dr!

ive had diabeties about 11 years but just now am feeling the effects of it at 34…every lil bit of info helps…thanks

So sorry you are dealing with this. I have had neuopathy symptoms occasionally since college. The toes on one of my feet were numb for awhile last year but are back to normal now. I read somewhere that Alpha Lipoic Acid is beneficial to your nerves. My doctor looked it up and said that I had taught her something new and I should go ahead with the supplement. I also take a multi-vitamin designed for diabetics. There are a couple out there. I figured it couldn’t hurt. Good luck. Hope you pain goes away.
Peace
-Dena Type 1 for 38 years.

Wanted to second Dana’s suggestion about Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA). It’s an amino acid & has been shown to regrow (not sure if that’s the correct term) the mycelin sheath of nerves. It’s been used in Germany for years for neuropathies. There it’s by prescription, but in the US you can get it in most health food stores, or on-line. It’s expensive. It can also lower BG, so test to see how it’s effecting you. Don’t take on an empty stomach. In non-diabetics, larger doses of ALA can cause hypoglycemia.

That sounds like great stuff, I will look it it !!

Hope it helps! I’ll see if I can find info on the dosage for neuropathy. I’m assuming that you’d need to take more than what’s listed as the standard dose on the bottle.

Time has passed. My neuropathy is not diabetic related. IT ts thyroid related. Possibly hashimotos encephalopathy. I have mimicking multiple sclerosis symptoms when I take my thyroid meds and only slight when I dont. I have 3 diagnosed auto immune conditions -vitiligo (severe), type 1 diabetic, & hashimotos thyroid disease.
It is also uncertain if I am developing or dealing with an undiagnosed auto immune condition. I really have to get on the drs/specialists to do anything for me or even perform tests. I had to educate myself with my own conditions and symptoms as the drs are not concerned or do not know what to do. I actually had one dr that said I do not have vitiligo because he could not see it. I go to great lengths to cover it with hair dye, make up and sunless tanning (which works for me as I am very pale anyway). Upon saying that he just threw a condition out the window that helps determine diagnosing further pattern developing auto immune conditions. If he looked into my med file he would see I have developed the progressing condition since I was 5.He would also see that a specialist said my vitiligo was so far advanced nothing could be done. Right now I am pressing hard to see a neurologist ( which my endocrinologist refuses to refer me to) and I am having a hard time getting my primary dr to refer me also. So at this time I cannot take my thyroid meds due to neurological flare up from it and go untreated for thyroid disease. My guess is a MRI should be performed on the brain and if treatment is need then prednisone would be the first bet. Anyway I hope everyone is well!

Gosh, you really have it don’t you? I thought I had a load of stuff wrong with me!! I have neuropathy and it drives me crazy if I’m not medicated. However, now my Lyrica is causing problems and I have to get off of it. What I’m going to do next is anyone’s guess! ALA, huh? If I can afford it, I’ll try it.

In the meantime, what is vitiligo?

Lois La Rose
Milwaukee, WI

You should see a rheumatologist if you can. Alot of autoimmune disorders mimic other problems and it is hard for them to diagnose things. It took almost 2 years to get my diagnosis of myositis and sarcoidosis. Both of these mimicked all kinds of things and spent almost a year getting all kinds of neurological tests done just to have them come back pretty normal. The only thing they found at all was that I do have the beginnings of neuropathy but I have no symptoms as of yet. I even had to have surgery to get a muscle biopsy to rule neurological stuff out! I am on prednisone now and it works even though I hate how insulin resistant it makes me, my symptoms are gone now.

Just talked to a type 2 with neuropathy last night and he told me that he had a terrible vitamin b deficiency and when they gave him a shot, his neuropathy improved within an hour. Now he takes b vitamins regularly with less pain and discomfort.

A friend has Pernicious Anemia…an inability to absorb B12, takes shots monthly, and suffers from neuropathy in both legs. I’ve told her about ALA.

Vitiligo is white patches on the skin that spread over time. It is believed to be an auto immune disorder.

I had my Dr check for vit B deficiency…test turned out normal.

I have heard of reverse T3 disorder, I am going to have my Dr look into this, as I do not know much about it. My neuropathy and neurological disorder stems from taking my thyroid meds and goes all crazy the higher the dose or the longer I am on any thyroid meds…I have tried Synthroid, Levothyroxine and Armour. It brings my thyroid levels to normal but I sure do suffer with mimicking multiple sclerosis while on the meds (and high out of control blood sugars)

…off the meds I only have very slight neurological disorder and virtually no neuropathy
(only the slight damage I am dealing with that has been done by taking thyroid meds) but then I sure do suffer un-medicated hypothyroidism (fatigue and cold).

i have heard of Prednisone. Do you take that for life? What are the side effects? I have heard it make your bones weak over long term use. Do you find that their is a lot of bloating and weight gain on the steroid?
I also suffer left side weakness in my foot and hand when I am at my worst. Is this a symptom you have had also?

I’ve had neuropathy in several different parts of my anatomy. My feet feel like my socks are wadded behind my toes. my endo tests for its progression with a thin plactic line. The word “neuropathy” simply means nerves that have stopped working. Erectile Dysfunction is another form of neuropathy. I’ve been a diabetic for 53 years with some symptoms of neuropathy for the past twenty or so years. I can’t afford all of the drugs that diabetics rave about. Praise the LORD! He’s allowed me to suck it up and live with it.

Michael Jackson is supposed to have it!

I thought myself prone to other auto immune diseases but apparently a blood test the Dr did ruled that out. I wonder if rules all possible diseases out or just the ones they check for? I noticed when I looked up myositis that a symptom is difficulty swallowing. I have had inflammation of the throat where I had extreme globus sensation (feeling of a lump or pill stuck there).

Yep!