(I’m type 1). I was only diagnosed 3 or 4 yrs ago. I have a little more numbness in my feet than I did a few months ago. I’m starting to get things under better control now. Is it possible that this could go away or improve after some time of having acceptable bg?
yes, it can be reversed with excellent blood sugar control. you may want to look into Dr Richard Bernstein and his book Diabetes Solutions. Dr Bernstein is considered extreme by some, but there’s a lot to learn from him and whatever you take from his message it, will help get better control.
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Thank you 
@Maria32 – The landmark Diabetes Complication and Control Trial published this in 1993 in comparing aggressive control versus usual control. They found that better blood sugar control led to significant reduction of risk for the eyes, kidneys, and nerves of type 1 diabetics. Here’s the nerve quote:
Dr. Bernstein has also written about his personal experience as a T1D with complication symptoms subsiding with extended better control periods. I have also lost symptoms of diabetic neuropathy in both my arms and feet with improved blood glucose numbers.
Nothing is ever guaranteed but improving your numbers greatly increases your chances of reducing neuropathy symptoms.
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Not all neuropathy may completely heal with better BG control, healthier diet, and exercise. But better D-management can only help. I just wanted to make this clarification because I hate the thought of someone gaining better control of their D through diet, exercise (and/or more effective use of meds and/or insulin) only to experience residual neuropathy, then blame themselves for “failing”, or worse yet, throw in the towel and discontinue their healthier lifestyle.
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Although I am 64 years old and have T1, I was only diagnosed in October 2008. Symptoms of neuropathy e.g; sore feet joints, loosing the sensation of cold water, tingling toes, with an over all loss of sensation occurred within two years of being diagnosed. A quick progressing occurred to feet burning at night as I tried to sleep and feeling like I was standing on needles when I got out of bed of a morning. Just walking after a day of farm work would be difficult because of the pain.
Fortunately my Endo came to the rescue with good advice. As others have already said, “Keep BGL as stable possible gives the best results.” But this is very much easy said then put into practice as I found out.
Keeping good records was the first step. Testing often and at the right time to ensure BGL were below 6mmol/L and falling before eating. Keeping BGL out of the Hyper zone for extended periods of time by exercise and insulin adjustments. Matching food GI and timing the days’ physical activity to stabilize BGL swings. Testing between 2 and 5 am to make sure BGL were not in the Hypo range (mainly) and within the correct range.
I was surprised how quickly my feet improved when I started to get better control of BGL. My problems were tracked to extreme swing of BGL and high overnight BGL. Even now if I start to have problems with my feet, I know I have to tighten my control and test more. If I could use a pump and a CGM, life would be made a lot easier for me.
Although HbA1c gives an indication of Blood Glucose control, it gives little indications of how varied BGL may have been. My HbA1c was good (about 7) but my BGL was very poor swinging wildly from Hypo to Hyper many times a day and I suffered from neuropathy. My last HbA1c was 6.2 and my BGL have been more stable. Of late neuropathy has not been a problem and a change in feet sensation (tingling) is one of my symptoms for a pending Hypo. A burning sensation or sore joints means to check of a Hyper.
As others have said every one is different so keep good records, take thing slowly with changes but by stabilizing your BGL will achieve the best results. My experience with tighter BGL control was very positive so wishing you the best.
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I was never diagnosed with Neuropathy, but about a year ago I started having some intense burning and constant tingling, and on and off numbness. I tightened my control, and then I have noticed an ongoing improvement in these symptoms. I rarely if ever have numbness or burning, and very occasional tingling. But nothing that may specifically be directly related to diabetes, as everyone gets weird tingling sometimes.
I would echo the sentiment above, in that unfortunately the body is different for all. Given the timeframe you’ve had diabetes, I would certainly expect that with prolonged improved control some of your symptoms would improve.
It’s important to remember that we should all aim for the best control for us. That will differ for each individual, but having better control is always a positive and will reduce the chance of other complications arising.
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Yes Maria it is reversable in most cases…Normalizing your Blood Sugars can reverse Neuropathy Try to get you BG’s under 100 mg/dl can keep them there. u should then see a rapid difference.