I am the mother of a 26 year old with diabetes since the age of 2. He is experiencing body pain and he descibes it as his whole body is tingling. Like when your foot falls asleep, that is through his whole body. He has been to the doc. for 4 weeks now waiting to get into a neorologist. He also said his head hurts. His A1C have been too high and is now doing blood sugar test all day, the doc said he needs to keep the blood sugar down and he has been but the feeling is not going away. They have him on a medication that is not helping, he also smoked but has reciently quit. Not that I haven’t asked him quit over the last 6 years. If anyone can give me any suggestions to help him ease his mind until he sees more doctors I would appreciate that. They have also suggested an MRI. He is an extemem worryier and I think the stress of this is getting to him.
Please stop yourself from concluding or fearing that this may be some sort of permanent nerve damage. First he has to maintain perfect control for longer periods of time. What ever happens tight control must be the top priority from now on. The neurologist is able to determine if some nerve damage has occured. Even if so: control is the key. Nerve damages can be repaired and the capability to do so is very individual. It is recommended to take “alpha-liphotic acid” to support this healing process. The neurologist should be asked about this treatment.
I don’t know if I can ease your mind or not, but here is my experience.
My doctor told me that keeping tighter control can reverse any progression of nerve damage for the last 6 to 12 months. He will have to get his A1c lower, though. I wasn’t in horrible pain, but I started having the “pins and needles” in my feet, and sometimes hands. It took me 2 or 3 months of tight control for it to go away. I dropped my A1c from over 8 to 6.8 in that 3 month period between tests. Now I don’t have any pain or tingling. Now I just get pins and needles pretty easily if I sit on my foot funny or something… Much better now, though.
Just to warn you, to drop my A1c significantly, I had to test my blood sugar like 10 times a day. I bought blood sugar strips on ebay, because that way I spent less than half of what I normally would pay out of pocket for the extra strips. Also, I had a few seizures during the night. If he doesn’t live alone, make sure he has some glucagon handy. Also, he will have to test before he drives as he starts keeping his sugar lower otherwise that is like driving drunk (not legally, but morally).
It just takes serious commitment to improve A1c and control.
Can understand how frightening this is, not to mention the pain. The stress isn’t good for BG, but hard not to worry.
Tight control helps neuropathies & it takes a while to heal. He’s young & that’s in his favor. Alpha lipoic acid, as Holger mentioned, is effective against peripheral neuropathy. It helps rebuild the myelin sheath of nerves. It also increases insulin sensitivity in some people, so he needs to keep an eye on BG for lows if he takes this supplement. ALA is a sold as a supplement & is best taken on an empty stomach.
Thank you for all your help. I have passed on this information to him.