Can people who have neuropathy tell me what it's like and how it developed?
For the past few years I've been having a lot of issues which seem to be caused by nerves. I have what seems to be carpel tunnel syndrome - I frequently wake up with half my hand tingly and numb, and sometimes my entire hand is completely numb. If I wear wrist splints it helps, but I don't always use them. My hands also go numb if I'm carrying grocery bags, using the mouse with my wrist resting on the table, or have my arm draped over the back of a chair or in another odd position.
I talked to my endo about it and he didn't feel it was caused by diabetes because I answered no to all his questions about neuropathy in my feet.
BUT! I think I do have something going on with nerves in my feet and other areas. If I wear a backpack, even if it's not all that heavy, my arms and hands will start tingling. And I have a lot of peoblems with pain in my big toes (but I also have bunions with my big toes - and the pain feels aching not like what I'd think of as nerve pain). In addition to this and flat feet, which causes pain as well, when I walk I frequently have pain along the sides of my ankles (like right along the ankle bone) and the entire top of my foot will go numb and (if I persist in walking) the entire top of my foot gets really painful. I googled it and it seems this is caused by a nerve issue and can be caused by shoes being too tight, but my shoes definitely aren't too tight from what I can tell. Over the past year and a half I've gotten custom orthotics, doctor-recommended shoes, been given stretches to do, and also had x-rays of my feet, and although that has helped other pain issues, I still can't walk any distance without having to stop because my ankles/feet hurt, which I hate (I'm 33 and it makes me feel 80!).
Like my hands that only go numb or tingly at specific, predictable times, my feet only ever hurt or go numb when I walk, with the exception of my toes which sometimes hurt at other random times even if I'm just sitting around. I should also note that I have no loss of senstation in my hands or feet at all - I read braille on a daily basis and I can feel if I step on a milimetre thick shard of glass (happened last week!).
Does this sound like diabetic neuropathy? How did neuropathy develop for others who have it? If it is neuropathy, is there anything that I can take to help it? I know controlling blood sugars better can help and I am working on that, but I am finding my feet issues intolerable (I can't even walk three or four blocks without feeling like I need to stop). I'm going to bring this all up with my GP, but how is something like neuropathy diagnosed? Is it done by my GP or endo or another specialist?