Neuropathy?

I’ve been type one for 17 years, Im 24 years old. with pretty good control. I just notice sometimes that when I get out of bed in the morning a little tingling in my feet. Is this normal or the beginnings of neuropathy?

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Yes, that’s probably the beginnings of a little neuropathy.

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Might be neuropathy. I’m not sure what the first signs are. I think there may be some medicines you can take to help slow the progression. I’d probably make an appointment with my endocrinologist to talk through the symptoms.

It sounds like it’s not a big deal now, and there may be nothing to do about it at this point. I tend to approach things proactively though just in case I end up missing out on something that could help.

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Crap I was hoping it was nothing. Eek!!! It scares me because I’m only 24. How bad is it going to get when I’m 50?!

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its a bummer, that’s for sure. I have to take 75 mg Lyrica 3x a day because of PN. If I miss my afternoon dosage by about 2 hours or more, I’ll start feeling the stinging sensations. they can occur anywhere on me–not just lower extremities. I also have quite a bit of numbness in my feet. Some of my nerve damage occurred in 1989 while recovering from neck surgery. It was so bad, I couldn’t stand to even wear clothing. Horrible stinging. The 3rd doc I saw said it was due to high bg’s so I tried reducing my post supper highs by riding an exercise bike furiously when I’d start stinging after supper, and sure enough, it abated. So I knew he was right and I tried my darndest to reduce my highs. That was before pumping or carb counting (for me). My A1c’s were lousy back then.

Anything you can do to get your A1cs into the 5’s or better will help reduce the effects and the progression of PN. I was in my 40’s when the PN started up really badly. It is much better now, but I’m on Lyrica so I wouldn’t know how bad it would be if I went “cold turkey” Alll I know is that a few hours past a due dosage and I feel the stinging.

anytime I get up to close to 200,I’ll sting, even when on Lyrica.

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I started to feel the beginnings of neuropathy after about 15 years of diabetes. If you can keep your blood sugar reasonably well controlled, it can progress very slowly. I’m at 32 years of diabetes now. It’s definitely more pronounced, but It’s not a horrible thing, for me anyway. It’s just a slight feeling of my foot having fallen asleep. I walk every day which helps keep my circulation going to my feet, etc. the neuropathy is mostly in my right foot. My left foot is better. I use my right foot as a blood sugar gauge to a degree. I can always tell when my blood sugar is up a little too high. It’s because my right foot feels like it has fallen asleep.

Luckily, I do not experience diabetic foot pain. I don’t get the burning and stabbing pains. It’s just the little pins and needles feeling like the novicane is wearing off. I’m doing my best to not let it go beyond that. So far so good.

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When I was 24 I was convinced I had neuropathy. My left hand was tingling sometimes. I went to see the doctor. He told me to loosen my watch band. Whadya know, that fixed it!

Now that doesn’t mean that it’s that simple for you. But I would not expect a 24 year old in good control to have neuropathy. There are a lot of other simple things that could cause a little tingling feet. Docs can run simple foot screening tests (foot pulse, “sparkies”, fishing line tests) as well as much fancier tests (nerve conduction and scans to look for micro fractures in foot bones). A good orthopedist or podiatrist could probably some really good advice, way better than mine!

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It could possibly be some basic Neuropathy, but there are also a handful of other things that can cause those types of sensations, so I’d avoid jumping to conclusions.

I had a similar thing a few years ago, however it was a bit more pronounced and also seemed to be impacting my left hand as well as my feet. I discussed it with my GP and my Endocrinologist both who felt that due to the length of my diabetes (about 17 years at the time) and the overall good control I had it was not very likely to be diabetic neuropathy.

At the same time I decided that it was high time I put more overall focus into my diabetes and since then I’ve kept my A1c in the low 5s, from where it was previously around 6-7.

The following months the tingling and numbness and weird sensations I had felt did get better, was it due to the decrease in my A1C? Possibly. Was it definitely diabetic neuropathy? I’m still not sure.

I also found that when I first had it happening, I was so focussed on it and convinced myself that it was diabetic neuropathy. After a few months of that I changed my mindset and decided I can’t change what has happened, and focussed on just being healthier and trying to keep a more stable Blood glucose range.

I’m not saying that you can just not think about a condition and it improves, but I do sometimes wonder if part of the issue was that I was so convinced I had these issues that to an extent every little ache and tingle I felt in my feet was amplified. Surely all people, diabetic and not, experience tingling and numbness in their body from time to time.

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@Joan10 Time to see your endo. If it is neuropathy, it will progress from tingling to burning to stabbing to numb. Ice helps…immensely. If it is, it is generally reversible with good bg control (i hear). Myself, after ~20 years, I had little or no feeling in my feet (I had lousy control, didn’t care, and could not have afforded it if I did). I started a pump, got great control, and now my feet suddenly have neuropathy pain again (after almost 10 years). Yay! Woohoo! I hope the pain will diminish…until then ice is my drug of choice.

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Thank you for all the replies. Its nice to have other diabetics to talk to. After all, no one knows better about this disease than us! I will talk to my doctor though. Thanks for the advice

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@Joan10 a sage decision

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Well after reading these descriptions of neuropathy it sounds like I probably don’t have that. On the other hand I still don’t know what in the world is causing some of the issues I do have lol. Hopefully the Neurologist won’t just jump to neuropathy just because I am type 1.

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My neurologists have run nerve conduction tests for neuropathy, three times that I remember. First two times within five years of diagnosis with no sign of PN. The last time was at 19 years as diabetic. Neurologist says I have mild PN. PN along with back problems/irritated nerves causes symptoms in left foot and leg - tingling similar to frost bite or leg falling asleep. It gets downright painful if my BGs are around 180 or so for a few days or weeks. I was only running high waiting on insulin pump (after particularly bad hypo) and for a failed hypo awareness reset experiment.

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I had some left top of foot tingling a few years ago. Thought it was neuropathy☹️. It was in a way, but it disappeared after a physio treated my sciatica. I have a tight left butt muscle that squashes my sciatic nerve from time to time and I get the tingly foot sensation, but it disappears when I stretch and massage…
Which reminds me, I kind of need to stretch now…

My issue has been a weakening of muscles, or they fatigue way faster than usual even doing simple tasks. This is in arms and legs and hands and feet, as well as neck and jaw, sometimes even my other face muscles. Probably also a little in my back as well. I have some widespread pain, but it isn’t a pins and needles or stinging pain, more like aching like I have been run over by a truck. Also no numbness. These issues make it hard to really exercise well, which just makes other issues worse. For many years my lower legs around my shins have been more sensitive to pressure like if you press into them (such as with a massage), but there is no acute pain normally.

From what I have read it doesn’t sound quite like neuropathy…Maybe I am just falling apart lol.

Do you take metformin?

Have you ever taken an antibiotic that lowers friendly bacteria and failed to re-establish that as soon as finished?

The easiest way to see if you have a neuropathy is the Medipin diabetic toes test . Test yourself at home once a month and you will know pretty quickly if you have it.

You can avoid neuropathy, seriously. Buy Diabetes Solution by Dr Richard Bernstein and implement his regimen. You will not be deprived and you will reverse any beginnings of complications, and avoid future ones. IMO you have nothing to lose. When you have, join the Facebook group called typeonegrit. There are thousands of knowledgeable people there that have similar stories to yours.

Yeah, well, it would be nice to avoid neuropathy, but honestly I don’t think it can happen. Sorry.

You can absolutely avoid neuropathy. Many forms can also be reversed. It takes work but there is no magic. Through a low carb diet I have lowered my a1c to 5%. I also have less lows than ever and very rarely go over 140. I am 60 years old and healthier than most non diabetics I know. I have had T1D for 37 years and since I went low carb My diabetes control has improved immeasurably. It is not a set it and forget it proposition. It takes continuous work, but the rewards are so very worth it. I would argue that a low carb diet is the healthiest diet for non T1’s as well as type 1 & 2 diabetics. There are no essential carbohydrates and yet we are told we must eat them. All diabetics know that carbs is their Kryptonite.

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