I’m 28 and have been type 1 for 12 years now. My a1c recently put me in the 8% category so I’m trying to get my numbers down however I have been at %6 for a long time in my control however I have had some huge swings in sugar possibly daily. Basically I am experiencing burning in both my palms with some sporadic pin pricks now and then there not constant. The other unusual thing that I don’t think is a neuropathy type of thing is stiffness in both wrists as well as a deep aching in my wrists and fingers and arms and shoulders at times kind of like a bone pain rather than nerves. My GP has arranged a EMG but thinks it is all neuropathy due to my bloods not showing anything but I mean when do my bloods ever show anything. I have psorarsis really bad and a muscle disease also. Just wondering if I got my sugars under control this burning and hyper sensitivity of my palms and fingers will go away ? I actually feel like crying and don’t think I can carry on living if I have this for the rest of my life
Sorry to hear about your struggles. Neuropathy can be very tough to deal with. I had significant bone pain when my neuropathy was at it’s worst. The good news is that it did get better after I got my blood sugar under better control. The bad news is that, for me, it didn’t get better right away. In fact, it got worse before it got better. But it did get a LOT BETTER. I have very little symptoms now. I hope this is encouraging in some way. Keep seeing your Doctor and coming to places like this for support. I’m new to this site as well and can confirm that there are many here that are eager to help!
Greg
If it is only diabetic neuropathy then getting tight control of your bg’s should eventually reverse it although if it has been happening for a while then it could take up to 2 years to stop. Do you have a CGM? That can be the most useful tool for getting tight control.
Was the bone pain in your knuckles ? And fingers when I feel the area the muscles feel tender this can’t be a symptom of neuropathy surly ? Leading up to this event I had extreme muscle pain in my shoulders back and neck which has all but faded apart from my shoulder pain now. Is it possible there could be some kind of inflammatory process in my hand muscles causing these symptoms ? If It is PN then I will do everything I can to get my sugars under control iv ordered some B6 and ALA so hopefully this will help also
Hi Firenza I do have a glucose monitor which I use about 8 times a day I’m pretty religious in checking to be honest but I was having some bad evening spikes so now I have managed to change my basal these are now nice 6.5 and 7.5 readings. I hope I can get my hands back to normal as it’s causing me so much discomfort and worry
About 12 years ago, I felt symptoms similar to yours but I didn’t have the “deep aching” you report. What I remember about it was the loss of sensation that I felt. It was like an invisible long-sleeve glove was on each of my arms. The diminished sensation was symmetrical and extended up both of my arms past the elbow.
At this time, I had let my blood sugar control degrade. I was above an 8.0% A1c when most of my diabetes history was in the 6% range. I dropped my A1c into the mid-7% range and these symptoms disappeared. This was before I started on a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). Once I started using a CGM, I returned to the 6% range.
I agree with the other comments that this could take some time to resolve but your best hope is to get your glucose under the best possible control. I can’t recommend highly enough the positive role that a CGM could play for you. If you get one, pay attention and act on its data, you will likely improve your neuropathy symptoms and overall health.
An A1c of 8.0% translates to an estimated average blood glucose of 183 mg/dL or 10.3 mmol/L. It is within your reach to drop your A1c to 7.0% or an average of 154 mg/dL (8.6). When I started on a CGM, my A1c fell from the low 7% range to the low 6% range. Good luck – this is a tough struggle but you can fight back and improve your symptoms.
Yes, I had some pain in my knuckles and fingers in general. The worst of my bone pain, however, was in my lower legs, feet and forearms. I was working 12 hour shifts on my feet, seeing a podiatrist every few weeks trying to get some help with my feet. The long hours on my feet were killing me. The worst was during leisure time, not during work. It seemed like my bones were screaming out when I was trying to rest after a 60+ hour work week! I got some relief taking Gabapentin, but it didn’t really get better until my BG was averaging less than 150 mg/dL for at least 4 months. My feet didn’t get better 'til I got a job with more normal hours!
Greg
Thanks for this Greg was that from the neuropathy or just bad joints ? Really confused as don’t think nerves can cause physical tenderness in muscles really or maybe the two are interlinked. Also do you think carpel tunnel could be a possibility as my feet and legs are fine and it’s unusual for a diabetic to have bilateral hand nerve problems as a isolated incidenct if that’s makes sense
Thank you for this terry ! I will speak to my neurologist and see what’s going on with it all just confused at the moment as standard blood is running at 5.4 so it’s not high so should start to feel better soon hopefully but who knows. Just feel too young for all of this stuff
You are too young for this kind of stuff! Unfortunately, diabetes does not play fairly. That’s why we need to remain vigilant and always seek to do better.
By the way, my doctor at the time offered me the Lyrica med but I refused after reading about some weird side-effects. If a med can help you temporarily deal with the pain, it might be something to consider. I really believe, however, that your ultimate relief will come from addressing the likely root cause, sustained hyperglycemia.
Yes, it seemed to be part of my diabetic peripheral neuropathy symptoms. My joints are fine. No sign of arthritis, yet. I am 55, so who knows what’s in store.
I don’t know much about carpel tunnel so I can’t comment on that.
I agree strongly with this! I have been using a Medtronic 670G insulin pump which works with an integrated CGM in a “semi” closed loop system. It is not perfect. That’s why I wrote “semi” before “closed loop”. But, the CGM has taught me TONS of things about my condition and how food, insulin, activity and STRESS affect my BG control.
@Ryan90 I’m sorry you’re having trouble and I hope you find relief soon. I just wanted to throw this out there, something else to look into. You mention bone pain and having psorasis. Both have a Vitamin D deficiency linked to them. I suggest you have your Vitamin D level tested. It might also be a factor in your recent A1C too.
Thanks for this I do have very low vit d levels as had them checked last week doctor hasn’t given me anything for it though so just take supplements
Ryan, I have never had neuropathy, so I can’t comment on that, but many decades ago I had carpel tunnel in one hand. Frankly I don’t remember too many of the symptoms, but it did involve pain and my hand falling to sleep. A doctor should be able to dx carpel tunnel if that is what you are experiencing. A simple surgery took care of my problem and I haven’t had any problems with it since. Actually I had all kinds of different problems with my hands when my glucose levels were not well controlled.
No matter the cause, keeping your glucose levels low and tight can only help you. By low, I mean between 70 and 140. I do this by eating a low fat plant based diet.
Marilyn Type 1 dx 1959
DId you have any sensation problems when you had it ? Just finding this really irritating as iv onlybeen diabietc for 12 years and thought this kind of thing happened when much older the joint pains are awful in my wrist and fingers but the burning and sensitivity to touch on my palms is just adding to the problems
You can be any age and have carpel tunnel. Tons of non diabetics get carpel tunnel. I just remember that if I didn’t keep my hand straight the symptoms were bad. I can’t recall if that involved any burning. It caused pain and my hand would fall asleep. You know the feeling one can get if their leg or hand falls asleep from lack of circulation? It was like that.
Do what you can to get your Vitamin D level up; it should help. I use over the counter Vitamin D and prescription Vitamin D. I can tell when my Vitamin D is low because the bones in my feet feel like they are breaking with each step I take and it’s verified by lab work. As soon as my levels are barely in a sufficient range, the pain is gone.
I’m also your age, though I’ve had Type one for 21 years now. About three years ago I had somewhat similar symptoms, though my tingling was isolated into my left hand only. However, I also had numbness, and burning and tingling in my feet.
These are more or less my own observations so take them as you will. But hopefully you find some solace in them. At the time I was 100% convinced this was diabetic Neuropathy. My Endocrinologist thought this was extremely unlikely, given my control was fairly good for the past decade, as did my GP. Regardless of this I embarked on a mission to tighten my control. Over the next year I managed to bring my HBa1C down from the 7 % area to low to mid 5 %.
Since doing that, the tingling has nearly entirely stopped.
After a fair bit of reflection, I’m no longer convinced it was diabetic Neuropathy. Yes, there was a correlation between improving my diabetes control, and the sensations improving. However, correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation. I found actually that it was more unhealthy for me to fixate on the thought it was diabetic neuropathy, and in fact in doing so it led me to a fairly dark place for a while. The body is far too complex to simply bring everything down to one specific cause sometimes, non-diabetics get neuropathy or nerve pain and other issues. And sometimes, peoples extremities just hurt and tingle, that’s life. At least that’s what I started telling myself.
Having said that, improving your blood glucose control is the first thing I’d work towards, if it is diabetic neuropathy that will help and likely even improve it or get ‘rid’ of it. If it isn’t it will probably help anyway, as having the body in a more normal state is beneficial in general.
I’d also like to point out that having a a1c in the 6% region for ages is a great achievement, certainly you could work on still improving this, but try and focus on some of the positives also.
@Ryan90 Diagnosis of problems via friends on the internet is a slippery slope 
. That being said the deep muscle pain doesn’t sound like a sensory neuropathy.
You mentioned you have a “muscle disease”. Can you share with us what it is?