Diabetic Neuropathy - Advice needed!

[Charley Wheeler]

Hi all,

I'm new to this site, so hope this is the right board to be posting on!
So, a little backstory: I'm Charley, I turn 23 on Thursday, and I've had T1 Diabetes since I was 9 months old. I had good control, and no issues until I turned 11/12 and was sent to boarding school and took on the full responsibility myself. I wanted to be like the other kids, so rebelled and from the ages of 11-17 I didn't take care of myself, and ended up in 2 comas as a result of DKA.

I struggled to get back on track, but have been working on it since then. I went through a bought of depression for around a year at the age of 20, and I stopped looking after myself and my hBA1C rose dramatically. I'm working on it now though, really hard, and although still very high (10.2) it's a lot better than the 14.9 it was 3 years ago.

Now onto the main point! The past week or so my levels have been a little higher, as my nurse and I are trial and error-ing to avoid night time highs and lows! I've noticed the skin on the back of my arms, and legs, and across my (sorry!) breasts feels like it's sunburnt, and sore to touch. My muscles have also been weaker, and I get an occasional stabbing pain in one of feet. This all sounds like neuropathy to me, and I was aware that this may happen sometime. I recently had tests done, and my eyes and organs are fine however.

I just would like some advice on how to deal with the sore/pain I'm going through, and whether this can be reversed?

Sorry for the essay, but I thought I'd give some info in case it helps!

 

[Simon Coey]

Hi Charley - I've been having neuropathy issues for two years now - now mine started off probably a bit slower than yours has - I had tingling in fingers and toes with itchy feeling down arms. Bit like yourself I was aware of warning signs and the fear of neuropathy - so trip to GP and he thought same as me - so started on the pills (amitriptyline).

I have noticed that when I get stressed or uptight about something in work my neuropathy flares up - shooting pains everywhere - so I tend to do controlled breathing - deep breathes, just concentrating on clearing my mind.

You can get tests which can test the conductivity of your nerves - they can show how progressed the condition is - unfortunately when you've had diabetes for as long as yourself (I'm coming up to 26 years in October), a certain amount of never damage is gonna have happened.

Hope you get support and answers

 

[grovesy]

Welcome !

 

[Copepod]

Welcome to the forum, Charley and happy birthday for Thursday.
First of all, you need a proper diagnosis of the pain you are experiencing - it could well be neuropathy caused by poor control of diabetes, but it could also be other things. Your GP should be able to diagnose, or a member your diabetes team. Then you and they need to formulate a plan of action, including relieving the pain, so that you can get on with life. What are you doing, by the way, in terms of work / study, hobbies, sports etc? If it is diabetic neuropathy, then gradually improving control often means neuropathy pain decreases.