neuropathy and work?

[jj10125]

Hello everyone,

You'll have to forgive me for any stupid points, questions, or remarks! I have suffered from symptoms/consequences of being diabetic for a long time but have only recently been diagnosed (pending confirmation of type) due to a phobia of needles (past trauma) so still fairly new to this.

One thing both my doctor and the diabetic consultant agree on is that I have diabetic neuropathy. I struggle a lot with my feet in particular ranging from numbness to full-out agony. They've put me on 20mg amitriptyline to begin with which did help but has quickly worn off.

It did make me think, so I am 31 working full time in IT (a lot of sitting) and I struggle at the moment - realistically speaking I'm going to be working another 30 + years of my life is that something that is just going to get worse or as they understand my condition and confirm the type etc will there be methods of controlling that pain? Or is that just going to be a matter of increased pain medication? And learning to live with and work with it. Does it improve as your diabetes is under control?

People have mentioned benefits to me, but honestly - even if I could get them I am a fairly driven person, I need to be at work and I also need that income for my family which is higher than what I assume benefits would be if that was a possibility.

Is PIP really a thing for diabetics? I've heard mixed things.

I'm also interested in any experiences other people suffering with that might have in terms of working life and anything that maybe helped.

Sorry for the long post with loads of questions!

 

[Flower]

Hi @jj10125

Peripheral nerve pain in the feet and legs is a common symptom around the time of diagnosis - I think you were diagnosed recently? Tingling, numbness and pain are all associated with the hopefully short term damage done to nerves after they have been bathed in high glucose for months/years prior to diagnosis. It is sometimes called transient neuropathy as in it usually settles down once glucose levels start to stabilise and reduce post diagnosis.

It is a horrible condition and there are medications to help alleviate the pain such as duloxetine, amytriptyline, pregabalin, gabapentin. I've had neuropathic pain for a long time and haven't found a totally reliable way to minimise it & have had to try different combination of drugs over the years.

The best approach if you are newly diagnosed is to reduce your glucose levels slowly into range and hopefully the nerves will calm down as the body returns to equilibrium. Give it time to settle and hopefully it will be a relatively short term condition that will fade and settle as your glucose levels normalise.

 

[jj10125]

Hi @jj10125

Peripheral nerve pain in the feet and legs is a common symptom around the time of diagnosis - I think you were diagnosed recently? Tingling, numbness and pain are all associated with the hopefully short term damage done to nerves after they have been bathed in high glucose for months/years prior to diagnosis. It is sometimes called transient neuropathy as in it usually settles down once glucose levels start to stabilise and reduce post diagnosis.

It is a horrible condition and there are medications to help alleviate the pain such as duloxetine, amytriptyline, pregabalin, gabapentin. I've had neuropathic pain for a long time and haven't found a totally reliable way to minimise it & have had to try different combination of drugs over the years.

The best approach if you are newly diagnosed is to reduce your glucose levels slowly into range and hopefully the nerves will calm down as the body returns to equilibrium. Give it time to settle and hopefully it will be a relatively short term condition that will fade and settle as your glucose levels normalise.

Thank you for your reply Flower.

Really good to know that it can calm down, the team at the local hospital have been great but not much has been discussed about the feet issues with me and obviously, that was my main reason for seeking help because it is really impacting life for me.

 

[gll]

To get PIP you must find it hard to do everyday tasks or get around because of a physical or mental condition. You must have found these things hard for 3 months and expect them to continue to be hard for another 9 months.

Citizens advice has a good non biased set of info on pip.
LINK

Hope that helps to see if you would possibly qualify