New boy

[Russell Dawson]

Hi, new boy here, 72 years old. I'm Db2 and only recently have come across any symptoms. I started getting dry mouth and headaches but more recently the side of my neck from skull to shoulder on the right has bee extremely/sometimes unbearably painful. At first I put it down to trauma but realised I haven't had anything like that happen. Mmol was 10.8 just now and I'm trying to discover what I can eat to hopefully bring it down and also relieve the pain. I have a Dr appt next week. Every where I look only seems to give general or long term advice. Not an exact science I know. Lying down and taking the weight off my neck does the trick eventually so I think that perhaps the weight of my head is putting pressure on perhaps a damaged nerve. Don't laugh. Just a thought.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.
Sorry to hear you have such a nasty pain i the neck and you may well be right that the strain of balancing your head is aggravating it and it may well be a muscle spasm but I would not be so quick to attribute it to your diabetes. Nerve pain is more common in the extremities with diabetes but the neck is pretty much core, so less likely. I think lying down and resting it as much as possible is a good idea and obviously discussing it with your GP and hopefully getting some meds to help deal with it..... perhaps something like Amitryptaline which is a muscle relaxant. I have had that a couple of times for muscle spasm in my back. Hope you feel better soon as muscle spasms if that is what it is, can be excruciating.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @Russell Dawson I note that you say your BG was 10.8mmpl , this isn't surprising since pain, like stress is likely to raise your BG all by itself!

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi, new boy here, 72 years old. I'm Db2 and only recently have come across any symptoms. I started getting dry mouth and headaches but more recently the side of my neck from skull to shoulder on the right has bee extremely/sometimes unbearably painful. At first I put it down to trauma but realised I haven't had anything like that happen. Mmol was 10.8 just now and I'm trying to discover what I can eat to hopefully bring it down and also relieve the pain. I have a Dr appt next week. Every where I look only seems to give general or long term advice. Not an exact science I know. Lying down and taking the weight off my neck does the trick eventually so I think that perhaps the weight of my head is putting pressure on perhaps a damaged nerve. Don't laugh. Just a thought.

Things that you can do to lower your blood glucose is to reduce the carbohydrates in your diet as it will be things like potatoes, rice, bread, pasta, breakfast cereals as well as cakes and biscuits and sugary drinks including fruit juice. Thirst is one of the indicators of high blood glucose so you drink more which means more frequent loo visits but you can still become dehydrated and that can cause headaches but they can also be from referred pain from your neck. Some neck exercises may help.
You may find a TENS machine could help with the neck pain or using something like Volterol gel if it is muscular.
It is good you have a Dr appointment as it would be worthwhile getting an up to date HbA1C then you can see how much dietary change you are going to need to make.
Have a look at this link for some ideas for modifying your diet. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/product/freshwell-low-carb-manual/

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Russell Dawson

Hope you are able to ease your neckpain. Have you tried therapeutic application of either heat (heat pad) or cold (frozen peas)? Or something like ibuprofen gel if it’s an inflammation?