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Peripheral neuropathy
- Thread starter Saff
- Start date
- Status
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hi. Sorry to hear you are suffering with pain. Do you have medication from your GP or a consultant for it? Perhaps Pregabalin or Gabapentin as I think they are the standard painkillers for neuropathy.
It is obviously important to manage your BG levels as well as possible and try to keep them stable as I believe spikes and troughs in your levels can aggravate it further. If you can improve your BG management, then sometimes there will be an improvement, but if your management is already very good, then obviously you can significantly improve it. Whilst walking can be painful, I believe it is also beneficial to stimulate blood flow and prevent things getting worse or possibly improve things. Some people try a tens machine. but it doesn't work for everyone. I think there is also a cocktail of supplements you can take which is expensive but has given sufficiently good results abroad, that it is prescribed, but not here in the UK as far as I am aware. I believe @Pattidevans has details of the ingredients for it.
Have you had your B12 levels checked? Vitamin B12 is an important nutrient for nerve heath and repairing damage. If you have been on Metformin long term, it is possible to become deficient in B12 because the Metformin inhibits it's absorption from food in the gut. Unfortunately taking an oral supplement is unlikely to help because the Metformin will block that too and people who are badly deficient usually need 3 monthly injections to boost their levels, so that would be something to enquire about
Not sure if cbd oil helps some people with neuropathic pain too, so that might be something to investigate, but if it is bad and having an ipact on your lifestyle or sleep, then I would expect your Dr to prescribe something.
I hope you find something out of that lot which works well for you, but managing your diabetes as well as you can, is the important basic step.
It is obviously important to manage your BG levels as well as possible and try to keep them stable as I believe spikes and troughs in your levels can aggravate it further. If you can improve your BG management, then sometimes there will be an improvement, but if your management is already very good, then obviously you can significantly improve it. Whilst walking can be painful, I believe it is also beneficial to stimulate blood flow and prevent things getting worse or possibly improve things. Some people try a tens machine. but it doesn't work for everyone. I think there is also a cocktail of supplements you can take which is expensive but has given sufficiently good results abroad, that it is prescribed, but not here in the UK as far as I am aware. I believe @Pattidevans has details of the ingredients for it.
Have you had your B12 levels checked? Vitamin B12 is an important nutrient for nerve heath and repairing damage. If you have been on Metformin long term, it is possible to become deficient in B12 because the Metformin inhibits it's absorption from food in the gut. Unfortunately taking an oral supplement is unlikely to help because the Metformin will block that too and people who are badly deficient usually need 3 monthly injections to boost their levels, so that would be something to enquire about
Not sure if cbd oil helps some people with neuropathic pain too, so that might be something to investigate, but if it is bad and having an ipact on your lifestyle or sleep, then I would expect your Dr to prescribe something.
I hope you find something out of that lot which works well for you, but managing your diabetes as well as you can, is the important basic step.
Hi thank you for your reply, I just take gabapentin 3 or 4 times a day, it helps with the pain but leaves me unable to do much , I feel like I’m drugged, I’m also having problems sleeping due to my leg twitching , it’s like cramp but without the pain, I have had B12 tablets I’ll look into what u recommended , thank you x
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
If you are taking metformin then it can cause a problem with absorption of B12 from foods so oral B12 would not be effective and you would need 3 monthly injections
Inka
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
@Saff There are some supplements that might help. However, as you’re already on medication, please do check they’re compatible:
One is Alpha Lipoic Acid. You have to take a largish dose and it’s not cheap, but it’s prescribed for neuropathy in Germany. Also, benfotiamine (a special form of vitamin B1) and other B vitamins can help. For the Alpha Lipoic Acid, it’s best to build it up slowly - ie one 200mg tablet a day for a week or so, then two tablets, then 3. You’ll see they’re expensive but they do help. If you’re on insulin or other glucose-lowering medication, be careful because Alpha Lipoic Acid can increase your insulin sensitivity.
Also, it’s very important to try to keep your blood sugar in range. Some people recommend staying under 8.5, others say 7.8, which means paying close attention to any postprandial spikes.
How is your blood sugar now? What was your most recent HBA1C?
One is Alpha Lipoic Acid. You have to take a largish dose and it’s not cheap, but it’s prescribed for neuropathy in Germany. Also, benfotiamine (a special form of vitamin B1) and other B vitamins can help. For the Alpha Lipoic Acid, it’s best to build it up slowly - ie one 200mg tablet a day for a week or so, then two tablets, then 3. You’ll see they’re expensive but they do help. If you’re on insulin or other glucose-lowering medication, be careful because Alpha Lipoic Acid can increase your insulin sensitivity.
Also, it’s very important to try to keep your blood sugar in range. Some people recommend staying under 8.5, others say 7.8, which means paying close attention to any postprandial spikes.
How is your blood sugar now? What was your most recent HBA1C?
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Another thing I’ve seen reported recently (though it is ongoing research, not necessarily converted into a proven treatment option yet), is the importance of healthy gut flora.
The research actually transplanted gut flora from donors, but I don’t know if some of the gut-flora-boosting standard options (live yoghurts, high veg intake, pulses/legumes, varied diet etc), would be worth considering? (this may be a complete red herring, of course) 😛
The research actually transplanted gut flora from donors, but I don’t know if some of the gut-flora-boosting standard options (live yoghurts, high veg intake, pulses/legumes, varied diet etc), would be worth considering? (this may be a complete red herring, of course) 😛
Hi thanks for your reply, I have just had my bloods done not sure of reading yet.I have been for an mri of my spine, doc seems to think my leg problems are coming from my spine, I will post when I get results x
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