Sore Legs & Feet / Sleep

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richyb38

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi All,

This is my first post so hopefully I've got this in the right place...

Long story short I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes back at the start of July 2023 (my HBA1c was 135 at the time). Once I was Insulin for the first month everything felt alot better and felt like I was getting back on track. Since the start of August I've had issues with pains in my feet/lower legs that come and go some days are worse than others - this is also effecting my sleep I'll be up sometimes at 3am for two hours. Previously I always slept straight through. I spoke to my Diabetic nurse and consultant who said it's most likely my body adjusting to the new sugar levels they also did some basis checks and said they didn't think there was any nerve damage (as this is something that will happen over the long time)

Though I've since been to see a private GP who seemed to think it was nothing to do with Diabetes but could be running related injury such as shin splints, we also did bloods for Iron/B12 which came back as normal levels. I'm booked to see a Podiastrist on Thursday to see if that sheds any light on it. If this drawers a blank I'll be lost as to the next steps. It's really starting to effect my mental health and ability to perform at work.

My time in range is currently 84% (4-10) average over 30 days is 7.9mmol/L estimated A1C od 6.7% / 50mmol/mols so in terms of actual managing this I feel like I'm doing a good a job as I can and that is effecting things...

So my main question is if anyone else remembers having issues with there feet shortly after being diagnosed and what resolved this or if anyone has any suggestions of things to try that I might not have considered?

Thank you.
Rich
 
I felt pretty bad after diagnosis, but nothing leg/ feet related..just generally rough
 
I'm Type 2 so maybe not in quite the same boat but I started with what I can only describe as restless feet syndrome a few months ago. My feet were on fire but cold to touch and jumpy.

It was so disturbing I went to my GP to see if my diabetes had caused nerve damage but he dismissed that theory out of hand and told me to go away and come back in two months if it was still happening. There was no way I could have put up with it for another two months so I took matters into my own hands and bought some compression socks. Total magic!! It took a little while for things to get better but they have.

To be honest though, I will never understand why, when someone presents at a GP with lower leg and foot pain and is diabetic, this doesn't ring alarm bells and further investigation isn't warranted.
 
richyb38 said:
So my main question is if anyone else remembers having issues with there feet shortly after being diagnosed and what resolved this or if anyone has any suggestions of things to try that I might not have considered?
Click to expand...
Yes, I did. I bought new walking boots thinking they were pinching. However it was indeed neuropathy, caused by high levels leading up to diagnosis. The pain came from the nerves regenerating as my levels came down. Someone recommended the "Neuropathy cocktail" to me and I took it for about 3 months after which the pains in my feet subsided. See attached. Good luck!
 

Attachments

Thanks both it's interesting that you both experienced similar. Seems really difficult to get a GP to listen to my issues. Though as mentioned the diabetic nurse said it's just adjusting so maybe that is the case it's just frustrating to have no timescales as to when they might return to something normal.
 
richyb38 said:
Hi All,

This is my first post so hopefully I've got this in the right place...

Long story short I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes back at the start of July 2023 (my HBA1c was 135 at the time). Once I was Insulin for the first month everything felt alot better and felt like I was getting back on track. Since the start of August I've had issues with pains in my feet/lower legs that come and go some days are worse than others - this is also effecting my sleep I'll be up sometimes at 3am for two hours. Previously I always slept straight through. I spoke to my Diabetic nurse and consultant who said it's most likely my body adjusting to the new sugar levels they also did some basis checks and said they didn't think there was any nerve damage (as this is something that will happen over the long time)

Though I've since been to see a private GP who seemed to think it was nothing to do with Diabetes but could be running related injury such as shin splints, we also did bloods for Iron/B12 which came back as normal levels. I'm booked to see a Podiastrist on Thursday to see if that sheds any light on it. If this drawers a blank I'll be lost as to the next steps. It's really starting to effect my mental health and ability to perform at work.

My time in range is currently 84% (4-10) average over 30 days is 7.9mmol/L estimated A1C od 6.7% / 50mmol/mols so in terms of actual managing this I feel like I'm doing a good a job as I can and that is effecting things...

So my main question is if anyone else remembers having issues with there feet shortly after being diagnosed and what resolved this or if anyone has any suggestions of things to try that I might not have considered?

Thank you.
Rich
Click to expand...
Iv been type 1 for 35 years, iv had the same problems with leg pain and restless legs, I went to doctor after doctor for at least 5 years and they all turned me away saying it's pulled muscles and not nerve pain from diabetes, I knew it wasn't nerve pain or pulled muscles as it was happening way too often then it stated in my shoulders, neck, back and hips and chest, I had depression and was tired and worn down all the time, after more trips to the doctors I saw a lovely lady doctor who did some tests and prodded around certain points (which I yelped and almost jumped through the roof) she said I have fibromalgia. The relief I had hearing that meant I wasn't going crazy or imagining the pain. It seems people with type 1 and also underactive thyroid lucky me I have both and having type 1 from 1 year old made me more prone to fibro. Might be worth asking for a doctor's view to see if you have it?
 
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It was leg problems that got me diagnosed as T2, even though the GP didn't think it was diabetes when I initially contacted them about it, and it sounds similar to what the original poster is experiencing.

It started with a pain in my right thigh that grew so bad it was keeping me awake at night.
It only started when I was lying or sitting.
Then I got cramping in my lower legs, so bad I'd wake up in the morning (I say wake, I was hardly sleeping for six months.) screaming in agony. As soon as I got up and walked around it all went away. It wasn't a shooting pain, just like cramp. Also had restless legs a lot.

A friend of mine who is a GP didn't know what it was (I was actually with him on a walking holiday when I struggled to climb up the big hill past Gillian Anderson's house in Sex Education. Legs were just locking up, but they were fine on the first two big hills.)

I was extremely tired due to the complete lack of sleep, though, and even know there's six months of my life that is a complete blur (I was also very, very stressed at work with the project I was effectively running.)

Diagnosed eventually with T2D, cut the carbs, and it all went away in two weeks and I started sleeping again.

It was awful at the time, my wife and kids were getting upset when I'd wake up in the morning yelling in agony. It was weird that it just went away as soon as I got up and walked around. (I used to get up in the early hours and walk around the house.)

I'd had so little sleep people at work were getting worried and one said when I got better that I looked white as a ghost.

It must have been linked to the T2D - I was worried it was PAD but the symptoms were very different.

(I was unimpressed with the GP - didn't really listen and just said take painkillers and go swimming instead of walking, even though I'd said painkillers don't work at all.)

The did leap into action when I went in for a health check and my heart rate was 120! Had an ECG there and then which the GP (Who flitted in the shadows like some sort of vampire, as if they didn't want to be seen any more) signed it off as being OK.

(sorry for the ramble.)
 
As a bit of an update on this I think I'm somewhere at 5 months of this being an issue but I'm slowly starting to see an improvement and I'm having more good days than bad so fingers crossed.

In terms of what I did to improve things. I ended up seeing a Podiastrist and also a Physio. Now I'm not sure if these resolved the issue or it's purely a matter of things improving over time.

Interesting I penned a "My Diabetes" blog which you can read here if you want (https://www.richard-bell.co.uk/posts/my-diabetes-story/) but a really nice lady responsed on Twitter with the following article which I found super interesting;
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Treatment-induced neuropathy of diabetes: an acute, iatrogenic complication of diabetes

Treatment induced neuropathy of diabetes is an iatrogenic neuropathy that develops in the setting of a rapid improvement in glycaemic control. Through retrospective review of case records, Gibbons and Freeman reveal that symptom severity and the risk ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

It's pretty medical in terms of content but I beleive the gist of the article is saying that if you quickly gain good Glucose control after being high for a long time it can bring on neuropathy. So my gut feeling is that this is what was going on and over time things will improve. Let's see
 
richyb38 said:
As a bit of an update on this I think I'm somewhere at 5 months of this being an issue but I'm slowly starting to see an improvement and I'm having more good days than bad so fingers crossed.

In terms of what I did to improve things. I ended up seeing a Podiastrist and also a Physio. Now I'm not sure if these resolved the issue or it's purely a matter of things improving over time.

Interesting I penned a "My Diabetes" blog which you can read here if you want (https://www.richard-bell.co.uk/posts/my-diabetes-story/) but a really nice lady responsed on Twitter with the following article which I found super interesting;
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Treatment-induced neuropathy of diabetes: an acute, iatrogenic complication of diabetes

Treatment induced neuropathy of diabetes is an iatrogenic neuropathy that develops in the setting of a rapid improvement in glycaemic control. Through retrospective review of case records, Gibbons and Freeman reveal that symptom severity and the risk ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

It's pretty medical in terms of content but I beleive the gist of the article is saying that if you quickly gain good Glucose control after being high for a long time it can bring on neuropathy. So my gut feeling is that this is what was going on and over time things will improve. Let's see
Click to expand...
ROFL - exactly what @Pattidevans told you on November 7th !
 
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