Mel,
I'm not diabetic either- but as far as I'm concerned - PN, is.... PN !
(At least in the fact that symptoms and treatments are similar)
The vibrations probably intensified your sensitivity in some nerve endings.
My feet are hyper-sensitive. I know if I've stepped on a thin dime....big time! I can't stand anyone touching my feet orr ankles - but sometimes they feel numb, or so swollen (they aren't) they feel like over-filled water balloons and the ache deep down to the bone. The there's there's the little Leprecaun with the ice-pick that runs out from hiding and jabs me one or two times and then runs back so quickly I can't see him. Sometimes I have a hive of angry stinging bees under my skin and they want to get out.
PN will be different for each of us, but we learn to recognize it as our own individual symptoms.
(I call it thePrincess & the Pea syndrome)