both are autoimmune. When this happens, it could be an expression
of Gluten intolerance.(autoimmune reactions to the peptides in wheat, barley, and rye)...so check our Gluten forum here too.

Hypothyroidism causes the hands to get this way (carpal tunnel). I had that
severely with my pregnancy.

If she tests positive for carpal tunnel there are injections often given for
that. And during the night using the typical carpal tunnel braces (sold in drug stores) will help prevent the discomfort. I found that just using the night
braces, helped my hands all day (I didn't need them then).

Sometimes low blood sugar causes hand tingling. But so does Raynaud's, and other autoimmune disease like Scleroderma. Diabetics can get pretty hypoglycemic during the night. There are snack bars called Glucerna made especially for this, to keep blood sugar more stable during the night.
She should test immediately upon awakening with her glucometer, to see
if she is low in the morning..before any food is eaten or insulin injected.

A simple thing right now that can do no harm is to get the Carpal Tunnel wrist splints and wear them to bed.

Mrs. D:

I never knew there could be other things that might cause hand discomfort.
As soon as I run into her again, I'll let her know.

thanks again for your kindness.

But in her case, (she chain smokes like a chimney, and will hear nothing about that), and she thew a chair at the first endocrinologist she visited, well I think there's much more going on here besides diabetes.

She lost a fiancee at the age of 19 due to Cancer.
She really has a lot on her plate and she acts like a wind up toy. I think she's on something. but she's only 25 and when you are 25, there is alway hope, that's what I say.

I mean, if I can change my eating habits, lose tons of weight at the age of 59, and Alan can turn into Rocky Balboa, there there is HOPE FOR ANYBODY!!!!

Oh, and would you believe that people actually walk up to us and say "stop losing weight you are getting haggard!!!!. Of course these people weigh over 300 lbs. I just smile and mentally punch them in the nose.!!!!

mel

think ON IT! They are JEALOUS! - Just say 'thank you' and ignore the rest. Not worth any frazzle... but, if it were your DOC saying that...different issue.

- j

I think I may be ready to know what I weigh. When I go to Cornell Medical Center in NYC every two months, they weigh me backwards because they know I don't want to know. Want to know why? THIS WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH!!

A few years ago, I decided to go and exercise. I went to Bally's and did the cardio (as best I could) but I also did the weights rotation. From weight machine to different weight machine. I never weighed myself there.

When I had my previous appointment at my doctor, (he was always concerned about my diabetes and my weight), I weighed in at 206. I'm five feet seven so I never looked like I weighed more than 150.

So here I was going evey day to the gym. I was about 52 then. I literally re-shaped my body. It was time for my monthly checkup at my doctor (this was way before I went to Cornell.)

So I walk into the doctor's office and he goes "whoa, look at you, you've been very good haven't you?". I was wearing a black tank top and a black spandex shorts. I LOOKED JUST FINE. So here I was already to hop on his brand new digital scale thinking it's going to say 160 or something like that.

It said 223. I blinked, the doctor blinked, the nurse blinked, everybody blinked. I said "this scale is broken, no way did I go from 206 to 223. The doctor starts saying "melody, this is a brand new scale, the scale doesn't lie, what are you eating???" I go, EATING, WHO'S EATING, I'M STARVING AND EXERCISING EVERY DAY, ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

Then I grabbed the doctor and said "Victor, what do you weigh?" He goes 195,I made him go on the scale and it says 195. I weighed the nurse, the people in the waiting room, etc. The weight was what they thought it should be. I wound up looking like a complete idiot. Don't ask how I carried on. I was so upset. He just shook his head. He didn't believe me.

The very next day I took myself to Bally's and walked over to the biggest, baddest, strongest weightlifter there, batted my baby browns at him and said "can you please help me?' he goes "sure honey, what's up" and I go "WHY DO I WEIGH 223 LBS???"

He says 'WHAAAAT DO YOU WEIGH??? NO WAY!!." Then he weighs me, 223. He gathers all his weightlifting buddies and they walk around me in a circle looking me up and down shaking and nodding, asking me my daily routine. When I got to the part that I had been weightlifting for the past month, they all burst out laughing and said "you replaced fat with muscle and one pound of muscle weighs 6 times more than one pound of fat".

I told them "i don't care what muscle weighs, how do I get these pounds off. they explained how to lift smaller amounts of weight and do more reps.

I wouldn't go near any weights after that. I just got depressed.

So when I went to Cornell, I would not let them tell me how much I weighed and for the past 18 months, I have not known what I weigh. When they weigh me, they get all excited and say "oh you lost 5 lbs,, or oh you lost 3 lbs". And I go, what the hell is 5 lbs.???Sure, I look completely different but I am petrified to get on a scale and look.

I think I shall tell them on tuesday. "I don't want to know what I weigh but but please let me know if I broke 200." They'll probably laugh their heads off. I have dropped almost 27 lbs in one year. But I don't know what I weigh.

jeeeeezzz

melody

well, my scale says I weigh 10 -25 lbs less than their scales! AND I only vary by 2-1/2 lbs over/ under what I consider my norm is. I call it DOC games...I truly believe it's a 'fixed game' to get you and me to keep the weight down.

When asked my 'weight' I always start out w/the difference caveat...Nurses are sensible-going well, if there's no glaring variations, don't worry...after which the doc comes in with the 'Tsk, Tsk!!'.

I can only very quietly, and in a VERY serious manner say: I should be gaining 20 pounds on these all meds and I am STEADY! Besides, your scales LIE! Rarely hear another word of complaint, Just wish I could exercise like I want to without spraining/straining or trying to break something! As cats say: Life is hard, then you Nap! There are times that serious napping and not worrying are most beneficial.

In the meantime....I have found that trying to get back in shape after not exercising, well your muscle DOES really bulk up, with no loss in weight, ...if you keep at it tho, the fat that goes into the muscle, then gets worked out and you get...shall we say: 'Lean Meat'? This may sound totally tasteless, but, look at Kobe Beef? Where they massage fat into the right places and tone into the other rite places.... It's a redistribution! As long as it's in the rite places...well, thank your stars! - j

Dahlek:

I'm almost 59 years old and I'm now married to Rocky Balboa.

If you think this guy is going to be skinnier than me, forget it.

We were laying down taking a short nap today when he puts his arm in my face and says "feel these muscles". I responded by picking up my leg and saying, "look at this leg". Can you bend your leg straight up like this" (he can't). he retorts, "oh yeah, well look at this thigh muscle".

I couldn't go there because my thighs don't look like his thighs. so I go "oh yeah, well I'm thinner than you" he goes, "oh yeah, well, you can't lift 175 lbs!!" I reply "Oh yeah, well before you lost your weight I used to lift you at 275".

He shut up!!!!

We never laughed so hard.

We have a contest going on here. He thinks I'll never get down to 150.

He doesn't know me...............................

we'll see, we'll see...........................

Melody

Melody, I happened upon your post while searching the Internet. I'm not a doctor, but it's plain to see that your husband Alan has multiple symptoms of the chronic disorders sometimes called the "diseases of civilization":

-idiopathic peripheral neuropathy
-easy bruising: "more black and blues on his body than I have ever seen in my whole life"
-foot ulcers that take a long time to heal
-psoriatic arthritis in the toes
-Taylor's bunions
-coronary heart disease

Your own diabetic neuropathy is also a disease of civilization.

They can--some experts say that a bunion can only come back if the surgery was done improperly or footwear is worn that is too tight or causes overpronation; others say there is no guarantee that bunions won't come back some years later even if the surgery is performed correctly and the person wears appropriate footwear.

The following of your husband's symptoms are associated with diabetes and pre-diabetes, so your husband should have his blood sugar checked if he hasn't already:
-idiopathic peripheral neuropathy
-easy bruising
-foot ulcers that take a long time to heal

The diseases of civilization are theoretically believed to always include the following features:

-chronic inflammation
-immune system malfunction (autoimmune disorders), though it often is not recognized as such

...and tend to include some of the following features:

-chronic pain, tingling and/or numbness
-nutritional deficiencies
-one or more of allergies, asthma, or sinus problems
-insulin resistance or dependence
-the diseases of Syndrome X (which have hyperinsulinemia at their root): hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease, obesity, abnormal glucose tolerance, acne, early menarche, certain epithelial cell carcinomas, increased stature (above average height), myopia, cutaneous papillomas (skin tags), acanthosis nigricans, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and male vertex balding

S. Boyd Eaton, M.D., Loren Cordain, Ph.D., Staffan Lindeberg, Ph.D. and others have proposed that these diseases of civilization are caused in large part by a diet of "modern" (agrarian and processed) foods that is out of step with the types of food that human beings are designed to eat because they ate them for the first 2.5 - 3 million years of their existence. The main foods that humans ate over this time were wild meats, fruits and vegetables. Grains, dairy foods and legumes were not staple foods in the human diet before the advent of agriculture around 10,000 years ago. We have not had time to adapt to the new agrarian and processed foods. Some people have genes that are less adapted to these new foods than others. It has been hypothesized that people from Northwestern Europe (the British Isles and Scandinavia in particular) tend to be less well adapted than people from the Middle East and Mediterranean, because agriculture started much earlier in the Middle East and radiated out to Europe from there, not reaching the fringes of Europe until thousands of years later.

Wrong. The following foods in his diet are all modern foods or include modern food ingredients:

multi grain English muffin
low sodium smart balance margarine
a cup of caffeine free tea
protein whey shakes
low sodium dressing
burger bun
low sodium tomato sauce
Splenda
baked potato
Splenda-sweetened drink

Better choices would probably be something like the following (depending on any food sensitivities he may have):

more cantaloupe and other fruit
green or herbal tea
a smoothie of strawberries, banana and apple juice or homemade almond milk
a turkey burger or grass-fed beef burger without the bun (he can wrap it in lettuce leaves if he wants, but it's easier to just eat it with a fork)
all-natural tomato sauce
honey instead of Splenda (or no added sweetener if blood sugar is high)
some more nonstarchy veggies like leafy greens

The biggest problem with his diet is likely all those whey shakes. Unfortunately, he drinks those because he wants to be muscular, so he may resist eliminating them. Whey contains betacellulin and insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which promote cell growth and division, thus theoretically causing muscle growth. However, bovine betacellulin and IGF-1 have also been linked to various types of cancer. Because they strongly stimulate cell growth and division it is believed there is a risk they can stimulate too much of it, leading to a cascade effect of excessive, unregulated cell growth and division (cancer). The other stuff in the whey shakes is probably not good either.

It is also important to eliminate grains--especially gluten grains (wheat, rye and barley). Here is some information on a connection between peripheral neuropathy and gluten grain consumption:

Psychological and Neurological Illnesses Associated with Cereal Grain Consumption
From "Cereal Grains: Humanity's Double-Edged Sword"
By Loren Cordain, Ph.D.

"Neurological complications have long been recognized in celiac patients and can include epilepsy, cerebellar ataxias, dementia, degenerative central nervous system disease, peripheral neuropathies (of axonal or demyelinating type), and myopathies [318]. A recent study showed that 57% of patients with neuropathies of unknown cause (25 ataxia, 20 peripheral neuropathy, 5 mononeuritis multiplex, 4 myopathy, 3 motor myopathy, 2 myelopathy) demonstrated positive titres for antigliadin antibodies, and 16% (40 times higher than the general population) of this group also had celiac disease [315]. The cause of neurological dysfunction associated with celiac disease and antigliadin antibodies is unknown; however it has been suspected that an immunological mechanism may be involved [315, 318]. Although no clinical trials have yet been conducted of strict adherence to a gluten-free diet, it has been suggested that such a diet may result in stabilization or even improvement of neurological dysfunction [315]."

315 Hadjivassiliou M, Gibson A, Davies-Jones GAB, Lobo AJ, Stephenson TJ, Milford-Ward A: Does cryptic gluten sensitivity play a part in neurological illness? Lancet 1996;347:369.371.

318 Auricchio S: Gluten sensitivity and neurological illness. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 1997;25:S7.S8.

The complete report can be found at http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles...%20article.pdf.

Good luck!

Wow, you are thorough aren't you????

Well, I bought honey yesterday, so I'm starting off on a good thing, there anyway!!!

Alan has just had a battery of tests. All negative. No gluten thing, no auto-immune thing. His neuropathy is not from diabetes. All this is absolutely certain right now. They know he has severe spinal stenosis and they are tending to believe that the PN comes from that. And because he is so much better after going to Dr. Theirl, his chiropractic/neurologist, well, many docs now feel that his PN is due to his lower back stenosis thing going on.

Also, you mention that he eats multi-grain and splenda and whey shakes. Believe me, he got MUCH BETTER after he changed his diet to eat this way.
18 years go when he started to get the PN, he was eating red meat, no veggies, white break, macaroni, sweets. starches, etc. etc.

We went to a nutritionist about two years ago who put him on the plan he's on now. The black and blues after the exercising were from the plavix. He no longer gets them often. Maybe once in a while. He is very careful not to bump himself.

And the not healing ulcers on his foot are NOT CAUSED BY ANYTHING TO DO WITH DIABETES OR A PRE-DIABETIC CONDITION. He has had all the tests.
The podiatrist took x-rays and found there is a bone near the ulcer that is inpinging on the ulcer so he might have to have that shaved down but as of yesterday the podiatrist looked at the ulcer and said "look at that beautiful foot, it's all healed"

So we are waiting to see how his next podiatrist visit goes. IF the ulcer comes back, the doctor will then determine if he indeed will shave down the bone that's doing the problem. Also, the tailor bunion on the other foot never grew back BUT Alan has a tailor bunion on the foot that has the ulcer and the doctor said he can take care of this at the same time.

So I do thank you for all your concerns and good infomation. Hope I got to clear up some things for you.

My husband is a new man thanks to these whey drinks. He drinks only one a day now. He eats like a horse and he looks great. He also execises like a banshee and wouldn't have it any other way.

You do what works for ya!!!!! This works for him.

Sincerely, Melody

You will probably think this is dumb, but I haven't had much time for movies lately... Exactly who is Rocky Balboa?

Cathie

[multi grain English muffin
low sodium smart balance margarine
a cup of caffeine free tea
protein whey shakes
low sodium dressing
burger bun
low sodium tomato sauce
Splenda
baked potato
Splenda-sweetened drink]

That isn't a full list is it??

But where is the veggies & fruits?

Have you done a search on splenda and fake sugars?
not from the manufacturers site - on some health sites?
googled a list for you-
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search

I do think the store bought /prepared foods are a nutritional negative. Most of them are loaded with additives and preservatives.

I just posted some meal planning and related info on the Weight loss forum here.
and we have some great links for healthy loss and diet.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=42

just somethings to check into for the best health you can have for the long term.

just wanted to add some healthy weight loss links-
http://www.consumer.gov/weightloss/setgoals.htm
http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/Weig...Loss&WT.srch=1
http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_weight_loss.htm
http://www.dadamo.com/
http://health.discovery.com/BodyChal...ealthy%20diets

info on starvation diets-
http://weight-loss.featherish.com/starvation-diet.html
body building and diet-
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbin...ge=HealthDiets