Hi guys. I was told to find a neuropathy forum from a friend*** where I hang out a lot since I have diabetes. I was recently diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy in my legs. I don't know about my arms since we were testing my lower back and legs due to my bad curvature in my lumbar spine. My spine is fine, the MRI confirms it. Well - fine as in not damaged due to the severe curve.

I have burning in my thighs and knees but seem to have full feeling in my extremeties. No numbness yet. The doctor who did my EMG told me I have slow nerves in my legs. That's all I know and when I googled slow nerves the only thing that popped up was about neuropathy. So here I am.

I hope to get to know all of you soon. I've been reading through some threads here and know I am in the right place. My blood sugar is generally good between about 85 and 160 though usually 140 or lower. I've only had pre-diabetes since about september 2010. Though since I"m on Victoza now my blood sugar is usually 95 in teh morning versus 110 or higher. I'm pleased with that.

I am severely obese, 373 pounds on a 5'2" frame (female). I thought the victoza was supposed to help me lose weight. Well - it didn't. But at least my blood sugar is much better! That was the main reason for going on it.

I take many pills. I'm on neurontin (gabapentin) for anxiety (off-label use prescribed by my psychiatrist) but now that my GP raised the dose of it for my leg pain I'm doing much better. I take 1 in the morning and 2 in the evening. My pain usually hits me in the evenings and nighttime so it works out better that way. I did have to take another one this morning since I developed the leg pain since I hadn't been to sleep yet. I tend to have more pain when I'm awake longer than usual. Not sure why.

I'm thinking of starting on ALA but will ask my doctor first since it can interfere with thyroid medication (which I'm on for a slow thyroid).

Anyway, I was just introducing myself.

Brittany

Welcome to NeuroTalk:

ALA has only one study done on rodents that suggests it affects
conversion in tissues of T4 to T3. No human studies. Not all rodent
studies are applicable to humans. And the one study has not been
replicated.
This is the article those suggestions are based on 1991:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1815532
There are no other papers on this topic at PubMed more recently, and since ALA has been used for decades in Europe commonly, one would think something would have been published about it by now for humans.

It has been suggested that the mixed racemic R and S version which are not natural to the human body may be one reason.
When ALA is commercially manufactured, the S version appears and at first was not removed.

Today there are R only versions, and a new R that is water soluble and better absorbed... NaRALA.

Lipoic acid can however change your blood sugar, so people on medication may see a lowering effect and need medication adjustments.

I do not think the new R-lipoic stablized is going to do much at 100mg a day to the thyroid...and that is all you need because absorption is so much better. Many of us here use Doctor's Best brand.

Welcome Britany. I find that, also, if I don't get enough rest my pain is worse.

Hi!

I am curious, if you were only prediabetic, why did they put you on medication? Or did it turn into full diabetes? Would you mind me asking what your blood sugar numbers were for the dr to decide to use medication? I ask because I am prediabetic and always watching numbers, however every doctor seems to have a different opinion on what numbers constitute diabetes.

I believe my neuropathhy is from spiking numbers, however my dr believes it is from my hypothyroid.

You will find lots of great advice here.

Thanks for the info! I bookmarked that specific ALA amazon page for when I go to buy it.

My doctor is proactive with diabetes. pre-diabetes IS diabetes. It's just the early stages of diabetes. It's like you can't be a little bit pregnant. You are or you aren't. My doctor put me on metformin initially which is the first line treatment for type 2 diabetes generally. It didn't do anything for me which is weird. My blood sugar stayed the same and my spikes were the same. Plus I gained 40 pounds on it which is apparently unheard of. So I went off of that about a year and a half after I was put on it. I went through a period of about 6 months that I tried diet after diet to reduce my blood sugar. I did great (blood sugar-wise) on atkins but couldn't stick to the severe restriction in types of food i could eat.

My blood sugar is now sort of controlled on Victoza. I still have high spikes if I'm not careful about eating carbs or the amount of carbs but that's a choice I have to start making to lower my blood sugar. I've had a handful of readings that (for fasting morning readings) have been above 125 and I've had a handful of readings above 200 (when NOT on steroids) so I am fully diabetic now. So we assume my neuropathy is caused by my diabetes. It's not unheard of for diabetes of only 2 years to cause neuropathy. I've had this pain for at least a year though. So I guess my nerves are extra sensitive to above normal blood sugar.

I suggest you visit *edit*and learn more about diabetes, It has really helped me to find my way. The people there are great! Their mantra is "eat to your meter" meaning if you test 2 hours after a meal and your blood sugar was above 140 do not eat that meal again or reduce the amount of carbs you eat in that meal. Another good site is *edit*. It's ahuge in depth diabetes site that is full of no nonsense clinical trial information about diabetes. I'd definitely check it out.

Part of my problem is 'compressed nerves' due to my overhanging belly which causes severe leg pain when sitting up for more than about an hour. But that isn't diabetes related. I do have slow nerves in my legs though (and perhaps feet?) but I'll talk to my doctor more about it when I see him on the 3rd. I want him to explain to me exactly what the specialist found who did my EMG. She skirted the subject on what exactly I have but seemed to be very bold in writing it down for my GP to read... So perhaps she didn't want to scare me with the N word. I take gabapentin twice per day now. It helps the compressed nerve pain due to my belly.

I asked her if my obesity would cause slow nerves and she said no not at all. So the only other thing that could cause it that we know of is the diabetes.

First, you need to find some way to bring your glucose down!! I think the poster who got edited was referring to the American Diabetes Assn. site. We do encourage eating to your meter there.

There are other types of diabetes, besides 1 & 2. Have you had any tests to rule out the other types? I'd check into that, an endo can help there.

No I've not been tested for any other types of diabetes. I'm severely obese and with a family history of type 2 my doctor didn't seem interested in checking. I see my GP for my diabetes. I thought about getting an endo but since the Victoza is working well for me I decided against it. If my sugar does get worse I will have my doctor raise my dose of Victoza to the 1.8mg dose and see how that goes. Then if it gets even worse I will see an endo.

The only thing I can do to reduce my blood sugar is to eat less carbs. My family doesn't cook very often so we often eat out or have food delivered. So generally we eat a high carb diet here. I try to snack on low carb foods when I get hungry, I eat string cheese, peanuts, lunch meat, tuna in mayonnaise, etc.

My blood sugar is mostly acceptable except when it hits above 140 which I know is the cut off for when bg's are safe and not damaging your body. Anything higher for an extended time is doing damage. I know that. So I try to keep my bg's lower than 140 most of the time. THough it doesn't always happen since we eat out so much.

Welcome. I do not have diabetes, but for the healing of my nerves I do watch the blood sugar and test one hour after eating. That way, you can see the spike. I rarely do it now since I know what can get them higher.

The number is always good even then and goes further down two hours later back to 80 or 85. I think testing earlier to see the spike is good to do even for me with good numbers. Taught me the foods to stay away from.

I try to keep my numbers low, so no spiking. It has been very good to do. I rarely get over 100. Very important to stay level.

Thankfully I have normal glucose so that is easy just staying away from simple carbs.

Losing weight would be number one for you. Without the simple carbs weight comes off pretty nicely. Extra weight is serious for many reasons. The supplements are great but a normal weight is so important.

Yes I know I have to get the weight off but so far the only diet that has worked is Atkins and I have a huge problem trying to stay on atkins since it is so restricting. I just can't handle it.

Thanks!

I have researched diabetes, probably too much, because I find doctors to be lacking more than myself, haha! I use my meter at the 1 hour mark like Sally, because at 1 hour that tells me the spike number. Dr's are hung up on the 2 hour mark which is stupid in my opinion. If I went by 2 hour readings I would never know that I am spiking so high at 1 hour. At 2 hours bg is coming back down...or should be, and mine does. I care more about the spiking number as that is what harms nerves.

I agree, I keep my bg numbers below 140.

I am shocked that my mothers dr told her it was ok to eat fruit and many other high carb foods. She spikes to 300 if she eats that stuff but can control it if she does not eat it. I think doctors ideas on what to eat are antiquated. All the wanna do is prescribe meds.

Sally is right, I have lost 40 pds simply by getting rid of simple carbs, white flour, pasta and all sugar. I understand what you mean when you say it is hard, and I could NEVER stay on atkins when I wanted to lose weight, however it is about my health now and that seems to be all the motivation i need to skip the carbs. I don't wanna lose my feet. Fear keeps me motivated.

good luck