I now eat no sugar, and very rarely grains. I eat small amounts of meat. lots of veggies cooked and raw, whey protein powder, some berries for fruit. That's about it right now.

See this is what I think I've been doing to myself all these years. Spiking over and over and over because of binge eating junk. My insulin still works however and that's why eating like a normal human has brought my glucose into the healthy range. So I might not be pre or diabetic but still have caused my neuropathy with the spiking for all those years. Does that sound like a possible?

I've been doing the same thing all these years, only not with junk food but with "healthy carbs." The effect is the same.

Eating low carb and checking your glucose postprandial BG or fasting BG isn't going to tell you if you still have a problem. To see if you're not metabolizing glucose properly, just emulate the glucose tolerance test at home.

- Take your fasting blood glucose before you eat
- Eat a very high carb meal...like white pasta with garlic bread...really splurge
- Check your BG at the one hour mark after you started eating
- Check your BG at the two hour mark

If you're under 140 at the 2 hour mark, you're fine. Some people would say that to be classified normal, that one hour mark number shouldn't be over 140 either, but I think that might be up for debate.

When I was still in the 160s at the two hour mark, I kept checking on the hour to see how long it would take me to get back down to normal.

Great info and I thank you. If I eat a big meal like I used to there I am over 140 and last I checked around 160. I'm assuming I will have to eat very consciously for the rest of my time here.

Dear Icelander,

Your PN may or may NOT be related to blood sugar swings in the past. While diabetics frequently get "diabetic" neuropathy, all neuropathy is not due to blood sugar levels.

All diabetics do not necessarily get peripheral neuropathies, nor do all peripheral neuropathies originate from blood sugar abnormalities.

Your PN may have nothing to do with your past diet or glucose levels. Maybe yes, maybe no.

And once a person HAS been diagnosed with diabetes, any PN is almost always attributed to diabetes, which may or may not be valid, but it is almost always the assumption made, by most in the medical field.

You may never know if your previous diet has/had anything to do with your PN. The only thing I can say for certain is that improvements made in one's diet are a good thing regardless of whether that improves PN symptoms or not.

One last note. There is no magic number at which a person will or will not develop PN from abnormal blood sugar levels. Every one is different. A person can have POOR control and have NO PN symptoms while another may have tight control and suffer with terrible PN symptoms. It is not cut and dry. No magic levels or numbers to be "safe" from PN.

Bottom line: One can only do their best to control the things they can and that in turn may lessen the risks and degree of PN. It is no guarantee. The better you treat your body, the better it may treat you. Even the person that does everything correct in the manner in which they care for their body is not guaranteed to avoid any problems. We can only lay a good foundation for a good outcome. The rest is up to GOD or chance depending upon one's beliefs.

Just keep up the good work and see what happens. Let us hope that your efforts will be rewarded with better health. Even if improvement is not attained, at least you have done your best and may have prevented it from getting worse.

Sometimes we don't get all the answers we seek. You may never know what the origin of your PN. You may have idiopathic PN.

I've done my homework that far. I know all that you've said is basically true. This is the second piece of possible good news I've gotten here and I see no reason not to be a little hopeful as long as I remain cognisant of the realities.

If it's something else I'll likely never find it as I'm about done with my search as far as cause within the medical profession. I will still use them for some tests to confirm what I'm doing or not but other than that I hope to basically use them as adjunct and selectively. I'm mostly done searching/begging the medical profession for help. This is it and if it's a mistake I'll accept any consequences. I'm going to sink or swim using my own skills and intuition which IMO put me ahead of a medical profession that does not care if I suffer or not as long as the profits come in. That's not a hippocratic oath. It's a hypocritical oath.

So this is my path and I think we might be on to something. And as you said eating well never will make anything worse.

No icelander,

I am progressing along and I wish I could believe it were healing, though to me it is advancing.

I hope to be wrong.

Ok thanks, that's what mine has been doing and I'm looking at everything possible. I'm thinking of trying self-hypnosis and writing affirmations. Affirmations worked well for me at another juncture in the road of life. I figure if diabetes is the issue then it will be a long road to recovery and there will be as much or more pain at times due to the healing process (I remember someone else who got better saying it was a painful process and they often didn't believe they were getting better). If that's the case then being very nutrition and supplement savvy should set me in good stead. If I can speed recovery by feeding myself the right nutrients, becoming very calm and relaxed, and creating a positive attitude without lying to myself then I figure that things could speed up. I saw it happen in the supps industry with customers and friends. So I'll be doing within my own self everything I can and let the rest be damned.

I'll admit this here. The deep breathing and relaxation techniques have helped more than anything so far and I got on to it one night when I was so scared and in pain I wanted to run anywhere or be dead. I stopped myself and saw how my breathing had completely tensed me. So I did some deep breathing and things got a little better. Then over time it really helped, now when I'm scared or confused, lost as to what to do next and frantic because there are so many possibles I stop the internal dialog going on and tell myself the ONLY THING I have to do is breath deeply and relax. That one thing has made a ton of difference for me and I'm just getting started. And it takes all the performance pressure off me as far as grasping at straws just because someone else said I should or I'm terrified. I'm much more relaxed and when in pain deep breathing always helps at least a little and often a lot.

And if nothing ultimately works for the neuropathy, that breathing one has been doing will keep them calm enough to do whatever they feel they need to do to improve the situation.

Hi icelander,

I worry a little when I read that someone is doing deep breathing to relax. Overdoing it leads to carbon dioxide depletion and hyperventilation. There also is rarely a long lasting, positive mental outcome.

The powerful Breathing Meditation I have been taught is to:

Sit comfortably in a peaceful room with no chance of distraction.
Close your eyes half way, facing forward, you are not trying to go to sleep.
Breathe normally, steadily and calmly through your nose.
Concentrate on the feeling of your breath entering and leaving your body, think of nothing else.
Your mind will calm and become clear. Concentrate on that Clarity.
Continue for 10 minutes or so, in which you should achieve 2-3 minutes Clarity of Mind.
If your thoughts wander, concentrate on your breathing again.

As with everything, practice makes achieving Clarity easier.

Dave.

About breathing..........

I don't know about others, but I know that I unknowingly seem to hold my breath when going through a temporary excruciating pain. It is not something I do on purpose, it just happens at the onset of a painful medical procedure. Then I realize I am holding my breath and have tensed up. I know that holding my breath does not eradicate the pain but it is an automatic reaction. When I realize I am doing it, I try to breath normally.

I am just wondering if others have this "automatic" response when undergoing a painful medical procedure.

Do others breath abnormally when going through elevated pain levels?