Pre-diabetes, small fiber neuropathy
 

HI, I am a newbie. Diagnosed as pre-diabetic 1.5 weeks ago. I have burning feet. Also some in arms. I am awaiting skin biopsy results from Cleveland Clinic any day. Doctor suspects SFN. I have been having symptoms for about 10-12 weeks. I am 46 year old male 5'9" 168 lbs (have lost 18 lbs in this time from worry & stress). My glucose tolerance test came back at 180. I am otherwise pretty healthy-no smoking-2 glasses of wine on Saturdays-eat my share of junk food. I don't really understand how I got here. I am taking gabapentin 300mg twice a day- helps some. I am very depressed and scared and am also taking an anti-depressant for the 1st time in my life-1 a day very low dose. I have also decided to win this battle. I am excercising daily and have started watching my carbs and diet. I am looking for guidance on what I should expect and possible supplements that might help. Can my nerves heal? Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi crewski & welcome to this forum.

Yes nerves can heal over time and it is a slow process, but once the cause of the nerve damage is taking away it does give the nerves a chance to heal.
Mine was caused also by prediabetes with mostly small fibre damage, plus some large nerve damage as well, going by an EMG.

Supplements that have helped are,
B12 methylcobalamin 1 -5 mg daily [ on an empty stomache ]
gamma-linolenic acid - 480 mg daily [ 2x 240 mg]
R lipioc acid - 100 mg daily
Thiamine 100 mg x 3 tabs daily.

It is very hard at first to work out if the nerves are healing or flaring up, at least in my case I couldn't tell the differance for at least 8 months then the symptoms become less severe and less often which went on for a few years until they were completly healed.

best of luck to you
Brian :)

Thanks Alot, I will look into supplements. Any tips on where to get them?

Hi
The absolute first thing you MUST do is get your glucose under control. You are diabetic. I don't think there is such a thing as pre-D. It's like being pregnant. Either you are, or you aren't. Keep your carbs to 45 or less per meal, use your meter to see what a certain food does to your glucose. If its white, don't bite. Rice, pasta, bread, potatos. Fruit in moderation. Excercise if you can.

The supplements could help. I don't know much about them. I do know with good control your nerves can improve. *edit*

Every so often--
 

--I break out my list of material on impaired glucose tolerance short of frank diabetes and neuropathy, a condition becoming increasingly recognized.

Even blood sugar readings that would not be considered in the range of frank diabetes, but would just be considered "impaired glucose tolerance", such as those in the range of around 100-125, have been associated with peripheral neuropathy, particularly those of the small fibers, which tends to be burning, lancating, and electrical in symptoms, and not necessarily the stereotypical "numb". There's been a lot of research coming out about this in the last few years; I keep a list of papaers and studies on this that includes:


http://intl.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/60/1/108

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/c...TRY=1&SRETRY=0

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=16448668

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/c...07929/ABSTRACT

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...d_AbstractPlus

There are a lot more, but you get the idea.

Certainly, a long glucose tolerance test is called for; I have mine done for at least four hours with glucose and insulin levels taken at baseline and then every half-hour through at least three hours. Often, it's the pattern of ups and downs of the glucose and its interaction with the insulin response that's most revealing.

Supplements
 

I get my B12 (and all the others) from
www.iherb.com

-Jarrow sublingual Methyl-cobalamin B12
1000mcg (1mg), to 5000mcg (5mg)- daily
(on an empty stomach)

-R Lipoic Acid (100mg - take with food)

-CoQ10 (100mg)

-P-5-P B6 (50mg - no more than a combined total with others
such as B Complex or multi-vits of 100mg daily)

-Benfotiamine (thiamine replacement, 150-300mg)
-Fish Oil (2400mg)

Thanks for the advice, Are you basing my carbs on my weight etc? I have read so many different things I have been confused- I see things that say 6/12/12 which is break. lunch dinner & I think I will starve- other things say 300 a day!
I have been excercising aggressively 40+ minutes a day on treadmill-usually burning 200+ calories.

You can reverse your prediabetic state by eating the right foods, exercising loosing any excess weight and keeping it off.

If you have not got a glucose meter yet I would get one and test your reactions to differant foods 2 hours after the first bite of food of every meal until you get the idea of what & how much food you can eat to keep your sugars at moderate level, never skip meals as low sugars also damage the nerves as well.
I know that a lot prediabetics & diabetics count carbs but I personaly don't, I just know what foods are high GI and just don't have much of them and fill myself more with protein and other low gi foods... soft drinks, fruit juices etc, are full of sugar and will really spike your sugars, there is plenty of info on the net about what foods you can eat.

Its can be a bit over whelming when changing your diet at first but it doesn't take long to get used to it all, one thing that helped my post meal sugar levels was just a 15 minute walk after each meal.

Okay, Thanks- I will be getting prescription for meter soon, From what I hear strips are covered by insurance. Has anyone heard of burning symptoms spiking when you start to get glucose leves down or are my symptons just accelerating from initial onset?

a diet that has a proven track record is The Zone.

it uses the glycemic index, meal size, protein and good fats well.

It is important to control meal sizes to keep sugars after meals under
high levels. consumption of good fats keep the stomach from emptying
too fast and spiking your sugars.

I think you should also track your A1c levels which
give a good way to guide you.

I'm typing on my son's tiny netbook,and just can't get the hang of it :confused: I'll be back tomorrow ;)