My mum was diagnosed with this condition some time ago, and suffers pain at times from it. I’d be interested in hearing more from those of you who suffer from this what kind of discomfort it causes you, how badly it affects your lives, and most importantly what you are doing, and receiving, to combat its effects?
i have had diabetic neuropathy where the loser half of my legs ache and the feet are numb…My left hand is numb as well. My balance has also deteriorated badly so I must walk slowly or with a walker.
Various medications have been employed on occasion by drs. but to no avail…including neurontin.
The result of these damaged leg nerves is pain in the muscle, ankle jonts, and those joints of the foot bones…It becomes so much a part of you that you get used it… although a true delight is having a massage over the painful areas. Depending on the cause of the nerve inflammation, the abnormality may improve to some extent
Because of the balance problems and the leg pains there is a tendency to fall therefore, I’m very careful when I walk which is slow and deliberate.
thats lower half of my legs…
I apologize. This started as an answer and it seemed to turn into a real ‘woe-is-me’ list of problems…hopefully you can pull some pertinent information from it.
My wife, now at the ripe old age of 34, was diagnosed 2 years ago with Multiple Sclerosis. Initially it was a problem with left leg not working right and headaches that never went away. She has since started to have neuropathic pain in her left arm and left leg and sometimes the left side of her face. She describes it as tingling like it has fallen asleep, but the tingling burns. Her arm is the worst and never goes away but sometimes lessens. The pain in her face only shows up sometimes, usually when her arm is acting up. Recently a new sensation has appeared and she can feel a hair dangling on the back of her arm and the back of her leg but nothing is there. (She was telling me this the other night and demonstrated it by saying that she was feeling it now, reached around and pulled off a loose hair that was dangling. She’s reluctant to mention this to the Drs since it’s very difficult to show, and as she showed me, can’t tell when the sensation is real or neuropathic.)
She’s tried numerous medications including narcotic pain control. The narcotics were particularly nasty and caused vomiting and nausea. One pain med seemed to be working, and then she had a severe reaction to it that led to a 2-week stay in hospital. She is currently using 3 different meds for pain control, plus a couple more for the MS disease control and very good (expensive) nausea control. One of the pain meds causes her to be almost narcoleptic, even though she isn’t tired. We’re still trying to find a balance between pain control and quality of life.
The most effective pain relief appears to be from naturally stimulated release of serotonin. 
Unfortunately the effect is short lived and the time and privacy needed for the, erm, natural stimulation ( 
) restricts its use.
The almost constant pain she is in can cause her to be short with others and patience wears thin at times. It doesn’t help when we’ve got
a) 4 year old twins who are trying to assert their independence
b) 32 year old sister and 4 year old nephew that we are housing (free room and board) with little thanks/appreciation/consideration/make and follow their own rules
c) me wanting to start rebuilding a car in the garage
d) long term disability insurance company that wants her to go back to work
e) being notified that her position at work has been eliminated (but the LTD remains in effect)
f) (I suspect) the beginnings of depression
I end up drawing some of that energy from her and end up being short with the kids some of the time and I have to make a conscious effort to treat them like 4 year olds rather than 13 year olds who are rebelling. When her sister and nephew are not around the family dynamic is much better and we are looking forward to them moving out.
I also have diabetic peripheral neuropathy in my right leg. It began with a small area on my calf becoming numb, and now encompasses my foot and lower leg. Most of the time it is just numb, but I also have times of “pins and needles” which can be quite bothersome, to the point that I cannot bear to have my foot touched, even the sheet on the bed has to be yanked back off my foot. Neurontin helps a lot, but I can’t afford it. My balance and ability to walk without falling has definitely been affected.
I have a peripheral neuropathy in my left leg. It feels like 120 volts shooting between the back of my knee and my ankle. One never knows when it’s going to hit, either, or for how long, or how to make it stop. Sleep is impossible. Fortunately, neurontin has controlled it completely for the last 5 or 6 years.
I also have some problems with numbness in my arms on occasion. The worst was when I tried a TempurPedic a few months back, and just about everything (arms and legs) went numb. Weird as hell, especially since I found the thing quite comfortable. I sent it back and got a regular mattress, and that problem stopped immediately.
My mum has diabetic neuropathy in her legs, which causes her a lot of twitchy pain.
She packs her legs in ice-bags to sleep.
I occasionally have diabetic neuropathy in my feet. It always occurs when my blood glucose gets very high, after I’ve eaten too much of something I shouldn’t have.
It happens without warning, and feels like someone is shoving a very sharp knife into my foot. It’s an excrutiating pain that usually comes and goes for a few hours.
On rary occasions, I’ve also had it in my legs or hands.
I have peripheral neuropathy in my arms - primarily left. I get numbness in my hands as well as tingling in my fingertips. My left arm has limited muscle strenght inducing me to drop things occasionally.
My particular problem is cause by a nerve conductivity problem potentially related to hypothyroidism and a B6 (or B12?)deficiency.
So, I wear an elbow brace to sleep or do activities, take B6 (or B12 - I take both and don’t remember which is for what) and don’t carry heavy objects in my left hand or set my left elbow down on firm surfaces (sends shooting pain right up my arm to my hand).
Of all the possible things to have wrong with you, in my case this one is fairly minor and easy to treat. Obviously those with diabetes related issues have much larger problems with this particular ailment.