I'm scared I have diabetic neuropathy. I usually wake up with one or both hands numb, right hand its the first 3 fingers and left hand its the last 2 (pinky + ring). Today I woke up from a nap with the arm numb one the side I was sleeping on. Anyone have similar?
I'm asking because I'm scared to ge
I'm scared to get tested
What are you afraid of? If there is a problem, then getting tested is the first step to treatment. If there isn't a problem, the test will give you peace of mind. It sounds to me like you're already worried about it, and a test might help with that?
brilliant response. we’re all too often scared to get checked, when really, the earlier a diagnosis is caught, the better for my diabetic brethren.
i agree! i am getting tested soon. i should have clarified that i'm scared to get tested becaue i have anxiety about the vast number of things that could potentially come up
not a doctor but sounds like (at least with your hands) carpal tunnel with the right and ulnar nerve compression with the left.
I've been there, had that. and had the surgeries to correct them. lower limbs can experience similar effects because it sounds like you are pinching off the nerve to your feet. and when someone experiences carpal tunnel, they are also at a higher risk of having tarsal tunnel which affects the sensation in the feet.
Only way to know for sure is to see ortho and then get a nerve conduction study with neuro and ultrasound with ortho to see how bad it is.
i'm confused becacuse it onset in both hands at basically the same time.
do you sleep with your arms and hands curled up and in near your face?
because that was what was the thing that caused the early symptoms until it was just all the time (at which point I was scheduled for surgery).
You can try this.
Put the backs of your hands together, fingers pointing down
Bring your hands (still touching) up to your chin or as close as you can get.
Wait a few minutes and see if your fingers start going numb. Stop if your fingers start to tingle or go numb.
If they do, it is likely that you may have carpal tunnel on which ever side goes numb.
So first off NAD. NAD. NAD. You should go see a doctor.
But I think you and I might be semi kindred spirits, because this happens to me often. And it was happening to me WAY before my diagnosis, because I sleep on my arms and hands. It's so bad to the point where I'm going to have to start sleeping in braces to prevent longterm loss of bloodflow. (Cannot stress enough that this is basically every night and it's a severe thing for me, this is not the norm for most people).
Which is not a brag or anything btw, I'm just excited I get to talk about this! Every time I mention it with other people they look at me like I'm nuts.
So what you may have done (and what I did once!) if you have LASTING numbness in that pinky and ring finger is goof up your ulnar nerve. By lasting, I mean numbness pe
Tingling in your pinky and ring finger is more likely a pinched nerve. Probably from how your sleeping. 3 fingers on other hand is also a nerve impingement pattern.
I went through something similar and it really scared me at first. I used to wake up with numb fingers and a buzzing feeling in my feet, and I convinced myself it was diabetic neuropathy. Later I learned my symptoms were linked to posture and nerve compression while sleeping. From my experience, fear made it worse than the symptoms themselves.
I actually have anterior pelvic tilt and pretty bad neck posture. I was thinking it could be because of this too. Did physiotherapy help for you?
You should definitely talk to a doctor. But you should also know that sleeping on an arm and crossing legs can cut off blood flow and that leads to the same tingling.
While you still need to talk a doctor, there is no harm in making sure you get enough physical activity and focusing on incorporating a stretching routine to ensure your body stays flexible and maintains good Cardiovascular health.
The thing is i never changed my sleep position, and I got an onset of differnet numbness in both hands that occurs pretty regularly now.
My advice remains the same. Go talk to a doctor, and make sure you're physically active and incorporate a stretching routine.
I have exactly this sometimes and have spoke to my neurologist about it. He said it was most likely positional from when sleeping.
One way you can tell the difference is the numbness goes away after you are awake and moving around. With neuropathy, you have the numbness all the time any time of day.
So definitely get checked, but I will say I asked my Dr because the outside 3 fingers on both hands would be numb when I wake up. Apparently it's a fairly common effect of laying and a nerve getting pressed or pinched. I was more worried about carpal tunnel when I asked but she said if it's the outside 3 it's just that nerve and to not stress about it.
Get yourself checked though because my situation is probably different than yours.
Also fixing problems sooner is better than letting them get worse with medical(everything) and stress is terrible for you.
It could also be carpal tunnel syndrome.
There's no cure for diabetic neuropathy. If you have it it can only get worse if you don't take care of it. See a doctor.
This is blatantly untrue. Neuropathy can be reversed in the best case scenario or the symptoms can be reduced with various treatments, including staying in tighter glucose ranges and certain vitamin supplements and medications.
No cure. Look it up. It cannot be reversed.
Instead of telling me to look it up, provide your own sources as you made the initial claim.
Second, there are a lot of folks in the r/Diabetes Discord server who had the initial onset of neuropathy and some of them are completely symptom free by now, while others have noticeably improved their neuropathy by actively treating it and getting tighter diabetes control. If you treat it early enough, your nerves can heal to a point where you have no more symptoms.
Diabetic neuropathy - Diagnosis & treatment - Mayo Clinic
Diabetic neuropathy has no known cure. The goals of treatment are to:
This is in line with what I stated. In best case scenarios people can be symptom free, effectively reversing it. In most other cases the symptoms can be relieved.
I was challenging the statement that if you have it, it can only get worse or halted at the stage it's at. That is patently untrue. I never argued that there's no cure. Early detection can rev
Often treatment for neuropathy is for the symptoms not the nerve damage itself.
Read the rest of my comment.
Okay, line by line:
Sometimes neuropathy can get better over time if the cause is treated, but in some people the damage may be permanent or get worse over time.
Does get better mean it's cured? No. Does it mean it's gone? No.
Often treatment for neuropathy is for the symptoms not the nerve damage itself.
You're not curing it, you're treating the symptoms.
Once the nerves have been badly damaged, they usually can’t repair themselves, but scientists continue to research how this damage happens and whether new treatments can help repair it.
Still doing research on how to help repair it, not cure it. i.e. help with the symptoms but not cure it. Even the phrase that it's helping doesn't even lend itself to getting rid of the symptoms.
For example, our research has shown that [chilli