For someone with diabetic neuropathy who typed most of the day, starting to not be able to feel the keys.
Can touch type but unfortunately cannot feel the nodules :((
Has anyone got any suggestions as to what I could make or use to be able to type properly? I don't mean a healthy diet or blood su
Healthy diet and blood sugar control is the answer even if you don’t wanna hear it
No we know that, it's not about controlling the diabetes. It's what can we do so I can feel the keyboard. Obviously the neuropathy has already happened...
Recovering from neuropathy is about controlling your diabetes. Your body really doesn't like to repair damage to nerves, but it will (eventually, start to) patch around things if you don't keep breaking shit.
You can only recover from diabetic neuropathy in the very early stages anyway. I'm asking for a person that has had it a long time.
It’s always about controlling the diabetes
Yeah I understand that thank you, I think most people have misinterpreted what I've said haha I'm honestly just looking for ideas on how to feel the keys on a keyboard better.
Getting my glucose under control was THE biggest factor in controlling my neuropathy. What’s your last A1C?
Im left handed. When my left hand was injured and I was unable to type (I had to type all day as part of my job) I did two things:
I got a disabled persons mouse from Amazon. My job paid for it. It requires much less movements and clicks.
Started using speech to text. Easy software to use and so helpful.
Also want to add that I used to have severe neuropathy but its gotten better since Ive gotten better control of my blood sugar.
Mechanical switch keyboards have a lot more heft to them giving you more to feel.
I have neuropathy in my hands and this is what I did. I simply can not type on laptops any more. I got a Keychron so I can swap out the keys to fit my needs. I’m still a sloppy typer but at least it’s more obvious when I miss.
Any chance you have also developed carpal or cubital tunnel as well? Maybe there is another issue exacerbating the situation? Before I was diabetic I lost all feeling in half of my left hand from playing piano, typing and the doc said, mostly, drumming. Had an ulnar nerve reposition and feeling was completely back within a year.
If that isn't it and you are writing actual words, I would investigate speech to text. If you are programming you are probably going to have to lean on your years of touch typing experience to get through it.
This was it for me - also had carpal tunnel
I had the symptoms of carpal tunnel for years and they weren't going away. To the point that my care team was seriously considering surgery. It actually ended up being an injured subscapularis muscle! It's an awkwardly placed muscle in the armpit, that can cause symptoms almost identical to carpal tunnel. I did some research and figured out how to open the knots myself (but if you can get a PT to do it, it's way easier) and the pain totally went away. It does come back, but if I treat the subscapularis it goes away again.
You can make-shift accessible nodules. Tape, duct tape, squishy stickers, glue, wires, bits of plastic. Attach something you can feel properly to the keyboard. I would recommend callus cushions/stickers, they are big but small enough to fit well on individual keys and won’t interfere with typing. The donut shaped ones will give the key a lot of varying texture.
Speech to text is also very good these days, but may be annoying depending on your office environment.
Sorry people keep mentioning blood sugar. I know you know it’s important, but it certainly won’t help you at work tomorrow.
Thank you, this is exactly what I needed thank you x
Do you mean the little things on the F and J key? You could just stick something bigger on them, like a puffy sticker or something.
Speech to text has reached amazing levels.
Obviously it’s not as tactile (implying less satisfying), but certainly can keep up with your speech pacing.
Disclaimer: Most of my nerve issues actually come from a car accident, not diabetes itself, so YMMV. I've been told that it's similar, and it turns out I did have some diabetes-related neuropathy in my feet i hadn't noticed, because when the car crash nerves were treated I suddenly had more feeling in my feet. Hopefully it's a good starting point for you!
How do you sit? Is your work area ergonomic? I get nerve issues that can make my hands numb when my posture isn't right, because when my muscles end up knotting from the strain I'm putting them in, they can press on the nerves. I get pain and numbness when I'm sitting with my shoulders rounded forward, I have to regularly check in with myself and make sure I haven't hunched forward. Less often, it comes from typing with no am support, I
Been dealing with neuropathy for years. The unfortunate answer is that any / all treatments begin with effective sugar control. My primary issue is the feet and eyes, not fingers. When my sugar is out of whack it's harder to walk and harder to see.
Once you've got some mastery of your glucose levels you can do physical therapy. My previous Endo advised alphalipoic (I'm sure I'm misspelling that) acid, but it had no effect on me. There are a few creams out there that supposedly help that are based on capsicum found in peppers. They didn't help me. CBD has actually been the most effective medicine for me.