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Living with Neuropathy - Welcome to the group
Neuropathy | Last Active: 1 day ago | Replies (6021)Comment receiving replies
Hi @fiesty76 keep up the good work with your diet. My mother grew up on the Mediterranean diet. It was choosing low carb foods that made the difference for her. She drinks mainly water. Occasionally she likes to drink herbal teas that she grows herself as a hobby. She drank no caffeine so no coffee or black tea. I believe water is best too. I do not have caffeine either. There is a coffee substitute made from roasted chicory and barley which we both enjoy. My grandmother drank it also. No caffeinated drinks for her either. I believe iced black tea may affect the kidneys. I do not know how much you drink but you may want to research the matter. Having a healthy diet along with exercises can make all the difference. Luckily you have the interest in foods to make your search easier. Wish you well.
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@avmcbellar @fiesty76
Because of the hours I put in working outside all spring and summer, I find it much easier to drink enough water. I always have a water bottle in one of the pockets in my tool belt, and usually a second one sitting somewhere in the shade.
Until a few years ago, weight was never a worry for me. But by 2017, I'd gradually added enough pounds that I had worked my way up from a 33" waist to a tight 36". When I was weighed at the doctor's office, I was 208 lbs. So, I stopped picking up cookies and candy all day and started taking smaller portions. I refused to buy 38" pants! After six months, I was back down to 155 lbs, which is the weight I'm most comfortable with, and a size 32. That's what I weighed in college. I was really happy to have gotten my gmi back, and now I'm trying to maintain it. I donated all of the clothes that were too big - doing that reinforced my commitment to maintain a healthy weight - and still had plenty of clothes that I'd not given away.
I'm not Mormon, but I drink as little caffeine as I can. I like my morning cup of coffee, and my wife makes decaffeinated iced tea in the summer. The speech therapist told me that I should avoid carbonated beverages and never to drink from a straw. These and other things make my swallowing issues less problematic. The neurologist and other doctors have said that the esophageal dysmotility, diplopia, balance challenges, decreased muscle tone and a few other things "could be" attributed to autonomic neuropathy. None of them will say that there's a definitive connection.
@sprightly I experience varying levels of pain throughout the day. It hurts to walk very much, hurts more standing still and really hurts when I'm lying down or sitting in my recliner with my feet up.
Using a pillow under my feet in my recliner doesn't help. In bed, I have 2 pillows under my head, one under my feet and one between my knees. I sleep on my side, and if my knees touch it makes my feet hurt, hence the pillow. Sometimes I can sleep with a pillow under my feet, but often that's painful, so I hang my feet off the pillow. If my feet touch each other, I have pain at the point of contact, and contact with the sheets and blankets is painful, as well, so I have a blanket lifter for my feet. Many people have pain relief when their feet are on a pillow. If I'm standing, waiting for the water to get hot in my shower, I have a memory foam cushion, and standing in the shower, I wear flip flops.
We certainly do look for and experiment with a lot of things in this neuropathy journey. We try to pay attention to what helps and to what makes it worse. If you read some of the posts in the discussion that @johnbishop referenced, you'll probably find a bunch of ways people find relief.
Best wishes.
Jim