Hello, I have just been diagnosed with Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy. I am 53 but have been feeling signs of neuropathy in my feet for about 20 years. Very minor but knew because I have been type 1 diabetic since the age of 10 that was to be expected. When I was a kid we couldn't test our blood sugar so I lived a pretty normal kids life. I have always been very active and slim until Covid I would say. I turned 50 and as a teacher was sitting on my butt at a computer instead of standing all day with my students. What triggered the appointment to the doc was that I broke my 5th metatarsal and it never seemed to recover. Several follow up xrays of the foot, months past when it should have healed up. The xrays showed that the bone had healed. So why am I walking on the outside of my foot and can no longer hold my weight on my tippy toes? And could my prior broken tibia and fibula 15 years ago be contributing to why I can't walk normally? (I still have a plate and 6 screws in my foot. My endocrinologist did her typical touching of the toes with her little device and said everything was fine and I was frustrated. Went to physio, chiropractor, and finally back to my family doc who I saw his nurse practitioner and she really checked my feet and sent me to a neurologist. Finally, he did the tests and told me I had Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy and there was nothing I could do, not even exercising, just keeping my blood sugars under control. He told me if I needed I could come back and that there was something he could prescribe for pain. Luckily I don't have much pain. I realize after my research and reading your posts that I am so so lucky not to have the pain...yet. Now what? I am only 53...I cannot walk more that 2 kilometers as I feel like I am walking on the side of my foot, limping. doing the test he used a pin and poked my leg from the toes up to my knee. I definitely could tell then how far up my leg the loss of feeling had gone from him doing that - not full feeling until the knee really. Exactly what nerves and how much and where for that matter its hard to tell. I think I should go back to the neurologist to determine exactly what part of my feet and how bad it is to what point, but will that really matter? I don't think it will. Now what? Can I delay the progression? This neurologist told me it progresses at different rates for different people. I still have a 15 and 11 year old at home whom I would still like to go hiking with but I fear walking on uneven ground as I have sprained both my ankles several times (I no longer wear elevated heels for fear of rolling my ankle). Im not depressed or anything and anything you can share would be helpful. NOthing will scare me - but I am interested in how quickly anyone has noticed progression and whether exercise will help. I do have a bit of pain but nothing at this point that I am needed pain killers.
I'm very grateful to have found this website.