hands and feet going numb?

[liz32]

I have a question that I hope someone can answer. Lately I've noticed that my hands are falling asleep quickly when I'm sleeping..enough so that I ususally wake up a couple of times a night. As soon as I elevate the offending hand, it goes away quickly..probably under a minute. The odd thing is that it's not always the hand that I'm laying on. Sometimes it's the one on top. My understanding is that this happens to diabetics who aren't in control of their sugars. My last a1c was 6.7. This has just become a problem within the last month and I'm not sure why it is happening. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, what did you do about it. This has me confused and curious. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks :cool:

[Stanimal]

I am a type 1 diabetic. My latest A1c was 6.4 and I frequently have this problem. It only affects my hands and lower arms. When I asked my Endo he said it was a common complaint in most of his patients. He could not tell me why it was happening, but said diabetics are prone to these types of problems.

[Peter Lee]

When I was sent to my diabetes consultant by my GP (who very honestly said that my particular set of conditions were outside his experience) I received a 'lecture' which set out all the things that would happen if I neglected the diabetes and also all the things that could happen in any case.

Two of the things he said that could happen were (1) the well known eye conditions and (2) deterioriation in my feet (he didn't mention hands). The reasons that the feet deteriorate is that nerve damage can take place and one loses sensation and/or the cardio vascular system suffers a decline and the blood supply to the feet becomes inadequate.

The pro forma that he fills in when I visit him has a standard question that he asks me every time. That is "do you have your eyes and feet examined at least once a year by specialist people?"

I would suggest that it would be prudent to discuss your symptoms with your medical team. I personally wouldn't ignore it and hope it goes away.

Good luck, I hope that the answer is one of all the causes other than diabetes for the symptoms you are experiencing.

[ADE]

Hi Liz,
Bringing down your glucose level would be one of the best thing to treat diabetic neuropathy. I remember reading a book by Dr. Richard K. Bernstein and in it he talked about using a supplement 'Evening prime rose oil' to help with that symptom. I also heard about people using supplement of Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) to help them with neuropathy. Please do a lot of research before using any supplements and inform your doctor. My suggestion would be to strickly watching your carb input and do more exercise to bring down the glucose. Please eat with you meter and test, test, and test.