High Blood Sugar Levels and Diabetic Neuropathy
Diabetic neuropathy, a common problem for diabetics
I have read that extended periods of higher than normal blood sugar levels can lead to diabetic neuropathies, nerve disorders caused by diabetes. According to the U.K.’s National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC), about 70 percent of diabetics have some type of neuropathy that can develop any time although more likely after a lengthy period of time living with the disease.
Common symptoms, if there are any, are tingling and numbness and loss of feeling at the body’s extremeties, the hands and feet, the arms and legs most frequently. Although neuropathies can occur in any of the body’s organ systems, including the heart and reproductive organs. Not a very encouraging situation for us diabetics.
A doctor’s advice
Recently, I was offered hope by a suggestion made by my new doctor that there might be a solution to what is probably a circulation problem in my feet.
For many years now I’ve had a problem that I believe is experienced by many of my fellow diabetics, the problem being that the sensation I feel in the soles of my feet is very strange. I can only describe it as a feeling as if I have something stuck to the soles of my feet, what I’m not sure.
Without ever testing it out, but in my imagination, I thought it might be something like the feeling would be if there was paper stuck to the soles of my feet. The type of paper that, in my youth, was referred to by my mother as “Grease-proof paper”, but not what we now refer to as wax paper. Anyway, it’s only a visualization in my mind.
But such specifics do not matter, the point is that I seem to have lost any real sensation in the soles of my feet except, perhaps in contradiction, they feel very cold when I am laying down in bed and it is very difficult to get them warmed up for comfort. Fortunately I seem to fall asleep fairly easily, but otherwise my cold feet preoccupy my thoughts until I do.
The doctor’s suggestion, vitamin B-12
After receiving the report from my new doctor on my A1C blood sugar levels, (they weren’t bad) I explained about my cold feet. Her response sounded so simple, but the advice I was given was to purchase an over-the-counter vitamin supplement called B-12, also known as cobalamin, one of the B family of vitamins. I was instructed to take 1000 mcg of B-12 daily.
I later discovered there are several forms of cobalamin with the main two types available in the health food store being cyanocobalamin and methylcobalamin. After a little research I learned that the methylcobalamin is the neurologically active form of B12, making it the best form because of its superior biological activity. Methylcobalamin is apparently better absorbed and stays in the body’s tissues in greater concentration for a longer period of time, compared with the other forms of B-12.
It is inexpensive compared to any pharmaceutical medication, costing a little over $8 for a bottle of 90 small 1000 mcg tablets that are taken sublingually, meaning that they are placed under the tongue where they dissolve.
Please note that this is not a recommendation or advice
As a precaution, I should emphasize that I’m relating the advice of my doctor to me in connection with my own problem only. I cannot and I am not making any recommendations or offering any advice here, it is necessary for anyone who has such problems to consult their doctor to receive appropriate qualified professional information. But I have drawn attention to it here in case you may wish to ask your doctor about it.
I will mention that there were no cautionary notes on the B-12 packaging. Regarding the recommended use, the label states that it helps to form red blood cells, prevent vitamin B-12 deficiency, and maintain good health.
I hope it will help me get relief from my cold foot problems. That would make me happy for sure. I’m encouraged and will try to remember to report back on what happens if anything. Meanwhile I will continue to battle my main problem, high blood sugar levels. It never ends, does it?
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