Diabetic Neuropathy

I am sitting here listening to a soft, melodic tone.  I am exhausted.  Last night was one of the worst nights I have had in a VERY long time.

For me, the worst part of all of my health problems is the neuropathy.  When your muscles and joints ache, Tylenol or ibuprophen will usually do the trick.  When you are dealing with neuropathy, it is a whole new ball game.

I've had people ask me "what, exactly, is diabetic neuropathy and what does it feel like?"  Well, to answer the second part of that first.... it feels like a million fire ants crawling and stinging all over my legs, feet, and hands.  That is where I feel it most.  It is a burning, searing pain.  At times, it feels like electrical impulses shooting throughout my body.  As for what it is.... it took me a while to understand that. 

One of the major complications of having diabetes is neuropathy.  Doctors seem to think that it comes from having abnormally high blood sugars for an extended period of time.  As a result of the high blood sugar levels, the nerves in the body are damaged.  The damaged nerves can be painful.  In some people, the pain is very minimal.  In some cases it can be severe.  In my case, most days it is very severe.  On a pain scale of 1 to 10, like they ask you in hospitals and doctor's offices, mine was a 25 last night.  And this is coming from a woman, who at 19, had a baby the all natural way.  Of course, my neuropathy is compounded with my fibromyalgia - which is deep muscle and joint pain.  So, I am pretty much screwed.

My pain is usually worse at night.  When I lay down and try to relax and go to sleep, it becomes pretty intense.  In the past month, it seems to have gotten even worse.  In that time, I have probably had two decent nights sleep.  That is not a good thing.

I do not like to bitch and moan about my health problems.  I like to try to live with it and have a life.  However, every now and then, I just have to talk about it.  It is the only thing that keeps me sane at times.