8 years ago I was diagnosed as diabetic and concurrent with that there surfaced a numbness in my feet. Since then my feet have never pained me but I am always aware of the numbness which increases and decreases from time to time throughout the day. My blood sugar is fairly well maintained at this time but I am concerned that sometime in the future my feet will get worse and I will have to undergo some sort of treatment which might cause me to be a cripple the rest of my life!

My boyfriend is diabetic. He has JUST been diagnosed with neuropathy after numerous tests. At first, all the doctors found was a heart murmur, but they couldn't conclude anything with it. He doesn't have any numbness as far as I know. He hasn't told me anything about it.

He has been suffering from insomnia, and symptoms similar to that of depression. He doesn't feel weak, but sore all the time, as if he has been exercising a lot. That kind of muscle soreness. There were a couple times where he would feel his heart weigh him down, and he'd get minor headaches and feel dizzy.

There are no symptoms with his hands or feet. (yet...? >_<) Does that mean that they caught him in the early states of neuropathy?

he's been diabetic for 15 years already. It's genetic, runs in his family.

I know that Neuropathy is a slow process, and that it may lead to amputations... but does it lead to death directly because of the shut down of the nervous system, or does it lead to death indirectly, through amputations and etc?

PLEASE please... I don't really want personal accounts (no offense).I really need to know the facts, and searching on Google, Answers, etc. gives me all these scientific words and all symptoms and all treatments that I don't understand and all kinds of neuropathy and all kinds of possible outcomes. I don't want to freak myself out because I'm already very worried about him.

If you want more information about his current status to be able to answer my question more specifically, let me know. But I really... need to know.

Please and thank you to all who answer.

I have Type II diabetes. It is well controlled and my fasting blood sugar is 90 - 95 mg/dl (~5 - 5.25 mmol/l). I am on a severely restricted low carb diet (less than 50g/day typically). I am 173 cm and 66 kg for a BMI of 22. My body fat percentage is ~17%. But I suffer from severe pain from diabetic neuropathy. I have pins and needles all over, but especially in my hands and feet. I have glove-stocking numbness in one of my calves. I'm not dying. It's what it is. It's not getting any worse, but it's not getting any better. I can't, realistically, do anything differently from a dietary or medicinal perspective. But I would like to alleviate the pain. What is the best course of treatment (and please don't say homeopathy or some such brand of voodoo - it's going to take a lot more than sugar pills and the placebo effect to fix this). Ideally I'd be on a time-release opioid like Oycontin but I can't get it where I live, and there are of course addiction/tolerance factors to consider. There's only so much my doctor can do. I do not want pain to dominate my life.

I'm 20 years old and am suffering from peripheral neuropathy. I finally went to an internal medicine doctor because my my numbness and sensitiviy were getting worse. He has ran many blood tests (auto immune, iron levels, vitamin levels, blood cell counts, blood sugar etc) to find what is causing it but nothing has turned up abnormal. Other than this I am completely healthy and would prefer to go to alternative medicine for treatment than waste more money and not finding answers.

I wanted some opinions/experiences people have had seeing an Ayurveda doctor. It would be especially helpful if someone with peripherial neuropathy has been to one too! Thankyou! Or if you have any suggestions on where I should go from there, they are welcomed too.
* I'm not really looking for religious answers about finding God.. this is about alternative medicine, not christianity.

I have peripheral neuropathy ( numbness) in my feet. I am not a diabetic. I have had this now for 1 1/2 years. The 2 neuroligist I've been to do not know the cause. I've taken Neurontin and it really has been no help. Does anyony know of any kind of treatment program which might include some therapy like electronic stimulation and maybe a more effective drug. I am desperate. This is ruining my life.