Foot pain

[Boxroad]

Can anyone give some advice on treatment for pain in feet, I get a pain that is never in the same place it moves from my toes to my heal to my arch, it can be like a cramp or just a dull ache, sometimes my toes feel hot other times feel cold but they feel normal when touched. At my last foot examination the pulse was very good and all feelings ok, it’s mostly at night when I get the problem.

[Activity2004 Administrator]

What did your doctor say about the foot issue? Did you get any medication/cream?

[Boxroad in reply to Activity2004]

No just an information sheet, and was told it’s all part of diabetes

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Boxroad]

Please take a look at the free leaflets on the DRWF website dealing with Diabetes and Feet. Please show it to your doctor at your next appointment. drwf.org.uk/understanding-d...

[Boxroad in reply to Activity2004]

Thank you

[Gambit62]

do you take metformin? This can interfere with the absorption of B12 from your diet and one of the symptoms of B12 deficiency is the sort of sensations in your feet that you describe - though generally it starts off with pins and needles in the hands rather than in the feet.B12 deficiency in patients on metformin is often not spotted because of the overlap with diabetic neuropathy and also because many medical professionals know next to nothing about B12 deficiency. It is a serious condition and tends to be more prevalent as you get older because of lowering stomach acidity - frequently assumed to be high stomach acidity because the symptoms are just about identical - and treated with PPIs which actually lower the stomach acidity interfering even more with the absorption of B12.

B12 deficiency is quite difficult to diagnose - partly because the body stores good quantities of B12 in the liver and maintains levels and it can take a very long time for these levels to drop below the normal range as a result. It would be better to have serum B12 repeated a few months apart and look for significant drops (also difficult because the measurement is only accurate to 20%).

[Boxroad in reply to Gambit62]

Now that is very interesting About a year ago my myself and my dog were taken very unwell around the same time, both off our food, both having terrible diarrhoea. my sugars were dropping at an alarming rate to the point where I had to stop taking all mu insulin and the three metformin I was taking each day, even after stopping all the diabetes meds my sugars still kept going low.

Getting back to the dog, we took him to the vets, we thought we were going to lose him as he is an old boy, the young vet asked if she could do just one more blood test before we said our fare wells to our lovely old boy.

The blood tests came back as very low B12, the young vet said it can be common for older dogs, so that got me thinking that maybe we had both picked up something that was causing our B12 to go low, this was all happening at the start of the covid outbreak, I spoke to my GP about it who had me take a B12 test but that came back normal, but I started taking B12 every morning and thinking about it I have not had the tingling in my fingers during the day for a rather long time. I also suffer from IBS high blood pressure and angina I take a multitude of pills a day, including three metformin one morning one lunchtime one one with evening meal, the way us humans work we get up eat three meals a day in a fourteen - sixteen hour space then sleep the rest, I need between eight - nine hours sleep a night so that could be why my feet don’t hurt as much in the morning as I have had a break from the metformin? I might try not taking the metformin with evening meal for a couple of days and if sugars raise up my insulin a little to compensate and see if that makes any difference.

[Gambit62 in reply to Boxroad]

I doubt it is the timing of taking the metformin but ...

[Boxroad in reply to Gambit62]

I have spoken to my gp about my b12 levels and she pretty much shut me down but has agreed to do a blood test, will have to wait and see what comes from that I guess

[fastbird]

My foot pain started when I was in my 40's. There wasn't a particular accident that caused it. I really don't know the reason for my foot pain. I think it was because I was slightly flat-footed. I've tried a lot of remedies to get rid of foot pain, but they've all been unsuccessful. Each doctor I visited told me they don't have a feasible solution to suggest. After doing a lot of research, I found that chiropody can help with foot pain. I went to a podiatrist( mytorontophysio.com/service... ). From the first week of treatment, it helped me in reducing pain. And now, I completely recovered from My foot pain. From my experience, I think chiropody is an effective treatment for foot pain. Hope you get well soon.