Diabetes Mellitus & Musculoskeletal Pain

[JuanitaPeralta]

Source: Excerpts: "Diabetes mellitus promotes atherosclerosis which impairs the circulation to many tissues of the body. When the muscles of the limbs are affected, the decreased blood flow can lead to cramping and to painful walking ... Diabetes mellitus can also damage the nerves that supply the hands and feet ... Persons with longstanding diabetes mellitus can develop pain, and muscle twitching..."Dr. John Hayes Jr. thinks, "Anxiety superimposed over metabolic syndrome can also be the most likely cause of twitching in some people."

 

[Gracer]

well, you can not miss diabetes non-diagnosed for a long time we do not have many diabetics here ))

 

[JuanitaPeralta]

Posted so people know there are several causes for twitching, not just, well...you know.

 

[Gracer]

In our case the issue is the the direct cause is unknown Most people here report very low vitamin B and sometimes vitamin D levels, this may be a reason for nerve hyperexcitability but why it is so low...at least diabetic people should know in advance about their possible neurological issues so they do not fall into BFS community.

 

[Gracer]

and if you tend to explain that our symptoms could be caused by other reasons, I may advice to tell about ulnar compression syndrome - unlike diabetes, many people here have it and some even have atrophy due to it.comression syndrome is still a major source of ALS hand onset suspected diagnosis and cost a lot of nervous breakdowns to the patients.

 

[JuanitaPeralta]

So if you have ulnar compression, you probably have ALS? I have unexplained muscle tenderness, pain etc in different parts of body. It freaks me out.

 

[Gracer]

Nope If you have ulnar compression, you have a) grip weakness b) in severe or prolonged cases - atrophy, c) joint tenderness, tightness in the hands (especially in the morning), sweating fingers, and PAINS PAINS PAINS (unlike ALS) Also fingers get contractures, like claws (one can not extend fingers fully), and the most severe cases include weak paralysis like in ALS.It could be clearly distinguished on the basis of EMG and Xray (EMG shows no signs of upper motor neurons damage and Xray shows usually inflammation and compression), NCV also helps. But I had read an article about ulnar compression in wihc the author had claimed that due to clinical weakness and paresis some GPs can send their patients to neuro suspecting it is ALS hand onset ))Ulnar compression is reversible. My sister in law had quite a severe case and after 2 years she got her hands back 100 %. She cad pain so strong she was crying and she culd not grip things and could not extend her fingers... She is Ok now Ulnar and carpal compression is extremely common in the last 10 years becasue of total digitalisation of our work and life. It is not anymore a disorder of carpernters, milkers and typists, neither a sportsman disease. Everybody have it due to typing.People prone to BFS (as far as I can judge on the basis of this site reports) are often also prone to hypermobility (I estimate at least 40 % of fellows here have this type of sceletal disfunction, me including), which increases chances to get nerve entrapment.

 

[Gracer]

I mean that many of us have ulnar compression causing temporary grip troubles, pains, weird feelings in hands and fingers etc. - and our fellows consiostently take that for ALS, which is not true of course.So Ulnar compression is a main source of FALSE ALS self-diagnosis and sometimes even false diagnosis made by GPs (ALS centers dismiss a lot of such "suspected ALS" diagnoses every year)