By the time I was dxd, I already had neuropathy... that itchy, burning feeling in my legs and feet. I'm sure it didn't help that my A1c was 12.2 at dx. Though I worked to get it down as fast as possible, the damage was done. I take gabapenrin to control it and was on a fairly low dose until the the nerve in my thigh woke up. I had to increase the dose to cover that pain too. That pain is not diabetes related, but her e damage nonetheless.

Yes

Neuropathy develops in one in two (50%) of diabetics because your blood sugar doesn't have to be "too high" for it to develop (over years of abuse)

Most believe there is some "magic" to an A1C of 7 (or less) which is the standard

That is (designed) to "delay" complications by 10 years, not prevent them

Neuropathy starts to develop anytime your BG readings are higher than 7.8 mmols or 140 points - the body can handle that for 3 or 4 hours a day "total" but not much more

At an A1C of 7.0% your "average blood sugar" is 8.6 mmols/154 so "well over" 50% of the time you are "doing damage"

An A1C of 6.5% is an average blood sugar level of 7.8 mmols/140 - so fully 50% of the time your blood sugar is high enough to do the damage

An A1C of 6.0% "or less" resulting from average blood sugar levels of 7.0 mmols/126 gives you the best chance of never developing neuropathy or any of the other complications for that matter

@A DiabetesTeam Member The tips of my toes would occasionally itch, burn and redden before I changed my lifestyle. I remember the bed sheets would hurt them further. My A1C was no higher than 6.4 -6.5 at the time (top of the pre-diabetic scale). Since I changed my lifestyle, my last A1C was 5.8 and I haven't had the burning sensations anymore. I now believe I was getting the neuropathy as a PRE-diabetic, but at the time had no clue why it was happening.

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