Helps stop it from getting worse?
Blood sugar control - Neuropathy is typically the first complication a diabetic will experience because you don't have to be "too high above normal blood sugar" to cause the damage that results in peripheral neuropathy
Makes it worse - continued high blood sugar
If it's mild - soaking your feet, staying off them and keeping them elevated (improves circulation and the problem is high blood sugar has damaged the circulation).
If you have to be on them Diabetic socks/knee high compression stockings can alleviate the discomfort and help force blood to the affected areas.
Painful?
Medicate with the two current most popular being Pregabalin (Lyrica) or Gabapentin (Neurontin) - both non-opioid medications used to treat nerve pain (actually both are anti-convulsant meds that block nerve pain as well - so take the pain away but "fix" nothing)
I am diabetic and I had neuropathy one doctor told me to put my legs in cold water everyday now I am 100%better
@A DiabetesTeam Member does the cold matter to what? Neuropathy??
If you are talking about being exposed to "cold" such as in the winter then yes, it naturally causes a bit of restriction to blood flow but that in itself neither makes neuropathy worse or better but may make it more "noticeable" since now a little less blood is even flowing towards the damaged vessels (that were already restricted by the damage).
And A1C is just part of the equation. It's "shortcomings" are one of the reasons that 1 in 2 diabetics will experience neuropathy even if they have an "excellent" A1C - because it only tells part of the story.
I will illustrate with myself and my A1C has been 5.4 for the past 4 1/2 years.
On paper that should mean I would never experience a diabetic complication. I am in clinical remission with a "normal, non-diabetic" number.
But A1C is just an "average blood sugar".
Fully 50% of my Fasting Numbers are in the Diabetic Range and about 5% of my Post Meal numbers are in the diabetic range. But "on-average" they equal out to a non-diabetic number and that is the limitation. My A1C does NOT reflect that "sometimes" my blood sugar is at a level that causes vascular damage. And each time I am above the threshold a little bit of damage is being done.
Neuropathy (more properly "peripheral neuropathy") and Capsulitis (aka Frozen Shoulder) can start to develop as a result of blood sugar levels higher than 140 or 7.8 mmols.
I'm higher than that about 5% of the time even with a clinically non-diabetic A1C. A true non-diabetic is NEVER above that level.
So for all my yapping, even with a "sub-6 A1C", if you already have some symptoms of neuropathy, if you want to arrest it, then you have to try and prevent your BG (either fasting or post meal) from "ever" going higher than 140/7.8 - because it doesn't care what our "average" is, it's the "highs", even for short duration, that are/could be making the problem worse.
My A1c is under 6. Does cold weather matter?