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Adagio's avatar

My mother is experiencing tingly, burning feet in bed at night, it is keeping her awake, any first-hand suggestions?

Asked by Adagio (14059points) August 22nd, 2017

As I have said, my elderly mother is experiencing burning feet at night, burning and tingly. It is enormously frustrating for her, she is not a great sleeper anyway and this only exacerbates the problem. If anyone has experienced this and can offer any insights or treatment suggestions she would be more than grateful. Perhaps I should add that she does use an ice pack on her feet, but as you can imagine that is not exactly a pleasant experience.

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19 Answers

Kardamom's avatar

Hmmm sounds like neuropathy. Does she have diabetes? You can also get neuropathy from other things, such as nerve damage. My dad has neuropathy in his foot, on the side where they took veins from his leg for a heart bypass when he got a valve replacement. At this time, there doesn’t seem to be much to treat it. The only thing that helps him is to keep his mind busy, during the daytime, so he putters in the garage and makes or fixes things. At night, he often has to get up and walk around to relieve it somewhat.

Adagio's avatar

Thanks Kardamom. No, my mum does not have diabetes and I don’t think she has any nerve damage. I’m glad your Dad has found a way to work around it, at least through the day.

Pandora's avatar

Apparently alcohol can also cause hot feet. Is she going through menopause or recently started any new medications or herbs or vitamins?
For me, I know some cold medications can make me feel hot. And hot flashes can be random. Sometimes you feel it everywhere and then other times you feel it in different body parts, like hands and feet or your head.
If it is hot flashes. Have her stay away from sweets and only take vitamins at the beginning of the day. I find that vitamins that make you pee a lot also make you sweat a lot.
When I was younger and use to go running in the summer, my feet would be hot as heck for a long time. I would sit in a tub of cool water up til my waist at night before I went to bed. I never felt the heat on my feet until it was bed time.

LornaLove's avatar

I get at times a buzzing tingly feeling in one part of my feet it’s horrible. I’ve put it down to plantar fasciitis or fallen arches. Has she got sore feet in general? Like for e.g. if she gets out of bed in the morning are her feet stiff?

filmfann's avatar

Sounds exactly like neuropathy. Get her blood sugar checked, even if you think she isn’t diabetic.

jca's avatar

Does she have numbness? Is it only when she’s sleeping?

I had Guillain Barre Syndrome, which is an autoimmune disease. I was in the hospital for a month with it. I couldn’t walk but with medication and intensive physical therapy, I got better. You can google it. I’m lucky it was diagnosed (after the second ER visit in a second hospital). If not diagnosed, it can shut down the lungs and the patient is dead within minutes, if they don’t get help (obviously, because your brain can only go a few minutes without oxygen).

kritiper's avatar

Try wrapping her calves with warm towels.

ARE_you_kidding_me's avatar

She probably needs to have a glucose tolerance test done.

janbb's avatar

Good to see you @Adagio even though it’s an unpleasant reason.

I wonder if compression socks could help? My Dad had congestive heart failure and diabetes and wore compression socks at times. Just a thought.

Adagio's avatar

Thanks to everyone for replying and for your suggestions. Just to reiterate, my mother is not diabetic, her blood sugar is quite normal, confirmed by blood tests. She has been experiencing burning feet for around four years, it does not happen during the day, only once she goes to bed.

Thanks janbb, that’s nice.

snowberry's avatar

Does lowering or raising her feet help at all?

MollyMcGuire's avatar

Yeah, go to the doctor.

JLeslie's avatar

I think see a doctor.

Definitely have her vitamin B12 checked and sugar. While there you might ask for vitamin D test also if they don’t typically run it for her. I don’t think the tingle is caused by D deficiency, but it’s just overlooked a lot and can cause other problems. The B12 absolutely can cause nervous system disorders, including tingling, and is very important to test! B12 deficiency damage can be permanent, but is something easily treated with supplements or injections. All older people should have their B12 tested symptoms or not. The normal ranges for B12 are under some debate, and the range in some countries is higher than America. If she is anywhere near the bottom of the normal range still treat her with some B12. You can try drops below her tongue if it’s low side of normal, if she prefers not to have an injection, and then check to see if the drops are bringing up her number.

They’ll maybe do an MRI of her brain, and cat scan of her lower back, or muscle and nerve tests if she sees a neurologist.

Does she have lower back pain? Has she taken any new medicines or vaccines?

My grandmother had bad neuropathy in her legs the last ten years of her life. It was very uncomfortable. Since your description is it comes and goes, hopefully it is treatable and will go away.

janbb's avatar

Perhaps her circulation is poor to her feet?

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

Might be prickly heat or Miliaria.

si3tech's avatar

@Adagio I had that too to a degree that was distracting. I found relief wearing down booties. Regardless of the cause your mom may get relief from down booties. (my daughter made them for me) The covering was “rip-stop” I think.

Kardamom's avatar

@Adagio I did a little bit of research. Here is more info on Burning Feet Sensations. Hopefully you will be able to take your mom to her doctor and figure out what might be causing the problem. It sounds like the treatment is mostly for the symptoms, to try to relieve some of the pain. Please let us know how she is doing.

Sunshinegirl11's avatar

It may be restless leg syndrome. I would have her see the doctor

tranquilsea's avatar

My daughter has had this since she was little. She was eventually diagnosed with restless feet syndrome.

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