I have been trying to find medical research regarding diabetes and pain tolerance. I attended an EMT class where they stated diabetics have a higher pain tolerance than those without the disease. I have been trying to find research online that SUPPORTS this theory but cannot find anything. Could you please point me in the right direction for information that confirms that diabetics DO have higher pain tolerance? I have been diabetic for over 20 years and have had these thoughts, too, but would like medical research to back this up and for me to learn more about these ideas.

Sorry, but this is nonsense.

People with diabetes who have nerve damage, of course, sometimes lose the ability to sense pain, touch, hot/cold, etc. This is a form of nerve damage called neuropathy. I guess this could be misinterpreted as having no ability to sense pain or a high threshold. It is actually a type of nerve damage where the sensory input is lost because of high sugar damage either directly to the nerve sheath or because of nerve-circulatory damage.

If you go to PUBMED, you can type in diabetic neuropathy or diabetic peripheral neuropathy/neuritis and get thousands of reviews and research articles over the years.

SB