Anyone Else Diagnosed with Peripheral Neuropathy?

[guidoLaMoto]

A few points need clarification here--

Do not confuse alpha-linolenic acid (ALA- "omega-3 essential fatty acid)- very good for you and found in meat, no need for supplements-- with apha lipoic aicd-- probably useless.

Apple cider vinegar-- apple juice that's oxidized under the influence of mold & bacteria to produce vinegar. The acid is hard on the kidneys, particularly diabetic kidneys. Nothing good in it that isn't in the plain apple juice. As a diabetic, where does apple juice (high in sugar) fit into your diet plan?

Diabetic peripheral neuropthy-- the nerves receive their nutrients via the "insulation" Schwann Cells runnng their course. As diabetes clogs the arterioles & capilaries feeding the Schwann Cells, they can no longer maintain the nutrition & oxygenation of the nerve cells, and the nerve cells "scream out in pain" to let you know about it. ...At first, those nerves are hyper-sensitive, then, as the condition grows worse, they become under-sensitive (numbness)....Improvement in your pain & discomfort may actually represent a deterioration in the condition (Is it your OTC treatment making you better or are you really getting worse?)...At that point, you may injure yourself and not realize it, hence the warning to diabetics to check your feet visually every day.

While maintianing good BS control is obviously the best policy, it doesn't always work as well as we'd like to think.

Medications to treat neuropthy are basically drugs that dull out nerve conduction to slow the painful messages going to your brain. Nothng magic here.

One pitfall in dealing with neuropathy is to ignore the very real possibility that your pain, cold intolerance, etc is all due to the nerve problem, thus missing arterial problems so common in diabetics. It's not unusual to have both, particulalry when the neuropthy is basically a problem of microvasculature in the first place.

[jaminhealth]

Inosine and Sphingoln are wonderful.