I am having nerve pain so bad in my feet and legs I can hardly go out to stores any longer to shop which is a nessity to eat and live.I am a 53f and have known about my diabetes now for 3 yrs.Does anyone know of any natural way to help this condition? I am trying to exercise through the pain. please email me or reply here.sandyruth53@hotmail.com

Hi Sandy,
I have several friends that have the same problem and are taking Alpha Lipoic Acid--an antioxidant. This is recommended By Prof. Lester Packer in his book"The Antioxidant Miracle". Alpha Lipoic Acid has been used in Europe for twenty years with good success.The book says take between 200 to 600mgs a day.
God Bless

Hi Sandy Ruth, The reply from Harry is very good and will help ward off long term diabetic complications. Go heavy on vitamin E and a good antioxidant formulation. Go to the Diabetes board and read my post to DSP100 dated 12/20. Its about OPC-1 and pycnoginol...a case history of foot pain. God bless and help you, Oldguy

Hi Sandy and all..

Good words here so far. What you almost assuredly have is called Peripheral Neuropathy. One of the causes is diabetes, however there are quite a few others they are more recently discovering as well. One is surgical trauma and another is a reaction to certain medications and combo's of same. My own is related to the surgical trauma of an abdominal aneurysm. possible coupled with very heavy medications of a variety of types, during that time, and after.

Many Peripheral Neuropathics take on-going medications for pain such as gabapentin/neurontin and a few take such things as elavil for pain. But for both of these meds there are often dues to be paid and I wouldn't personally recommend either if avoidable.

As mentioned here by the others, I am trying a therapeutic regimen of alpha lapoic acid (900mg/day), combined with heavy b12, both of which have reported successes in the past. I had some successes at first, and I'm not ready to give it up yet, but I must say the initial perception of success has diminished considerably at least in terms of pain relief. 900mg is quite high though and beginning to border on toxic levels, so if at all possible, don't go that high.

This may well be a very good option for you though, wanting to go the natural route. Excercise also has some benefits with this disorder. But if it becomes fairly progressive, it's quite hard to do much. I was an avid tennis player for years, and PN has pretty much made that impossible now.

I have asked for a specific Peripheral Neuropathy Forum here, as there are many who suffer from this very unfortunate disorder. Join in that request if you are interested.

My Best to you.. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif
JollyRoger

I thought you might find this interesting. I can't remember where I got it from.
-Mark

Acute painful neuropathy is a variant of the distal sensory polyneuropathy, and is characterized by the presence of severe and often unrelenting pain in the legs which is usually worse at night. Abnormal sensitivity to innocuous stimuli such as bed sheets or clothing is sometimes reported. In these instances what should be a benign or pleasant sensation is perceived as painful. In contrast to the severe painful symptoms, the neurological examination is often unimpressive, and may show mild to moderate loss of temperature sensation with preserved deep tendon reflexes and large fiber sensory modalities. This type of neuropathy is often seen following a period of significant weight loss and unstable glycemic control, and will improve gradually after achieving tighter regulation of serum glucose levels. Sometimes, however, establishing tight glycemic control may itself transiently trigger the onset of acute painful symptoms.

my question is are you on any statin drugs?
ie. lipitor. lots of people are being givn these drugs and they are causing the muscle and joint pain.