coolboot

Matt, I too am trying to discover the cause of my "idiopathic small fiber peripheral neuropathy." My journey started with numbness in the soles of both feet back in 2001 and dramatically progressed up through the feet, ankles, lower limbs, fingers, hands, wrists, lower arms when I started training for running a marathon in 2001. I was 72 years old at the time. After completing the marathon the numbness had become so bad that it felt like I was wearing tight heavy stockings when I was barefoot. No pain, thank god, but numbness progressively advancing all over my entire body, with numb tingling scalp, cheeks, tongue, buttocks, etc. All over me, just numbness and tingling. The doctors sent me for all examinations and lab tests known to mankind and they could discover no cause. I am not diabetic, no vitamin deficiencies, no neurological damage found, no spinal damage, no low B-12, no Celiac or Lyme disease, no, no no no. They eventually told me there was nothing more they could do and to this day I still am experiencing overall body peripheral numbness and tingling. All over my entire body, but most pronounced in the feet, legs, and hands. I have come to the conclusion (unverified to date) that the cause may be the running - the pounding on my spinal column which can be hard on spinal discs, especially at my age where they have begun to degenerate. My neurosurgeon, years ago, told me to stop running! Then I ran a marathon. What can I say?

I now run no more. I just watch with envy those younger than I who are still running. I hope they are not doing damage to their spinal column and nervous system like I was doing! My advice to you is to stop running. Just walk. Speed walk if you like. Then secondly, take mega doses of Vitamin C (to rebuild tissue collagen throughout your body) and lots of Vitamin B-12 (sublingual 5000 mg daily) or go in for high dose Vitamin B-12 injections. You may find some relief to the numbness after a time, but once damaged, it's not easy to rebuild the damaged mylan nerve fiber.

Also, I would advise you to stop all consumption of all wheat and dairy products. And no more sugar in anything. It's poison and it's addictive. Wean yourself off all foodstuff containing sugar! Eat fruit and fresh vegetables.

If you do all these things, you will probably note improvement in your well being and hopefully reversal of the neuropathy over a length of time. But, most importantly, stop running! It damages the knee joints and the spinal chord. You will suffer for it if you continue to run (except of course on those occasions when you're trying to catch a bus!).

__________________
Wallace Dickson
wdickson@wdn.com
Washington, DC USA