Neuropathy: New Ways to Get Pain Relief

At first you have just a little burning in the toes or the ball of the foot. Then the tingling starts, soft at first, and only at night. The burning, deep itching, and pins and needles build to a crescendo preventing sleep, so you take sleeping pills. The doctor may give you pain medication or a nerve stabilizer, but it doesn’t help, you still have almost constant discomfort. Over a period of several years, it gradually diminishes as numbness sets in. It’s hard to say what is worse, pain, or numbness.

At its most extreme, neuropathy can lead to difficulty standing or walking, as well as nonstop agony from dying nerves. Now, your feet get injured and you don’t even know it. If an infection starts, it can become devastating before you even realize it’s there, or you don’t consult your doctor because it doesn’t hurt. By the time you get to the doctor it’s too late, the infection is in the bone, and months of antibiotics don’t clear it so they amputate your foot to save your life.

There are over 20 million people in the United States with neuropathy, and the numbers are increasing.[1] The scenario above happens all too often, and the most common reason for amputation is neuropathy. Nerves are very important for the function of every tissue in the body. When the nerves don’t work, the blood vessels don’t work either and tissues don’t heal properly, so the body cannot fight infection. Like a forest with lots of dry underbrush, an infection spreads through the tissues like wildfire. Since the circulation is poor, antibiotics don’t get where they need to be, and the infection can’t be stopped, the only solution is amputation.

Modern research, however, has shown that this is preventable. Neuropathy can be stopped, and even reversed, but first we must find the cause.[2]

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Causes of Peripheral Neuropathy

Cancer Chemotherapy – 7%
HIV – 10%
Diabetes type 2 – 30%
Idiopathic – 52%
Other – 0.1%

Those things that cause damage to the nerves cause neuropathy. This would seem to be obvious, but, as you can see, most of the causes are “idiopathic.” One of my professors at UCLA told us, “that means we’re idiots.” Actually, it means “unknown cause” or the cause remains mysterious. Idiopathic neuropathy would require further testing to look for:

Heavy metals
Nutrient deficiency
Malabsorption/Leaky gut/Celiac disease
Allergies and sensitivities
Other infections such as Epstein-Barr Virus, or Lyme disease
Autoimmune disorders
Cancer
Nerve impingement (pinched nerves)

Finding the cause of neuropathy is so complex that most doctors just label it “idiopathic” and give medications to try to relieve the pain. Treating the pain without finding the cause, however, can allow the disease to progress, leading to severe consequences – disability and death. In the long run, it’s so crucial to find the cause so the problem can be reversed. Today, our technology has advanced to the point that we can easily find most causes of neuropathy.

Diabetic Neuropathy

By far the most common single cause of neuropathy is diabetes. The reason the nerves die is fascinating!

Nerves are in constant communication with our central nervous system. Communication signals are transmitted to and from the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) to the distant (peripheral) parts of the body, such as the hands and feet.

Neuropathy occurs when the peripheral nerves become damaged—as a result of diabetes…or a less commonly recognized issue (see above). A person with diabetes has high blood sugar, which damages cells lining the blood vessels that transport nutrients and oxygen to body cells, which in turn harms nerves. Those impaired nerves send pain or pins-and-needles tingling sensations…or they can fail to transmit physical signals altogether, leading to numbness or muscle weakness. There’s also the risk for injury when damaged nerves prevent you from feeling pain in dangerous situations.

Insulin resistance weakens the walls of the small blood vessels (capillaries) that supply the nerves with oxygen and nutrients, thus preventing sugar from getting into cells. Nerve cells are especially sensitive to a lack of sugar because they need a constant supply to function. The fact is the nerves are STARVING for sugar. Even if the blood has ten times the normal amount, diabetes prevents all that sugar from getting into the cells. Without sugar those cells can’t make energy, so there is a structural breakdown of nerves, producing neuropathy.

Drugs don’t decrease insulin resistance. In fact, most diabetes drugs increase the insulin causing more insulin resistance. Thus, drug treatments, including injections of insulin, increase the problem of neuropathy![3] If you use drugs to treat diabetes you will need more drugs to treat neuropathy, and then more drugs to treat the infections and problems of neuropathy. We can easily see how people come to take so many drugs for one illness, because the drugs don’t address the cause.

The answer to diabetic neuropathy is simple. We know the cause to be insulin resistance so all we need to do is improve insulin sensitivity and we can avoid, or reverse, diabetic neuropathy. There are several possible reasons for being insulin resistant, and since the ways of reversing it are all good for you, it isn’t necessary to know which you have. I recommend simply doing all of them.

4 Tips for Reversing Insulin Resistance

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Exercise. Any kind of exercise decreases the need for insulin, allowing the cells to take up sugar. All exercise is good. More is better. Do what you can, and increase gradually.
Don’t eat sugar in any form. Some say that honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, fruit, or maple sugar is good for diabetes. But they all increase insulin resistance. They are all sugar. Even artificial sweeteners increase insulin resistance. We were told that we could have as much STEVIA as we want because it has no calories or carbs, but in some people, it increases insulin resistance. The rule of thumb is: DON’T EAT ANYTHING THAT TASTES SWEET.
Fast a little at a time. You become sensitive to insulin when your stomach is empty. Start by not eating after 6 PM and fast for 12 hours, until 6 AM. You can gradually increase intermittent fasting until you can go a whole day without eating. The most important thing, however, is to go to sleep on an empty stomach. This allows the release of human growth hormone (HGH) that will repair your stomach, intestines, and nervous system.
Take cinnamon, chromium, vanadium, selenium, vitamin D3, and vitamin K2. Each of these is essential to the efficient function of sugar in your body; a deficiency in any of them will make you more insulin resistant. I recommend a supplement called CinnaChroma which contains all of them together.

Barton Publishing has a Diabetes Reversed book that you can get online which explains each of these tips in more detail.

Other Causes of Neuropathy

Just like with diabetes, it is essential to know what is causing your neuropathy if you want to reverse it. For example, if you have lead toxicity, you must get the lead out. It won’t help you to take supplements for nerve repair if you continue to have lead toxicity. Also, if you have a deficiency of vitamin B12, which is quite common, you must get that nutrient. It won’t help to take a vitamin D supplement if you need vitamin B12. Thus, you can work with your doctor to find the underlying cause first, and then the natural treatment will present itself.

Drugs

Chemotherapy drugs are known to cause neuropathy, but there are many others. Heart disease and high blood pressure are sometimes treated with drugs that can induce peripheral neuropathy. Amiodarone, for example, a drug used to treat cardiac arrhythmias can damage the nerves causing neuropathy. Neuropathy is a main side effect of other drugs used to treat arthritis or gout.

It’s important to know if nerve damage is possible from these toxic medications because you may need to get off of the drug in order to heal. Recovery may be slow, but it is possible once off these drugs. This may mean switching to a less toxic alternative, or simply finding a way to get off the drug, which may also help the neuropathy.[4]

Malabsorption

When the intestines don’t absorb nutrients well, this can damage the nerves due to a lack of nutrients. Most of the problems with absorption come from inflammation in the gut. There are many causes of inflammation in the intestines that can trigger malabsorption that leads to neuropathy. About 1-3% of all people in the United States have celiac disease, a reaction to gluten found in wheat, barley, and rye. Other causes include “leaky gut,” infections, bacterial overgrowth, or food sensitivities. While most people are unable to believe that they could be nutritionally deficient or malnourished, it’s very likely that this is one of the major causes of peripheral neuropathy.

Vitamin B12 malabsorption is probably one of the MOST common nutritional causes of idiopathic neuropathy. Vitamin B12 deficiency can result from dietary factors, the diabetes drug Metformin, and several other drugs that decrease Vitamin B12 Levels.

When people have neuropathy, the first thing I do is give them a shot of vitamin B12. If they come back with, “That shot really helped!” I know they need more, and I give them a series of about 10 shots, one per week, as well as an oral supplement.

Toxicity that Leads to Neuropathy

The most common toxin, aside from drugs, I find in people with neuropathy is mercury.[5] While many people have mercury in their teeth, I don’t find a strong correlation with the amount of mercury in the teeth and neuropathy. In fact, most of the mercury toxicity I’ve found is from fish. Research has shown that people who eat a lot of high-mercury fish frequently can experience nervous system damage and can suffer from neuropathy.[6] Now, I’m not saying that everyone should avoid fish, but try to find fish low in mercury.

Another heavy metal toxicity that can cause neuropathy is lead. Lead toxicity in the general population is uncommon, unless a person has a problem with detoxification, or excessive exposure. One young girl who was not growing well was found to be highly lead toxic. Investigators found a very high level of lead in the dirt where she played in her backyard. Many years before, it had been near an auto repair shop and apparently, they had dumped the battery acid out in the dirt.

Most lead still comes from old paint, and people who were exposed to leaded gasoline before it was banned.

I had one patient with over 50 times the toxic level of lead because he had been a metal cutter for over 30 years. He was diagnosed with all sorts of illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s, and gout, but it was all just neuropathy caused by lead toxicity. Once we got the lead out, he became a normal man with no health issues. Industrial, automobile, chemical workers and farmers are often found to be at increased risk of inadvertent lead exposure that leads to peripheral neuropathy.

Pesticides are another toxin that I commonly see. Those exposed to ORGANOPHOSPHATE pesticides are at risk for Parkinson’s disease, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), and other neuropathies.[7] These are reversible also, but usually require intravenous glutathione treatments over time. The best way to avoid this is to eat organic vegetables and fruit. (And, don’t live near a farm that sprays this toxic stuff! Paralysis for dinner anyone?)

Natural Neuropathy Treatment

After determining the cause of neuropathy, healing the nerves is the next step. While obviously wanting to prevent further disability, there is more to healing than just removing the source. Helping the nerves heal is more delicate than healing the skin. Skin cells grow back fast. Nerve cells require time, and a lot of extra help.

Multiple studies have shown that two little-known nutrients can make a big difference in repairing nerve damage.[8] [9] [10]

Alpha Lipoic Acid – An anti-inflammatory improves insulin sensitivity and defends against neuropathy.
Benfotiamine – A form of the B vitamin thiamine has been used to treat peripheral neuropathy and alleviate pain caused by diabetes.

But it turns out that for repairing nerves enough may not be enough. Research shows that pharmacologic dosing is needed to repair nerves. There are three ways to dose supplements:

Supplemental dosing just adds a little to what you have in your diet so you can get enough.
Physiologic dosing gives your body enough, no matter how much you eat in your diet.
Pharmacologic dosing may be two to ten, or even one hundred times the amount you normally need.

In the case of healing neuropathy we need large doses of three nutrients:

Alpha Lipoic Acid
Vitamin B1 in the form of benfotiamine
Vitamin B12 in the form of methylcobalamin

Alpha Lipoic Acid is a natural nutrient found in plants. WebMD states: “Many foods contain alpha-lipoic acid in very low amounts. They include spinach, broccoli, yams, potatoes, yeast, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, beets, and rice bran.” [11]

Alpha lipoic acid is a potent and protective antioxidant that is both fat and water-soluble. That means it can penetrate virtually all of the body’s tissues, including the brain and nerves. In addition, it acts as a heavy metal chelator, helping the body rid itself of toxic metals like lead and mercury.

Several studies suggest alpha-lipoic acid also helps lower blood sugar levels. Its ability to kill free radicals may help people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy get rid of pain, burning, itching, tingling, and numbness in arms and legs from nerve damage.[12]

The key to healing neuropathy is to get this nutrient in large amounts – pharmacologic dosing. It’s best to have about 1200mg per day for 60 days, then about 600mg per day.

Benfotiamine is a form of vitamin B1 that is absorbed much more easily than the normal thiamine found in food and vitamin pills. The dose to heal nerves starts around 150mg per day for 60 days, then dropping to 75mg per day.

Methylcobalamin in large doses decreases inflammation around the nerves. I usually do this separately, and not with other supplements in case there is a problem with absorption. I start with shots of one to five mg per week. There is a limit to how much B12 can be absorbed, no matter how much you take orally. Also, I find the shots work very quickly to relieve pain, burning, and even numbness. However, this is usually temporary, the other two nutrients are still needed for healing.[13]

The supplement formula I recommend is NERVALA, because it is high quality and contains the right amounts of both benfotiamine and ALA. Use as directed on the label. If you have diabetes, do yourself a favor and take NERVALA in conjunction with the program outlined above. Both CinnaChroma and NERVALA can be taken together without interactions. I would recommend the diet program above for anyone with neuropathy. It will still help heal the nerves, even if the neuropathy isn’t caused by diabetes.

Remember, healing nerves takes time. Finding the cause to prevent further damage, and then using the best program for repair can actually reverse the damage done to the nervous system. Work the program, and DON’T GIVE UP!