N is for neuropathy which is a painful degenerative nerve condition most commonly caused by diabetes. Symptoms may range from mild loss of sensation in the feet to constant pain in various parts of the body.
There are several interesting remedies for neuropathy – some of which have had clinical trials conducted with specific usage.
The first of these is alpha-lipoic acid, which is a great antioxidant. Alpha-lipoic acid protects against diabetic complications by improving glucose uptake, reducing the degree of sugar/insulin related nerve and tissue damage, increasing circulation and stimulating nerve regeneration.
One particular study on type 2 diabetics with neuropathic symptoms of pain, burning, and numbness in the feet were given 600 mg of alpha-lipoic acid per day for three weeks. At the end of the study, all patients taking lipoic acid had significant improvements.
Alpha lipoic acid is a good supplement for diabetics because of its multiple benefits. It may also be helpful in protecting against diabetes induced eye damage. There is currently research underway using alpha-lipoic acid on diabetic retinopathy.
Another supplement used for neuropathy is GLA or gamma-linolenic acid, which is an omega 6 fatty acid. A British study used 480 milligrams of GLA on over 100 diabetics for one year. All of the patients taking GLA had significant improvements in each of 16 specific nerve and pain measurements at the end of one year. The researchers concluded that GLA may prevent and possibly reverse diabetic neuropathy when given in doses of 240 to 480 mg per day. The best GLA supplements for neuropathy are derived from evening primrose oil or borage oil.
Herbal supplements that work well on neuropathy are combinations of ginkgo biloba, gotu kola and bacopa. Ginkgo biloba is an antioxidant herb that increases blood flow to the tiny capillaries throughout the body, improving oxygen and nutrient delivery to areas affected by both diabetic neuropathy and retinopathy. Gotu kola and bacopa are herbs that improve brain and nerve function.
B vitamins are also extremely important for those with neuropathy since the B’s are known to help brain and nerve function. B-6 and B12 in a sublingual form are specifically recommended to those with neuropathy. Deficiencies in these vitamins are known to cause nerve damage even in those without diabetes.
Homeopathy can also be effective. One of the newer remedies I recommend is a combination of alpha lipoic acid, B vitamins and homeopathics.
Finally, take a good omega 3 supplement. It can be fish oil or flax oil. The most important thing is to take enough – at least 2000 mg per day of fish oil or 1-2 tablespoons per day of flax oil. Sometimes it is helpful to take a concentrated DHA supplement as that is the omega 3 oil that strengthens and calms the nervous system.
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Is the treatment of neuropathy the same regardless of the cause? For example, if it’s the result of B vitamin deficiency stemming from malabsorption (such as from gluten intolerance) do you suggest the same remedies as if it’s secondary to diabetes? Thanks for the helpful information.
Good question. Is it just a B vitamin deficiency, or is it more than that? I always suggest B vitamins if the symptoms are not related to diabetes. If there is actually neurological damage – this can be for reasons other than diabetes – usually related to prescribed medication, alpha lipoic will usually relieve symptoms somewhat and it is a great antioxidant – so it doesn’t hurt to give it a try.
Please note that I give information, but I do not diagnose, treat or prescribe.
Hi I just found out I have diabetic retinapathy. what all products would you recommend for me.? I am a diabetic I have been since I was 16 I have high blood pressure, cholesterol. I take insulin, 4 b. p. meds, iron pills, and cholesterol…I do not want to continue with synthetic drugs I believe their is a natural way but I have no one that I know who can help me. I also have been diagnosed with diabetic retinapathy. When I go to my doctor he just looks at me like I’m crazy when I tell him that man made drugs are not the best way for me. I tried to reach out to a homapathic doctor but since I am on disability I could not afford him. I just need help please if you will could you respond to me at my email address colepain24@yahoo.com thank you very much..Nichole
Nichole –
It is unfortunate that the current medical system only deals in pharmaceutical drugs. If a person wants to do something different, they have to do it themselves.
That being said, Insulin is very hard on the body. Changing your diet and lowering your blood sugar through diet rather than relying on insulin is your best bet to reduce dependence on drugs.
You did not say whether you are type 1 or type 2 diabetic and you did not say how old you are now – so you may never be able to get off of insulin completely. You do have to work with your doctor on changing the medications.
As far as diabetic retinopathy – your eyes cannot get better in a body that has high levels of blood sugar and/or insulin. An eye supplement with bilberry and lutein will help you, but the blood sugar and insulin will continue to destroy fine tissue such as eyes and nerves. Which is why you must change your diet.
Look on Amazon for books that deal with diabetes – the ones that tell you how to change your diet and heal your body.
Here is a link for an eye supplement that would support your eyes.
http://www.vitaminranch.com/collections/eye-health/products/visionoptimizer90cp90caps
Good Luck,
Margaret
I am very interested to read your posts because this at least gives me some hope of things improving…I was diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes early 2012 and at the same time Neuropathy in my feet began…several health professionals have said that the level of my blood sugar was just over the border line for diabetes and that it is unlikely that the diabetes caused the neuropathy…can you tell me what type of prescribed medicines could have caused this ?
Both feet have given way during the year and the last time was in January 2013 when I had such bad pains in left ankle and have had severe tendonitis since then, and a restricted lifestyle as I can’t stand for very long. Have to walk with crutches or a stick.
I have had valium and various types of anti depressants over the last 10 years and they all give me bad side effects and feel unable to take them.
I take prescribed co-codamol to relieve pain.
I am 60 years old and also have mild retinopathy. Anxiety. Lactose/dairy intolerance. and fatigue since having ME 20 years ago. I am also overweight.
Is there any way to heal this nerve damage condition ? My Doctor said it’s ‘unlucky’ and there’s nothing he can do except offer anti depressant or anti epileptic drugs.
I want to begin a weight loss diet and take vitamin/mineral/herb supplements to try and improve things… it’s been downhill all year and i so want to turn this around..but am not sure of the best supplements to take , I wonder if you can give advice on this ?
So there is no way to “know” what caused your neuropathy. I would assume it was blood sugar and genetic tendency. I find that fasting glucose over 90 is just bad and causes bad things. I know my opinion is different from conventional medicine.
I recommend Paleo Diet and a few basic supplements.
As far as supplements – the standard recommendation for neuropathy is 300 mg of alpha lipoid acid 2 times per day.
I would add a really good multi-vitamin, an omega 3 oil and a super green. I am puzzled by the tendonitis- I think magnesium might help as most diabetics are deficient in magnesium. Also, I have no idea what “ME” is.
My blog for the next week will have information on some of these basic supplements, plus, we will have packages of these supplements on special. I will post on Monday.
If you need more help, I do nutritional consulting – you can look at our store website for more information on that.
Good Luck,
Margaret
Thanks Margaret I will look at your website and look out for your blog next week. 🙂
Hi I wanted to know what you would recommend for Neuropathy caused by surgery. I had a SL Ligament reconstruction done and since than I have sensory Neuropathy. What can I take for the pain and sensitiveness. I was given gabapetin but I prefer taking something natural.
Nerve damage is nerve damage – regardless of cause. However, surgically caused neuropathy is a little more difficult.
But the basics are – Alpha Lipoic Acid, Sublingual B12, and a good balanced B vitamin.
Make sure your blood sugar is not contributing to the problem. I like to see fasting glucose under 90.
If you want more specific recommendations, email me.
Please note that our time is money – so if you like our advice, please buy something from us. It helps to keep us online.
Would your B Vitamin and other recommendations apply to my non-diabetic case? My neuropathy has been diagnosed as non-diabetic and hereditary from my mother’s side. I have cousins that have this condition….mostly in the feet. My condition is complicated by poor venous circulation in he legs (varicose veins but not visible — I am a 56 year old male). My symptoms are in the feet which exhibit a combination of numbness and pain. Gababentin is not working as well as it should.
They would be worth a try as well as something to support veins and circulation such as butchers broom.
just thought I’d add that Lyme disease can also be a cause of neuropathies……
Thanks for the information. I was diagnosed with Peripheral Neuropathy a little over a year ago. Not caused by diabetes or any vitamin deficiencies. Was basically told by neurologist and my physician that there are many cases that they simply can’t explain, i.e. can’t do anything about. I have found a lot about ALA and am going to try that as well as some of the herbal supplements. Had read about gingko biloba, but not gotu kola and bacopa. Are you referring to these supplements when you say “One of the newer remedies I recommend is a combination of alpha lipoic acid, B vitamins and homeopathics.”
Also, I see gotu kola in your store, but not the bacopa.
Thanks again.
I am curious about your case. I recommend trying some of the natural product anyway. Sometimes conventional medical test ranges are too broad. You may be in conventional ranges, just more sensitive than average.
Fasting blood sugar is best below 90 – if yours is not there, work on that with diet.
Also, try a high quality sublingual B12 supplement along with a good complete B such as B-Right anyway and see if it helps.
As far as herbal supplements – both of my favorite ginkgo, goth kola and bacopa combinations were discontinued since this article was posted. One has been reintroduced as a different product with magnesium l-threonate. While we have this product in the store, it is not on the online store yet.
I also stock bacopa, it is not in the online store either.
You can always call in an order, or email us directly off of the contact page.
Thanks, Margaret
Thank you for your reply. I don’t know all the numbers on my tests; I do know that I had about 7 vials of blood drawn and had tests done on range of B vitamins, K, as well as blood sugars tested. My regular doc said the neurologist had ordered a bunch that he didn’t know much about.
My symptoms right now are relatively minor, with some tingling and minor pain in one foot. But I had a neural response test done (not fun – they hook up electrodes and basically shock you to test the speed response of your nerves; think of the experiment many kids do in high school biology with the frog leg); I tested below normal on that.
Right now, what I have does not concern me, but my father had something similar (again cause unknown, though it may have been from the treatments he received for his non-Hodgkins lymphoma), and after a number of years his nerves had degenerated so badly, he could not even straighten his fingers or perform simple tasks like buttoning a shirt. I am trying to get ahead of things here and not go there.
I am due for an annual physical soon and will pay more attention to what some of those numbers are. I am also looking around for someone who is more integrative in their medicine and more nutritionally oriented.
I will check out your store to pick up some of the B-Right. Thanks for the feedback.
You can always do one of my intuitive nutritional consultations and see what I come up with. 🙂
Thanks. I will send you an email about the consultation and how that works.
Hi, thanks for the article. I have gotten neuropathy following an SI Joint injury, which has led to a lot of bed rest for 3 yrs, as well as steroid injections into the joint. Following each set of injections, I have gotten neuropathy and sciatica. The first time, it had mostly resolved, except for persistent numbness and tingling in the left side toes, after about a year. The second time was only this past summer, and hasn’t resolved. However, the new pain doc determined in October that I have numbness all over the left side (legs, arms, fingers, etc.). I had noticed, beginning in August, that my hands felt “thick” and the fingertips were a bit numb, which is bad for me, as I had begun a craft business just before my injury, which I hope to return to one day, and was hoping it was due to the Lyrica, ot nerve damage. The doc said it was neuropathy from inactivity and not eating (nausea, and lack of appetite due to pain and inactivity), and that I needed to start eating meat and supplementing again. It turns out that I used to take all of the supplements recommended (Alpha Lipoic Acid, GLA, and so on), but had run out and could no longer afford them, as I can’t work….but, that was fairly recent, in the past 6 months. What I am wondering is, as pain is not an issue regarding the neuropathy, just the numbness and weakness, and it’s fairly recently developed, is it possible to regain one’s feeling/nerve health, or just to stop the progress? The docs I’ve asked said that one doesn’t see recovery of feeling.
An injury makes nerve recovery unpredictable.
Make sure you have a good, low glycemic diet and you might want to consider some supplements – such as a good sublingual B12 and a high quality B vitamin such as B-Right by Jarrow Formulas.
my aunt has neuropathy with an unknown cause, and the drugs prescribed to her are barely even helping with the symptoms… can you E-mail me at andrewmason577@gmail.com with a more comprehensive list of natural remedies? She’s losing feeling in her hands, she’s almost crippled from the pain, and can’t afford the surgeries for burning off the nerves that the doctors recommended to her… Please email me
My mom was diagnosed with PN and she was suffering from very chronic pain in her feet and numbness on the hands.. I tried Alpha lipoic acid 300mg x2/day, Grape Seed extract x1/day, Multi-vitamin tablet (with lycopene if possible) x1/day, and she started walking in 2 months… Now she is virtually pain free and able to walk around the house on her own.. Lots of drugs were prescribed, pregablin/lyrica etc, but none helped with reducing the pain or symptoms… There are no side effects as I’ve seen for my Mom.
Hi Bibin, I am amazed to read the healing result for your Mom. I am wondering if she did any mild exercises along with taking the supplements? I would love to know…Thank you for sharing
very informative
I have been on thyroid meds for about 12 years and have dealt with numerous medical conditions. My thyroid was removed in 2010 as it was cancerous. My endocrinologist told me the my autoimmune disease would now be looking for a new host to attack as I no longer have a thyroid. I have now been diagnosed with PN and told to either go onto an antidepressant or epileptic medication. As I am very against these meds, I started researching and came did a whole lot of reading up on Celiac/ gluten intolerance that could also be a hidden cause. My feet also blister terribly and have done so for a while, I bruise very easily, and battle badly with bladder infections. I am seeing a homeopath this afternoon to discuss your recommendation. Thank you, any comments would be appreciated!
Hope you get great results. I am glad you are looking at diet changes – I find these much more powerful than supplements – particularly with auto-immune conditions.
thanks for details
any proven homeopathy medicines for neuropathy?
None that I have found work on most people – there are quite a few that will help with nerve pain, but I find that the supplements I mentioned above tend to perform better than straight homeopathics.
I like reading an article that can make men and women think.
Hey, if you are going to take the time to mention the results of a ‘study,’ then provide a citation to save readers the time of trying to hunt it down, eh? I’d like to read the ‘study’ on alpha-lipoic acid, please.
Post the source!
Sorry – I don’t give the citations. My blog is reprints of what I write for newspapers – they do not have room.
Alas, this is an old article – no notes.
However, google is a wonderful thing.
I can’t find the exact study quickly, but these should give you more information.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#safe=off&q=study+alpha+lipoic+acid+diabetic+neuropathy
Nice Post!As I was reading the post I came to know yes, these all are best supplements for diabetic neuropathy.This post is very helpful to those who are suffering from this disease.Keep posting 🙂
I’m looking for GLA for neuropathy feet help!
http://www.vitaminranch.com/products/superglaoilblend90capsules