Bottom Line Health
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| Recommended' If you have a history of diabetes, alcoholism or another condition that can cause nerve damage and you have RLS, ask your doctor about getting an electromyogram (EMG). This test assesses the electrical activity in the muscles. It is usually combined with a nerve conduction velocity test, in which a nerve is stimulated by a mild electrical impulse and the speed at which the nerve carries the impulse is recorded. Together, these tests can determine whether RLS may be due to nerve damage. Peripheral neuropathy may be reversed by treating the underlying disorder. |
| Peripheral neuropathy. This nerve damage, which often triggers pain in the legs and/ or arms, is caused by chronic diseases, such as diabetes (which constricts the blood vessels that supply the nerves) or alcoholism (because of its toxic effects on the nerves and often an accompanying vitamin deficiency due to poor dietary habits).
Recommended' If you have a history of diabetes, alcoholism or another condition that can cause nerve damage and you have RLS, ask your doctor about getting an electromyogram (EMG). This test assesses the electrical activity in the muscles. |
Jack Challem
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 Neuropathy is a general term that refers to nerve damage, which may be characterized by extreme sensitivity to pain or numbness. Alpha-lipoic acid is the number-one choice for treating neuropathy. Try 200 mg three times daily. In addition, gamma-linolenic acid, part of a family of essential dietary fats, can also help with diabetes-related nerve damage. Try 100 mg twice daily in combination with alpha-lipoic acid.
• Eye disease. Diabetes increases the risk of developing virtually all serious eye diseases. Inadequate intake of vitamin A, which is characterized by night blindness (i.e. |
Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
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 The cause of this nerve damage is still being debated, with some arguing that it is caused by microvascular damage to the fibers in the nerve and others attributing it to metabolic derangement within the nerves. Most likely, it is a combination of both.
During early studies, researchers found that diabetics suffered from an inositol deficiency and posited a link between this shortage and nerve damage. It was found that supplementing diabetics with inositol did improve their neuropathy. |
Joerg Gruenwald, Ph.D.
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 The danger of nerve damage exists in connection with long-term intake. Long-term external application carries the danger of skin injury. The drug possesses minimal potential for sensitization (possible cause of food allergies).
Pediatric Use: Mustard preparations should not be used in children under 6 years of age.
OVERDOSAGE
Gastrointestinal complaints could appear following the intake of large quantities, due to the mucous membrane-irritating effect of the mustard oil.
DOSAGE
Mode of Administration: The drug is used internally as well as externally. |
Jack Challem
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| In addition, gamma-linolenic acid, part of a family of essential dietary fats, can also help with diabetes-related nerve damage. Try 100 mg twice daily in combination with alpha-lipoic acid.
• Eye disease. Diabetes increases the risk of developing virtually all serious eye diseases. Inadequate intake of vitamin A, which is characterized by night blindness (i.e., difficulty seeing in the dark or adjusting to bright lights), is also associated with serious eye diseases. Take 25,000 IU of vitamin A (not beta-carotene) daily for thirty days, then reduce the dosage to 10,000 IU daily. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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 Side effects: These vary, depending on the drug; most commonly they include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, anemia, mouth sores, hair loss, changes in taste and smell, infertility, early menopause, fatigue, pain in hands and feet due to nerve damage, bone loss, excess tear production, and memory loss.
Nutrients depleted: Cancer chemotherapy can cause nausea, loss of appetite, and vomiting, all of which have dramatic impact on nutritional status. |
| Vitamin B6 is strongly depleted by this drug, and this depletion is believed to be the reason for a common side effect: nerve damage in the hands and feet. Supplementing isoniazid with this vitamin is recommended even by mainstream medicine. See pages 48-52 for more on the B vitamins).
• Vitamin D: 1,000 mg daily.
LEVODOPA (L-DOPA)
This medication is used to treat Parkinson's disease (PD). It contains two synthetic forms of the neurotransmitter dopamine (levodopa plus carbidopa), which declines dramatically in Parkinson's sufferers. |
| Carnitine is also useful for diabetic neuropathy, another kind of nerve damage.) Other benefits include prevention of muscle and fat wasting, and reduced levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.
Studies show that carnitine may help to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease and heart failure. It's also a promising therapy for angina (chest pain from poor blood flow to the heart muscle) and intermittent claudication (pain in the lower legs caused by poor circulation, generally due to arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries). |
Joan Liebmann-Smith, Ph. D., and Jacqueline Nardi Egan
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 As might be expected, all these odor disorders can signal olfactory nerve damage, which can be caused by many of the same things— including infections, head trauma, surgery, environmental toxins, and drugs—that lead to loss of smell. (See Loss of Smell, above.)
If the underlying condition can be treated, the smell distortions or hallucinations will probably disappear. But getting an early, accurate diagnosis is key.
SIGNING OFF
Primary care physicians—family physicians and internal medicine specialists—can diagnose and treat many nasal problems, from the common cold to allergies. |
| Actually, anyone who suffers from any type of nerve damage from any cause can find themselves with this disorder.
Tingling, burning, and numbness located in the front of the foot can also be a sign of a benign lesion known as a neuroma. People who have this condition notice the symptoms even more when they wear a tight-fitting shoe, as the neuroma or nerve ball is compressed. Some patients will also describe the sensation of having a pebble in their shoe or the sensation that their sock is bunched up in the front. |
Bottom Line Health
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| But if medication is not used promptly, that single episode can result in painful nerve damage that persists for years.
WHAT CAUSES SHINGLES?
To get shingles, you must have been exposed to the chicken pox virus earlier in your life.
After someone has chicken pox, typically as a child, the virus that caused it—a type of herpes virus called varicella-zoster virus (VZV) or herpes zoster—retreats to nerve cells along the spinal cord, where it remains for life. |
Joan Liebmann-Smith, Ph. D., and Jacqueline Nardi Egan
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| Bells palsy and or burning mouth syndrome (aka burning tongue syndrome), a rare condition that tends to affect menopausal women (see Supersensitive Taste, below) and is thought to be caused by nerve damage. It can signal a viral infection and Sjogren's syndrome as well. (See A Dry Mouth or Excessive Thirst, above, and Appendix I.)
Most people with phantogeusia complain of having a metallic taste in their mouths, aptly known as metallic phantogeusia. |
Steven V. Joyal
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 Glycotoxins are especially harmful to people with diabetes, as these toxic molecules are associated with retinopathy (glycotoxins accumulate in the retinal blood vessels), neuropathy (they accumulate in peripheral nerves, resulting in nerve damage), kidney failure (they are found in kidney tissue), heart disease, and blood vessel disease. The use of antiglycotoxin agents or inhibitors, such as aminoguanidine, has been studied in the hope of preventing or reversing diabetic complications triggered by high levels of glycation/glycotoxins. We discuss these and other measures in chapter 8. |
David W. Grotto, RD, LDN
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 DIABETES AND HEART HEALTH: Several studies performed on diabetic rats found that feeding them chard controlled blood glucose and either reversed, stabilized, or prevented the negative effects of diabetes such as nerve damage and heart disease.
Tips on Using Chard
SELECTION AND STORAGE:
• Select chard leaves that are a bright green color with a crisp stalk. Avoid buying chard that is browning or yellowing or has small holes.
• Unwashed chard can be kept in plastic in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator for up to three days. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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| High homocysteine levels also seem to contribute to neuropathy, the nerve damage that can cause pain, numbness, or blindness in diabetes patients; and with deep vein thrombosis (a clot getting lodged in a vein); and pulmonary embolism (when a clot gets stuck in a blood vessel in the lungs).
Vitamin B12 and folate work together to keep homocysteine within healthy limits. |
| There is substantial evidence that higher-dose B6 could be helpful for treatment of diabetic nerve damage (neuropathy); vitamin B6 inhibits the formation of glycosylated proteins, which damage nerves in diabetes. B6 may help to prevent diabetic eye damage. It is also effective for premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and pregnancy-induced morning sickness; other research shows that higher-dose B6 could be helpful for people who are depressed or who have carpal tunnel syndrome.
You and your doctor may agree to try a higher dose of B6 if there's the potential for benefit. |
| They'll help you meet your daily quota of essential nutrients, and will help to prevent heart disease, nerve damage, and eye damage—all common complications with diabetes. The sooner you start eating right and exercising, the sooner you'll be feeling better, and possibly—with your doctor's help—reducing your medication dosages.
CLASSES OF DRUGS FOR BLOOD SUGAR CONTROL
In prescribing medication, most physicians will start with one class of drug and move down the line until they get the desired result. |
Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D.
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 High blood glucose also causes nerve damage that can not only trigger numbness in the feet and hands but can also affect the penis, interfering with the nerve signals that help orchestrate male sexual arousal.
For a healthy male, some stimulation—by sight, touch, sound, or something else—activates the nerves and causes muscles to relax and blood to flow into the penis, which then becomes erect. But a man with diabetes who isn't properly managing his disease can't have an erection or maintain it long enough for satisfactory sex. |
| By not making drastic dietary and exercise changes and properly monitoring their blood sugar levels, they are at risk for heart attacks and stroke, kidney disease, blindness, nerve damage, and diabetic neuropathy, which can lead to amputation, impotence (if they're male), loss of libido (if they're female), skin disorders, and depression. And, ultimately, some of them will die at an early age. |
Byron J. Richards, CCN
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 Their focus seems to be on immunizing everyone, not on proving that immunizations are safe or figuring out who might be at risk for serious nerve damage from immunizations.
We learned in chapter 8 that when there is low leptin in the brain, either due to generally low leptin or to leptin resistance, the brain is much more likely to experience nerve damage. In leptin resistance, the low leptin in the brain is combined with high leptin in the circulation, which overheats the immune system causing a high level of risk for autoimmune disease. |
Joan Liebmann-Smith, Ph. D., and Jacqueline Nardi Egan
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| If your taste in music runs toward heavy metal rather than easy listening, ringing in your ears can be a sign of ear nerve damage from excessively loud music.
Like the feeling of fullness in your ears (see Stuffy Ears, above), a ringing sound can be a sign of excessive earwax or an indication that a foreign object—such as a cotton swab
, , SIGN OF THE TIMES or even an insect—has taken up residence in your ear. Occasionally, a ringing sound in your ears can be
Medieval artists earmarked earwax as a useful binding material for paints. |
Bill Sardi
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 Cancer Letters 202: 125-29, 2003] Thiamine deficiency, which commonly occurs among patients with leukemia (blood cancer), can result in heart failure, nerve damage and other side effects. Alcohol also depletes thiamine. Therefore, a careful balance of thiamine status is recommended for cancer patients. [Postgraduate Medical Journal 77: 582-85, 2001 ] Probably 10-15 milligrams per day is adequate from dietary supplements.
In an animal study, rats fed low-thiamine diets with simple sugars developed pre-cancerous abnormalities in their colon. |
Shannon Brownlee
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 A simple blood draw, the most common and seemingly innocuous invasive procedure in all of medicine, occasionally causes debilitating nerve damage.
Even aspirin can be lethal. If you've already had an acute MI, taking an aspirin a day can reduce the odds of dying from a second one by more than i c percent, a bigger risk reduction than any single treatment or surgery a doctor can prescribe for heart disease. But taking aspirin daily when you aren't likely to have a heart attack might not be such a good idea, since aspirin can trigger hemorrhaging in the brain, stomach, and intestines. |
Thomson Healthcare, Inc.
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| Today, it is occasionally used for treat melancholia, pathological neuroses and mild forms of depression, as well as for severe nerve damage, trembling limbs and emotional disturbances.
Folk medicine: Corydalis was used in the past for worm infestation, menstruation disorders, Menier's disease and Parkinson's. Externally, the plant was used for poorly healing wounds and ulcers.
Homeopathic Uses: Used for inflammations of the respiratory tract and the eyes, rheumatism, hyperorexia, diarrhea and furunculosis. |
| The danger of nerve damage exists with long-term intake. Long-term external application carries the danger of skin injury. The drug possesses minimal potential for sensitization (possible cause of food allergies).
Pediatric Use: White Mustard preparations should not be used in children under 6 years of age. overdosage
Gastrointestinal complaints could appear following the intake of large quantities, due to the mucous membrane-irritating effect of the Mustard oil. dosage
Mode of Administration: The drug is used internally as well as externally. Ground or powdered seeds are used for poultices. |
Donna Jackson Nakazawa
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 This is especially true in humans, versus lab mice, given the long distance between our spinal cords and the extremities where nerve damage so often occurs. To regenerate nerves in our arms and legs, axons have to shoot out from the spinal cord and travel as much as three feet in a human to get to a foot or a toe that no longer moves. While investigating one growth factor, called pleiotrophin, that has been around for a while—though no one has known its exact effect—Hoke uncovered something surprising. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 Doctors told him that the ligament and nerve damage he had suffered pretty much ended his pitching career. That could have been the end of the story. Kroon couldn't even flex his elbow comfortably let alone play catch with his kids. But in 2004, after missing three seasons, he walked out on the field as a member of the Colorado Rockies. Pitching, I might add, 97-mile-per hour fastballs. Alan Schwartz in Baseball America called it the "best comeback story of 2004."
If you ask him how he did it, he'd probably tell you one word: enzymes. |
| With folic acid supplementation, you'll get rid of the symptoms of B1 2 anemia, but not the nerve damage that might ensue. (This is especially important for older adults because they're at greater risk for a B12 deficiency.) The government doesn't want you walking around with B12 deficiency and thinking you're fine, so it warns against taking too much folic acid. Makes sense, but there's a much better solution—take some B12 with your folic acid and there's no more problem! The Super Folate Supreme I like has 6 meg of B12 (100 percent of the recommended daily allowance) in every drop. |
Andreas Moritz
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 Although it has never been proven that a Bl deficiency causes such symptoms as fatigue, loss of appetite, exhaustion, depression, irritability, and nerve damage, many patients having these symptoms are told that they have a vitamin-B deficiency. During vitamin Bl trial studies, all the participants complained about the highly monotonous diet they were given; they suffered fatigue and loss of appetite, regardless of whether they received B1 in their diet or not. As soon as they returned to their normal diet, even without Bl, the symptoms spontaneously disappeared. |
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