Interested in knowing if anyone has been cured of numb/tingling feet, and what treatment was used in curing it.
Depending on the cause of your neuropathy you may be able to improve your symptoms or reverse it somewhat by addressing the cause.
My Dad takes Gabapentin for neuropathy in his feet and to a lesser extent his hands but that just addresses his symptoms it isn’t curing him.
Also, B12 deficiency can cause those symptoms, and B12 can become low if you’re on metformin for type 2 diabetes. The symptoms can be reversed with supplementation, so getting those levels tested isn’t a bad idea.
I don’t think so. When I started having tingling feet 20 years ago, my doctor sent me to a neurologist who gave me a very unpleasant test and said, “Yes, slow nerve transmission. No treatment. Come back in a couple years and I can test you again.” What for? To confirm it is getting worse? No thanks. Over the last 20 years it has gotten slowly worse, although I am thankfully not numb and it hasn’t spread to my hands.
Incidentally, had I been going down a 10% ramp the way Trump was after his West Point speech, I’d have been just as unsteady on my feet as he was. I am fine on flat level ground or climbing, but descending is problematic.
As Hari has indicated, peripheral neuropathy can be very difficult to treat, let alone cure. And nobody should underestimate the impact it can have on people’s lives and wellbeing.
There’s a long list of potential causes for peripheral neuropathy with diabetes and idiopathic (i.e. of unknown cause) topping the list. Rarer, but treatable, causes include inflammation of the blood vessels (vasculitis), metabolic disturbances (e.g. kidney failure, porphyria), certain types of cancer (myeloma and related tumors), and heavy metal exposure (e.g. mercury, lead). Chemotherapy can cause neuropathy but I am unaware of any effective treatment if it develops.
Karl Gauss’ list is very good.
I’ll just add two or three points.
Treatment of neuropathy has advanced done since 20 years ago, it may be worth another shot.
If you have undiagnosed diabetes as a cause, you really want to get that diagnosed and treated.
Given the widespread use of H+ blockers (anti acid medications ending in “-prazole”), which have decreased B-12 absorption as a side effect, I worry about an epidemic of neuropathy. Worth looking into, if you have taken those meds for a long time.
Actually, after looking for a cite to support this, I find that, while there is some support for the notion, the finding that PPI’s cause decreased B12 has not been adequately replicated, so this is currently NOT considered a likely association.
One of those ideopathies, for me, was habitually sitting in a chair that was a bit too tall for my lower legs. It put pressure on blood vessels etc. The foot neuropathy would go away if I kept a board or similar under my feet while sitting.
I swapped out the chair, and over the course of a year or so, the peripherial neuropathy went from waking me up at night to just not there any more.
The moral here is to not overlook physical stressors as a possible cause. You may get lucky, like I did.
I’m 50 with no history of diabetes and developed bad neuropathy in my feet about 5 years ago. It got so bad it felt like I was walking barefoot over a rock bed even when wearing socks and running shoes. My feet ached at night with shooting pains that kept me awake. I was taking 4 ibuprofen every other night to get some sleep.
The neurologist shrugged and said it was probably the incurable hereditary Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease even though no one else in my family ever had it.
He gave me a prescription for Gabapentin and said it may or may not help. It offered no immediate results but taking it over the course of a year it’s made life bearable again. I do get the occasional flare ups but not as often.
I have diabetic neuropathy. What’s worse than the numbness and tingling are the intense shooting pains. I take 900mg of gabapentin per day, and it helps, but not entirely.
Herniated disks can do this, too. I got a great deal of relief from disk surgery at L5S1, and more relief from several months of gabapentin. I still have issues but generally it doesn’t keep me from doing anything or enjoying life.
Thread moved to IMHO (from GQ).
Per my oncologist it will gradually improve though once you hit the 2 years post chemo point, it is pretty much as resolved as it is going to.
I will attest, by the end of chemo, it felt like my lower legs were permanently in those ski boots
https://s22867.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/csm_1718_DalbelloCollecion_Main_KRYPTON-AX-120_DKRA1207-BTB_f141ad8133-copy.png
The bottoms of my feet were sort of numb while hyper sensitive, it felt like I was wearing some sort of wedge with my toes an inch higher than my heel. The numb tingly extended gradually from just my toes until after about 8 or so months of chemo to almost my knees [the ski boot/wedge effect] An uncomfortable side effect was also hypersensitivity to cold - it felt like my feet were eternally freezing cold though to the touch they were nice and warm and capillary refill up to par. This I found extremely disturbing, as a western Ny girl, with a dad who did his twilight tour with the 10th Mountain we were taught winter survival and one of the first and most important things is to not let yourself get frostbite, and the sensations were that of impending frostbite so trying to get to sleep was harassing. I kept waking up because my body was signalling me that it was getting unsafe for me as my extremities were starting to get frostbite. sigh
Post chemo, things did improve slowly and by small incremental steps. I did boost my b complexes, and added folic acid, well actually added pretty much every non-fat soluable vitamin to greater than recommended USDA levels after a doc consult to make sure that it wasn’t harmful - I was one of the only patients he had that didn’t end up needing iron shots or blood fractions [nausea supressed by zofran until I could do diet manipulation to boost my nutrient intake.] I got about 95 percent of my hands back - still a bit oversensitive to stuff like lancet pricks and still a bit uncomfortable dealing with cold temperatures. but my feet are still only about 70 percent back - still am slightly numb tingly, still feel some compression effect on my lower legs, still get the sandpaper between toes feeling that I work around with toe socks, and the levels of noncomfort sort of shift up and down the scale depending on random Loki abuse.
Not looking forward to restarting chemo, stupid cancer fucking with my life again. If I don’t spring back with the neuropathy I might end up permanently on some sort of disability, I need my hands. [I can deal with not feeling my feet, and the whole stumbles even with crutches, but I need my damned hands to type, eat, dress, cook and everything else.]
Post-chemo, my oncologist had me use L-glutamine, which seemed to help.
I’ve had idiopathic peripheral neuropathy since the 1990s. Over the years I’ve been to two different sets of specialists at two different hospitals. Gone through all types of tests and regimens. Had spinal fusion surgery. The most any of that has ever done is give me an hour and a half of walking time instead of an hour.
I have no hope of ever being cured unless some doctor miraculously stumbles across whatever the cause is. (Idiopathic mean “we got no idea.”) Though the process is grueling, work with your doctors to find a cause if at all possible. That makes all the difference.
I’ve seen this chart before on the causes of neuropathy.
60% diabetes
10% chemotherapy
2% HIV
28% idiopathic/other
The sad part is there are so many things that can fall into that 28%. An endless array of metabolic disorders, autoimmune disorders, poisonings, vascular disorders, nutritional deficiencies, compressed or damaged nerves, etc. etc.
It’s also a rare side effect of Allopurinol, which I was on for five years (as part of a treatment regime for UC). My neurologist presumes that it’s a side effect of the drug. I’ve been off Allopurinol for 18 months now, and I think it’s improving (its a very slow process, and very subjective as well, but I’m pretty sure I’ve significantly improved.)
j
Has anyone tried “Nerve Control 911”? They claim to have the answer.
While looking at the above chart, keep in mind that “idiopathic” is doctor talk for “we don’t know what caused it.” Having a $5 word for that is not comforting to me. You might feel differently.
And it’s good for more than neuropathy. Lots more.
From ‘The Daily (Dec. 5, 2022)’
What Benefits Does Nerve Control 911 Provide?
- It improves your concentration and focus.
- It shields your body against muscle spasms.
- It prevents burning, stinging, or pain.
- It relieves numbness in your toes or fingers.
- It rids you of anxiety and irritability.
- It helps in controlling diabetes and cholesterol to a certain extent.
- It rids your body from inflammation easily.
- Its antioxidative properties fight oxidative stress.
- It helps achieve restful sleep during the night.
- It enhances the health of the digestive system.
- It gives your energy levels a boost.
- It controls your nervous system and enhances its functions.
- It reduces inflammation and oxidative stress in the nerve cells and tissues around them
Hmmm. Probably helps to control cancer, too.
More seriously, any supplement that purports to be effective for all types of conditions including some that are unrelated to its core function, is a scam.