Can Fish Oil With Omega 3 Help With Neuropathy

Today's post from newswise.com (see link below) looks at the potential benefits of fish oil containing omega 3 fatty acids for people suffering from nerve damage. It has been found that the omega 3 fatty acids improved nerve health in terms of density and sensory signal transmission in rats. Now if these results can be successfully applied to humans then we have a cheap and relatively harmless, easily produced supplement which could really help neuropathy patients restore some normality to their nerve reactions. It's all still at the research stage but the science and potential seem solid. In the meantime, supplementing your diet with fish oil (plus omega 3) is not bad advice anyway unless your diet is already enriched with fish products.

Fish Oil May Help with Diabetic Neuropathy Released: 6-May-2015 4:05 PM EDT
Source Newsroom: American Physiological Society (APS)

Newswise — Bethesda, Md. (May 6, 2015)—Approximately 50 percent of patients with diabetes suffer from nerve damage, or neuropathy. No cure exists, and the most effective treatment, keeping blood sugar in control, only slows neuropathy. A new study in the Journal of Neurophysiology, however, introduces a new alternative, omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. The study shows that fish oil supplements can restore the condition of nerves damaged from diabetes in mice.

“Diabetic neuropathy is a very costly and debilitating complication of diabetes. It is the leading cause of foot ulcers and nontrauma-related amputations, and the impact of diabetic neuropathy on the patient and family are unmeasurable,” said Mark Yorek of the VA Medical Center in Iowa City, the study’s lead investigator. Fish oil is an attractive treatment approach because “supplements are considered very safe and could be easily translated into everyday care. Fish oil would be easy to take, like a vitamin, and should have few side effects when combined with other medications,” explained Yorek.

Previous studies of obesity and diabetes have reported better blood sugar handling, liver function and reduced inflammation with omega-3 fatty acids treatment. The health benefits were attributed to protective molecules produced from omega-3 fatty acids, including one type called resolvins. The research group had previously observed that diets enriched with omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil improved diabetic neuropathy in rats with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and in this new study they examined why.

Researchers used a mouse model of diabetes to study the effect of fish oil. Diabetic mice were fed a high-fat diet and treated with daily injections of resolvin or given a high-fat diet in which half the fat came from fish oil. The results were compared to healthy, non-diabetic mice.

The researchers found that untreated diabetic mice had diminished sense of touch in their paws that corresponded to fewer nerves in the paw’s skin and slower transmission of signals along the nerves. The eyes of untreated diabetic mice also had fewer nerves. Though dietary fish oil and resolvin did not lower glucose levels closer to healthy range, they improved nerve health in terms of density and sensory signal transmission. The researchers also observed that resolvin stimulated nerve cells to grow.

“Even though a lot more work needs to be done, including clinical trials with human subjects, our animal studies suggest that fish oil can reverse some of the harmful effects of diabetes on the nerves. Our intent is to do more animal studies to demonstrate that fish oil treatment can reverse the harmful effects of diabetes on nerves even after a long period of poorly controlled diabetes. After completion of this work, we hope to begin studies with diabetic patients with neuropathy,” Yorek said.

The article “Effect of enriching the diet with menhaden oil or daily treatment with resolvin D1 on neuropathy in a mouse model of Type 2 diabetes” is published ahead-of-print in the Journal of Neurophysiology.

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: To schedule an interview with a member of the research team, please contact Maggie Kuo at mkuo@the-aps.org or 301-634-7253.

About the American Physiological Society (APS)
Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function in health and disease. Established in 1887, the American Physiological Society (APS) was the first U.S. society in the biomedical sciences field. The Society represents more than 11,000 members and publishes 14 peer-reviewed journals with a worldwide readership.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/633928/

How Alpha Lipoic Acid Can Restore Nerve Health

Today's post from prohealth.com (see link below) is another article examining the benefits of the anti-oxidant and co-enzyme, alpha lipoic acid to the nervous system and especially to the protective lining of nerves - mitochondria. There are other articles on this blog about lipoic acid to be found by checking the alphabetical list to the right of the blog. Many people living with neuropathy have benefited by supplementing with alpha lipoic acid and Acetyl L-carnitine but it has to be stressed that for some, it makes no difference whatsoever. Whether you believe all the claims or not, it's certainly worth talking over with your doctor or neurologist, as a possible non-drug option in your treatment regime. In order to follow all the reference links via the numbers, you will need to visit the original page.
  

Lipoic Acid Reverses Mitochondrial Decay
By Michael Anderson • www.ProHealth.com • October 28, 2014

It is estimated that 85% of the oxygen contained in every breath you take is consumed by the mitochondria within each cell of your body.1

The decay of these energy-producing powerhouses in turn lies at the core of most age-related pathologies.

In experimental models examining the mitochondrial theory of aging, it has been shown that cells microinjected with mitochondria isolated from old animals degenerate far more rapidly than those microinjected with mitochondria from young animals.2

The good news is that when supplied with a nutrient regimen that includes lipoic acid, a profound regeneration is observed in similar animal models,3 including improved metabolic function and a marked decline in oxidative stress.

In this article, the recent data on lipoic acid’s multimodal power to combat a host of age-related diseases is detailed. You will learn how it may help prevent cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. You will also learn of drug company efforts to produce high-cost, synthetic forms of lipoic acid to capitalize on its unique health-promoting properties at your expense.

Mitochondrial Decay and Aging

The mitochondrial theory of aging has long held a prominent place in scientists’ understanding of the processes that impact aging. First proposed by Denman Harman in 1972, this theory posits that accumulated DNA damage to mitochondria, the cells’ energy generators, leads to increased free radical stress and decreased cellular energy production.4 In the past 30 years, a wealth of evidence supporting the mitochondrial theory of aging has led prominent researchers such as Bruce Ames to consider it a major contributor to aging.5

Experimental models support this theory and demonstrate the importance of youthful mitochondria function in maintaining cellular health. For example, cells microinjected with mitochondria from aged animals display greater cellular degeneration, compared with cells microinjected with mitochondria from youthful animals.2 The mitochondrial theory of aging has analyzed the components of young and old cells. Youthful organisms contain abundant numbers of smaller, bioenergetically efficient mitochondria, while older organisms contain larger, inefficient mitochondria that decrease energy supply in the cells.6,7

Delaying mitochondrial aging through the use of nutrients such as lipoic acid and acetyl-L-carnitine has been proposed as a top-line strategy for preventing aging-related diseases.8

How Lipoic Acid Combats Cellular Degeneration

Lipoic acid is a vital “co-factor” for enzymatic reactions within the mitochondria, helping to optimize energy conversion.9,10 It possesses unique properties that specifically slow mitochondrial aging by preventing release of mutagenic oxidants.11 Recent research further reveals lipoic acid’s ability to alleviate mitochondrial dysfunction in aging cells (thus improving mitochondrial function).12,13

Researchers have further discovered that lipoic acid enhances the effects of insulin, benefitting glucose metabolism and lowering blood sugar levels.10

This in turn mitigates the pathologic cross-linking of glucose and protein that result in advanced glycation end products (AGEs).14

These advanced glycation end products have been shown to accelerate the onset of cardiovascular disease, brain degeneration, ocular disorders, and cancer.14-17

Lipoic acid also suppresses production of inflammatory cell-signaling molecules, while increasing production of molecules involved in vascular tone, such as endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS).18,19

Owing to its pronounced power to combat mitochondrial aging, behemoth pharmaceutical companies are now attempting to manipulate its molecular structure and render it patentable.20 Such drugs include more complex molecules in which lipoic acid is “conjugated,” or chemically joined, to form hybrid compounds with additional biological characteristics.

This would allow drug manufacturers to make absurd claims of superior benefit for their artificial, synthetic lipoic acid products. The result would be needless additional cost for what is already a proven multi-modal nutrient.

Lipoic acid in the biologically active “R” form (see below) is readily available without a prescription and affordable.

Use the “Right” form of Lipoic Acid

Lipoic acid comes in two “mirror image” forms labeled “R” and “S.” Only the R form is produced and used by life processes. Inexpensive chemical manufacturing produces equal quantities of R and S lipoic acid, often labeled “R/S Lipoic Acid” or simply “alpha lipoic acid” (ALA).

Newer precision techniques allow production of a pure R-lipoic acid, which has a much higher potency. A dose of pure R-lipoic acid provides twice the active ingredient as a typical R/S-alpha lipoic acid supplement, simply because the whole dose consists of the active “R” molecule. Look for the “R” label to assure you are getting the most potent form of this valuable nutrient.21,22

Cardiovascular Defense

Lipoic acid’s powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and lipid-lowering capabilities make it an ideal, multi-targeted nutrient for reducing cardiovascular risk.23,24 Lipoic acid helps protect the endothelium, the delicate, one-cell-thick lining of blood vessels. Additionally, lipoic acid improves blood vessels’ ability to relax, helping to lower blood pressure, improve blood flow, and reduce risk for cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke.25-28 Better blood flow in legs can also mean reduced pain with prolonged walking or other exercise.29

Cardiac surgeons are now beginning to recommend lipoic acid, along with other antioxidants such as CoQ10, prior to surgery in order to protect delicate blood vessels during surgery. Improved physical and mental quality of life in such patients has been reported to last for more than a month after the surgery.30

You can use lipoic acid to help lower your risk for cardiovascular disease long before you need cardiac surgery, though. Lipoic acid lowers total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels and reduces the size and number of atherosclerotic plaques, the dangerous points of arterial narrowing that produce heart attacks and strokes.23,24,28,31 In addition, lipoic acid may also lower levels of certain cellular toxins that contribute to cardiovascular diseases, especially those related to diabetes.32,33

Even people with pre-existing heart disease can benefit from lipoic acid. Cardiac stents, intended to improve blood flow following a heart attack, can become blocked by formation of unwanted new tissue, an effect that is prevented by lipoic acid supplementation.34 And, lipoic acid prevents death of heart cells exposed to high blood sugar levels, a contributor to diabetic heart disease.35

Targeting Obesity

Lipoic acid has beneficial effects on the forces that cause us to gain weight and store excess fat. It works on brain areas to reduce appetite, food intake, and body weight.36-39 Lipoic acid also stimulates increased energy expenditure, burning excess calories by activating cellular energy signaling complexes.13,36

Overweight and obese people lose their normal sensitivity to insulin, resulting in ever-higher levels of blood sugar and advanced glycation end product–induced tissue damage. Lipoic acid improves insulin sensitivity and stimulates sugar uptake from the blood to help normalize sugar levels.40-43 In the liver, lipoic acid decreases fat production and accumulation, helping to prevent development of dangerous non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).44,45

Lipoic acid has been successfully used in patients taking medications that stimulate weight gain, such as antipsychotic drugs.46 Even in people who are only overweight (not yet obese), lipoic acid reduced body weight by 8% while shrinking waist size by more than 2 inches.47 In patients who are already obese, there was a 9% loss of weight and a decrease in waist size of more than 3 inches.47

What You Need to Know: Lipoic Acid Reverses Mitochondrial Aging

Cells with mitochondria isolated from old animals degenerate far more rapidly than those with mitochondria from young animals.
When supplied with a nutrient regimen that includes lipoic acid, a profound regenerative effect is observed.
Experimental models show that lipoic acid optimizes function of the mitochondria in aging cells and reverses cell aging.
Recent data reveal that lipoic acid specifically targets factors that contribute to mitochondrial aging, dysfunction, and cell death.
Lipoic acid can help to prevent cardiovascular disease, obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetic complications.
Lipoic acid protects against nerve and brain cell damage induced by aging and trauma.
New evidence suggests that lipoic acid may also have important cancer-preventive effects, even against some of the most difficult-to-treat malignancies.

An Anti-Diabetic

Lipoic acid has an important role in managing diabetes, particularly the massive oxidative and inflammatory changes the disease produces.48,49 The benefits of lipoic acid include promoting insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake.50-52 Diabetics are at increased risk for the kinds of cardiovascular problems that lipoic acid can prevent, including accumulation of cellular toxins.32,53 By protecting against endothelial damage, lipoic acid reduces the threat of diabetic vascular and kidney complications.26,54

Lipoic acid is proving to be especially effective at preventing the painful and debilitating condition known as diabetic neuropathy, an almost inevitable complication in people with poor blood sugar control.55 Diabetic neuropathy begins with pain, burning, and/or stabbing sensations in the extremities.56 In more advanced stages of this condition, the pain disappears as severe damage is done to microscopic blood vessels. Ultimately the loss of nerve function can lead to open sores, infections, and even amputations. Despite considerable knowledge about how diabetic neuropathy arises, no drug treatment has yet proved effective in preventing or reversing the condition.56

Lipoic acid’s powerful antioxidant actions limit damage to the lining and blood supply of nerves, helping to reduce both symptoms and nerve dysfunction.57 Clinical studies have uniformly demonstrated improvements in pain, numbness, and stinging, while also improving nerve conduction velocity, a measure of how efficiently nerves transmit electrical impulses.58-61 Studies have shown that lipoic acid produces significant improvements when administered for 3 weeks, and longer studies have shown sustained effects.62,63 Lipoic acid also has beneficial effects on circulation in patients with diabetic neuropathy, improving blood flow and the amount of blood reserve available during high demand.64

It’s essential to start early with optimal levels of lipoic acid to prevent diabetic neuropathy. People with good blood sugar control and younger patients do better, as do women, and thinner patients in general.58 While doses of up to 1,800 mg/day are well-tolerated, 600 mg/day of alpha-lipoic acid seems to produce the best results in those with diabetes.59 This translates into a 300 mg dose of R-lipoic acid to obtain the same biological activity.21,22

Protection from Brain Cell Degeneration

Lipoic acid protects brain tissue from the long-term effects of advanced glycation end products and the resulting inflammation and oxidative damage, conditions that lead to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.9,65,66 A hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease is the formation of an abnormal protein called amyloid-beta, the result of chronic inflammation and a producer of increased oxidative stress. Lipoic acid reduces amyloid-beta-induced inflammation and improves brain cells’ production of the chemical signaling molecules called neurotransmitters.67,68 Mitochondrial function is significantly impaired in the brains of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease patients and lipoic acid decreases mitochondrial oxidant stress in those cells.69,70

These effects work together with other nutrients like acetyl-L-carnitine, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), phosphatidylserine (PS), and glyceryl-phosphoryl-choline (GPC) to improve cognitive performance.71 Research has shown that lipoic acid prevents cell death in the brain regions most affected in Parkinson’s disease.72 These findings are both good news and important reminders of the need to incorporate lipoic acid early, before symptoms progress in these chronic, debilitating diseases. Lipoic acid may also have an important role in preventing the immune over-response that causes multiple sclerosis, another chronic, progressive brain disease.73-81

By increasing antioxidant capacity, scavenging free radicals, reducing lipid peroxidation, and enhancing energy utilization, lipoic acid may also minimize the damage produced by brain trauma.82 Lipoic acid has shown benefit in preventing trauma-related injuries to the brain, spinal cord, and even peripheral nerves, all of which are vulnerable following a major accident.83-85

Anti-Cancer Mechanisms

Cancer scientists are growing increasingly interested in lipoic acid because cancer cells offer many targets for its anti-inflammatory attributes.86 These attributes allow lipoic acid to intervene at multiple points in the chain of carcinogenesis.86,87 In experimental studies, lipoic acid shows promise against cancers of the blood (leukemia), lung, breast, and liver.88-93 Preliminary research indicates that lipoic acid acts to halt the cell reproductive cycle of cancer cells, slowing or stopping tumor growth.88,89 Lipoic acid may also help induce apoptosis, the programmed cell death that is the body’s natural control mechanism for weeding out nascent cancers.88-93 Lipoic acid also protects against chemical-induced DNA damage that can lead to cancerous transformation.94 Lipoic acid may help prevent metastatic cancer spread by reducing activity of enzymes that tumors use to invade tissues.93 Finally, in those unfortunate enough to require chemotherapy to treat an existing cancer, lipoic acid can afford powerful protection against some of the side effects, such as diarrhea, intestinal cramping, and ulcers, thanks to its antioxidant capabilities.87

Lipoic Acid: Research Update

An abundance of recently published studies reveals a wide range of new findings about lipoic acid:

Weight loss support. Overweight or obese individuals who received 1,800 mg of alpha lipoic acid daily for 20 weeks lost more weight compared with subjects who did not receive lipoic acid.95 This translates into 900 mg of the biologically active R-lipoic acid.

Migraine prevention. Individuals with frequent or poorly controlled migraine attacks who consumed lipoic acid each day displayed a trend toward fewer migraines.96 These findings build on earlier research suggesting a role for lipoic acid in migraine prevention.97

Improving endothelial function. Impaired glucose tolerance contributes to endothelial function, an underlying cause of cardiovascular disease. When lipoic acid was administered to individuals with newly diagnosed impaired fasting glucose, endothelial function improved, as did a marker of oxidative stress.98

Benefits for polycystic ovary syndrome. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PC OS) is characterized by hormone imbalances, irregular or absent menstrual periods, and blood sugar and lipid abnormalities. Lean, non-diabetic women with PC OS who consumed 600 mg of alpha lipoic acid daily demonstrated improved insulin sensitivity, decreased triglycerides, and beneficial changes in low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and some experienced more regular menstrual periods.99

Relieving back pain. Individuals undergoing rehabilitation therapy for back pain caused by disc compression of nerves who consumed 600 mg of alpha lipoic acid and 360 mg of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) daily experienced greater improvements in nerve pain, compared with patients undergoing rehabilitation alone.100

Preventing steroid-induced osteonecrosis. Corticosteroids such as prednisone threaten bone health and increase fracture risk by impairing blood flow to bone.101

 In an animal model, lipoic acid helped prevent steroid-induced osteonecrosis (bone death that increases fracture risk), possibly by reducing oxidative stress and/or by improving endothelial function.102

Decreasing leptin levels. Elevated levels of the fat-secreted hormone leptin are involved in the development of metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Lipoic acid administration to animals decreased circulating leptin and leptin expression in fat tissue.103 

Summary

Cells with mitochondria isolated from old animals degenerate far more rapidly than those with mitochondria from young animals, revealing the importance of healthy mitochondria to delay the aging process. When supplied with a nutrient regimen that includes lipoic acid, a profound regenerative effect is observed, including improved metabolic function and significant declines in oxidative stress.

Recent data reveal that lipoic acid specifically targets factors that contribute to mitochondrial aging, dysfunction, and cell death. Lipoic acid can prevent and even mitigate cardiovascular diseases, obesity, insulin resistance, and complications of diabetes. Lipoic acid protects against nerve and brain cell damage induced by aging and trauma.

New evidence suggests that lipoic acid may also have important cancer-preventive effects, even against some of the most difficult-to-treat malignancies.

http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?libid=19361

Can Botox Help Neuropathy

Today's post from painresearchforum.org (see link below) looks at an issue that fascinates almost everyone from scientists to patients alike and that is whether Botox can help reduce neuropathic pain in humans. It was found that Botox can have a positive effect on people suffering from migraines but despite extensive research, the scientists can't establish why. However, extrapolating the science, it seems that Botox injected elsewhere in the body may have an equally beneficial effect on painful peripheral nerves - hence the hope that it can help people living with neuropathy. There have been whispers for years about Botox being a possible treatment but it has never translated to mainstream medical thinking. Now it looks as though it at least needs to be taken seriously as an option. You may need a dictionary of modern molecular biology to read this article (nothing more guaranteed to keep the public out of the picture than creating a whole new language!) but you will certainly get the gist of what's going on and opening the discussion with your doctor or neurologist may provide more information and tell you at what stage the whole investigation is at. Interesting!

Botulinum Toxin Targets Mechanosensitive Nociceptors
Results provide hints about analgesic effects in migraine, other pain conditions
by Stephani Sutherland on 1 May 2014


Botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A), a potentially deadly, muscle-paralyzing neurotoxin, has been famously repurposed to smooth out facial wrinkles, relax muscle spasms, and, recently, to treat headaches associated with chronic migraine. Despite intense ongoing study of BoNT-A for migraine and other pain conditions including osteoarthritis and peripheral neuropathy, researchers are still mostly mystified by the question of how the toxin stops pain. Two papers now show that BoNT-A selectively pacifies sensory neurons that detect mechanical pain in rodents and humans.

The first paper, published April 8 in Cephalagia, comes from Rami Burstein and colleagues at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, US, in collaboration with Allergan, Irvine, California, US (the maker of onabotulinum toxin A, marketed as BOTOX®). Burstein’s group found that BoNT-A specifically reduced neural responses to painful mechanical stimuli in both naïve and sensitized peripheral trigeminal nociceptors in rats.

“This study is the first to test BoNT-A effects on nociceptive neurons believed to mediate migraine headache,” wrote Andrew Russo in an editorial accompanying the research report (Russo, 2014). “As such, it takes us a step closer to understanding how this therapy may benefit migraine patients,” wrote Russo, a neuroscientist at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, US.

The headache component of migraine is thought to stem, at least in part, from activation of pain-sensing neurons of the trigeminovascular system, which innervate the meninges and its associated blood vessels surrounding the brain. To look at the effect of BoNT-A on those neurons, Burstein and collaborators made electrophysiological recordings from sensory neurons in the rat trigeminal ganglia while stimulating the exposed meninges with mechanical probes. Nearly half of small, unmyelinated C-fiber nociceptors became less sensitive to pain-inducing mechanical stimulation following application of BoNT-A, but the toxin did not affect cells’ responses to non-noxious mechanical stimuli.

Researchers believe that trigeminal neurons in migraine become sensitized the same way they do in other inflammatory conditions—via release of inflammatory molecules that amplify nociceptor signaling. To recapitulate that sensitization, the researchers doused the dura with a cocktail of inflammatory mediators. Spontaneous and mechanically evoked neuronal activity increased significantly following application of the cocktail; this hyperactivity was reduced back toward baseline levels after BoNT-A treatment. The toxin also worked prophylactically; pretreatment of the dura with BoNT-A prevented the increased spontaneous activity and sensitization to high-intensity stimulation in C-fibers, but again did not affect responses to non-noxious mechanical stimuli.

Together, the results indicate that BoNT-A specifically reduces high-threshold mechanical transduction in both naïve and sensitized C-fiber nociceptors. “It blocks one thing,” said Burstein, “the ability of the nerves to be activated by mechanical pain.”

That raised an anatomical question, said Burstein: “How can a drug that you inject in the scalp—outside the skull—interact with pain fibers inside the head?” Burstein’s group previously showed that trigeminal pain fibers extend nerve endings that exit the cranium through the sutures, tiny fissures between skull bones (Kosaras et al., 2009). To see whether the toxin targeted these extracranial pain fibers, the researchers applied BoNT-A outside the sutures. As with the dural application, extracranial BoNT-A did not change neurons’ spontaneous activity but assuaged their responses to strong extracranial mechanical stimuli. This suggests that BoNT-A could act, at least in part, directly on extracranial afferents.

But there may be other routes for the toxin to affect trigeminal pathways. In a recent PRF webinar, speaker Andrew Charles, University of California at Los Angeles, US, and panelists Russo, Robert Shapiro, and Gregory Dussor discussed the Burstein paper. Dussor, University of Texas at Dallas, US, said, “New studies show that BOTOX does not stay in the location where it is injected, but that it might actually move throughout the nervous system—even trans-synaptically.” So in addition to working at peripheral nerve endings found outside the skull, BoNT-A may also be transported back to the CNS and possibly to other neurons as well, he added. (See Dussor’s comment, below for further discussion.) Shapiro, University of Vermont, Burlington, US, also pointed out that BoNT-A’s enzymatic activity likely persists long after it has moved to new locales, perhaps cleaving protein targets along the way (see PRF related webinar discussion of BoNT-A starting at 1:16).

BoNT-A quiets human nociceptors, too

In a second paper, published February 18 in Annals of Neurology (Paterson et al., 2014), David Bennett at the University of Oxford, UK, and collaborators including co-first authors Kathryn Paterson at King’s College London and Stéphane Lolignier at University College London, UK, showed that BoNT-A could selectively and persistently block mechanical pain sensation in the skin of healthy human volunteers. In the study, 24 subjects received a weekly injection of BoNT-A in one leg and saline in the other. Quantitative sensory testing revealed that BoNT-A treatment blunted mechanical pain but left temperature and non-painful mechanical sensations intact. Subjects also reported less itch and pain in response to topical application of histamine and allyl isothiocynate (AITC; a pain-evoking chemical), respectively, in the BoNT-A-treated leg compared to control. Bennett’s findings indicate that BoNT-A selectively reduced mechanical pain sensitivity.

To determine if BoNT-A may target mechanical pain throughout the peripheral nervous system and in particular sensory neuron function, the group looked at the effects of the toxin on electrophysiological responses of cultured rat dorsal root ganglia neurons. BoNT-A did not change basal neuronal excitability, but fewer neurons displayed a slowly adapting, mechanically sensitive ion current in treated compared to control cultures. Other mechanically activated currents were unaffected, mirroring the team’s psychophysical findings in humans.

Both groups concluded that BoNT-A might affect an ion channel that transduces high-threshold mechanical stimuli in nociceptors. Together, Bennett told PRF in an email that the findings “provide a novel locus of action for this agent,” albeit a mysterious one. “We are still awaiting confirmation as to the molecular entity mediating noxious mechanosensation in mammals. Piezo proteins are important candidates, although the currents mediated by these channels are reported to be rapidly adapting (as opposed to the slowly adapting currents we were recording). This is a rapidly moving area, and we are eagerly awaiting the results of gene knockout studies to clarify this point,” Bennett added.

Bennett wrote, “We [and Burstein] both found that BoNT-A had a delayed effect in reducing the response to noxious mechanical stimuli.” Because of that delayed response—which took hours to develop in the rat and emerged over several weeks in the human study—the scientists concurred that BoNT-A probably does not immediately affect channel function, as some toxins do, but instead, they speculated that it may affect delivery of a mechanosensing protein or proteins to the cell membrane (for more, see comment below from Dussor).

That fits with botulinum toxin’s known mechanism of action, which is to interfere with fusion of synaptic vesicles with the plasma membrane, a key step in both neurotransmitter release and membrane protein trafficking. The idea also jibes with growing evidence for regulated subcellular translocation of TRP channels and other proteins as a driving force for nociceptor sensitization, and pain hypersensitivity.

“I think that is a real, attractive possibility,” said Russo during the PRF webinar, “and an area of cell biology that has been overlooked. There is a lot of room for botulinum toxin to act on cell mechanisms that would affect receptor localization, which would lead to plasticity and potentially cause chronic pain,” he suggested.

Many questions remain about the mechanism of action and selectivity of BoNT-A on mechanosensitive nociceptors. Paradoxically, the lethal toxin may give new life to studies on regulated protein trafficking in chronic pain and possibly offer a novel route to stopping some kinds of pain.

Stephani Sutherland, PhD, is a neuroscientist, yogi, and freelance writer in Southern California, US.

http://painresearchforum.org/news/40155-botulinum-toxin-targets-mechanosensitive-nociceptors

Can Chiropractic Techniques Help With Neuropathic Problems

Today's post from diabetesnewsjournal.com (see link below) addresses the perennially thorny topic of whether chiropractitioners can be of help to neuropathy sufferers. It's fair to say that 9 out of 10 neurologists will dismiss this idea with a snigger but there are many cases of nerve damage patients being helped by chiropractic techniques but it may depend on the cause of the nerve damage and whether that can be helped directly. At least this article doesn't claim that chiropractic care can 'cure' neuropathy; it makes a claim for this sort of care to be an element in an overall strategy. If you see chiropractic clinics offering 'cures' for nerve damage, please ignore them and don't waste your money or run the risk of further damage. These clinics, or so-called medical practitioners can not provide a cure - there is no cure - end of argument. However if a chiropractioner offers his or her services as part of a wider treatment strategy, it may be worth discussing it with your home doctor or neurologist. Remember though, if you're paying for this treatment, you need to be convinced that it will help.

Chiropractic Care May Help Control Peripheral Neuropathy in Diabetics
March 17th, 2015 Leonor Mateus Ferreira 

While about 60% of patients who suffer from diabetes also develop peripheral neuropathy, a nerve condition that causes tingling, numbing and tickling in the extremities, the Raveling Chiropractic Center is implementing a new technique to treat the disease. According to the center, chiropractic care may offer several benefits to treat the disorder.

Chiropractor Paul Raveling administers chiropractic care at his center with patients who suffer from peripheral neuropathy to help with the management of pain as well by treating the underlying cause. In addition to pain and numbness, the condition can include a variety of other symptoms such as prickling and throbbing or a freezing sensation. In addition, it can also damage the brain’s capacity to communicate properly with regions of the body.

“Chiropractic care is an effective treatment for peripheral neuropathy because it targets the root cause for a patient’s pain symptoms; we do not simply rely on medication to numb this pain,” explained Raveling in a press release. “While chiropractic care is not a ‘cure’ for peripheral neuropathy, it is an important part of an effective treatment program.”

“Treatment programs that cover up the symptoms are ignoring the bigger problem. As a chiropractor, I follow a ‘whole body’ approach to treatment, which means we start by addressing the underlying trigger for a patient’s pain,” he continued, explaining that a diagnostic exam is conducted in order to identify the cause of the pain and understand which specialty of care is needed in addition to chiropractic care.

The chiropractor believes that early diagnosis and treatment may reduce the severity of the motor nerve and sensory nerve damage, as well as help patients with the management of the disease. In addition, Raveling noted that the pain symptoms associated with peripheral neuropathy indicate poor health conditions and need to be evaluated carefully.

Peripheral neuropathy is a condition often associated with diabetes, despite the fact it can also be caused by autoimmune disorders, tumors, nutritional imbalances or infections, and it can even be hereditary. The nerve disorder currently affects about 20 million people in the United States, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and while the symptoms may seem unimportant, early diagnosis may prevent further complications.

“Everyone experiences peripheral neuropathy a little differently. For some individuals, the pain may come and go, while for others, the pain may be constant. As the condition worsens, individuals may experience coordination and balance loss, along with a freezing pain, muscle weakness or extreme sensitivity to touch. I urge anyone who may be experiencing these symptoms to seek immediate treatment,” added Raveling.

The University of Kansas and Irving-based company Reata Pharmaceuticals have also recently established a partnership to develop drug technologies discovered by a professor of medicinal chemistry Brian Blagg and professor of pharmacology and toxicology Rick Dobrowsky. These compounds, called “novologues,” are expected to become a treatment option for diabetic peripheral neuropathy as well.

http://diabetesnewsjournal.com/2015/03/17/chiropractic-care-may-help-control-peripheral-neuropathy-in-diabetics/

CAN SLEEP LOSS AFFECT YOUR BRAIN SIZE

Sleep difficulties may be linked to faster rates of decline in brain volume, according to a study published in the September 3, 2014, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology

Sleep has been proposed to be "the brain's housekeeper," serving to repair and restore the brain.

The study included 147 adults 20 and 84 years old. Researchers examined the link between sleep difficulties, such as having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at night, and brain volume.

All participants underwent two MRI brain scans, an average of 3.5 years apart, before completing a questionnaire about their sleep habits.

A total of 35 percent of the participants met the criteria for poor sleep quality, scoring an average of 8.5 out of 21 points on the sleep assessment. The assessment looked at how long people slept, how long it took them to fall asleep at night, use of sleeping medications, and other factors.

The study found that sleep difficulties were linked with a more rapid decline in brain volume over the course of the study in widespread brain regions, including within frontal, temporal and parietal areas.

The results were more pronounced in people over 60 years old.

"It is not yet known whether poor sleep quality is a cause or consequence of changes in brain structure," said study author Claire E. Sexton, DPhil, with the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. "There are effective treatments for sleep problems, so future research needs to test whether improving people's quality of sleep could slow the rate of brain volume loss. If that is the case, improving people's sleep habits could be an important way to improve brain health."

Fakers Can Make Your Neuropathy Worse

The Cruelty Of Spamming
Dave R 2nd August 2014

Today's post is a warning to watch out for unscrupulous con-men and women who wish to take advantage of your health problems by offering cures for the cause of your neuropathy. It especially applies to the current scourge of spammers who claim to have been to a doctor and had their HIV cured but the same sort of tricks appear for other diseases as well. Please don't buy into these promises of a cure. The fact of the matter is that there is no cure for HIV/Aids, cancer, neuropathy and many others at this moment in time. The best anyone can do is hold your disease in check and help relieve the symptoms. These criminals prey on people's insecurities and desperation and do not have your best interests at heart.
Below is an example of the sort of mail that regularly appears here at this blog. It's cruel and misleading and has no place in an environment where we are just trying to provide accurate information to help people with neuropathy. There are countless variations of the same mail in circulation - they are all fake!

HI My Name is MARIAN DUSS, I wish to share my testimonies with the general public about what this man called Dr lawcy of( drlawcyspellhome@gmail.com ] has just done for me , this man has just did what I thought nobody will ever do for me, i was HIV positive when one of my family friend introduce this man to me, I never believed that great DR LAWCY could do this, when I contacted him on this same issue on ground, he casted some spell for me and gave me some parcel to drink, now I am so happy to say that the virus I was having In my body have left me. All thanks to DR LAWCY If you are out there passing through this same kind of problems you can contact him today on his mail ( drlawcyspellhome@gmail.com. ) and he will also help you as well with his great spell caster, THANKS BE TO DR LAWCY....

This post doesn't address the problems we have with equally unscrupulous sellers of various treatments for neuropathy via the internet. That's a post for another day and at this point it's only necessary to warn you that you should watch out for bogus clinics and so-called treatment centres which claim to be able to 'cure' your neuropathy if you buy into their treatments. They can't. So if you see the word cure in an advertisment, please proceed no further. 

neuropathyandhiv.blogspot.com

Can You Laugh At Your Nerve Pain

Today's post from scopeblog.stanford.edu (see link below) has no direct link to neuropathy but does have a link with living with chronic pain and if you have nerve damage, you know you belong in that family. it's basically an account of how someone compensates their chronic pain with humour and laughter. you need to read the article to see how this works for her but the point on this blog is that we (neuropathy patients) could seriously do with a good laugh now and then, so if you have any funny jokes related to pain, or neuropathy, or any funny stories from the same source, please send them in and share them with the rest of us. Googling 'neuropathy jokes' is a bit like looking for an oasis in the desert but there must be related humour out there somewhere!! Otherwise, this article may just stimulate your laughter buds into action - it's the best form of pain distraction you know.

Laughing through the pain: A comedy writer’s experience with chronic illness
Inspire Contributor on October 13, 2015

We’ve partnered with Inspire, a company that builds and manages online support communities for patients and caregivers, on a patient-focused series here on Scope. Once a month, patients affected by serious and often rare diseases share their unique stories; this month’s column comes from a Los Angeles woman with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

When you fall down at least once a week, you learn to laugh it off. No matter how much it hurts, you laugh because you know it makes other people more comfortable with what’s going on. If they believe you’re all right, your story is a comedy rather than a tragedy. I’m quite sure that this lesson I learned as a child (and have called on hundreds of times since) had a big part in my decision to become a comedy writer and performer, a career I began a decade before I was finally diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

Everyone with my rare connective tissue disorder knows the routine of explaining our condition to others. I like to gauge at what point a healthy person’s eyes glaze over and they check out completely; it’s usually around when I get to my issues that are caused by EDS, like arthritis and gastroparesis. After my first few monotonous rundowns of what ails me failed to enthrall anyone, I began weaving elements of humor into my explanations: “I have hip dysplasia, so I can’t be in the Westminster dog show… My joints hyperextend, which is great for sex but terrible for JV soccer… I tore my hamstring in Greece, but it’s not like that’s the worst thing that ever happened there.” Once engaged, people are much more likely to find some aspect of my condition that interests them and ask about that. This type of light interaction is far more comfortable than feeling like I’m teaching an NIH seminar on some disease nobody cares about.

In my experience, the people who really appreciate someone with a sense of humor are those I rely on most: Doctors and nurses. Just after my diagnosis, I was so confused and in so much pain that I was relatively curt with medical professionals. I also thought that if I even smiled, they would think I was faking my illness. But once my symptoms started to improve a bit and I understood more about what was happening, I tried being open and jovial with those who were treating me. The result was great; it should not have come as a surprise that a doctor who likes his patient is more likely to pay attention to her. Regardless of how badly I feel or how much I think something devastating may be happening to my body, I now try my hardest to make whatever dumb jokes I can manage in the hospital or at the doctor’s office. The staff members, many of whom somehow make it through day after day of maudlin events and miserable people, respond quite positively to my Tommy Boy quotes and ridiculous metaphors about how the exam room smells like a robot dog’s pee. (In fact, I would like to think I get better treatment because of David Spade.)

The need to laugh off my issues has become so innate that it is now my first response when I go into shock. My old roommate loves to tell the story of when I stepped onto our back porch and it looked like a sniper hit me: I was down in an instant. She ran out to see what was wrong and found me laughing hysterically, screaming, “I’m fine! Everything’s fine!” When I saw her worried, maternal expression, it made me even more afraid; I knew I had to alleviate her concern for both of our sakes, so I kept up my laughing and made jokes even as the unbelievable pain set in. As it turns out, I had ruptured my Achilles tendon and torn my calf muscle so badly that the orthopedic surgeon said it looked “like pulled pork; like a zipper went down the whole thing from top to bottom.” Looking back, I laughed and joked to make my roommate think everything was fine – the way you would treat a toddler who fell down and looks to you to gauge the severity of his injuries – but really I was the toddler, and making myself laugh got me through it.

I do not know where my life would be without my love of comedy, nor how I would have made it through the ups and downs of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. When it comes to relating to people, passing time in the hospital, or just convincing ourselves that there’s a lighter side to almost every situation, the most important part of the human body is the funny bone.

Paula Dixon is a comedy writer and photographer based in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the Spéos Institute of Photography in Paris. She will be returning soon with her humorous podcast The Chronic Life, which covers chronic illness as well as pop culture and personal revelations.

http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2015/10/13/laughing-through-the-pain-a-comedy-writers-experience-with-chronic-illness/

COMMON DIABETES DRUG CAN REDUCE BAD CHOLESTEROL

A common diabetes drug Metformin can also help lower “bad” cholesterol that is known for promoting cardiovascular diseases by hardening the arteries, significant research has found.

“The findings suggest that Metformin might indeed have an additional beneficial effect with regards to cardiovascular diseases among the diabetes patients”, said study first author Dr Tao Xu from Helmholtz Zentrum Minchen, the German research centre for environment health in Neuherberg.

Along with the team from the German Diabetes Centre (DDZ) in Dusseldorf, Dr Tu and colleagues analysed more than 1,800 blood samples of participants.

Using a comprehensive approach, the scientists investigated metabolic products (metabolites) as well as genetics of these participants.

They found that the administration of Metformin in patients suffering from Type 2 Diabetes led to a change in metabolite levels.

According to the authors, this was associated with a significantly decreased level of LDL or “bad” cholesterol.

The researchers speculate that Metformin intake affects the levels of LDL cholesterol, leading to a down-regulation of specific genes.

“This is also supported by the fact that three lipid metabolites are decreased after taking the diabetes drug. Presumably, this is the mechanism how the production of ‘LDL’ cholesterol is repressed by Metformin,” explained

Dr Rui Wang-Sattler from the institute of epidemiology II of the Helmholtz Zentrum Minchen.

“Until now the exact mechanism is unclear. Thus, we want to continue our contribution to its decryption”, added co-study author Dr Stefan Brandmaier in a paper published in the journal Diabetes Care.

Metformin is the oldest and most frequently used oral anti-diabetes drug.

It affects blood fat levels via AMPK signalling pathway. The AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an enzyme that determines the energy status of the cell.

In case, the energy status is low, AMPK stops energy consuming processes like the synthesis of cholesterol or fatty acids.

Athletes Can Help With Pain Management

Today's post from eurekalert.org (see link below) looks at why it seems that athletes have a higher pain threshold than the general population and asks the question whether specific forms of exercise can reduce the need for pain-controlling drugs. Neuropathy patients have difficulty with most forms of exercise, so any new developments will need to be targeted towards the capabilities of people with chronic nerve pain. Studies will need to be carried out by people with a thorough knowledge of how neuropathy works but maybe electronic fitness equipment can be modified to stimulate the right muscles, nerves and organs.

 

Higher pain tolerance in athletes may hold clues for pain
management
Public release date: 17-May-2012

Regular exercise may help, according to new study in Pain

Philadelphia, PA, May 17, 2012 – Stories of athletes bravely "playing through the pain" are relatively common and support the widespread belief that they experience pain differently than non-athletes. Yet, the scientific data on pain perception in athletes has been inconsistent, and sometimes contradictory. Investigators from the University of Heidelberg have conducted a meta-analysis of available research and find that in fact, athletes can indeed tolerate a higher level of pain than normally active people. However, pain threshold, the minimum intensity at which a stimulus is perceived as painful, did not differ in athletes and normal controls. Their findings are published in the June issue of Pain®.

"Our analysis reveals that pain perception differs in athletes compared to normally active controls," says lead investigator Jonas Tesarz, MD. "Studies in athletes offer the opportunity for an evaluation of the physical and psychological effects of regular activity on pain perception, which might foster the development of effective types of exercise for relief in pain patients."
Researchers reviewed fifteen studies that evaluated experimentally induced pain threshold or tolerance in athletes compared to normally active controls. 568 athletes and 331 normally active controls were included. Eight of the studies were conducted in the USA, two in Canada, one in Australia, and four were conducted in Europe. The studies, which included both men and women, evaluated endurance sports, game sports, and strength sports. Twelve studies reported on pain tolerance, and nine studies examined pain threshold.
Athletes were found to have consistently higher pain tolerance in comparison to normally active adults. The magnitude of pain that athletes could withstand varied depending upon the type of sport in which they participate. For example, endurance athletes had a moderate tolerance for pain and their scores were fairly uniform. Athletes involved in game sports had a higher tolerance for pain than other athletes, but the results varied widely, suggesting that endurance athletes are more alike in their physical and psychological profiles, while athletes involved in game sports are more diverse.

The finding that regular exercise is clearly associated with higher pain tolerance, but pain thresholds are affected more ambiguously, likely has clinical implications, according to Dr. Tesarz. "Numerous studies of the effect of physical exercise in pain patients demonstrate a consistent impact on quality of life and functioning without an improvement in pain scores. It may be advisable in exercise treatment for pain patients to focus on the development of their pain-coping skills that would affect tolerance, rather than the direct alleviation of pain threshold," he notes.

"Further research is needed to clarify the exact relationship between physical activity and modifications in pain perception, and to identify the involved psychological factors and neurobiological processes. However, the observation that pain perception is modifiable by physical activity provides promise for the use of non-invasive methods with few side effects for patients with chronic pain conditions," concludes Dr. Tesarz.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-05/ehs-hpt051512.php

SUPERSENSITIVE NANO DEVICE CAN DETECT EXTREMELY EARLY CANCERS

Extremely early detection of cancers and other diseases is on the horizon with a supersensitive nanodevice being developed at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) in collaboration with The Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN) in Greensboro, NC.

A nanoprobe that's 125 microns in diameter with gold nanodots on a 4-micron fiber core is at the heart of the machine.

Each gold nanodot looks like a disc and is 160 nanometers in diameter, says Dr. Lin. That's too small for the human eye to see -- in fact, the nanoprobe has to be assembled using an electron microscope. The probe is coated with a biochemical link so that specific antibodies for the particular test will attach to it.

"We use each antibody because it has the ability to bond to its specific antigens. Once the antibody binds to it, we can test for the amount of antigens present," Dr. Lin says. That test is based on light refraction from antigens bound to the antibodies on the nanoprobe.

"The properties of the nanoparticles will give you a resonance shift upon a biological binding reaction," Dr. Lin says. The fiber optic strand on which the sensors are attached directs the resulting light waves to a spectrometer and a computer determines the test result.

"It's personalized medicine but it's also a form of preventative medicine," says Taylor Bono, a UAH senior from Madison who is pursuing a medical career and has helped with the research.

Until the packaging and integration work is funded, the testing equipment resides on the corner of a workbench in a lab in the UAH Optics Building. Early tests involved identifying DNA profiles before the research evolved into antigens.

Bono did some of the early sensitivity testing work along with UAH senior Molly Sanders of Huntsville, who is an undergraduate concurrently working on her master's degree in biology as part of UAH's Joint Undergraduate Master's Program (JUMP).

"Even though I was unfamiliar with physics, I could help with the biological side of it. I never would have known anything about this if I hadn't had this opportunity," says Sanders. The two worked together in 2013 with Prostate Specific Antigen solutions to determine the device's sensitivity. Sanders is the principal author and Bono an author of a paper about this research.

"The most significant aspect of the device medically is that it can detect trace levels of cancer biomarkers in the blood," Sanders says.

The lab work is now the responsibility of UAH junior Savannah Kaye of Lebanon, Penn. "I test the nanoprobe tip in two different solutions to see if antibodies will stick to it," she says.

UAH Associate Vice President for Research Dr. Robert Lindquist, the former director of the Center for Applied Optics, was an early contributor to the research, Dr. Lin says. "He is a strong supporter of this project."

How Lonely Can Pain Be

Today's post from www.psychologytoday.com (see link below) looks at a very important side effect of chronic neuropathic pain (irrespective of the cause) and that is loneliness. The psychological effects of long-term pain should never be underestimated and can be just as damaging as the physical problems. It's important to seek help if you can and not neglect it or try to shrug it off as being inevitable. In the end, many people end up in a vicious circle of pain and depression, each of which worsens as a result of the other. Well worth a read.

Listening to Pain: Finding words, compassion, and relief 
The Loneliness of Pain
Acknowledging the isolating quality of pain
Published on August 24, 2011 by David Biro, M.D., Ph.D. in Listening to Pain
David Foster Wallace, the acclaimed writer, suffered from depression. The first line of a short story he wrote captures one of the most under appreciated but devastating insights about the experience of pain:

The depressed person was in terrible and unceasing emotional pain, and the impossibility of sharing or articulating this pain was itself a component of the pain and a contributing factor in its essential horror.

Part of what makes pain "painful" is its privacy and unsharability, the feeling of aloneness. That goes for physical pain as well as psychological pain. "Nothing is quite so isolating," writes Robert Murphy in a memoir about his struggle with cancer, "as the knowledge that when one hurts, nobody else feels the pain; that when one sickens, the malaise is a private affair; and that when one dies, the world continues with barely a ripple."

This under appreciated feature (to that outsider, that is) is especially true for pain that persists, chronic versus acute pain. When you break a bone, the pain can be excruciating and isolating for hours or days, but once it lets up, you can return to the intrinsically social being that defines our species. When the pain goes on for months or years, as it does for people with back pain or fibromyalgia, it becomes more and more difficult to reintegrate oneself into a world that has no idea what you are experiencing.

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Pain causes this rupture because it inverts our normal perspective. Instead of reaching out to other people in work or play, we turn inward and self protective. This is an instinctive, understandable response. Something is wrong inside of me and so I must attend and focus on the threat and make sure it doesn't get any worse.

But while the pain inside looms so large for the person experiencing it, it is often invisible to the person viewing it from the outside, a doctor, a spouse, or a friend. Even when they see something wrong on the surface of the body, a bleeding wound for example, they don't "see" the pain, which may or may not be as severe as the person claims. And when there is nothing to see on the surface, in the case of migraine or neuropathic pain, the doubt only increases: How can one be sure? And even if the outsider believes the sufferer, it is difficult for him or her to imagine what it's like or how severe it is (how easily the pain-free forget past pains); or at times, the outsider simply doesn't want to hear about the pain over and over again: Enough already, what's so important to you is not so important to me.

When you combine a sufferer who sees only his pain with an outsider who can't see it at all, the result is a widening of the normal barrier that exists between people. A great wall has suddenly sprung up. I remember feeling just this way in the hospital during my bone marrow transplant when the pain was at its worst. Though I was surrounded by the people I loved most in the world, my wife, my family my friends, I might as well have been on another planet. They couldn't hear my screams. They had no idea what was happening on my side of the wall.

When we appreciate this essential feature of pain - that the loneliness can hurt as much as the "burning" or "stabbing" quality, and that the longer it persists, the worse the entire pain experience becomes -- we must recognize that there is more to do than surgery or analgesics. Of course, fix the disc problem if it can be fixed, and prescribe enough pain medication, but also try to breach the wall between patient and world that contributes to the suffering.

Simply listening can help by showing that there is someone who hears you, that you are not alone. Better yet, figure out ways to make pain more communicable and sharable -- through words or pictures or whatever other kinds of language can be summoned for the task (the subject of a future posting) - so that person on the other side of the wall is not only present but actually begins to understand what you are feeling. In this sense language can be as soothing as our most powerful medicines.

References:
David Foster Wallace, "The Depressed Person," (Harpers Magazine, Jan 1998).
Robert F. Murphy, The Body Silent: The Different World of the Disabled, (Norton, 1990).
David Biro, One Hundred Days: My Unexpected Journey from Doctor to Patient, (Vintage, 2001)

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/listening-pain/201108/the-loneliness-pain

Can A Gluten Free Diet Help With Your Neuropathy

Today's post from themodernlucy.blogspot.nl (see link below) is a personal account (with no link to HIV) by a woman with neuropathic problems. She found that adopting a gluten-free diet helped considerably. A gluten free diet is not easy and may not be for everyone but there are certainly considerable numbers of people who's condition has been improved by cutting out gluten. If going the whole hog is too difficult, then reducing your intake of meat and dairy foods may help anyway.

How Peripheral Neuropathy Has Changed My Life
Thursday, June 7, 2012

Since about 4 months after my surgery, I have had peripheral neuropathy off and on. It basically feels like tingling and numbness in all my extremities, numbness in my face, and tingling on my scalp. Most doctors that I saw shortly after my experience felt that it was all psychological, but as time went on, I felt better and better psychologically but still had this feeling. I also had severe digestive issues.

I was told the only way to stop my stomach pain was to have surgery again. And, I was told that nothing would stop the peripheral neuropathy but more and more drugs. I refused both courses.

Today I can say that a gluten-free diet has improved both of these issues. I have tested it now for about the 4th time, and every time I go off the gluten-free diet, my peripheral neuropathy and brain fog get worse, and by the 4th time, they become unmanageable (I could barely get through the day). When I maintain the diet, these issues become nonexistent. Also, on the diet, I have no stomach pain or digestive issues.

Why does gluten-free help? I have no idea. I could be a celiac, but there is really no way to know. I am not willing to eat gluten for long enough to have a biopsy to verify that diagnosis because I just feel so horrible when I eat it. I have always had stomach issues, so it is very possibly that I've always had an issue with gluten. It could be postmenopausal gluten intolerance which is also very common. I plan to take it up with my doctor on my yearly appointment.

The fact that I feel so much better without the gluten is really amazing. I never thought I could get here. I do believe everything happens for a reason, and maybe I needed to have that surgery to get to where I am today with my health.

Our whole family is trying to eat a more whole foods diet. I am working on a new meal plan. I posted earlier about how I had finished a meal plan. Well, that was before I realized how crucial being gluten-free is to my well being, and it was before we decided not to eat as much meat and dairy products. We are now trying out new recipes and working on a new meal plan. I will start posting recipes soon.

 http://themodernlucy.blogspot.nl/2012/06/how-peripheral-neuropathy-has-changed.html

MEDITATION CAN HELP REDUCE MIGRAINE PAIN

For those suffering from migraine attacks, daily meditation might be a good idea for instant relief.

During a small study, researchers assessed the safety, feasibility and effects of a standardised meditation and yoga intervention called mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in adults with migraines.

Nineteen adults were assigned to two groups with 10 receiving the MBSR intervention and nine receiving standard medical care.

The participants attended eight weekly classes to learn MBSR techniques and were instructed to practice 45 minutes on their own at least five additional days per week.

“We found that MBSR participants had trends of fewer migraines that were less severe,” said Rebecca Erwin Wells, an assistant professor of neurology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre in North Carolina.

Secondary effects included headaches that were shorter in duration and less disabling.

Participants had increases in mindfulness and self-efficacy – a sense of personal control over migraine pain.

“In addition, there were no adverse events and excellent adherence,” Wells reported.

Specifically, the MBSR participants had 1.4 fewer migraines per month that were less severe.

The participants’ headaches were significantly shorter as compared to the control group.

“MBSR is a safe and feasible therapy for adults with migraines. Although the sample size of this pilot study was small, secondary outcomes demonstrated this intervention had a beneficial effect on headache duration, disability, self-efficacy and mindfulness,” researchers concluded.

The paper was published online in the journal Headache.

Can Yoga Help With Nerve Pain

Today's post from livestrong.com (see link below) looks at the potential benefits of yoga for people living with neuropathy. To my mind, this may be literally 'stretching' a point when it comes to the relief of nerve pain (especially in the feet and legs). If you've ever tried yoga, you'll know that it requires a level of fitness that tests even the healthiest bodies and while its benefits are sworn by, neuropathy patients may not be prepared to go through yet more pain to achieve a non-guaranteed end-result. Where it may well help is with people who are at the beginning stages of peripheral neuropathy and who can do the exercises (however gentle) without too much physical strain but I do wonder how many long-term neuropathy patients will be willing to take the risk. It may also help with neuropathy conditions such as sciatica, where entrapment is probably involved. However, we all know that exercise is good (and even necessary) for neuropathy patients but subscribing to the theory of 'no pain, no gain' may just be a stretch too far. I'm very willing to be proved wrong here and success stories will be published.
 

Yoga for Peripheral Neuropathy
by ANDREA CESPEDES Last Updated: Dec 24, 2010

Tingling, numbness, sensitivity to touch and lack of coordination are all telltale signs that you may have damage to your peripheral nervous system, a condition known as peripheral neuropathy. Yoga is one of many therapies that may help strengthen the communication pathways between your nerves and your brain, alleviating symptoms and discouraging progression. 

A Peripheral Neuropathy Primer

Your peripheral nervous system consists of the sensors that transmit information between your brain and spinal cord and the rest of your body, including your skin, digits, arms and legs. Muscle weakness, abnormal sensitivity to temperature changes and, over time, paralysis, impaired digestion and disrupted endocrine function can develop.

Causes of peripheral neuropathy are varied. You might experience it as a result of a traumatic accident, such as a fall or car accident; repetitive stress, as is the case in carpal tunnel syndrome; or from metabolic and endocrine disorders, which includes diabetes. Cancer, certain infections, autoimmune disorders, nueromas and small vessel disorders may also be to blame.

Regardless of the cause of your nervous system compromise, you want to increase the communication between your spine, brain and nerves throughout your body. While your doctor must help you treat the underlying condition, yoga can assist in symptom management. 

Yoga's Potential

Research has revealed potential for treatment of neuropathy with yoga practice. A 2002 issue of the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology reported a study showing that, among 20 people with type 2 diabetes, yoga performed 30 to 40 minutes daily for 40 days improved nerve function and glycemic control (high glycemic levels aggravate neuropathy.)

A 2012 review of the research of the effects of yoga on nervous system disorders published in Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology confirmed yoga as a valid integrative and complementary therapy for conditions such as peripheral neuropathy. Remember that yoga ought to be combined with other treatments; it shouldn't be your only line of attack. Lifestyle modifications, medical interventions and electrical nerve stimulation are also important strategies.
 
Poses to Practice

The severity of your condition determines the type and intensity of yoga you'll practice to address peripheral neuropathy. Less-advanced cases may do well with a Hatha-style class that involves seated and standing postures, including Triangle pose, Camel and Bow pose.


More advanced neuropathy may require a gentler practice, but you can still benefit from meditation, gentle twists and supported backbends. Use a bolster or block for support in Bridge pose or reclining Hero, for example.

All of these poses are particularly beneficial in opening the front side of your body, increasing oxygenation of tissues and improving blood circulation to nerves.
The Benefits of Relaxation

A regular yoga practice teaches you to handle the stress of living with peripheral neuropathy. Meditation and deep breathing helps you learn how to live through distraction, even painful physical ones as can happen with nerve disorders. When you learn how to breathe and be present on the mat, you can more easily shift into a pattern of acceptance off the mat. Peripheral neuropathy can't be cured, only contained, so acceptance is essential.

The body-mind connection acquired through yoga also helps benefit you when trying to manage the symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. You'll have a better sense of how you react to specific poses and which ones are helpful and which are aggravating. This translates off the mat, so you have an idea of what activities you can push through, what may set off an episode and how you can manage symptoms of neuropathy when it occurs.

Read More: How to Relax the Nervous System Naturally

http://www.livestrong.com/article/342259-yoga-for-peripheral-neuropathy/