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Small Fiber Neuropathy?

Neuropathy | Last Active: Feb 12, 2023 | Replies (214)

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@hotfooted

I'm interested in trying to reverse my SFN and have seen it mentioned a few times on Connect... Please, please post all of your experiences or knowledge about this! I have SFN in my feet and it's coming up my legs now.. I am Type 2 Diabetic and have Erythromelalgia in my feet also.. I've changed my diet, leaving out sugar and have cut way back below 40 grams of carbs with each meal.. and am perfectly willing to change diet as much as it takes, if it helps me .. I use Frankincesnse and Myrrh rubbing oil on my feet as needed for red hot flares from EM.. this has helped reduce the flares a great deal.. We just returned from visiting our son (who is slowly passing on from Diabetes and Parkinson's), a 500 mile drive.. We put a foam mattress in the back of my Suburu and I rode lying down while Fred did the driving.. My diet while away for those 4 days did not have the usual lots of fiber, so I got constipated.. We stopped on the way home and bought some Magnesium Citrate, I took 4 of them... and by the time we got home I was relieved, thank goodness! I am continuing to take 2 Magnesium pills a day now and my feet feel different... I sent a message to my doctor asking his opinion on me beginning to take Magnesium Glycinate (non-diarrhea causing, as it is absorbed in a different part of the intestine I read) and am waiting to hear back from him... I also think I'll see about getting a B-12 shot.. If anyone here has any success in even slightly reversing SFN, I am very interested in what you have to say.

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Replies to "I'm interested in trying to reverse my SFN and have seen it mentioned a few times..."

Hello, @hotfooted - I moved your post to this existing discussion on small fiber neuropathy (SFN) so that you can connect with others with this diagnosis. Click VIEW & REPLY in your email notification to get to your post.

It sounds like you've been very proactive in pursuing options to treat your SFN. Hoping that some of the others in this discussion like will offer some input on your question related to potential reversal of this condition, like @steeldove @jenniferhunter @geegie @johnbishop @rwinney.

What did you and your doctor decide about the magnesium glycinate and getting a B-12 shot, @hotfooted?

@hotfooted Kudos for for cutting out the sugar and carbs. That is a first step to improve diabetes. Magnesium is involved in detoxing the body and most of us are deficient.

I found an article about the role of oxidative stress and diabetes that I found interesting. Oxidative stress is what you want to prevent in the body with antioxidants that are found in healthy foods. It talks about a deficiency of glutathione (which is a master antioxidant in the body) because of diabetes. It also mentions another antioxidant alpha lipoic acid and discusses doses of this that at the highest doses prevented the deficit of glutathione. According to the article, that is what is missing starting in the smallest nerve fibers, and diabetes damages the respiratory pathways where the mitochondria in the cells create energy from cellular respiration. I do know that a precursor to glutathione is N aceylcysteine which can be purchased as a supplement. It would be best to consult a functional medicine specialist on this, as too much of NAC can be bad, and possibly reverse functioning and cause oxidative stress while the correct dose will help raise the body's glutathione.

Here is a quote from the article, The Roles of Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Treatment in Experimental Diabetic Neuropathy.
https://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/46/Supplement_2/S38

"we posit that lipid peroxidation causes mitochondrial DNA mutations that increase reduced oxygen species, causing further damage to mitochondrial respiratory chain and function and resulting in a sensory neuropathy, α-lipoic acid is a potent antioxidant that prevents lipid peroxidation in vitro and in vivo. We evaluated the efficacy of the drug in doses of 20, 50, and 100 mg/kg administered intraperitoneally in preventing the biochemical, electrophysiological, and nerve blood flow deficits in the peripheral nerves of experimental diabetic neuropathy, α-lipoic acid dose- and time-dependently prevented the deficits in nerve conduction and nerve blood flow and biochemical abnormalities (reductions in reduced glutathione and lipid peroxidation). The nerve blood flow deficit was 50% (P < 0.001). Supplementation dose-dependently prevented the deficit; at the highest concentration, nerve blood flow was not different from that of control nerves. Digital nerve conduction underwent a dose-dependent improvement at 1 month (P < 0.05). By 3 months, all treated groups had lost their deficit. The antioxidant drug is potentially efficacious for human diabetic sensory neuropathy."

Also this link has an easy to understand explanation of the roles of antioxidants and disease.
https://drhyman.com/blog/2010/05/19/glutathione-the-mother-of-all-antioxidants/