Thanks John - what wonderful information in those articles! I used to work at a manufacturing plant location whose main chemical was lithium, and where the site itself was later declared an EPA Superfund Site because of years of mercury contamination. I recently wondered about the possibility, but my neurologist said it was too late to test for it since I’ve had my idiopathic PN for over 5 years. So people should act fast for heavy metal tests I guess. What I found especially interesting was a mention in one of the articles of the effectiveness of alpha lipoic acid that was found in 1951. I have seen several members of this forum post about it!

John, Thanks for the reply! I found the articles very interesting. They illustrate how many things are assaulting our bodies, and how much we bring on ourselves! I'm still trying to identify the cause of my PN and ultimately accept that regardless of what the cause is, the damage is done and I still have to manage / cope with PN.

I appreciate all your help that you give to fellow PN sufferers!

@jeep

The article that mentioned that 20% of herbal and related products sold in an Indian store in Boston were contaminated with various toxins and metals really got my attention. I've always wondered how safe all the herbs and spices we buy are. If you look at any Travelodge and see the lovely urban open-air spice markets, you can see how unclean they are....imagine an outdoor salad bar with a lot of traffic pollutants and no sneeze guards even. Spice buyers go to vast Central markets to bid on the stuff, much of which, by law, is then sprayed with I-don't-know-what when the U.S. I'm guessing that major importers like McCormick might have legal work-arounds to avoid the anti-fungal and other sprays at least. But some stuff is already very contaminated upon arrival here.