Alpha lipoic acid for Neuropathy

I've been taking Alpha Lipoic Acid for well over 2 years and does it help....don't know. I have numbness w/ poor balance and no pain. I have used both ALA and R-ALA, did not notice any difference relative to improvement. I started out taking 600 mg daily for about 8 months, went to 1200 mg daily for 8 months, now back to 600 mg again. No difference. Considering dropping it and see what happens. I've heard some folks do benefit and if so, stick with it.

FYI…….After taking R-ALA for a while I started itching. Stopped taking R-AL A and the itching stopped.

I take OTC Alpha lipoic acid--both in Neurop-away and just ALA . My physiatrist said he had never heard of it! 🙁 I was mightily unimpressed with his attitude. I'm not sure it has any effect on my neuropathy.

Hi friends, has anyone tried alpha lipoid acid and if so did you get any relief? I just listened to a webinar from Dr. Lewis who discovered Louis summer. It was very informative and he mentioned LAC. He said he didn’t believe there anything else would help. Dry much. I looked it up and it seems like it might help. We are so fortunate to have many people with all kinds of neuropathy. Sharing our experience and our expertise, as we know what works and doesn’t. I find this is so important and comforting. Thanks again everyone including the mayo clinic for hosting this site.

Me again sorry for wrong words forgot to edit again. I use voice to text and it is always changing what I say. It is very frustrating but better than nothing. My fingers just don’t work the way they used to and are always hitting the wrong keys or I do double strikes all the time. Sorry. Just realized if you hit the dots on lower right corner and choose edit under administrative options. It will let you edit your post.

Hi, Dorilyn (@dorilyn)

I'm no expert on Alpha-Lipoic Acid. Honestly, I'd never even heard of it until my neurologist suggested I give it a try. That was about a year ago. I took two 600 mg capsules a day for a couple of months, but I did not feel any results. From others here at the Forum, I learned that ALA, if it were to be of help, might help reduce pain; I, fortunately, don't have any pain (my symptoms are bad balance and poor gait). So, with my doctor's OK, I stopped taking the ALA. Now, my neurologist has me on an EB-N5 regimen (if you've not heard of that, you can look it up online), containing ALA and a half dozen other ingredients, chiefly vitamins. I have been taking EB-N5 for 110 days (I checked); so far, I cannot report any extraordinarily positive results; however, my symptoms (balance and gait) have not worsened. Does this mean the EB-N5 is helping? Or is the ALA helping? I can't say. I wish I could.

I look forward to what others will have to say about their experience with ALA.

Best wishes to you!
Ray (@ray666)

Hi @dorilyn, Glad to see you've already connected with @ray666. You will notice that we moved your post to an existing discussion on the same topic. If you click the link below it will take you to the beginning of the discussion where you can read what others have shared about Alpha Lipoic Acid for neuropathy.
--- Alpha lipoic acid for Neuropathy: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/alpha-lipoic-acid-2/.

After being misdiagnosed with gout for 20 years, the pain and burning sensation was awful. At last I was properly diagnosed with Neuropathy and my neurologist recommended Jarrow ALA. It helped a little but then I tried Pure Encapsulations ALA and in 3 weeks I had a great improvement. I've only had good side effects - hair is thicker and completion greatly improved.

Since getting involved with Lipoic Acid, I've learned that there are different kinds, each kind touted for a different therapeutic effect. I've been using Alpha Lipoic Acid, or ALA, from the beginning, and I believe the Lipoic Acid in the medicinal food I'm currently taking, EB-N5, is the same: Alpha, or ALA. I had asked my neurologist if I should switch to one of the other Lipoic Acids, and he said I shouldn't bother. Not bother? When I asked why I shouldn't bother, he said if I were experiencing pain, that would be a different story – and currently, the ALA I'm getting with the EB-N5 is more or less an ingredient tagalong. That said, I'm delighted to hear that you're getting good results with the Pure Encapsulations ALA. I hope that continues to be the case. All the very best to you! ––Ray (@ray666)

I take ALA and have noticed improvement. When I kid a dose my feet start to either go numb or start burning. I can notice a difference without it