In today's blog post. Let's talk about vitamins and what you should be doing if you have peripheral neuropathy. If you look on the Internet and you see what vitamins people are taking for neuropathy what you find is people are taking B12 and alpha lipoic acid, or other vitamins that are advertised to treat neuropathy specifically. The question becomes are they effective? Do they actually help reverse neuropathy? Are they necessary in treating neuropathy? These are many questions that people often have because they are searching for an answer. They understand that if nothing is done then the neuropathy will continue to get worse. That is the dilemma that every single patient that has neuropathy in their hands and feet will face. Most people think if they had a vitamin deficiency in let's say a vitamin B12 that if they start taking it, that is going to be the answer to reverse their neuropathy. What they soon find though is that it might help with the symptoms but it never goes away or stays away. The reason why is that we have to understand what is happening to that nerve and what is that nerve not doing. The simple answers are always that the nerves are now physically damage. The damage can be caused by many different things. It can be caused from diabetes, chemotherapy, a side effect of medications, and surgery. These are the most common things that I see. Now the key in neuropathy is understanding why the nerve is not repairing itself. Until you can answer that question you will never be able to find an answer. This is the number one reason why patients that take vitamin B12, alpha liopic acid, or other notable types of supplement never really get to a point where their sustainable or better. That's really the key is you have to be able to perform your daily functions.
So when we look at vitamins yes they can help and they are necessary at times, but you should not put all your eggs in 1 basket. That's the main thing that I see amongst a lot of patients is that when they have neuropathy they continue to try to search for 1 thing to address their problem. Even some doctors that I see now advertise 1 thing to help neuropathy. As long as I've been doing this for I have never ever ever seen 1 thing to address the issue that actually works. All you have to do is ask yourself this question. Is repairing a nerve a simple or complex process? The answer is it is complex. If the process of repairing a nerve is complex how can something simple ever help it. So if you have neuropathy you need to search for answers, but always use common sense to help determine your path.
God Bless
Dr. Thai