Sometimes my waiting room looks like a bad b-movie. There are all kinds of poor souls who can barely walk. Glazed looks on faces from heavy doses of drugs that they use to try to suppress their nervous pain. My office is most often the last train stop for these people. To say that they were everywhere and tried everything is not an exaggeration. Their medical records are usually thicker than the Phoenix Metro phone book. They are desperate and cynical. However, you cannot blame them for the fact that the best medical care has helped them a little. They have an unenviable choice between horrendous pain in their legs and feet or a numbness caused by a zombie drug. Not much choice, so they come to me. Another “last chance” to get your life back. They are hoping for another option along with the constant relentless pain and mist of powerful drugs. Their hopes were raised and broken many times before, but they are ready to try one more thing to find relief. They suffer from peripheral neuropathy.
What is neuropathy?
The literal translation of neuropathy means: neuro = related to nerves and pathology = disease. So, neuropathy then means "diseased nerves." When nerves get sick, people have big problems. The nervous system controls and coordinates all body functions. It is the communication system that transmits information from one part of the body to another. This is what allows the organs to communicate and react to changes both inside the body and in the external environment in which the body is to function.
When nerves are damaged, they either send signals when they shouldn't, or they don't send signals when they should. This destroys the complex management and control systems of the body, knocking out the right connection between various organs and tissues.
Thus, everything that interferes with the normal communication process within the body has far-reaching negative consequences for a person. Simply put, diseased nerves mean a sick person.
Neuropathy can occur anywhere in the body, but is common in the lower limbs and, in particular, in the legs. Often, the legs are first affected, and symptoms develop in the body. Hands are also often affected. Clinically, the classic sign of neuropathy is pain and numbness in the “glove and stocking”. This means that the patient has problems in his arms and legs.
In severe cases of neuropathy, the nerves that control the stomach, heart, or other organs can be damaged. It causes all kinds of secondary signs and symptoms, depending on which nerves are damaged and the organs that are controlled by these nerves.
Even when nerves begin to recover, unpleasant symptoms can occur. As the nerves are damaged, they are restored by germination. These immature nerve seedlings, called rootlets, are very sensitive. They send signals spontaneously and are very sensitive to stimulation. Even the patient’s clothing on the skin in the area of these immature roots can cause pain. In order for the patient to get a good relief, it is important to help these immature roots develop and mature, in order to reduce their mechanical sensitivity.
Neuropathy is one of the most common conditions of the nervous system. Despite the fact that the condition affects a lot of people, a typical approach to treatment is usually inadequate.
I would like to share with you the stories of my two patients. They are actual patients and agreed to let me discuss their cases, but I will still change their names to protect their confidentiality.
They represent a typical form of neuropathy cases treated in our office. Norb - the full life experience of 90 years of age. He suffered from diabetes for many years. He keeps diabetes under control and is in excellent health and good mood. He still drives and is very active in the community. That was until he had a sting and a burning pain in his legs. Over the next few months, his toes began to glow red. He experienced burning pain at night, which he rated as 10 out of 10 on the pain scale. Then a few sores appeared in his fingers. Needless to say, Norb appealed to all types of imaginary doctor. His condition worsened, and once he received a terrible prognosis from his diabetes specialist. Norb's legs will have to be amputated. Norb, as you could imagine, was devastated.
Norbu was also lucky because he passed on his story to a dental hygienist who turned out to be a patient in our office. She told him how we used a simple little red laser beam to help her cope with her feet. Norb made an appointment for the final evaluation to save his fingers.
When I met Norba, he could barely get up due to pain in his legs. He had several ulcers, known as diabetic ulcers on these toes, and several more on his lower leg. The stack of medical documents he brought with him was so large that his wife had to carry it. He recognized me that he had tried so many other treatments and had seen so many other doctors; he has little hope that anything can help him. This is a confession that I heard again and again from our patients with neuropathy.
I told Norbu that I could not promise him anything, but I could offer him several types of treatment, which were unlike anything he had tried before. I was going to try to reverse Norb’s neuropathy using the 2000 treatment, acupuncture and 21st century treatment, low level laser therapy. I also started it on a herb called Centellia Asiatica, which studies have shown can help restore nerve tissue.
We had less than a month to make enough changes in Norb’s legs to convince the surgeon not to amputate his toes. Four silver needles were inserted into Norb's feet at acupuncture points that were described thousands of years ago. The ulcers at Norb's legs were “painted” by a low-level laser beam. We treated Norb daily, and by the end of the first week something wonderful had happened. Norba's angry, glowing red cloth had changed to a healthy pink. Ulcers were cut. By the end of the second week, Norb’s legs looked as healthy as a 40-year-old. His 10 points over 10 points dropped to zero. His surgeon, confused, happily canceled the amputation.
More than a year has passed, and Norb several times his neuropathy turned on his ugly head. Each time, four silver needles, as thin as hair and simple red light, were tamed by a nasty beast.
Neuropathy does not select the elderly or the infirm. It will not spare the young and healthy. I would like to tell you about Joan (again the name has changed). Joan was a very successful executive secretary in her forties. Once her legs began to hurt. At first it was a nuisance. But she quickly progressed to pain in her legs and feet, so terribly that she was incapacitated. The burning and weakness in her legs became so bad that she lay on the bed. Like all of our patients with neuropathy, she was whenever possible. She was quickly diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy. Unlike Norba, whose neuropathy was secondary to diabetes, the cause of Joan’s neuropathy could not be determined. She is one of a large group of patients diagnosed with idiopathic neuropathy. Or neuropathy of unknown cause or origin. Despite standard medical care, she went downstairs. She became completely disabled, lost her job and got a gloomy forecast. The cause of her neuropathy was not identified, she did not respond to standard treatment, and she probably continued to deteriorate. She was asked to consider the possibility that she would be a wheelchair until she reached her 50th birthday. The specialist she saw told her that he really could do nothing for her, and she did not need to rewrite the meeting with him.
When I first saw Joan, she was not in a wheelchair, but she had to be. She absolutely could not stand, without waiting for someone or something else. It took her forever to get from our reception to the treatment room. She had all sorts of powerful drugs that made it difficult for her to concentrate or even have a conversation. She, as usual, had a summary of medical records indicating the futility of previous medical procedures. Neuropathy took her from an independent lady with a high pay to full disability.
She could not work, she could not interact with her family, she could hardly walk, and all the specialists she consulted gave her a gloomy forecast after a gloomy forecast.
I told her about a 2,000-year-old medicine from China, which, as recent studies show, can enhance nerve regeneration. She heard about the good results that our other patients received with neuropathy with low-level laser therapy and acupuncture. She realized that standard medical care was not allowed to offer it, and she wanted to try these and other alternative medications. She recognized that she had nothing to lose.
Joan's neuropathy was severe; We gave her a number of natural substances, including specific amino acids, Elk Antler Velvet and other nerve growth factors. We used acupuncture, laser, and ultrasound and electrical stimulation to stimulate the nerves at her feet. She was very devoted, and we treated her for more than four months.
You should see her today. She is not cured, but she is going well. It takes weeks without much pain and was able to stop or reduce many of its pain medications. She plays with her grandchildren and, as she describes, "closer to normal than anyone could ever imagine."
These cases are what are possible when integrating alternative medicine with standard medical care. Do all patients with neuropathy respond in this way? Unfortunately, the answer is no. But alternative medicine and integrative neuroscience gives great promise to those patients who have exhausted all the hope offered with standard medical care.
Moreover, modern scientific studies of many alternative interventions document their effectiveness. Offering help and hope for patients suffering from peripheral neuropathy, such as Norb and Joan.
