I have been reading Life Extension Foundation stuff for a long time, at least since 1999. Back then it seemed they were less into sales of products and more into just posting research. I do think that some of their research can be found on medline, just check out the research and make your own decisions.

I think some nutritional products ARE worth looking into and worth using. We do have a problem in that there really is no one overseeing what is in those products, and some claims for what they do are questionable.

I have read articles in very reputable journals advocating something and then later read...oh oh, nope, that causes problems. The biggest debacle was the tryptophan B6 thing several decades ago, thankfully I did not take that, however, just lately there was an article on taking Vit. E 1500mg after a work out to lower the muscle pain...(it works) however, it can cause bleeding.

My humble opinion, is not far from David's in that you need to live a life that is based around a 'health philosophy.' He accurately emphasizes the areas that need to be addressed in that lifestyle: diet, exercise, spiritual, social etc. Although even very healthy people get sick and die...it happens.

I have concerns that our society has moved away from most of those critical aspects of healthy living. Our diets are artificial. I find it ironic that we pay LESS for MORE processed food, and MORE for LESS processed food....what is wrong with that picture?

I am fortunate that I can get organic milk, yogurt and cheese from a local certified organic company. (Prions are still an issue, however, you do the best you can...and yes, prions can still show up in organically fed cows, as grazers are exposed to a prion found in chronic wasting disease of elk and deer....and prions do cross species.) However, it beats drinking and eating stuff from cows fed via cannibalism. They are ruminants, and it is just not natural to feed them animal products. I also make my own yogurt. Very easy.

I am fortunate that I live in an area with farmers markets and that I have an enormous garden, which, my husband has to do all the heavy work on, lol....my garden is bigger than the average suburban lot. I think those that dwell in large cities probably have stores that cater to the organic or health market....food should be certified organic, and there are organizations that do that...do your homework before you pay big bucks for food claimed to be organic.

One year I raised 175 chickens (decades ago, and not where I live now)
(don't ever do that---they need to be butchered and plucked and gutted and if you don't have a sharp axe and strong stomach---it is hideous work.) Luckily I was able to sell over a 100 of them-still alive...the rest we did the old fashioned way. It was good, but gruesome. It showed me that animals die so we can live and it was a powerful lesson. I do not take any life for granted, and more than anything realize how interconnected we are. I didn't wield the axe...my poor husband did that...but I learned how to hypnotize a chicken prior to its demise...and yes, every one was asleep when 'IT' happened. I did get to pluck and gut them...the very old fashioned way.

I haven't raised any of my own chicken since, but maybe next year I may, as I live near huge chicken farms, and I loathe the way they treat these creatures, and would not eat an egg from an 'egg farm'. I eat cage free, free range eggs, and yes they do taste different...so do the chickens.... (my one little girl became a vegetarian in middle school, citing this horrendous experience, and remained one for a decade...now in her mid twenties she eats some meat, and was the one who prodded me back into natural eating habits.) She was not supposed to be watching the chicken-thing, she was only 4 at the time.

I bought peaches the other day and they were a dollar a piece-but you know they were worth it. I could only afford 4.

I don't eat organic food all the time....I can't afford it, and I can't get to the organic food stores other than once per month. It is far.

But when you hear that melamine is in pet food, why would we have reason to believe it wasn't added to flour brought here from China?

You can't change the world, but you can change small things in your life.

You can pledge to do one thing in each category. You can do some type of exercise, even if it is just upper or lower body for 15 minutes every day...or most days..(give yourself down days and don't feel guilty...it happens).

You can eat slightly better...you can buy the slightly better bread, either whole grain or if gluten insensitive the brown rice bread.

You can buy locally grown or locally made goods even if a tad more expensive...if you are on a budget, just buy one item. I have found the good food, actually is so much healthier, I need less...sounds odd, but its true. Buying from small local producers and stores helps keep the little guy in business---how important is that!

As far as the nutraceuticals go, you are really on your own....we are at the mercy of the manufactuer. Just do your research, don't just listen to the person selling them, and beware of pyramid schemes.

Every one can meditate or relax. We built a pond and small waterfall outside our bedroom window with rocks collected off my small piece of land here, (Of course, hubby had to dig the hole and move the bigger rocks..and we had some big ones.... a frog moved in...and he sings at night...an oriole takes a shower there on some days. (Of course, come Fall, I have to drain it and fish out the frog and return him to the river so he doesn't freeze--unless he leaves before then) A little fountain bought at a store or even a water CD can give you some of nature's music to relax to. I especially like the thunderstorm CD in the winter!

Even a container garden with flowers feeds butterflies and bees, even in the busiest city...and it can also grow you a few tomatoes....a jalepeno, some cilantro, a green pepper and voila...SALSA!

Dahlek is right, that PN is not a condition that has any advocacy, and that hurts mostly those with Idiopathic PN. We have no advocacy. If the PN is due to a disease, at least most diseases have advocacy. The suffering is the same, regardless of the cause, but at least there is some advocacy group and information and even more important, an enemy to fight, and enemy that is assaulting your health, your life.

There is no reason that an Idiopathic PN Advocacy group could not be set up, but we are in our own way our worst enemy, in that we continue to prod to find the cause, as we should...but our 'disease' remains an enigma, while we hope we find an etiology we can fight with some treatment.

After several years of inmuerable tests you have to accept "Idiopathic" because you have run out of options. Not that you give up the search, but eventually you do run out of options as test after test for causes comes back negative, and all you have is a positive small fiber neuropathy finding.

You have literally reached the end of the internet. So have the docs.

That group of individuals needs an advocacy. If 'Idiopathic Peripheral Neuropathy' is a disease entity of its own, it should have its own advocacy.

Lastly, those who feel they have some 'control' over their lives generally have a higher rating of quality of life, than those who do not, so we need to, individually and as a group, work to gain, 'control' over our lives, even if our medical condition is not under the kind of control we want it to be. We have to have vital lives away from our illness as well. That is hard, as many are disabled or confined due to it. Every day, is rising to a challenge. Often one others do not see.

With Idiopathic PN, you have an invisible disease, and it is very tough, extremely tough to stay optimistic and motivated to get through every day...because you really have no weapon, no chemo, no drug, nothing, but working on keeping what you have left of your body as healthy as possible.

I think the heart of David's message...control what you can, where your health is concerned, where your lifestyle is concerned... change what you can, and accept what you can not.

Sorry, I get long winded. Good night.