Madisongrrl, thank you for your rambling thoughts.
Much appreciated.
I've had the panel a couple of times so far, and nothing abnormal, but the last one was several months ago, so perhaps I'll redo that. For now, my physician wrote up a bunch of tests including for ferritin, D and B12. She's also doing some test for my heart. Tests, tests, and more tests!
I did do the ENA and it game back negative, twice now in fact and the second time in the last month. But that's just one imprecise test for autoimmune.
Thanks. It's funny you mention it, since that's what I'm at, well mostly. I am about to exclude all nuts and seeds too. I disagree with some of what Paleo Mom says, in particular fruits and starchy veggies, mostly because I'm treating myself for possible SIBO and Candida, but she has some excellent advice. Are you on such a diet yourself? The idea is to assume everything and just treat accordingly, and SIBO is quite possible. I like to think that if I heal my gut systematically, I have a 1-2 year plan, then I can send this into remission, but who really know? I'm certainly willing to try considering the stakes. I'm going to post something about diet, gut health and remission shortly; I've just had a busy few days. I'm curious about what people are doing/have done, and to what extent SFN remission is possible, perhaps some hopeful tales.
Thank you also for your thoughts and advice regarding Benfo and how to interpret the literature/studies. I certainly agree. In my line of work, we look to the evidence, whatever form it may take, and that includes the reasoning/arguments/methodology, etc. You can often conclude whatever you like based on how you formulate your arguments/structure your methodology. What you linked to was a great example of this. I try to read as many studies as I can and since the neuropathy I've begun to read medical journals and as much technical literature as I have time to read, among other things of course. For now, I'm down to 300 mg of Benfo at lunch time, that's it. MrsD and a desire to attempt something new made me take this path. Let's see what happens, if anything.
Thanks again!
Quote:
Originally Posted by madisongrrl
This is a great thread. I'll add my rambling thoughts.
I recommend getting a thyroid panel, if you haven't already. High/low blood sugar levels can impact thyroid and conversely low thyroid can cause high/low blood sugar levels.
Also - if you suspect autoimmune etiology of your SFN and poor gut health, there is an autoimmune version of the Paleo diet. I'm glad diet changes have been working for you.
A1C is not always a reliable marker in everyone. There is a variability for how long red blood cells live in different people. This might skew the A1C number, depending who you are. I think it makes sense to run multiple types of tests and to have them repeated, so all tests can be put into proper context. I think Glenn made a great point about the OGTT.
In terms of literature on Benfotiamine, all the studies done have been of a mediocre quality. This is true of many supplements. You will rarely see any multiple double-blind placebo controlled studies. Unlike studies run on pharmaceutical drugs, you won't see an accurate or lengthy collection of adverse events either.
What is even more difficult is assessing if any of the medical literature on any given supplement is relevant to neuropathy, because that is the angle that everyone on this message board has.
One study about Benfotiamine and neuropathy:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3329837/
It showed 300 mg of Benfo/day for 24 months had no impact on PN or inflammatory markers.
I don't have a lot of time today to search Pub Med or read the above study carefully. I can tell you from professional experience, don't just read the conclusions. Conclusions are often incorrect or over inflated. Read the methods and results - you will often find errors or see deficiencies with how the experiment is set up. The more you understand a given topic and start to read several studies, you will start to see flaws and deficiencies with how study conclusions are constructed. |