Quote:
Originally Posted by Ctman
Hello all.
I thought I would start an ongoing detail of my journey from beginning to until? I suspect the PN is from moderate/heavy social alcohol use over many years. The first symptom was thumb twitching a year or so ago. Then in early April of this year (2019) after having 10 beers the night before, I awoke to tingling in my left hand. This then progressed to the classic "pins, needles and tingling" in my hands, skin crawling just above my left ankle and light-headedness.
I suspected PN from the beginning based on internet searches and dramatically scaled back alcohol use. The diagnosis was confirmed recently by my Neurologist after a EMG test (he said nothing other than "mild neuropathy") .
I was in denial at first and tried to just reduce the alcohol consumption significantly, but there has been no noticeable improvement and very slight progression over the past 4 1/2 months. After an appointment with my doctor on Friday, I have decided to get serious about trying to get better (although I know there is no guarantee of this with PN). Detailed below are some details about me and my recovery plan that I will be tracking on the forum. Any other help or recommendations would be really appreciated!
* 53 year old male in good health with healthy diet and vigorous exercise 4 times a week. Had a colectomy/IRA in 2007 but recovered quickly and no issues since 2007 with that.
* A1C in the "pre diabetic" zone, but not diagnosed a diabetic (we tested this to begin with).
* Stopping all alcohol use (two days in now).
* Starting a vitamin supplementation regimen recommended by mrsD and Icehouse on this site that includes the following daily:
-Centrum Silver
- Doctor's Best Benfotiamine (150 mg), Vegetable Capsules, 120-Count
- Jarrow Formulations Jarrow B-right Complex, 100 Capsules
Thanks again and I hope everyone is having a great weekend.
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Hi CTman, sounds like you are making good decisions and are heading in a good direction. Cutting back alcohol is the first thing I was told to tackle. I unfortunately was too deep into my addiction cycle, and did not listen. Two more years of on and off drinking made it much worse. Nothing I can do about it now though aside to just learn from it.
For me exercise is key, and it seems that you have that covered. I find that starting off the morning with something that gets my blood flowing sets me up for a much better day than not.
I also moved to a no sugar, low carb diet. This is also something I find keeps the pain on the lower end of the spectrum of what I experience. Might not be for everyone, but I ran it by my doctor and his feedback was that I should keep doing whatever I was doing because my numbers were great after a couple of months. Since I am part of communities that focus on low carb, no sugar lifestyle, I read about a lot of people reversing their diabetes all the time. Perhaps it's something to look into, while keeping your Dr in the loop.
Great work on the no drinking part of it. That was very difficult to me and is where my focus was at first. Because if I didn't get that right, it was going to be impossible to make any progress in the other area's. Once that was under control I was able to start making progress with diet and fitness. While I am not as physically capable as I would like to be as a result of neuropathy, it has forced me to improve my lifestyle in many other ways, and has given me a perspective on life that I would never have gotten without it. So almost a blessing and a curse. Overall, 16 months in, life has gotten much much better though.
I think it's a great sign that the feedback from the DR was mild neuropathy. I would stay away from a drink at all costs, be easy on yourself and see how things are over a few months down the line and see if any other adjustments can help. This is a great community with a wealth of knowledge. I researched Alcoholic / PN for two years until I stumbled on this site and it's where I found the most info out of anywhere, DR visits included.