My basic thinking on mitochondria is this: Lots of toxins work by poisoning the mitochondria, and it takes a large amount of energy to maintain the very long axons that eventually end in small fibers. So, if you don't know why you have neuropathy, it could be toxic, and your mitochondria might need help. Even if it's diabetic, and the increased sugar is harming the nerves, the mitochondria will have to work doubletime to grow those axons back.
On the sites about mitochondrial diseases, most of which can be quite miserable but some mild, the mainstay of treatment is acetyl L carnitine and CoQ10. I'm not sure where the lipoic acid fits in---where it is used, but it's the one supplement used abroad as a mainstay of treatment of daibetic neuropathy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsd
interested in mitochondrial failure. A lot research being done today is
pointing in that direction.
1) nerve damage from HIV drug prevention is mito in nature. We've known this for a decade now.
2) the new autism research is pointing to mito failures induced by vaccines in babies.
3) We now know that statins damage mitochondria..and that is probably how they induce PN as a side effect.
If the autism research shows this is a direct link (which I think is very likely),
then ADULTS who get that dreaded flu vaccine every year are exposing themselves to this stressor. The genetics research will help with this, and it might be that certain people with certain combinations of genes are more prone to mitochondrial issues.
Dr. Bruce Ames who developed the Ames test for carcinogens that our FDA uses still, is researching aging. I used to have a paper of his, that I put up about his beliefs that mito damage can be minimized with nutrients. He actually makes a supplement called Juvenon.
If you Google that product there are many papers on that site to explain how this works. But because it is a commercial site, I won't
link to it (there are rules here about that). It is easy to find.
Here is one abstract of his work:
from http://www.annalsnyas.org/cgi/conten...ract/959/1/133
He also has a paper out there on B-complex. I can't find it now, PubMed is down for maintenance. But in essence he believes that failures in B-complex metabolism account for many diseases we develop with aging. We do know now the folate system is very fragile and prone to failure (MTFHR) and must be helped along.
The nervous system gives us signals early on that something is not working right in our bodies. But when other organs fail (liver, kidney etc) there is a long lag before we get symptoms. So I think the signals just may be mito failures for many people. This signaling by the nervous
is sort of a bells/alarm to pay attention!
Many papers are on PubMed:
Use these keywords:
Ames B + antioxidants
Ames B + mitochondria
Ames B
example:
It is interesting to note that r-lipoic is showing up now in papers. |