--acidy stomachs taking large doses of alpha-lipoic--it is, after all, an acid.

I second the idea of taking it with food, or trying the R-lipoic version, which, since it is composd only of bodily-active isomers of the molecule, can be effective at saller doses. I've found at 100mg/day of R-lipoic I don't have any acid stomach, which I did have sometimes on 600mg alpha lipoic.