Beatrice,
I've been using R-Lipoic instead of Alpha-Lipoic.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...light=r-lipoic
The dose only needs to be 100 mg/day, and not very expensive. It's worked really well (no more burning/passive pain) for me since I started it, but it's only been a couple months. The amount you're taking is equivalent, so the only advantage is fewer/smaller pills. Otherwise things look good, and it's obvious you've done more homework than most of us (when newbies) but I'll defer to sager wisdom.
Doc