MrsD,

Thank you for your suggestions. Responding in order:

1. I had my second visit with my neurologist yesterday. He had previously run a very extensive battery of blood tests, and he went over the results in detail. I am normal on everything and there must have been a hundred or so factors tested. B vitamins are fine also. His best guess is that since I had borderline diabetic blood sugar levels six months ago, that is the likely culprit. I have been dieting and exercising since the first of the year and am now down more than 40 lbs. and 60 on the blood sugar count. That plus Neurontin (you folks in this support group tend to call it gabopentin, I believe that's the generic name) seem to be offering me relief. He upped my Neurontin from 3x300 mg/day to 3x600 mg/day. But I am DEFINITELY FEELING RELIEF!

2. I read your link on alcohol and PN and it, like other research I've read, seemed to focus mainly on alcoholics, not just regular social drinkers. It also mentioned the poor diet that may be associated with alcoholism, and the resulting impact on blood chemistry. Since I am getting relief as noted above, my blood work is all spot-on, and I enjoy my couple of shots of alcohol nightly, I don't plan to quit or curtail it at this time.

3. My neurologist was fairly neutral on the subject of Benfotiamine but was not opposed to trying it. It's a lot more affordable that the Neuropathy Support Formula that I initially asked you about, and doesn't have the huckster marketing that the NSF product has. I've ordered two months' worth and was pleased to see that it can be had in bulk for under $100/year. I'll hold off on the lipoic acid and Biotin for now, but might try adding them in later.

I will advise how all of the above works!

BobL