Dear mrsd, My b12 on the previous test was 1560 as I do take 1000mcg per day. My folate was 20.3. My mouth is always dry especially when I wake up and I drink about 3 liters of water a day.
Enalapril I started taking in december of 2012 for protien in my kidney and I have had neuropathy for 5-1/2 years. It may be the neurotin that may be causing the neuropathy with a dosage of 3x 600mg per day or am I eating too many carbs eventhough my a1c are good.
I did start taking prevastatin in december of 2012 at the same time as elnalapril.
My doctor said on my last visit that my coq10 test was normal but I do agree that water soluble is much better than the old form.
My magnesium level was 2.2 as well as I do put 2 huge table spoons of epsom salt in my foot bath with the rebuilder going at the same time.
I personaly think that I am eating to many carbs myself but if I do not eat carbs then I will loose more weight and I am a male 5 foot 10 inches tall at 130#. I am in a unhealthy weight range. My a1c have been excellent over the past year and my doctor is advising me to cut back on diabetic medication. My previous thyroid test is as follow: thyroxine uptake 36.4, thyroxine 7.29 and tsh is 2.25. As you well know sugar and saturated fat are bad for neuropathy so if you dont mind if I ask, what kind of food do you eat so that it does not aggravate your neuropathy like for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. please let me know as I am very interested in following suite to what you eat as long as i do not loose any more weight. What should a diabetic eat to gain weight that will not aggravate neuropathy. Even oatmeal hurts me and there is no sugar or fat in it. Please let me know, Thank You.
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Originally Posted by mrsD
Welcome to NeuroTalk:
I see some potential problems with your medications.
1) Metformin can affect B12 absorption. I'd suggest you get a B12 test ASAP and if it is below 400pg/ml...start oral supplements of activated B12 =methylcobalamin. Don't accept "normal" from your doctor because the lab ranges go down to 200 still in US and that is outdated. Significant neurological symptoms can be present at that level.
2) all over pain, may come from your enalapril. This drug is known to cause a drug induced lupus as well as elevating bradykinin levels in the body. Bradykinin is a biogenic amine and causes fluid to move out into the tissues, which then presses on nerves causing pain. Ask your doctor to switch you off ACE inhibitors to another drug family for a while to see if this is a culprit for you. I am recovering from ACE inhibitor toxicity myself, and it was a nasty business!
Drug induced lupus does not elevate ANA levels, and is diagnosed by symptoms only. It will regress when the offending drug is stopped.
3) statins do cause neuropathy. If you continue with your statin and it is doing this to you, you will progress.
Here is a post --one of many on here-- to get you started:
discusses statins and the elderly
These links provide information you will not get normally from
your doctor. Discuss these with your doctor and see if you really need yours. Many people are given these potentially toxic drugs when in fact they are only borderline high.
4) Some antibiotics also cause nerve damage. The family of fluoroquinolones (Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox) and metronidazole, Tindamax are examples. Also a less commonly used one Zyvox.
Supplements will not help if you are damaging your nerves with drugs every day. They will not be able to keep up with the damage.
We have alot more information here about drug damage, just use the search function at the top of page 1 of PN forum, to find others. There are also alot of statin posts on Parkinson's forum.
Anyone taking a statin drug should be replacing the CoQ-10 your body is blocked from making. This is a very important thing. Statins block your liver from making this nutrient, and without it damage to muscle and the heart occurs over time. CoQ-10 works in the mitochondria like the lipoic acid and carnitine. A quality product (the new water soluble type like Qunol) 100mg a day.
If you choose an older oil version, 300mg a day. The new water soluble types are far superior to the older formulas.
Diabetics lose magnesium thru the urine daily. So when magnesium gets low, your muscles suffer, twitch and cramp.
You should really add magnesium to your supplement list. Start at 1/2 the RDA (this would be one tablet twice a day) ...and use a quality product --not oxide form-- like SlowMag. This is now available at WalMart affordably.
You can also soak in a tub with epsom salts added, and some magnesium will go thru the skin this way. There is a lotion now at WalMart called Morton Epsom Lotion, a new version of the older CVS lotion, which was discontinued. Magnesium is essential to the mitochondria membrane functions and will enable the lipoic acid and carnitine to work better. Food sources of magnesium include nuts, beans, oatmeal and yogurt.
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