Doctors are trained to observe and identify. All the training,
memorization of anatomy and facts is what they do. They are products of the "system".... so when a buzz word like alcohol enters the picture, --bingo they will fixate on that as the cause and "problem solved". Once they get that "diagnosis" any new info to the contrary is often ignored. When my feet hurt so badly when I was about 30... the medical answer to me was--"you stand on them all day long in your job"...when the real answer was -- hypothyroid.

Have sugar problems? Therefore all your neuropathy is diabetic. Normal fasting? No diabetes --but wait..you still could be pre-diabetic but since they were not trained in that, you don't have that potential! You may be diabetic and have just had a course of CIPRO and now your neuropathy has blossomed, and of course it is the diabetes, and not the drug that is at fault.WRONG. Not all diabetics get neuropathy equally. Not all patients get neuropathy from Cipro, but many factors may enter into your particular picture.

The logic in medicine is very outdated. And there are many factors involved in medicine that make people ill.
Doctors are loath to admit that what they did to "treat" you made you worse in some way. But that is the sad truth.
It is called iatrogenic medicine.
Type in iatrogenic medicine statistics into Google and you can find sobering statistics:
http://www.ourcivilisation.com/medic...med/deaths.htm

And it is thought that up to 40% of diagnoses are wrong. (based on autopsy after death)

And some minds in our culture believe that alcohol is one factor that has enabled humans to evolve. Yes, alcohol soothes and relaxes, and in the "old" days was used as a medicine. (I read a book by Viktor Frankl who stated this opinion). Why when I was a student and worked in the summer in a hospital we had spiritus fermenti ordered by doctors on the floors.

If anyone is interested in the biochemistry of alcohol and how it raises cholesterol and does other destructive things, here is a video including it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
This is a lecture being given to a medical audience about FRUCTOSE and how it harms the body. Alcohol is included in the middle portion concerning alternate pathways of metabolism of various carbohydrates in the liver.

With the new data coming in on the human genome, we will some day understand individual differences in metabolism, be able to taylor diet more constructively and also apply drugs in a more accurate way for each person. Right now things are pretty crude in the medical arena.

Those numbers are staggering. Medical Error as the 2nd leading cause doesn’t surprise me. I keep reminding myself that it is called “practicing” medicine. Medicine is complicated, and it would be impossible for any doctor to know it all. I have had doctors admit they don’t have a clue, but send me to someone who does. I respect them. I have had doctors apologize for their mistakes. Because they apologize, it is easy to forgive them and move on with treatment. But I have also had doctors insist I take their word as god. I suspect they are the ones contributing to the high rate for Medical Error.

What I did find surprising was that Adverse Drug Reactions was number one. But, then I probably shouldn’t be surprised. Pharmacists are trained to know if the prescriptions they are filling have interactions with other prescriptions they have filled for a patient. But what they don’t know about are the prescriptions being filled by other pharmacies, the samples given by a doctor, or the OTC meds the patient is taking. And doctors who write the prescriptions don’t always know what other doctors have prescribed.

I have long believed the Patient Information leaflets we get with prescriptions needs to be redesigned. It is typically in small narrative print that is hard to follow – particularly for the elderly. It seems to me that at the very top in bulleted fashion it should state ‘Do not take if you are taking…” followed by ‘Do not take if you have any of these conditions…’.

Bedsores is very surprising. That might explain the bed I had when I was hospitalized in October. I hated the thing. It was some type of a baffled air mattress that kept redistributing the pressure. Just about the time I found a way to get comfortable, the crazy thing moved again.

The video is fascinating, and informative about sugar in general. I’ve only watched the first 20 minutes, so haven’t gotten to the part on alcohol yet. But, I intend to finish watching in 15-20 minute intervals (since that is about all I can absorb in any one sitting). Thanks for the link.

mrsD, you nailed it! You would think that wouldn't be true of people who are supposedly trained to be logical and unbiased, but what do so many of them do? Jump to conclusions, and particularly ones that take little of their time.

I too liked my strong drink in the past, but because of several surgeries and such, I was totally abstinate for several years--the same time when my PN started and escalated rapidly, continuing to get worse to this day. I can believe that maybe the party times contributed to my PN, but it makes no sense to me that it would keep so agressively making it worse long after I've stopped.

These days I rarely care for a drink. I've simply lost my taste for alcohol, so I'm taking no bows for that. But I never have and never will tell a doctor about my past because I don't accept the easy assumptions.

And dogz, you are absolutely right--none of this makes you a bad person. Most of my favorite people enjoy a few snorts! And who would trust a cowboy who didn't?

I remember reading on the old forum that alcohol made neuropathy worse, and stopped having a glass of wine with dinner at that point. I think it was on the old forum where I read about sugar causing more pain too.

At this point I've eliminated so many things from my diet that it's getting hard to cook!

MrsD's info about histamines on the new forum was very helpful too. I didn't know about the foods that contain them, and I do have a lot of allergies/sensitivities!

Joan

Thank you all for your kind replies!! I am glad to be 'out of the shadows' and posting. ) Like I told ya'll in my earilier post since I've been here lurking and reading I have also been trying ALL the 'remedies' and started the supplement therapies, lotions, and now the Rebuilder and I'm getting very positive results! I'm trying not to get too excited (could all be a mirage) lol... lol! But I'll take it!!

We all have come here from different ways, and there are hundreds of neuropathies and other causes for the 'numbness'!
Honesty and candor, plus a good sense of humor? Can get you far! And for both of you it has...and will!
Being economically inable to easily get medical help IS a handicap? But if you've a medical teaching college nearby sometimes you can get things done cheap, if you know what I mean? Yes, a guinea pig... Been there even w/insurance in teaching hospitals, myself! Most important thing to do? IS to be totally consistent all the time about what happened ..particularly when you started pain and going down hill. For me? It was an immune reaction to a long 4?months bout of antibiotics for a pneumonia... 3 months after I'd thot I beat that? Then I got this [bigtime]...went into the er, where the er doc found 'references' to it on? The 'Internet'! But I have at times recovered, other times new 'waves' hit me. That's how it goes once your delicate and usually perfectly co-ordinated body systems go off center.
Mrs D's and Echoes' advices are well put, and researched as well, tho they too came here from different causes. They have researched and dug thoroughly into not only their own medical issues but many, many others as well! They are good folks!
Keep faith in yourselves that somethings' wrong? And that there just mite be a way to deal with it! You will be in my heart and mind for a while until you know what all is going on! 's for sure! - j