Thanks! I try to be.

I know several people who experienced amazing health improvements after eliminating gluten from their diet, despite getting negative results on gluten antibody tests. Accumulating evidence indicates that gluten is not healthy for ANYONE, with some people being more sensitive to it than others. Here is a link for anyone who's interested in learning more about this:

Also, more diseases and disorders may be autoimmune than what are commonly recognized as such, and diet appears to be a factor in many of them. For example...

What did they diagnose as the underlying cause of the neuropathy? I know that it can be difficult to pinpoint a cause for PN when diabetes is ruled out, but their absolute certainty makes it sound like they may have identified a cause.

Something else to keep in mind is that evidence indicates that the chronic "diseases of civilization" include more than just diabetes:

Good to hear that he got a diagnosis and some successful treatment. Just having a specific diagnosis instead of a vague "idiopathic" (unknown) one can give a person a better feeling of knowledge and control over their illness.

I am not at all surprised that your husband improved after changing from a diet that included macaroni, sweets, starches and commercial, fatty red meats. However, I do not think that means that grains or whey shakes are necessarily healthy for anyone. I provided a couple of links about grains already, and the latest research on cow's milk found that it contains high levels of betacellulin, including in the whey portion, that may have negative effects on human health. The research has even caused Dr. Michael Eades to reconsider his advocacy of dairy products:

Is Plavix considered the sole cause of his easy-bruising, with this lesser continued easy-bruising considered an after-effect of the Plavix, or is he still taking some, but at a lower dose, or is there some other attributed cause?

So is the podiatrist saying that the bone is causing the foot ulcers, or that it is aggravating them? What is wrong with the bone that it is causing problems? It sounds like he may have a bony calcification that the or is there a structural defect such as flat feet or overly high arches that is creating a bone impingement on the inflamed areas?

You're welcome. I hope the articles I provided links to are informative for someone.

It's also possible to look great without consuming whey drinks or grains. Check out Art De Vany's photo at age 60: http://www.cbass.com/EvolutionaryFitness.htm (scroll down to see two images of De Vany)

I agree with that as a general principle, and pay attention to the signals my body puts out, and I also consider the latest science, because there may be processes going on in my body that I am unaware of. I don't expect anyone to believe what I've said here just because I personally benefitted from the information. In general, I let the science speak for itself.

This gets confusing for some people, because there are contradictory studies on many health issues. That's why I think it is important to educate oneself so one can separate the good science from the bad and make one's own informed choices. People tend to be able to stick to a health program better when they understand it and the alternatives. I found that S. Boyd Eaton's theory of evolutionary nutrition cleared up a lot of the confusion because it's the only theory in nutrition science that provides a foundation for understanding all of human nutrition and has tremendous predictive value (which has already been proven in several studies). But don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself. You be your own judge because you're much more likely to believe something you've investigated yourself than because someone else told you about it.

Good luck to you, Melody, and to your husband!

Thanks. Alan is going to the gym 3 or more times a week. He has taken up yoga. Except for the PN, he is doing great.

He is lean, mean and a fight machine.

He is going for a spinal tap on tuesday. His neurologist has run every blood test known to man, and this is the big one. He has never had one and the doc who will do it said to me "we find out lots of goodies from spinal taps".

So who knows what happens after this.

He does yoga. He bends like a pretzel and I look like quazimodo because of my sciatica.

be well

Melody

Mel, you know i am a magnet nut but anyway have you tried magnets on your spine to help your sciatica ?
I have recently been helping my brother that was in a real bad way with lower back pain problems causing sciatica, severe pain & pins and needles down one leg, as he walked, he dragged the his bad leg behind him.
Its only been 2 weeks that i have been helping him and now his walking normaly and out of pain, he said couldn't believe the benefit he got out of them, within the first 2 days, he got so much relief from the pain and the pins and needles were nearly all gone.
When he first come to me, you couldn't handle me even lightly press his leg, and this bloke is a real tough guy, believe me.

Brian

Brian:

I have degenerative joint disease, so every October through March, I am, well let's put it this way, not my usual perky self.

When I get a sciatica attack, (and I don't get them a lot), I don't get any pins and needles. I just get pain and I can't straighten up. The only solution is TO STRAIGHTEN UP AND MOVE. I learned this from going to physical therapy. I and I have tried magnets. They didn't do anything.

My very first sciatica attack, well I'll never forget it. It's like my body weighed over 500 lbs and I had to hold on to the furniture to walk over to the bathroom. This was about 13 years ago. I had no idea what the hell happened. I went to the doctor, he gave me a shot and said "do warm compresses" and to do some stretching and he sent me for physical therapy. Now that was SOME FUN. But I got through it. I exercise a bit every day and when it's nice I take my IPOD and go power walking. Best thing I ever got was an IPOD. I put my latin tunes on it and go nuts.

My neighbors once heard me singing from down the block and said "Oh Melody is going for her walk". I would come around the block and we'd all laugh. I have a nice bunch of neighbors where I live. I'm lucky that way.

There is an 83 year old woman named Angie who lives around the corner. She has 5 stents but refuses to take ANY MEDICATION. Says she doesn't believe in them. She probably looked like Elizabeth Taylor when she was younger but she is still some looker. Puts on makeup every day, wears mini skirts and stockings and sandals in the summer. Her daughters are 57 and want to put her away and she laughs her head off. They are all prim and proper and she's the life of the party. When I came around with my ipod and I put the ear plugs in her ears, (she had never heard any ipod stuff before), she started to do the salsa in the middle of her sidewalk. I never laughed so hard in my life. This lady WILL NEVER GET OLD!!!

And hopefully, neither will I.

be well
Mel

I have got spine problems too [cervical] , i went through 5 physio therapists all claiming that they could help me, every attempt failed miserably and aggravated the condition and made it a lot more painfull, the only relief i have got is with acupuncture and magnetic therapy, using the both together at times.
I am glad to read that you don't get it a lot ,it can be such a disabling problem when its real bad.

I would love a dollar for every time i heard " i have tried magnets they didn't do a thing ", or " i paid $70 for a magnetic back support and it hardly done anything for me," or magnetic underlays, rar rar rar, personally i don't go anywhere near these type of gimmicks [my opinion only]
But if i ask " what strength were the magnets " and/or " what type of magnets were they " , i always get a blank look in their face back off them.
You see, this makes all the difference, if your going to get any relief or not, they have to be powerful to do the job properly, the longer you can leave them on the better results you get, i think its best to leave them on for 3 days, take them off wash the area and within a couple of hours put them back on if need be.

Your elderly friend has got the right idea
all the best,
Brian

Brian:

If an MRI is a big magnet, why don't people just lie in it for an hour an day.

Think about it???

mel

Mel, I come across this artical that is very similar to what you are asking about with MRI machines, http://www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/magnet.html
The benefits of this magnetic device should be of interest to PNers, and other nerve related medical conditions.
all the best
Brian