Hi all,

I've been living with PN for three years and counting. The cause of my PN was supposedly B6 toxicity, confirmed with blood tests and skin biopsies. I have my doubts though...

Nevertheless, I came across this web site:

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A doctor who claims he can cure neuropathy using metabolic/neurological testing and chiropractic. I went for a consult and what was put forth seemed legit - I mean, more promising than anything a neuro or orthopedist has ever told me. But this treatment is by no means cheap (read, 5 figures).

I started googling some of the tests/techniques in the program, e.g. "ASI, adrenal stress index, peripheral neuropaty," "hormone panels, neuropathy," "immune panels, neuropathy," "cold laser therapy, neuropathy," - you get the picture.

None of this "tests" are taken seriously in conventional medicine, mind you - but maybe that's why it's been three years and I'm no better off.

Anyway, to my surprise, I discovered the following web sites:

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And there are more...

Take a look at these sites...are they not carbon copies of each other? Am I walking into a scam or have I stumbled upon the real deal?

Thoughts and comments are appreciated.

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Well, I have looked at your sites (which a newbie cannot post for a brief time here), and also similar ones in the past.

To help make this post understandable to the members here, I'll try to help out.

There are new devices that chiropractors are using to help PN. They are cold and other laser devices, and electrical ones (the RSD forum has had postings on these pain devices also).

There is also a new specialty appearing called "functional medicine".
You can read about it here:
http://www.functionalmedicine.org/
1)Nurses and chiropractors basically are expanding to this, since they are licensed professionals. I am yet uncertain if there is state controlled licensing for this new entity, so if you are considering it, I'd check with your state license board.

2)The treatments may or may not be covered by your insurance and if not, will truly cost alot of money. So if you contemplate going to one of these new providers, check and see what your insurance will cover, if anything.

The concept is that "normal" is not normal for everyone. And this is true for some, but not all. We have seen here that medically "normal" B12 levels may not be normal for people with neuropathy. Below and at 400-500 is now sometimes medically explored with other testing, since it is understood to be borderline by informed doctors. But many people with PN or other neuro symptoms do improve with very high doses of B12. And many people with say 250ng level are told they are normal when they are not really.

Dr. Bruce Ames PhD (biochemist)...has published many studies during his career and come to the conclusion that people vary genetically in the ability to utilize nutrients from their food. He believes that many syndromes we call diseases may be in reality a need for higher levels of the B-Vitamins. It appears to me that the appearance of the "functional medicine" concept has grown from research like Dr. Ames'. Dr. Ames now runs his own website including various supplements he has researched to support mitochondrial functions. His thrust so far is anti-aging. He uses acetyl carnitine and alpha lipoic acid in his product Juvenon.

What may be happening in our culture is an overlap of several things. Ageing, with deteriorating systems, exposure to vaccines (which may induce autoimmune responses), exposure to environmental toxins and toxic drugs, poor diet and the rise of type II diabetes, Hereditary influences with mixing gene types, etc all are creating physical stress on people.

One person may respond physically by getting a cancer, another may get PN, another may develop Parkinson's, or MS.

I think it is too soon to evaluate the legitimate value of these new functional practitioners. They do cost alot of money, and with time, if they do not provide the results they claim, people will stop going to them. With the internet, word of mouth complaints will be very easy to find.

So far we have not seen patients posting commonly with success stories from these places. But this is a new thing, and time will have to pass to see if it sustains itself with successful outcomes.

There are many things within the functional medicine platform people can do for themselves, by just doing some careful homework.
For example, I would take an educated guess that the supplements are sold by these doctors at very high prices. Many can be had from good manufacturers on the net, for much less $$ if done by the patient themselves.

Other things like autoimmune disease are less doable for the patient themselves, due to the complexity of that problem and the lack of knowledge as to what are really the triggers and how to treat them.
I would think that autoimmune and hereditary neuropathies would be the hardest to improve at this time. The hereditary ones have no proven treatments yet in fact.

One thing to keep in mind..and this means podiatrists as well as chiropractors. If the first visit or first 2 visits are "free"...expect to pay alot of money later! This is a sign of huge investments for your future.