I believe one of the biological mechanisms of exercise induced circulation benefits is release of nitric oxide at the vascular level. The body signals this when it needs better blood flow.

Chemo damage is mostly at the cellular level...the mitochondria of cells which make energy. If the mitochondria of the blood vessels are damaged, they may not respond to exercise the same way non-chemo patients may.

But the general benefits of moderate regular exercise are well known to improve health, and control blood sugar, and improve circulation.

--about improvements in nerve function from exercise, or from certain supplements, do focus on the nitric oxide connection Mrs. D mentions, in that nitric oxide has a vasodilating effect.

One of the best places to read about this are in the papers of Dr. Aaron Vinik, who is one of the world's leading researchers into diabetic neuropathy, especially small-fiber versions, and who has described the nitric oxide pathways numerous times. I still have one linked in the Useful Website "Stickies" at the top of the board, I believe, and here's a very technical one that talks about it from the viewpoint of skin perfusion:


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3047977/


Here's another that gets into why increased ischemic flow is important for healing/nutrifying, and why exercise is important for that (and why diabetics have problems with blood flow):

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/26/6/1883.full


And here's a HUGE overview associated with Endotext, a series of on-line endocrinology texts:

http://diabetesmanager.pbworks.com/w...20Neuropathies

[QUOTE=glenntaj;842055]--about improvements in nerve function from exercise, or from certain supplements, do focus on the nitric oxide connection Mrs. D mentions, in that nitric oxide has a vasodilating effect.

One of the best places to read about this are in the papers of Dr. Aaron Vinik, who is one of the world's leading researchers into diabetic neuropathy, especially small-fiber versions, and who has described the nitric oxide pathways numerous times. I still have one linked in the Useful Website "Stickies" at the top of the board, I believe, and here's a very technical one that talks about it from the viewpoint of skin perfusion:

Here's another that gets into why increased ischemic flow is important for healing/nutrifying, and why exercise is important for that (and why diabetics have problems with blood flow):

And here's a HUGE overview associated with Endotext, a series of on-line endocrinology texts:


Thank you,

I failed to mention in my posting that my small fiber neuropathy is a result of Waldenstrom lymphoma - a rare leukemia and lymphocyte cancer affecting the immune system. To clarify: my PN is not a result of chemotherapy although I know this to be quite common. Mrs D mentions that "Chemo damage is mostly at the cellular level..." and I know this to be true. Anyway, I am not in that category. My fault not to be more precise.

The links give a good overview of the role of Nitric Oxide (NO) during exercise and its effect as a vasodilator to improve circulation. If I am not mistaken none of this really answers my PN question – it is all about exactly how exercise affects circulation. That is interesting in itself of course!

Did you know you can get NO supplements – some weight trainers and other athletes use them to improve circulation!!

My hope is that I never get so desperate that I go down that route!

Again thank you,

Grete

I believe the drugs used for your type of cancer, kill off cells just like other chemos. The drugs have to destroy the abberent cells that are making the antibodies.

I am sorry if I misunderstood. In your first post, you mention treatment for this macroglobulinemia.


http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/content/15/4/550.full

Yes, the supplements for increasing NO are arginine and citrulline.

I tried these myself, and found the arginine set off my shingles pain. So I had to stop them.
This year the cold feet issue has not happened for me. I am thinking the new R-lipoic acid is the reason. I was using the old R-lipoic by SourceNaturals that wasn't labeled as stablized, so hence it was not being absorbed like the Doctor's Best brand.
That is my only change this season, from last winter.

--like many blood cancers, can cause neuropathy due to the cross-reactivity of the rogue antibodies with components of peripheral nerve.

If one gets good treatment for this, though, and stops or at least greatly lessens the antibody load, the nerves can have a chance to heal, with good nutrition and good vascular flow, the latter being helped by exercise.

People with blood cancers often get a double neuropathy whammy--the autoimmune factors associated with the cancer can cause neuropathy, and THEN a lot of the immune-modulating treatments also have a tendency to be neurotoxic (although, fortunately, most don't seem to be as neurotoxic as the heavy metal based drugs like cisplatinum that are used for some cancers and which are notoriously mitochondrial-damaging). The mechanisms are different--autoimmune attack versus direct introduction of chemicals toxic to many cells, including nerves--but I would imagine that anything that helps support the nutritive and respiratory functioning of the nerves, including exercise to tolerance, can only help (though the degree of help can of course vary widely, depending on how global the percipitating factors are).

Grete,
I'm very new to this all so i'm just trying to figure it all out as I go, I'm not very informed about the TENS machine as of yet, I know lots use them but I"m not sure how well they help . I do have to say I've seem improvement in the burning in my feet/ legs since I started the water areobics. I'm not doing too much on the hard surface of exercising and I"m going to add that back such as the stationary bike, weights jsut to see. I've got snf also and not been diagnosed long but I'm trying to get on top of it early . I've been reading about lots of supplements others take to avoid the high powered pain meds . I"m a work in progress and right now my burning has really gone away it seems from what it use to be so i'm right confused on whether i got the right diagnosis to start with .