Hi all,
I've reading the forum and somewhere mentioned on passing that even thought it is not clear how exactly glucose might be damaging small nervous fibers many PN suffererers know from experience that their symptoms worsen after ingesting sugar. Which is what is happening to me too and I was so relieved to find out because it didnīt seem to make any kind of sense.

I canīt find that thread/comment anymore. Could you share your experience or direct me to a relevant old thread?

Thanks so much!

Try this:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread165366.html

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread167819.html

There is a search function on the upper right of the first page of this forum. It can be very handy...we've been here for 6 yrs now, and there are many posts here by people who have moved on, so it is worth searching some topics and reading.
You need at least 4 letters in the keyword for it to work. (that is the software minimum.)

Sugar is 1/2 fructose. New research is showing that high fructose consumption is very damaging. Here is a medical video on that subject.
1/2 way thru the long video is the biochemistry that happens in the liver.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Funny but I've had more than one doctor tell me that's not really possible. I beg to differ, however as I've noticed just that on many occasions.

-k

Thank SO much msdD, you are fantastic!
Yeah, I've read a bit and it does sound like prediabetic small fiber PN. So I've modifying my diet and been monitoring my glycemia and will soon be having data from the standard glucose load test and insulin so HOMA-IR, etc.
Once my sugar levels were better the burning seemed to subside, but the morning after the day I misbehaved and had some sugary drink that I shouldnīt have had, it was back again.
So this "acute" effect is what puzzles me: it is real or I just a coincidence?

Anyway, thanks again for the pointers to fructose, that stuff is now in everything, pure poison

I hope you're doing well yourself.

So you too, sp00ky?
I mean, yes, it doesnīt make much sense if one thinks of a slow, constant buildup of sugar byproducts. Yet one feels it.
Of course one has to get learn and get disciplined and that's it but it'd be also good if one would understand what the heck is going on...

I've never had a doctor tell me it was impossible, but two neurologists have told me I'm not diabetic or pre-diabetic (after repeated testing), and I definitely experience exacerbation of my symptoms if/when I indulge my sweet tooth. HF corn syrup is probably the worst, followed by sucrose (table/confectioners sugar). Artificial sweeteners don't cause the same problems, but they don't taste... "right."

It just seems so weird that I'm not a diabetic, but eat/live pretty much like one... (Curse you, Emperors of Chocolate! )

Doc

Basically PN is like this:

1) try and not label yourself with diagnoses for the most part. For example, the medical literature often fights with itself, over naming things and goes back and forth with papers, about many things. Getting caught up in that really clouds the issue.

2) think of your nerves as an early warning system. If something sets them off, avoid it. In this case it is sugar, but it can be gluten, vaccines, nightshade veggies, other food intolerances, spices, heat, excessive cold or whatever.

3) if some activity sets you off, try and moderate that activity, or switch to another. An activity setting you off, suggests compressive problems in the foot, knee or back. This may lead to a diagnosis of a mechanical issue which may help in the long run. PNs like this hurt when you sit only, or only when you
engage in some sport, or only when you lie down, or when you walk, or whatever.
Make sure if you have a mechanical trigger, that you get your feet looked at with xrays, and other podiatrist testing to make sure you don't have arthritis in the joints, spurs, neuromas, or sesamoiditis in the balls of the feet.

Hi Doc,

Maybe small fiber damage does occur immediately in response to high glucose levels, as opposed to long neural fibers.

Yeah, artificial sweeteners are not an option for me either, I want stuff to taste *good*...

I can still have dark, unsweetened chocolate, though. And, well, fruit is such a treat now, I guess one's sense of taste can get numbed by too much sweetness over the years and now, whoa, all the richness again

I have now several papers on the short term effect of sorbitol and fructose on nerves, I'll be studying them and post any findings, for us who-knows-if-actually-prediabetics-but-still-sufferers-from-PN-that-gets-worse-by-sugar.

I am the same. I have no problems with insulin/glucose at all. But I eat like a diabetic also since sugar is not a friend to the nerves at all. Just like other toxins, we have to keep food really clean and FULL of nurtrients for the nerves. My glucose level is very constant and returns to normal very soon after eating since I am careful. I do not want highs and lows for the nerves.


I MISS YUMMY milk chocolate. I wish dark choc. tasted good and didn't cause headaches for me. Well, my nerves are all I care about with POTS and CFS.

Hi dyctiostelium, (thank goodness for "copy & paste" )

Unfortunately I have the same problem as Sallysblooms; dark chocolate is a migraine trigger.

Taste & smell (both involved in what we perceive to be "taste"), peak at around age 8, and like the other senses, decrease with age beginning around middle age for most folks (which is one reason those buffet restaurants that cater to retired folks serve such highly salted/flavored/aromatic foods).

Certain lifestyles (e.g. drinking, smoking) can also dull them sooner. Sex, hormones, and other factors can effect them too.

Part II (esp. Lectures 15 - 18) of Sensation, Perception, and the Aging Process by Professor Francis B. Colavita has some interesting reading on taste & smell.

Doc