[Marlene]

Article on some new research using a derivative of DHA from omega 3 oils for nerve pain. Sounds promising.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0717164721.htm

[mrsD]

That is really interesting. We use Omega-3's here daily still after a decade! So I am not surprised.

I'm going to put this on my EFA thread on Vitamin Forum!

Thanks so much, Marlene.

[Wide-O]

This could be of incredible importance to so many people... wow.

[Sallysblooms]

Safe treatments are what should always be studied. Great news.

What vitamin forum are you on Mrs. D?

[mrsD]

The one here:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum49.html

[Wide-O]

Ooh, a secret forum!

Just kidding, I'm a bit overexcited by that article. I read it again, to try to fully understand what's going on.

In layman's terms, this medication would use DHA as a precursor and convert it into NDP1. The article seems to suggest that DHA in itself already has anti-inflammatory properties (nothing new there), but these will be much more powerful after conversion to NPD1. (and thus a lower dose is needed)

In the first clinical trials, they want to administer high DHA, and - that's a bit I'm not sure about - convert that "by an aspirin-triggered pathway". I wonder if that simply means administering aspirin or asperin like substances, which have been known to have a strong anti-inflammatory working, but are dangerous in other ways in the long term (internal bleeding etc.). If so, anecdotally this might be close to what I was doing in the last few months, taking both high DHA (up to 4 grams/day now, 7 grams DHA/EPA in total) and (accidentally, when I still had arthritis) Meloxicam. I might be totally wrong on this, and maybe it was just the high DHA/EPA intake that helped me. So, pure speculation on my part, but it would make sense and explain that although my EMG still clearly shows nerve malfunction, I no longer feel any real pain.

What worries me a bit:

"Current treatment options for neuropathic pain include gabapentin and various opioids, which may lead to addiction and destruction of the sensory nerves."

That's new to me, and I really would like to know more about that, as it would mean - as a throwaway comment almost - that some medications we take/took for PN makes the problem worse longer term? We already know of many medications that trigger or make PN worse; do they mean that gabapentin/opioids are in that category too? Or do they mean opioids just mask the pain, and do not reduce nerve inflammation, and let the macrophages continually gobble up the nerve ends?

The article mentions cytokines (these are made from or helped by omega-6 fatty acids if I'm not mistaken); this all sounds very much like why Dr. Barry Sears advocates high omega3 and "lower" omega6 dietary intake, and recommends up to 15 grams of DHA/EPA per day for people with neurological problems (for healthy people he recommends 3.5 grams).

Anyway, it really seems that "inflammation" is all around us now - it almost starts to feel like a "fad"*. I also found a nutrition site that not only shows glycemic load (good good!), but also the inflammatory factor of foodstuffs:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/...nd-herbs/212/2

*But what if they are really on to something?

Very good news, and it may lead to cheap and safe medication for chronic pain.