Good morning. Well, several of you have been helping me with my questions about Cymbalta and also the use of artificial sweeteners. I have been following the supplementation regime on the sticky thread for a little over two weeks now and unfortunately it has coincided with my neuropathy pain and muscle weakness worsening.

I went in to see my neurologist yesterday as it was really scaring me how quickly the pain was progressing. She had already switched me to 5mg of Lexapro. Now she wants me to stop all the vitamins and also avoid seafood for the next two weeks (previously had high mercury levels).

What do you all think about this plan???

When you don't know, then yes, the best way to find out is stop everything and add things back one thing at a time.

I can not image it is a supplement causing your symptoms to worsen but I guess if you dump them all and start over you will know for sure. My guess is that it will not be the supplements.

Regarding seafood.... there is another factor:

Histamine excess...which will give paresthesias just like PN:

more here on that:
http://diagnosisdiet.com/histamine-intolerance/

I, myself, cannot tolerate the nightshade family. The burning I get from peppers, excess tomatoes, and esp potatoes is horrible.
I can have a tiny bit of tomato sauce but not days in a row... maybe once a week or every 10 days. But potatoes really make me burn and also any "hot" sauces or bell peppers. When I finally figured this out, I had a huge improvement in daily burning of my feet!

Another important thing to avoid is MSG.... this form of unbound glutamate which is artificial will stimulate the pain receptors called NMDA receptors and increase pain.
MSG is used heavily in soups, stews, sauces, flavored anything like chips, etc, and is a hidden ingredient that can cause much grief.

MrsD, I never knew what a "night shade" vegetable even was until I read one of your posts. But anything was worth a try, and when I eliminated them from my diet, my feet improved immediately.

My oldest son told me a few days ago that he had been diagnosed with arthritis. I began researching natural remedies for him, and guess what--Dr. Jonathan Wright recommends eliminating the night shade vegetables to ease the pain of arthritis!

Wow... fascinating, Joan.
Citrus can also be a culprit for joint pain. I've given that up too.

You know 2 summers ago my son and I had some nice perch for lunch at a local restaurant upNorth. (he was visiting on vacation there).

By the time we boated back to the island, it was later in the afternoon, and he was....ow ....owwww.... my feet are killing me.
So were mine. HOT and prickling. We figured it was the fish. Histamine.
We both had some AlkaSeltzer, and put on sandals with no socks, and he then went hiking... much happier. Could have been MSG too adding in there for synergy!

My experience now with so many years of PN.... is that FOOD can be a real trigger for some people, and should always be investigated carefully.

I am happy for you Joan... that you see some relief. Who would have thought?

I better tell him about orange juice--as a kid he drank a lot of it!

I'm doing fine--I gave up gluten a year ago last month and my digestive problems went away with it, in less than a week. I didn't do any additional testing (they did test me for celiac several years beforehand) so I think I'm just gluten sensitive, like a lot of people. Our eating is pretty simple these days, back to basics, fish (not farmed), chicken, beef no more than once a week and non-night-shade veggies, occasional berries for dessert. There's a lot to choose from in the gluten-free aisle these days.

My routine still includes the magnesium lotion from Walmart and lots of supplements.

I found I have to avoid everything supplemented with B6 in it, even breakfast cereals. I just started taking my supplements one at a time at half hour apart since one of them was making my heart freak out. I take nothing that has more than one thing in it to try and rule it out.

I don't quite understand--are you saying the B6 was making your heart freak out?

No, I quit taking the B6 because anything I ate with it supplemented in or in vitamins, my nerves would flare up. I also was having one of my supplements making my heart freak out so I started taking them one at a time to figure it out. Turned out it was pepzin. Stomach supplement that is zinc carnosine. Not sure why. Also Lecithen raises my pulse about 15bpm.

Interesting. What I've read online indicates that it takes high doses of B6 over a long period of time to cause symptoms. But I had a major increase in neuropathy symptoms after taking moderate doses of B vitamins for a few months, then the symptoms improved a lot when I cut back on the supplement. Two different doctors suggested that the B vitamins (my blood levels of B6 are pretty high) could be a factor in the neuropathy.