David - I live near Northwestern Medical Center and am waiting for a diagnosis from a Neuro who diagnoses and treats CIDN. My symptoms closely resemble CIDN; do I need a diagnoses before contacting NW's center for stem cell treatment?

I'm not sure really how they would proceed. Is CIDN just CIDP? Regardless, I assume you'll need an actual confirmed diagnosis before any treatment there or elsewhere. You can always call them, but they will almost certainly want a confirmed diagnosis. Good luck!

Oh, thank you. I have polyneuropathy confirmed by two EMG's a couple months apart; I get confused with the alphabet-soup for all of these diseases. I think it may be Chronic Inflammatory Demylinating Neuropathy, but am waiting to hear and asked them to send me results of the EMG. So far all blood work is normal, spine and brain scans are not showing MS. Symptoms are bilaterial ... very similar and first EMG mentioned likely axonal and/or demylinating neuropathy. Muscles definitely are affected; walking is difficult. Funny, but b12 shots which I take every 3 days plus other nutrients I learned about on this site seem to help. Of course, could not function without Neurontin and Cymbalta and low-dose xanax throughout the day; heavier doses at night.

Thank you again ... best wishes!

If you have Chronic Inflammatory Demylinating Polyneuropathy, I believe they either have a trial at Northwestern or just treat it. You would need a confirmed diagnosis is my guess. I don't believe insurance would cover stem cell, or perhaps not without a battle, but if the study is still open - I think they were doing a study - that might help. It wouldn't harm to contact them. I did and they were helpful, but I didn't qualify, since I have idiopathic SFN for now. If I remember, they've successfully treated CIDP.

The natural approach, all I've used so far, does help. If nothing else, it puts your body under the best possible condition for healing or less harm. Diet, exercise, reduced stress and supplementation all help, so I'm not surprised to hear you say that.