mg capsules sitting here unopened. My feet are killing me, and although I think mine is an autoimmune situation, I may as well start taking these capsules if they can't hurt me.

I know a lot of people on here have used alpha lipoic acid for small fiber neuropathy, and my question is is it more effective when taking on full or empty stomach, or does it make any difference?

Thank you!

David, the reason I'm here, is because of Femoral Nerve Damage from a hip replacement in 2010...my whole right thigh is numb....

I've been taking Alpha Lipoic Sustain from Jarrow and it's a 300mg tab. Someone told me about this Sustain product so I bought it.

I also have a bottle of ALC from Vitacost which is 300mg.

Some days, I take 2 of the above.


It seems some of the tingling is going away on my thigh but I also take 2 other nerve issue supps and they can be helping too.

If it says take with meals, then that's what one should do. Otherwise, it says on the bottles just to take, so it doesn't matter. Many supps can work better when NOT mixed up with our foods...I go both ways with my supps.

I've never had issues with supps and I'm taking them over 25 yrs, but I did have issues with drugs years earlier, hence why I do what I do...work with MOST supps.

My other two nerve supps I take are: Sphingolin and Inosine


I use topical creams on all my joints (OA) and feet and my thigh...Comfrey salve is a good healer I've been reading. I have a Christophers bone and tissue salve and it contains comfrey.

The older form (that is both S- and R-) should be taken on an empty stomach. There is a study showing reduced absorption when taken with food up to 30% reduced. Only the R is active.
So doses tend to be higher to compensate for the inactive S form.

The newer forms, can be taken anytime. This is called stabilized NaRala.... and is more soluble and more effective. Usually only 100mg is needed daily of this type.

Labels on supplements don't always have accurate information on how to use them.

This is a fairly complete monograph:
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/dieta...rs/lipoic-acid

David, I've said this before here, a bridge friend deals with what she says is Ideopathic Neuropathy and was taking Neurontin for like 9 yrs and wanted to get off it the drug, and once she got on grape seed extract, she says it's 5 yrs, but I think it's more like 3 yrs or so, she is off the drug and has improvement in her nerve pain in feet.

I talked so much about OPC's (grape seed extract, pycnogenol and resveratrol) since I came here, OPC's are a HUGE part of my life and health. I have posts on OPC's in the vit/supp section and the general section and I comment on other's posts when I can. C

On to take supps with food or without, when I first got introduced to Pycnogenol back in 1995, we were told to take it on empty stomach, which I did for many years and still do with grape seed extract....but my stomach isn't empty often, except first thing in morning...so we do the best we can. Some have more sensitive stomachs and need to take "things" with food.