--that in some people even blood sugar readings in the prediabetic range can cause neuropathy.

But I think the much more obvious aspect here is vitamin deficiency. She had gastric bypass surgery in the past--that is absolutely associated with difficulties absorbing vitamins, especially the B-complex ones and especially B12.

And B12 deficiency (that level of 387 you mentioned was much too low, despite typical American lab ranges; in Europe and Japan the lower range limits usually start around 500-550--we just seem to take a long time to catch up to more recent clinical thinking) is not only associated with peripheral neuropathy, but with multiple systems degeneration that can include cognitive/memory issues and motor problems. In fact, in gerentological circles it is established that among elderly people with cognitive/memory issues one really ought to check their vitamin levels first before assuming dementia or Alzheimer's; B12 and other B-vitamin deficiency is quite common as people get older as the intrinsic factor needed to break out cobalamin from foodstuffs in the stomach significantly declines with age (with or without alcohol consumption).

I'd see if you can get your mother's doctors to monitor her vitamin levels regularly, and to continue her physical therapy. Hopefully she will improve over time, but neurological damage takes a long time to heal, if it can, and the recovery is often patchy and incomplete.

I know we've seen at least a little improvement since I got her on the B12, as both her PT and OT, and my grandma, noted how much faster she was moving. It probably wasn't a huge increase, but we'll take any improvement we can get. I'll see about getting some Jarrow B Right, too, but I'm very worried about her B6 going over and causing even more issues. This particular problem seems very delicate to handle, and I'm far from qualified for it...we'd go get blood tests, but we have no way to get around right now-- we're practically stuck. And that's not even the hard part, it's her having to come to terms with the fact that the healing is going to take time. She's really really impatient with painful situations like this. And it doesn't help that her memory is still shot (which I'm suspecting to maybe be due to liver damage from alcohol causing repetitions of hyponatremia, since her sodium seemed to drop back down when she had to go back to the hospital weeks ago for low sodium again). I think it's improved a little, but there's no way she can return to her job as an accountant the way she is now, even though she's been working almost entirely from home the past year. It's probably why her doctor has kept her on a fluid restriction ever since she left the hospital, too.

Another issue we're running into is that her insurance doesn't cover frequent PT or OT visits, nor does it cover short term care for them to help her get back on her feet, and we're already strapped for money as it is. And for some reason she becomes a lot more immature and unwilling to work out when it's a relative (like me) trying to help her as opposed to PT or OT. I've been there when they visit-- they ask her to do something, and she tries with a little comment of uncertainty as her only protest, if she does protest. When I want her to work out, she tells me to wait 5 minutes and then takes another 2 minutes when I get back to sit up and reach for her walker. And then it's a struggle to get her to do some workouts that she already has done before with PT or OT.

It's just rough. And I guess it's gonna be like this until she's able to ditch the walker, which could be months. I'm not really looking forward to that...

It's only been a few days since my last post regarding this, but I'm becoming more and more worried about my mom's memory rather than her neuropathy. I mean the neuropathy's bad to the point that she can hardly go up the stairs, sure, but even so it'd be easy for me to just help her up the stairs and then call someone to drive us around. Better yet, even if she COULDN'T leave, she could still WORK. She's an accountant (I think. It has something to do with managing money/bills. Whatever it is she does, it requires her memory be in tip-top shape), 90% of what she does, she can do at home on her laptop (and has been almost exclusively since the pandemic). But now that her memory's shot? No chance of making enough money to pay rent alone, let alone other bills like internet or insurance.

My mom's memory seems to have stagnated in it's recovery-- or it's improving so slowly that I can't even tell if it's getting better. It's worrying. She forgets things almost immediately sometimes still, she forgets to pay bills, she forgets so much she has to write down every single thing that's said to her during calls with people like her doctor or the neurologist or she won't remember any of it. We don't even know what could be causing it, and now we're at a point where we're drowning in so many bills that we're gonna have to put off even trying to go get blood tests, which also cost money we don't have. And then there's her glucose levels which are also elevated (116), and I've seen neuropathy doesn't really get better until that's accounted for, but dealing with that in and of itself right now just seems like such a large beast to handle, mainly because we have no money to just buy diet-related foods that would help lower/keep her blood sugar in check. It just feels like we're stuck in a shrinking cage and every time we try to reach out to grab the key to unlock it, the cage shrinks even faster.

I'm sorry to have to sound like such a downer-- I just...I'm at a lost at what to do here. Every story that I've read regarding neuropathy didn't also have to deal with memory loss, so I guess our case is a terribly unique one. But it makes me wonder what we can even do to fix it? She's been on her current vitamins (B1, Methyl-B12 and D3) for only 10 days so far, in the case of the B12. D3 has been a couple days longer (maybe 3/14), B1 has been since 3/9. I've done some more looking things up since it feels like we're so inundated we can't just go and get tests or anything, I've seen some problems with the liver (such as cirrhosis) can also cause memory issues due to hyponatremia being a frequent complication of it (which she did have at the beginning of all this, and then it came back maybe a week or two later)...alcohol damages the liver, right? Maybe that's what we're dealing with. Then again, I'm no doctor, and the only thing I even know about is her B12 levels (which were taken weeks ago), so maybe not. Maybe it's her magnesium, or her B6 levels. But before we can even find out what it is via a test, we need both a ride there and the wealth stability to even afford it.

When I read Icehouse's story, it seemed like such a miracle that gave me so much hope that my mom could recover just the same, except for one big problem: I don't think Icehouse had to deal with memory issues at all during his recovery journey, which makes me think that our journey is going to be even harder for it.

Someone from Pathways is going to come and draw my mom's blood sometime this week I think, so at least we have that going for us. Don't need to have someone drive mom there, we can find out her sodium levels that way. And then maybe I can ask her doctor or whoever calls us back for her nutrition levels. Maybe her memory issue is really just low magnesium/vitamin B. It'd make life so much easier for us both if it were as simple as giving her supplements for a few weeks and then maybe 1-3 times a week after to get her memory back.

I hope everyone's doing okay, either way. Advice would be appreciated though, because it feels like I'm running out of time to save my mom.

Hi SoulfulYin,
Apart from you and your mother, do you have any other close relatives or support people who can help. I may have missed it if you wrote in a post already, but I'm not even sure if you're an adult and it worries me very much that you are maybe dealing with the responsibilty of helping your mother become well again all on your own.

I'm asking this because of personal experience and I know how difficult it has been for my own daughter, who is actually a young adult, to suddenly become a carer of sorts for me while I was and am still going through some full-on health issues in the past few years.

Do you have a good relationship with your mother's doctor? They should be helping you sort out her health care.

Is your mother on a cholesterol med, like Lipitor?
That can cause memory issues, plus affects the liver also..

Well, she's on Gabapentin which I've heard can cause memory issues-- but this started over 40 days ago when she was on Lisinopril-HCTZ for her blood pressure disorder I think they called it. She was 100% fine until maybe a few nights before she went into the hospital. She got hyponatremia from her Lisinopril-HCTZ, which is originally why I thought she had memory issues. After that was taken care of though, she still exuded forgetfulness when she got back home, though not as bad. She's on a different kind of Lisinopril now, so I didn't think it'd still be causing her memory issues...but maybe it is? I'm not sure anymore. She's not on Lipitor, though. I don't think she's on any kind of cholesterol medication-- but I don't know if that would be the same thing as medication for blood pressure problems, either, or like edema or something. She's on B1 (Thiamine), Methyl-B12, Vitamin D3, Lisinopril, Gabapentin 300mg, Omeprazole, Oxybutynin & Amlodipine, all of which she takes once in the morning except for Methyl-B12 (x2 a day on an empty stomach, as I've seen repeated many a time here) and Gabapentin 300mg (x3 a day). Didn't start on the B12 until 11 days ago, too. Hope this info helps.

We're also ordering some magnesium today for her to start takin, but it probably won't get here for a while. We're gonna start with the smallest dose we can, on the chance she might not be low on it. But we're getting it in the first place considering her years of alcohol abuse, so hopefully this'll help.

We have my grandma, who definitely has helped a little bit, but she has to take care of my great grandma most of the time so she's already very busy.

We have my uncle, who used to help her up the stairs (but good news-- when PT came today she managed to go both up and down the flight of stairs on her own! one big step forward, today) and drove her around in her car, but now he's likely exposed himself to COVID so we can't have him help us anymore for a while.

The only other really dependable person was one of my aunts, who lives in Florida. She has her own family to take care of though, so it's very unlikely we could get her to come back here again for even another weekend. But she did offer to help my mom with her bills and stuff-- told her to organize a list of things she needs to pay and to send them to her to let her help. So we at least have that going for us.

I am technically an adult, yes. 22 years old, but I haven't had a job in quite some time I'm embarrassed to say, and I also can't drive. I'm probably depressed, but I've never told anyone about it (except for you & whoever else reads this).

I didn't even know my mother even had a doctor she knew until maybe 3 weeks ago (and her doctor's been with her for 20+ years apparently), so it's probably safe to say that I do not personally have any sort of relationship with my mom's doctor.

Things are getting a little bit better I think, especially today, but now with the threat of bills we can't pay (we just got another 8k bill from the hospital today too, so that kind of soured today's happy mood I got from watching mom climb those stairs) it's making me worried how we'll even get out of this financial problem when we're still dealing with her health ones.

We're ordering some magnesium today too for mom to take-- the doctor didn't prescribe it but things are moving along so slowly and I really hate just sitting and waiting for them to tell/give us what we need, which I find us doing more often than not, that I can't help but try and do what I can for mom on my own. We'll start as small as we can with doses in case she doesn't need them, but considering her history of alcohol abuse, I don't think we should have too much to worry about. I mean, the entire situation right now is why we're even getting them in the first place anyway...

Might be good to check meds online for information & interactions.
here's a few examples..

[Alcohol can increase the nervous system side effects of gabapentin such as dizziness, drowsiness, and difficulty concentrating. Some people may also experience impairment in thinking and judgment. You should avoid or limit the use of alcohol while being treated with gabapentin. Do not use more than the recommended dose of gabapentin, and avoid activities requiring mental alertness such as driving or operating hazardous machinery until you know how the medication affects you. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you have any questions or concerns.]

[if you are taking lisinopril you should be advised to avoid moderately high or high potassium dietary intake. This can cause high levels of potassium in your blood. Do not use salt substitutes or potassium supplements while taking lisinopril, unless your doctor has told you to.]
Drug Interactions Checker - For Drugs, Food & Alcohol

Hello to everyone on this site, I am a new member and this is my first post. Soulful Yin I have recently read your original post and have experienced a few things that may or may not help in some small way.

I wad diagnosed initially with peripheral neuropathy 18 months ago. Fortunately at the moment it is limited to my feet and I have lots of burning and stabbing sensations on the tops of both feet which I am told was brought about through a mixture of poor diet, diabetes and alcohol consumption over a number of years. In addition I also have a feeling of standing on pebbles on the soles of my feet which my neurologist has said could potentially be small fibre neuropathy. I am waiting for an MRI scan to confirm this.

I have had a foot x ray, ultrasound and an electromyography in the past and I have also been prescribed amitriptyline which only sent me to sleep, gabapentin which gave me severe stabbing pains and finally duloxetine. The last one (duloxetine) was the best of the bunch and did a marvellous job of taking the burning/stabbing feelings away but gave me a huge headache (though definitely worth it). I started to break the tablets in half because they became quite severe at times. It did nothing for the feeling I had of standing on pebbles however.

Recently I started to pay more attention to my diet and monitor the effect that certain foods had on my pain. I have eliminated all alcohol, carbohydrates and most sugars (apart from the natural sugar in berry fruits) and found that citrus fruits and salt make my pain much worse. I have kept a food diary so now I know which foods I can and can’t eat and strangely I have also discovered that consuming foods that have been chilled or frozen trigger a great deal of pain as opposed to room temperature foods which do not. I am now taking vitamin D3, B1, B12, magnesium and high strength omega 3 fish oil supplements too.

I have been on my eating plan for just one week so far and already I feel that my pain is improving.
I may not become pain free but any small improvements are a huge bonus and I plan to continue this for as long as I feel any benefit. I realise that all individuals would need to find their own trigger foods as we are all different however I suspect that sugar and carbohydrates are quite common in us all.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I do wish I had paid more attention to my diet a lot sooner than I did rather than being more reliant on medication.

I wish you well with your personal battles surrounding neuropathy.

Hey Steeler,

Welcome to the forum.

As first posts go that was pretty awesome. I like the way you have taken control of your own treatment. I note you eat berries, do you have any other safe carbs? Do have foods that you think of as healing for want of a better term?

Thank you for the welcome, I pretty much eat anything to be honest except the foods that trigger my pain. I have seen various diets that are recommended for my symptoms but don't think I could hack them long term because they lack bulk. I eat most fruits, vegetables, dairy and white meat. I have substituted potatoes with sweet potatoes which appear to be safe and also increased my consumption of nuts and seeds. I do tend to eat quite a lot of egg based foods such as omelettes and quiches. If I find that I have made a mistake and have eaten something that triggers my pain I have discovered that reaching for some nuts, particularly wall nuts and pecans tends to neutralise the pain.