Hello David,

I am so happy to hear from you and I am glad to know that you have been doing great. I’ve been following your story and I can understand all the pain and suffering you must have gone through. I’ve been diagnosed only a few weeks ago and it feels so terrible. But you have lived with it for a decade and I must admit that it takes a lot of courage and determination to keep fighting. People like you make me feel hopeful buddy.

After reading your post, I researched on the carnivore diet and I came across so many people who claim that this way of eating has changed their life. It is indeed surprising to know that when modern medical science has failed to cure so many autoimmune diseases, a simple diet is able to help people in healing themselves. People call it a miracle diet and this explains the effectiveness of the diet and how it has brought a positive change in their lives.

I have been a fairly active person all my life. I’ve been hitting the gym and doing heavy resistance training about 5 times a week. My diet has always been up to the mark, no junk food. I have been quantifying my diet for years and I count my calories. I never smoke and I am not a heavy boozer. I used to have a couple of pints on Saturdays. I am not really sure what could have caused my neuropathy. Destiny probably.

Nevertheless, after coming across so many stories I finally decided to take the plunge and I am on day 2 of my carnivore diet. Currently I am only eating eggs and beef cooked in tallow. I use salt and pepper for seasoning my meat. Fat accounts to about 70% of my calories and remaining 30% comes from protein. I am avoiding all other meats at the moment. Will consider adding them once I start feeling better.

So far I have been doing pretty well on this diet but on my Day 2 I noticed a slight increase in my symptoms. The numbness in my palms was gone but it came back today. I am not sure if it has something to do with my new diet. May be a result of oxalate dumping? Or could it be because of the eggs? I’ll observe it for a couple of more days and will exclude eggs if this continues.

I’ve also started taking benfotiamine, R-ala and B-12. I know it’s too early to start expecting results. I will continue this diet atleast for 90 days before drawing any conclusions. But I am hopeful that if it has helped so many people it might help me too.

Thank you so much for the encouraging words and tips David. It means a lot. I really appreciate it and I wish you great health and a happiness life. Keep rocking! 😊

Rick, I am in the same situation as you. Healthy, lifted, no chronic diseases. Got covid and 6 weeks later, small fiber neuropathy. I now have numbness in my entire body. Even neurologists I see can't believe it because its in every piece of skin which is supposedly extremely rare.

I am now on day 18 of ketovore - I drink kefir with whey protein powder and eat some cheese. I also just started taking 500mg a day of benfotiame, 1200mg of ALA, 2500mg fish oil, 5000IU Vit D, 5g createine and costco's Mega B-complex. So far no real changes.

If you need support or want to bounce ideas off each other, I can be reached on telegram @Depeche_Made or whatsapp

Hi RationalBeing, I am so sorry to know about your condition. I can relate to what you are experiencing and I understand that this could be quite overwhelming. I was diagnosed about a month ago and to be honest, I felt that this was the end of road for me. But then I came across many people like David who were successful is managing and even reversing their condition. This gave me a lot of hope and I started my own research on different diets, supplements and lifestyle changes that could help me in reversing my neuropathy.

I am in a better position now. Although I still feel some numbness and a vibratory sense in my palms, my foot pain has reduced by 90%. The pin and needle feeling has also gone.

In the beginning I started with intermittent fasting and I could notice that my symptoms would subside a bit but they would come back as soon as I ate carbs. I felt needles and tingling immediately after I ate rice, bread or pasta. So I went totally low carb and I could see some difference.

I also added supplements like benfotiamine, R-ALA, L-Citruline but I did not notice any significant improvement until I included B12. My B12 came to be around 250 and people here advised me to start supplementing immediately. I started taking 6000mcg of B12 and within days I could notice reduction in my foot pain. Just to make sure that B12 was helping, I stopped it for a few days and the pain came back. I reintroduced it and now my foot pain is gone 90%.

I came across David’s post about managing his neuropathy through the carnivore diet. I also spoke to many people who were able to reverse their autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, MS etc by going carnivore. With some many case studies, I decided to give it a try. I’ve been on a carnivore diet for about 5 days now. Although I did not notice any significant improvement in my hand numbness, I feel great from inside. I’ve been suffering from ulcerative colitis for years and my gut has improved a lot immediately after going carnivore.

I started with eggs, red meat, salt and pepper. But now I’ve excluded eggs completely. I still have that vibratory sense in my palms and forearms. It is like how we feel immediately after an electric shock. It is difficult to explain. But I’ve not lost hope yet and I’ve decided to continue this diet for atleast 6 months before making any conclusions. Nerves take a lot of time to heal so I need to be patient.

I understand your case. Covid and Covid vaccine induced neuropathy are quite common these days. But the good news is that since this is not related to diabetes or any other autoimmune condition, there is a high a probability of getting this reversed. Unlike diabetic or autoimmune neuropathy where the nerves will continue to degenerate due to the associated health conditions, in covid induced neuropathy there is nothing ongoing that could continue contributing to this condition. Well, although I am not a doctor atleast that’s my opinion. This is somewhat similar to alcohol induced neuropathy and I’ve come across many patients who were able to reverse it by simply cutting alcohol completely.

You made a good decision by going ketovore because going carnivore directly might be hard on the body. But I would recommend that you slowly transition into a Lion’s diet as suggested by David. This is an elimination diet and it will help you in figuring out which foods you are allergic to. After about 6 months you can slowly start reintroducing other meats. Our myelin sheath is made of fat and only animal fat can help in regenerating it.

How’s your B12 by the way? If it is anywhere below 600 please start supplementing immediately. You can also include beef liver in your diet as it is rich in B12. Lion’s diet allows organ meat of all ruminant animals. This will also help you with some variety in your food.

If possible, also get an ANA test done just to make sure that you don’t have any autoimmune issues. My ANA came out +++positive and that freaked me out in the beginning. But as modern medicine can’t help with this, i decided to focus more on diet, supplementation and exercise.

Last but not the least, don’t get disheartened as this will lead to stress and stress can further aggravate your symptoms. People in this forum are very helpful and you can reach out if you need help. I would also suggest that you join carnivore groups on Facebook. It has helped me a lot.

I hope this helps. Sure, you can get in touch with me on telegram. My id is @beachlifez

Wishing you all the best and praying for your speedy recovery 😊

Great information! My own ANA and ANA2 were all negative, but I did have some positives on gangliosides. Still trying to make sense of it, but the doctors say its just covid that caused mine and time is the only way to recover.

I completed 30 days of Ketovore with good results in terms of feeling energetic and good, but no real improvement to my neuropathy. My B12 hasn't been checked since January, but it was 865, so quite good. I've been taking 1000mcg-2000 a day the last couple of weeks now in chew form.

If I cut out the kefir with whey protein and the large amount of nutritional yeast my carbs would go to nearly zero. Not sure if it would make a difference, but something I could try. I never had any real issues with my gut before the disease, so i'm fortunate with that.

Sent you a message on telegram, let's connect!

Hi Rick,

Thank you for your kind words. I'm not sure how courageous I am, since I have no choice but to live with this disease. I suppose there's always the option of ending it all, but as dark as things got for me in the first several months and couple of years, and as much as I didn't want to be living my daily life with this disease, I never really had suicidal ideation. Among other things, like you I had and still have people for whom I'm responsible. I've done the best I can and ever since I've been on carnivore I've felt more positive, energetic, and happy. A great part of that is how much better I feel. Even if my nerve damages doesn't regenerate, these days I barely notice much of it. That's partly due to time, and getting used to living with all the weird symptoms, but it's mostly because my symptoms are significantly reduced with this way of eating and living. I just had to focus very hard to see if my feet have that vibrating sense and I barely noticed it. In my hands, I notice nothing as hard as I am trying right now. It's just an example.

It does sound like your diet was better than mine overall. I drank quite a bit of beer and some wine, and I'm sure that contributed to the onset of my neuropathy. I'm glad you're now on carnivore and doing better. I read your other comments after your response to me and I'm even happier that you decided to do the so called 'lion diet'. Ruminant meat is really the healthiest thing you can eat and after several months you can start reintroducing things slowly, perhaps one a month, to see how you do on them. That's at least what I plan to do in the new year. Until a few months ago I only ate meat, salt, and drank water. I've since reintroduced eggs which would make my neuropathy much worse and so I hadn't eaten them in many years. Now I do just fine on eggs, even when I eat a dozen in one day. However, at some point in the new year I plan to go back to ruminant meat only and do a very serious elimination diet, even so much so that I'll introduce ruminant meat one at a time, begging with beef and moving on to lamb, etc. As much as I love eggs, I need to do this to see what is most optimal for me.

I also think it's prudent to at least try the diet for 6 months before deciding anything. I know there are all sorts of influencers who advocate for a 30 day carnivore challenge and the like, but that's not enough. It took me 3 months to become properly fat adapted where I had the high energy levels that I now have. I felt better immediately don't get me wrong, and with each week I noticed more improvements, but it wasn't until 3 months in that I started feeling like superman. If wasn't until several months after that my sleep became well regulated. I was still sleeping alright, but not enough, though I still had plenty of energy during the day because on carnivore I have so much more energy and so little pain if any. The sleep problems were partly because I had histamine issues. Things significantly improved once I addressed that and also made sure I was eating enough fat. As some like to say, this diet isn't really the carnivore diet but the fativore diet. It's essential to be getting at least 70-80% of your calories from fat.

It does sound like you did your research, and I hope you're keeping that up. This is the way to go. Did your initial issues improve? You should be well on your way now. I'm not surprised that your symptoms got worse initially because it's a stress on your system to radically change your diet. Carb withdrawal is a serious thing and I've seen it crush family members who went keto. My own father looked and felt like he was dying the first few weeks because he's a huge carb addict or was. Either way, the change will create dramatic changes in your body and can cause some temporary inflammation among other things. It could also be oxalate dumping depending on how oxalate heavy your diet was. Most of us over-consume oxalates so it's no surprise. Oxalate dumping often present more like a rash, but anything is possible. I possible had it a few weeks in when I had a rash on the back of my leg, behind my knee. It lasted a few weeks and then subsided to never return.

Your supplements sound good too. These days I just eat some liver, either cod or beef, and call it day. But I still do occasionally take B12, D3+K2 given the winters here, and Benfotiamine. Next year I'll likely come off all supplements, but one at a time and see how my body responds. My B12 numbers are a 1000+ these days. Right now you should make sure you feed your body everything it needs and supplements can help with that. I would recommend keeping an eye on your iodine and omega 3. If you're eating grass fed and finished/100% grass fed ruminant meat, you'll get your omega 3s no problem, but grain finished is depleted of this essential fatty acid. I also eat a can or two of sardines a week, cod liver from time to time, and a piece of wild salmon now and then. But when I go full ruminant next year it'll all be 100% grass fed to ensure I'm getting the essential DHA. As for iodine, if the animals you consume graze near the ocean, you should be good, otherwise you will likely have to supplement. Iodized salt is rarely sufficient without eating wild seafood, etc.

I really hope the carnivore way of eating and living helps you. Do your research like you're doing and reach out to me if you think I can help. I'd be happy to do so. I'll keep an eye out for any comments or private messages. Good luck!

Hi David,

Although I am still struggling with my condition even after 2 months on carnivore, your story gives me a lot of hope. My suffering is not even close to what you have gone through. Yet, you were able to swim against the tide and this reminds me again and again that neuropathy can be reversed.

It has been 77 days since I started carnivore but so far I haven’t noticed much difference with my symptoms, although I do feel energetic and active. Oh yeah, my gut has improved a lot after going carnivore.

My foot pain went away even before I went carnivore and that could be because of the B12 supplements.

However, I still have tingling in my hand fingers and sometimes around my lips and that’s bothering me the most.

My doctor has prescribed 300mg oxcarbazepine twice a day. This is an anti-seizure medication, similar to gabapentin. When I take the medicines, my tingling and numbness disappear completely but it comes back immediately even if I miss the dose for a single day. This makes me realise that the carnivore diet hasn’t started showing it’s benefits yet.

I almost forget about my neuropathy as long as I am on this medication. However, I don’t want to be dependent on these drugs for the rest of my life and that’s the very reason for going carnivore.

Right now I eat only red meat most of the time. I add salt and pepper to my meat to make it taste better. I also drink 2 cups of sugarless tea every day. I am not sure if I should do that. I eat eggs may be once every 2 weeks when I feel like eating something different. I am not sure if I am doing carnivore the right way.. I really wish there was someone who could hold my hand and help me navigate through this.

I know that it is too early to conclude if carnivore can reverse my PN but so far it hasn’t been very effective. But I won’t give up and will continue to stay on this diet due to the other associated health benefits.

Thanks 🙏 for all the support and kind words David. It helps a lot. I am unable to send you a private message, may be because I don’t have the required permissions. Nevertheless, I’ll keep you updated about my condition.

I sent you a reply to your more recent private message.