You know what, I just had 2 glasses of champagne on friday and yesterday a rompope (mexican alcoholic drink with sugar, even worse) and guess what... ME FEET ARE KILLING ME TODAY !!!!

I cant walk, simply, my feet hurt that much. Burn like hell, hurt like hell too.

It is worse than when I have had chocolate or sugar... so, alcohol definetely is bad for my neuropathy.

OUCH !

Bruce, when you quit drinking did your PN get any better? Did you notice a benefit other than getting rid of the heartburn??

I started b12 shots in September 08 and quit drinking a couple weeks later. After 4 weeks, when the shots stopped, I took 5mg SL b12 and still am.

So here it is, 6 months later, and there has been some improvement in my feet, my brain fog and vision problems have mostly gone away, depression has definitely gone away, but there is no way of knowing if the improvement was because of taking b12 or my quitting drinking. Or a combination of both.

I saw a neurologist a couple weeks ago, and find it curious that he never even asked me if I drank, and wasn't particularly interested in knowing that I was/am b12 deficient. He seems to be as clueless as my regular doctor.

I think there are two basice issues with drinking.

1) overtime it overloads the metabolic systems that metabolize alcohol. The byproducts of this are aldehydes, which cause the side effects to the nerves. So taking Thiamine B1 may help since that is a cofactor in alcohol metabolism. Benfotiamine is a better version and now available at affordable prices.

2) alcohol is a vasodilator. When feet or hands get more blood flow all of a sudden, then the heat sensing nerves start firing.
This is then perceived as "burning". Stimulation of cold nerves will block this sensation..and menthol in its various forms is the agent most commonly used. Think about winter and getting really cold and coming in suddenly and ears/hands tingle as they warm up.

Thanks everyone, for the helpful tips and the camaraderie.

Some people do OK with raw milk and raw cheese.

You can also try almond milk. I can't drink milk. It really makes my stomach burn. I started drinking blue diamond almond milk and really like it.

Augie,

Alcohol Peripheral Neuropathy is a disease or disorder (I personally think the application of the definition as a disease is way overused) systematically destroys the Peripheral nervous system beginning at the outermost of the extremities.(usually the feet well before the hands) A damaged nerve is a dead nerve. They are incapable of healing or regenerating, thus even the hint of the term "cure" is a misnomer.

Depending however on the extent of damage to the total system, the body's, capability to PRODUCE NEW COLLATERAL circuits to replace those permanently lost, is solely for the most part the determinant of the eventual outcome. Any, and I repeat ANY consumption of alcohol--even one or two glasses of wine will aggravate the condition in whatever phase it has attained, along with the attendant pains and discomforts so associated. It will also constitute a degree of toxic hindrance to the manufacture of new networks.

Translate that: NO ALCOHOL!

Believe me when I confess the hours I have spent poring over the most technical clinical studies solely in the quest of finding meat for a compelling argument on the benefits of measured "medicinal" doses of red wine as among other boons, a natural source of valuable antioxidents, etc., sadly all to no avail.

As there exists no documentation of neuropathy fatality,(death by cirrosis or brain dementia far more likely) one could possibly look forward to a long life feeling this lousy and debilitated with continued degeneration to quality of life. After 50 years of steady drinking--started when I was 16 and am now 66, I took a not so long look at the options available and found it not hard to realize that my thirst was finally quenched. I'd had the last alcohol of my life about 6 months ago.

There is still no strength in my feet, ankles, achilles, legs, arms, and upper body. That accompanies the continued loss of balance, muscle loss, inability to climb stairs without a railing, some lingering numbness in my feet, legs and hypersensitivity in my fingertips. All of these are at least 200% less severe than 6 months ago--so needless to say I'm not standing by the stove waiting for the pot to boil. At least I've stopped adding to the problem that I alone created.

May I conclude this filibuster with: BEST OF LUCK TO ALL OF US!

Sarge

Are you saying your neuoropathy is better? I drank for 40 years and just quit last week..I have classic PN and the Neuro Doc has no idea what it is from. I am not diabetic, yet I have the same symptoms.

I wonder if there is hope for me as I understand it the nerves are dead and thats it. Tried Gapapentin and well side effects were too bad....

In a bad pain full place now

Eyeball1:
Sorry your having problems, but welcome to the forum.

It's unfortunately very common that the doctors can't tell us what is causing our PN (or, they just don't want to put in the effort it takes to do a complete workup).

Obviously, if you've been a long term drinker the first thing to do is stay far away from alcohol.

Then, you need to give your body what it needs to be properly nourished (particularly your nerves). A good diet and supplements that specifically support nerve health should be considered. There's tons of information on the forum pertaining to supplements. Thiamine, or better yet benfotiamine is recommended if you drink or are recovering from it. There's lots of others that may also help.

Exercise to the extent you can, and try to reduce stress. If the pain is too much, your doctor can prescribe medications that may help. There's many different ones and none work for everyone, so the medication route is usually filed with lots of trial and error.

Good luck.