Does anyone know of any signs of nerve healing (axonal regeneration)? I'm trying to be optimistic with my PN thinking that the shooting pains I'm now getting are sort of "hey your nerve is working again and you're healing", but I'm probably just hoping for the best :/

I've been exhausting possibilities since my PN is currently idiopathic and was leaning toward thiamine deficiency causing it. I couldn't find much information about healing from it, and cell death, and asking a doctor in the USA about it yielded no information. Anyways, a few of the questions pertaining to this were: How long does it take during a thiamine deficient state to lose nerve cells, how long until symptoms present till the death of nerve cells, how long would it take to recover, and is it a full recovery? The best information I found stated that recovery was slow, but nothing beyond that.

--could very well be signs of axonal regeneration. Nerves tend to create all kinds of weird sensory signals/symptoms--pain, shoots, tingles, a feeling of "banding" when there's nothing there--when they are attempting to re-synapse, and fighting through other tissues to do so. In time, the brain tends to get used to these signals and to intepret them in a more normal manner.

Of course, these are exactly the same kind of symptoms one gets when nerves are being damaged. That's the problem--it's very hard to tell which way things are going except in long-term retrospect, and by that I mean over months to years. It's often instructive to keep a diary and compare things month to month, or season to season; does one overall have fewer symptoms over long time periods. If the answer is yes, it is likely the nerves are doing at least some slow regeneration.

Take a look at :

http://www.neuro.wustl.edu/neuromusc...vitamin.htm#b1

Hi, I can only speak of my particular PN case [ mostly small fibre damage and a little large nerve involvement, severe burning in both feet and up to my knees] which was caused by prediabetes and my b12 was very low, if i was to try to answer as to how long it took to do the damage, i think i could safely say a couple of decades.

Once PN showed its ugly face it took about 4 months before the culprit/s were indentified, then through change of diet and some execise and lots of B12, [some Methylcobalamin, injections of Hydroxocobalamin but mostly cynocobalamin] as we can't buy B12 Methyl' in tablet form in OZ, the healing period took about 3 years to the stage i am in now, which is pretty close to a full recovery.

I didn't notice much differance at the beggining, symptom wise, but after a few months i had a lot of worsening of symptoms, then it would settle down for a while then off it went off again burning like hell then it would settle down for a while, that happened for about 2 years [approx] then i noticed that the flares were getting shorter and fewer in between until now were i hardly get any burning at all, if i do its only very, very slight burning and my soles of my feet were completely numb most of that time but now i have regained a lot more feeling back in them again.

Differant symptoms or flaring of symptoms can be healing signs, i hope it is in your case.

Brian

and, tried very hard to find out about this issue....and well, here's what I've learned:

1-it can take seconds or less for miles and miles of nerves to die. The chemistry of it is, well, beyond my humble brain to grasp. I do admit I'm chemistry impaired tho.

2-It is documented that nerves regrow at the rate of 1/2 to 1 cm a MONTH. About a 1/2 to 3/4 inch under IDEAL LAB situations. Research I've read has no clue at all as to which nerves regrow or how...
I've not found a doc that can explain the process, nor a paper nor a description. They plain old don't KNOW - from all I've read.

My take on it is that IF the 'zeeps' are random, they are regenerating. The 'static' you feel is the nerves calling out to the rest of the nerve world: I'm Here! What do I do now....they have to 'connect' and become programmable or be re-programmed. {Is that a word?}. I tell my self that the latter is always the one 'happening'. Because of that, constant attempts at proper therapeutic exercises is important....to tell existing nerves, and help new ones get and keep an idea in their functioning of YOU.

HOpe this helps! - j

When to worry? When the zeeps get to the point that other function aspects are going 'dead' or plain old don't work. Then you call the doc.

Regarding nerve regrowth - if the nerves are completely gone (my sural nerve biopsy said I had complete loss of almost all large mylinated axons, and most of small) and axon degeneration - can they regenerate? Do you have to have "something" there left to grow, or do new nerves grow?????????

Axons are the only part of nerves in the PNS that regenerate. CNS nerves don't regenerate at all, well I did read they try, but fail miserably, and if they ever do heal its minimal and takes years. However, in the PNS, if the nerve cell is alive, then axons can regenerate off that cell and heal neuronal pathways. If you lost all your axons, but have the cell body, expect a painful and long recovery, but a recovery.

A question I have been researching as well. My son fractured his neck over the Labor Day weekend (C-5 incomplete burst fracture) and is now a 'quad'.
There seems to be some indication, in at least Spinal Cord Injury circles, that new nerve growth is possble to replace damaged SCI nerves.
It is a very slow (many months or years) and tedious process and involves dedicated therapy (with repeated patterns) to do so. Dr. McDonald seems to think that even if there is no function, repeated therapy will 'awaken' certain functions and regrowth may or may nor occur, but new growth can.
It is similar to the larger branches of a tree that has met an obstacle, growing new smaller branches out of the sides of the main branch and growing around the obstacle
(bad imagery, but I think you get the idea).

We, who have PN, haven't really had successful similar research- but I don't see why the same principles wouldn't apply to damaged nerves in the peripheral system.

The problem is that we cannot do the repeated therapy to 'awaken' very easily. Burning soles of feet, or pain in our legs- is not the same as trying to re-make damaged nerves that involve finger or leg movement.
But with the right type of medications & suppliments, I don't see why we can't try to make the nerves have optimum nutrients and give them the optimum platform so that they can either repair, or let alternate new pathways develop.
There has been some, but not a lot of research in repair of the peripheral system that has been fruitful. Most is concentrated on the central system/spinal column, & surgical implantation techniques involving reprogrammable virgin cellular material (stem cells) that can replace the damaged cells.
Peripheral cells are much smaller and not as easy to work with. But I think that they can be given the right atmosphere to repair and regrow. I think that this does happen, and is happening- in some cases of PN recovery, or at least partial recovery.

I agree with lizajane. I have found a slow, but definite improvement in my PN through yoga and weight bearing exercises for my calves and upper legs. Is this axonal regeneration? I don't know, but I feel better. I do support the "use it or lose it " mantra.

I've read that people with demyelinating neuropathy can have very rapid regeneration, because the nerves are essentially intact, and they only need to make the sheath. But axonal is more complicated, because the nerves have to figure out where to grow to and connect on their own. It's probably a way simplified explanation, but it helped me visualize what needs to happen.

Seriously,
Thats one of the easiest to understand explanations on how nerves may regrow that have vanished - re-mylinating makes sense - but having to grow new nerves from nothing I truly did not understand...
Thanks