Struggling again
 

Hi all,

I've been on 3600mg gabapentin for about 2 months and coping OK with drowsiness. Recently however I feel off my head and find myself staring at the TV for hours sometimes ( when alone). It is kind of funny, but also pretty tragic. I have a 3 year old so it takes monumentous effort to keep up and take him out and play every day. I do it but I don't know how I am managing it.

I recently came off my entanercept ( tnf alpha blocker used to treat my other autoimmune disease) and I am sure that my neuropathy is much worse since. I'm very confused about what to do as I am worried about the potential damage of entanercept, yet I wonder if somehow that was affecting the sfn in a positive way now that I feel more pain again?

Has anyone found strict dietary changes beneficial? I'm trying starch and dairy free again which is exhausting as have to cook all the time from scratch.

I accept that my life is not the same in any way and never will be now but the quality of it is on the absolute floor. I'm just so angry this has happened so young.

Hi Joanna, I'm sorry to hear that you are struggling. If you want to really give the food thing a thorough shot, I'd recommend a book called The Paleo Approach - Reverse Autoimmune Disease and Heal Your Body by Sarah Ballantyne PhD. It is very scientific and covers lots of ground.

Sarah is a researcher who turned stay at home mom. She developed a few autoimmune diseases and really started to dig into the literature to find ways to improve her life. It goes beyond just avoiding dairy and being gluten free. I'm working my way through the book right now and find it to be an enjoyable and nerdy read.

http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Approach...=UTF8&qid=&sr=

If you are not into the nerdy type reads, Dr. Amy Meyers has a book that has become popular and has the same approach as Sarah Ballantyne. I haven't read it yet, but I've heard that is a little more straight forward.

http://www.amazon.com/Autoimmune-Sol...=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Due to dissolving teeth, I have to do smoothies and purée foods. I also drink one ensure a day. This is working for me.

How is your sleep?
 

Hope you are getting at least 5 hrs a night or it might not be all the Gaba's fault. Good Luck, Ken in Texas.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4529886/

So this study was just published last month. We are only really just starting to learn how various foods impact certain populations - especially people with autoimmune and neurological diseases.

Here is an easy-to-read summary from one of the authors on the study, Datis Kharriazian. Datis is well known in the functional medicine world and has authored a few popular books.

https://drknews.com/new-research-sho...ple-sclerosis/

Thank you all for your replies! Ken, I do get a good sleep but am often woken by my little boy so can take a while to catch up. I do agree that a good sleep is needed. :-)
Madisongirl, I have that book by Ballyntyne and did follow it for a few months but found it made me so underweight and the neuropathy continued. I'm back following something similar but much less strict, its process free but I'm not cutting out all the food in it
The last article you sent me was really interesting. I got the gist from the article that it was talking about tomatoes, soy, corn and spinach. I don't eat those things now so hopefully that's something.

Has anyone felt an improvement in neuropathy through dietary changes?

Thanks all :-)

Hi Enna, I remember those ensure drinks, they were actually quite tasty I remember but after a while I overdid it on them! Hope you manage to get enough calories in with all the processed food and drinks x

I tried following this article but my brain is not having it. In s nutshell should I cut these foods out? Only these 4? I'm giing back to my no processed food, low carb, gluten free and maybe dairy free ( or very low dairy, it's really hard to resist cheese for me.) tia

Has anyone felt an improvement in neuropathy through dietary changes?

Thanks all :-)[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I've over done it too. I only really care for is the vanilla flavor.
I have cut down sugar....snacks....salty. The only change has been with my bp...my crps is the same.

Food is a very personal thing so you need to decide how strict you want to get.

Pretty much every doctor that practices functional medicine and works with neurological and autoimmune patents will take gluten and dairy out of your diet as a minimum; 80% of your immune system is in your gut.

I think if you are going to give it a shot, be strict for 3 to 6 months. Keep a symptom and food journal while you do it and see if you get any stabilization or improvements with your symptoms. If it's not working for you, then put foods back in your diet that make you happy. There is something to be said about that too.

Another good book to check out is the Wahls Protocol:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wahls-Prot.../dp/1583335544

All these books are really small variations on the same concept.