Scared
 

Hi: 45/year old male here. I went to my primary care doctor with numbness, burning and severe stiffness feeling in both feet. They tested my blood and everything was normal. That doctor referred me to a podiatrist - the podiatrist told me that he thought I had peripheral neuropathy and now wants me to see a neurologist. I am afraid that it is going to spread throughout my body. I acquired severe tinnitus about 8 months ago and only with the help of Jesus am I starting to cope with my tinnitus. I am not a diabetic. However, I need to lose some weight in-which I am achieving now to try and lessen the load on my feet. Any help advise would be so helpful and greatly appreciated. God Bless - douglas

Welcome to our Forums.

One thing you can try for the tinnitus (and it may help with the feet too) is the amino acid Taurine.

At least 1000mg a day in divided doses can be helpful for tinnitus.

Here is an article about Taurine and its benefits.
The only thing to be careful with it is if you have gallstones.
Benefits of Taurine | Life Extension

Taurine complexes cholesterol in the gall bladder and improves its disposal to the GI tract. It is helpful however also for sluggish bile
and can improve digestion if a person is not moving bile properly.
It stabilizes cell membranes to and can relieve some pain. There is a post on our Trigeminal Neuralgia forum who uses it for pain.

I use the Puritan's pride product. But Taurine tends to be easy to tolerate and not expensive. Most of the discount websites sell it.
iHerb, Vitacost and Swanson's.

I've used it for many years for my gall bladder issues, but just started a year or so ago for the higher dose of 1000mg a day for my tinnitus. It has worked very well for me. I get about 80 to 90% reduction of tinnitus. If you stop taking it however the tinnitus returns. So the taurine is only suppressing it and not a cure.

Douglas, following a suggestion from mrsD, I have been taking taurine (1 g/day) for some time. It has helped with my tinnitus.

Recently I have increased my dose to 3 g/day - it has helped with pain associated with osteoarthritis in one shoulder.

Taurine sounds like something I need. I have tinnitus. I also have cardiac arrhythmia, & I've had a detached retina (which was repaired.) I have to admit I'm very skeptical of all supplements & medications. I'm almost 69 year old & I don't take anything. If I were to take a look at something like this, I'd probably go to my local Walgreen's or CVS pharmacy. So I'm wondering if there is a particular brand I should look for & also if it's possible to get sufficient amounts of Taurine in a multi vitamin of some sort.

By the way, with regard to losing weight to lessen the load on one's feet, back when I was still a real person (LOL) I was a vocational counselor working with people who had work-related injuries. In that capacity I used to have quite a bit of contact with orthopedic surgeons. They always used to tell patients that for every 5 pounds of extra weight a person loses, it takes 10 pounds of pressure off the legs, knees & feet.

You will not find taurine in a typical multivitamin.

MsD: thank you so, so much. The tinnitus is horrible for me. I will have to try this. How long does it take for it to work? I have a hard time with this site - I did not know you had responded to this. Thank you again - douglas P.S. i was forced to remove the link from your message.....very strange.....

Thank-you kiwi33: - how long have you been using this?

Skeezyks: That sounds like sound advise regarding the load/pressure. Thank-you for that assessment- douglas

I took the lower dose for about a year and have been on the higher dose for a few months.

I have (a semi-systemic investigation) found that taking half in the morning on an empty stomach and the other half in the late afternoon, also on an empty stomach works well for me.

Here is a link which discusses what is known about the effects of taurine on inflammation Taurine and inflammatory diseases.

Your sensations of "numbness, burning and severe stiffness feeling in both feet" might have an inflammatory component. You could consider trying a relatively high dose of taurine to manage these.

most mammals make their own taurine. However, cats do not and that is why they catch and eat mice which are high in taurine.

Without taurine they die. Kittens born to mothers low in taurine can be blind or have severe neurological damage if they do survive.

Commercial cat foods all have taurine added to them. This is why there is a warning to not feed dog food to cats, because there is no added taurine in that food.

So if people fail to make their own taurine because of an external event (trauma, genetic, or infections etc) then using
taurine supplements is necessary.

Taurine is in some energy drinks:
Ingredients - What is in Red Bull? Composition :: Energy Drink :: Red Bull USA

The response to the taurine should start in about a week. I was already taking 500mg for my gall bladder so my response was quick when I raised the dose to 1000mg a day. You may need to take a bit more depending on your circumstances, but don't raise up until a month or so passes. I don't have any negative side effects from it at all.