I've been arguing with myself for a few days now on whether or not to post this, but reading a post of MrsD's in the PN forum this morning pushed me over the edge....
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post853029-40.html

Several months ago I began to notice a common thread popping up in researching several of my own medical issues (PN, chronic pain, arthritis, adrenal hormones, cystic acne, and others that escape me at the moment) - Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5).

Now... a couple of things about this B vitamin:

First, the RDA is very small - only about 5 mg per day. But we're learning that many of these RDAs were established many years ago, and really only constitute the amount necessary to avoid serious deficiency symptoms. And as in the case of B12, some people may actually need much more than the RDA. (e.g. The RDA for B12 is 2-3 mcg/day, while many PN sufferers take 1000 times that amount.) And in the case of vitamin D2 vs D3, there's also some old or bad information out there.

Second, admittedly, not much accepted research has been done on it. This doesn't surprise me; there's no money in it, and in todays world, research is driven for the most part by the prospect of lucrative patents and profits reaped from them. Of the research that has been done, much has been dismissed ("conflicting evidence", "insufficient evidence", "inconclusive evidence"....) but there seem to be mountains of anecdotal evidence. Again, admittedly, not the best kind; I'm generally a huge skeptic of anecdotal evidence. Give me solid science every time. So I'll even admit/confess to "situational hypocrisy" on this one.

But in this case, some extenuating circumstances have come into play:

1. My own professed philosophy, "If it can't hurt to try it, then it can't hurt to try it," and pantothenic acid has shown to be a very safe supplement, even in fairly large doses (like vitamins C & B12, the main danger/symptom of overdose seems to be diarrhea).
2. You can't argue with facts (and I'll get to that below).

3. There's no fanatic like a convert. (In this case, that would be me )

The reasons I began taking supplemental B5 daily were twofold (and for which the science was, IMO, solid):

1. Following the work of Dr. Forest Tennant, I had begun supplementing my severely low adrenal hormones, and B5 is known to support adrenal function; it is used in the synthesis of coenzyme A (CoA), and is the fuel for converting various adrenal hormones into other adrenal hormones. [citation misplaced ]

2. A study done in Germany reported 28 out of 33 PN patients experienced further improvement in their symptoms after adding taking B5 along with ALA.
http://www.diabeteslibrary.org/View....ntothenic_acid

I pretty much ignored/dismissed all the other claims for pantothenic acid - there weren't any credible studies!

I assume the B5 did what it was supposed to do with the hormones; I've felt better in general, and pain has decreased by almost 1/2.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread156416.html

I know it improved my PN symptoms over just taking RLA (and I'm getting to that).

A little over a month ago, I ran out of B5 due to a foul-up in reordering (my fault). During that time, I noticed my pain levels increasing, my PN seemed to be flaring, as was my arthritis, and cystic acne. I didn't make the connection at first.

I got, and started, taking the B5 again about a week ago. My overall pain is back down to where it was, the PN flare stopped, and so did the arthritis and acne flares.... So I checked my pain journal, and went back further. I found (which I hadn't noticed or made the connection before because I wasn't looking for it or expecting it) that my arthritis and acne had improved significantly since taking the B5!

Apparently, I'm not the only one that's seen an improvement in arthritis and acne with B5; google: pantothenic arthritis or acne and check out the feedback.

Doc