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Peripheral Neuropathy Treatment & Relief

Last Updated on Wednesday, 17 June 2009 03:10 Saturday, 13 June 2009 15:52

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Myeloma Hope

Peripheral Neuropathy Treatment

Written by:  Don Wright

It's here, perhaps. Maybe. I hope not. In the past few days I have felt a tingling sensation in the very tips of both thumbs, becoming much stronger when I touch the skin there. Nothing in the fingers yet. But in bed last night I noticed a numbness in the sole of my left foot; not so much the toes as the ball of the foot and nothing in the right foot yet.

That's all so far. Not enough to affirmatively declare that peripheral neuropathy (PN) is upon me, but enough to be a little scared. PN can be very painful and, when body parts go numb, rather disabling as well. It usually begins in the sensory nervous system, but can even progress to the motor nerves, resulting in partial paralysis. It is to be avoided if possible, and in my opinion it should be accepted as a necessary consequence of treatment only if all other avenues of treatment have been exhausted.

In Myeloma patients PN can be caused by at least three different things:

I have another Mayo appointment in two weeks, when this subject will get some genuine medical attention. Furthermore, by that time, I will have a better idea whether or not I really do have PN.

In the meantime I'm trying to learn about it, and do whatever I can to mitigate the problem. Happily for me, the leaders of the Minneapolis Myeloma Support Group handed out a sheet of information on PN treatment at yesterday's monthly meeting.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute:

That sheet, it turns out, was a printout of a web page which was transcribed from a paper handout at Dana-Farber. A myeloma survivor (Beth I think) has posted that handout HERE on the website MMSupport.net, which also has lots of other good information about myeloma and treatment. To summarize the sheet:

• Multi-B vitamins with B1, B6, B12, folic acid, and the other B-vitamins. Dosages: B6 100-200 mg, folic acid 1-2 mg.
• Vitamin E 400 IU daily.
• Fish oils with the omega-3 acids EPA and DHA.
• Evening primrose oil capsules.
• Flax seed oil.
• Amino acids. No further description.
• Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) 200 mg twice daily, within 2 hours of a meal.
• Acetyl L-carnitime 500 mg twice daily, within 2 hours of a meal.

Read full article at publishers website