March 5, 2020

Nutrients for Nerve Pain – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 35

Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph

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The most common cause of chronic pain (persistent pain) is lower back pain. In addition to a disc problem, arthritis of the spine, or spinal degeneration many of the causes of low back pain have to do with nerve damage or nerve compression including sciatica and also a pinched-compressed nerve.

The second common cause is arthritis – the second most common cause of chronic pain; we cover common forms of arthritis in other episodes.

Then there’s nerve pain. Nerve pain is a catchall term including but not limited to peripheral neuropathy; you often see this in diabetics. It is a shingles-related nerve pain which occurs more commonly in stressed out older people, and sciatica which seems to happen to so many people at some point in their life. We will cover each of these, there causes, customary treatment, and supplements that can help.

Peripheral Neuropathy

Neuropathy is damage to the nerve that causes pain – numbness, tingling, that crawling feeling on your skin. Peripheral means outside of the brain or spine – the peripheral nerves. The most common cause is diabetes. Others include, autoimmune diseases, HIV or abusing alcohol.

If damage is happening to the nerves in your hands and feet, it is also happening to the nerves in your digestive tract and your heart. This is important to note.
-Jerry Hickey, Ph.

Common treatments include anti-depressants, which reduce nerve pain by about 15%. Others include convulsion medications and opioid medications. I strongly recommend you avoid those.

Nerve Health Supporting Nutrients

ALCAR is a supplement often used for mental focus, brain energy, and memory. It may even help a common hearing issue called tinnitus (ringing in the ears).†

ALCAR – which is the abbreviation for Acetyl L-Carnitine – is an amino acid-related supplement. It easily crosses over the brains protective blood brain barrier to improve brain health. However, it works really well for nerve health, especially if you mix it with a second supplement Alpha-Lipoic Acid or ALA. Both ALCAR and ALA are involved with converting calories to energy and some research shows that combining them gives much greater levels of benefit for the brain or nerve health.†

One meta-analysis published in PLOS One, reported four randomized controlled, human clinical studies with ALCAR (523 patients) significantly improved nerve pain according to the patients. It worked best for diabetic nerve pain.

Another review from the Integrative Medical Center in Oklahoma City from the Department of Neurology reports that exercise, a better diet, vitamin B-12, ALCAR, ALA and vitamin D all help with nerve pain.

In the journal Diabetes Care, from the University Hospital Dusseldorf in Germany, 460 diabetic patients with mild to mod diabetic nerve pain. With just ALA, they found that ALA helped support nerve health – leg function and leg health improved. Nerve pain declined.

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