Our approach is a “no pill” treatment that has proven successful for dozens of our patients over the past few years. It may take only a couple of treatments to show that your pain and tingling is starting to fade. You may become pain free whether you have diabetic neuropathy pain or a different type of neuropathy.

Here are the three parts of our treatment:

1. Twice-a-week 50 minute electrostimulation treatments using soft electrode pads placed on the feet and legs(4 on the left and 4 on the right). A fairly gentle stimulation of the nerves is produced. You may read or take a nap during the treatments.

2. At the start of the first treatment each week the doctor injects a small amount of lidocaine anesthetic at the level of the inner ankle to bathe the main nerve to the foot. This causes an important relaxation of the nerves, muscles, and even blood vessels of the feet and makes the treatment work much better than the nerve stimulation alone.

3. Nutrition for nerve health. B complex vitamin supplements and an powerful antioxidant called pycnogenal (pik-naw-jin-al) are taken daily at home during the treatment to maximise the health of the nerves and blood vessels. This is the only part of the treatment that will not be covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance. Cost for 4 weeks: $52.50

• Approximately 23.6 million Americans have diabetes.

• 45% of those with diabetes will experience neuropathy

• Several million Americans have neuropathy of unknown cause

• Whether a person develops neuropathy pain or not depends on two factors: how long he or she has had diabetes and how well the blood sugars are controlled.

• What exactly happens to the nerves in diabetes?

There are several theories about this. One is that high levels of glucose reach the nerve cells and are consumed as food, producing a substance called sorbitol. Sorbitol accumulates in the nerves and is not easily excreted, damaging them over time. A damaged nerve does not conduct impulses well(numbness) and can also send false signels(tingling and burning, etc.). There are several other theories and they may all be partly correct. The main thing is that abnormal levels of glucose in the bloodstream are toxic to nerves.

• Currently there is no real cure for the causes of diabetic neuropathy other than careful control of blood sugar levels, and this is not always effective. Many drugs are being used to control neuropathy pain(you may be using some of them) and can be very helpful, but often carry unpleasant side effects and are expensive.

Neuropathy and circulation

The main harmful change seen in the circulation of a diabetic person with neuropathy is the tendency for the minute blood vessels to constrict, which reduces blood flow to the nerves themselves. This reduces oxygen and nutrient delivery. Our treatments maximise blood flow to the nerves while sending thousands of impulses up the nerve fibers. In a way, we are re-training the nerves to function normally.

Neuropathy, free radicals, and anti-oxidants

“Free radicals” are molecules or ions which are produced naturally in the body every moment but which are widely believed to contribute to the aging process and to cause damage to organs and other tissues including blood vessels and nerves. Free radicals have been studied extensively for many years and it is understood that “anti-oxidants” in the body “gobble up” these free radicals, neutralizing them. Well known anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C and Vitamin E are effective in fighting free radicals which is a major reason why many of us take these vitamins daily. A much more potent anti-oxidant called pycnogenol (pik-nah-gin-al), a special pine bark extract, is now also available and is the one we use here. It is called OPC-3.