New Diabetic Neuropathy Treatment Options
There has been a good bit of advertisement for a number of 'new products' for the treatment of diabetic neruopathy. Some of these products are very impressive, some, well, not so much.
I have been having some pretty good results using a combination of nutritional intervention with a recently introduced anti-convulsant "Lyrica."
The trick to using Lyrica is using it principally at bed time, using a dosage sufficient to introduce deep sleep. Generally, if the patient awakens feeling a little groggy, the dosage is close to being enough. Introducing a good night's rest is important for general health, but in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy it is a major blessing. Starting dosage is 50-75 mg at bed time, although the higher dosage seems to work better. Increase to 150 mg and then 225 mg on 2-3 week intervals.
In addition to the Lyrica, and equally important, is the use of alpha lipoic acid (ALA). The dosage to introduce is 250 mg three times daily. After a few weeks, the dosage can be doubled, if the symptoms have not gotten significantly better (which they usually do.)
The combination is quite effective, about 80% of the time.
David S. Klein, MD, FACA, FACPM
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