Posted on 09/13/2025 5:24:45 AM PDT by usconservative
Looking for anyone w/experience or a family member w/experience with Spinal Cord Stimulators to relieve neuropathic pain, whether diabetic or idiopathic in nature.
Please see full explanation of request below.
Yes...come to think of it I don’t have any inflammation anymore. The only thing I take drug-wise for some time now is Krill oil and aspirin. I still like beer on movie night though, lol.
https://www.weightliftguru.com/high-fructose-corn-syrup-vs-natural-sugars-which-is-worse
Excellent thread with excellent information. Much thanks to everyone. And truly hope there are solutions that work for everyone in their futures.
I play Pollyanna whenever possible. Good thing about numb feet is that you can go out in snow to pick up a dog mess barefoot when you’re worried it will get buried in snow and don’t want to take the time to put on shoes. And it’s only rarely painful for me so I can stay up all night on those occasions and not waste my time doing silly things like sleeping when I could be on the computer.
In addition, OTC lidocaine patches on my spine and other supplements reduce pain: benfotiamine; liposomal vitamin C; quercetin; GABA; B-12; methylfolate; a high quality krill oil; niacinamide; and a decaffeinated, high potency green tea extract (Soltea).
Of this daunting list, the OTC patches, benfotiamine, and liposomal vitamin C seem to be the most immediately effective and the best place to start.
While I know nothing much about your condition, I did have an employee in 1994 that hit his elbow on a handrail causing nerve damage to his elbow and lower arm. After trying several treatment options, he decided to let them insert an electrode into the spinal column to stimulate the nerves. In his case, he lost the use of his right arm which shriveled up and became useless, plus workman’s comp refused to pay for any of it including his disability.
My advice would be to be careful.
The negatives:
It takes a long while to charge the battery: about an hour where I have to sit quite still while it charges. The charger will sometimes stop charging and I have to restart it again.
There are 3 neurostimulator settings, none of them completely address there the pain is located.
If you forget to reduce your setting at bedtime, it "buzzes" your spine so that it is impossible to sleep/ignore and you have to get up, find the control unit, and reduce the setting.
Unless you are very careful, it is very easy to lose the control unit!
Other than that, no complaints...
Thanks for your response and sharing your experience. Do you have the latest Medtronics device or the previous generation?
My husband is scheduled to meet with a doctor to discuss that device in early October. The company rep who is working with us has been great, never pushy, thoroughly answering our questions and will be with us at the appointment. From research I have found the device and company support gave extremely high patient satisfaction ratings.
Glad to hear that. The reps are also usually readily available to answers questions and assist after the insertion of the device.
I assume that it at least recent - I had installed last year.
That should be the most current device then. Thanks for your feedback & info!
My pleasure buddy - good luck!
The current status of vagus nerve peripheral stimulator therapy for diabetic peripheral neuropathy is approved by the FDA BUT is currently under investigation by a major medical center and in centers around the country. It is not currently readily available but should our study prove to show the results seen in the initial study it may well change the future of treatment of his devastating issue. I’m medical director for the study in the DFW area . We are anticipating that our study and that of the nationwide study will be available in 1.5 years of less. Meanwhile we are recruiting patients to enroll in the study.
Thanks for the rep,y doc. The reason i ask is because I have a tens unit that has clips for the ear that c,ip on a few different areas inside the ear for different nerve locations. They c,aim its for the vargus (vegus?) nerve stimulation and that its good for strees release/calming, and i assume by extension for pain Releif once the stress is reduced.
My peripheral neuropathy isnt from diabetese. Not sure whatcused it, but do know that chemo made it much worse. I,havent bought the ear clips for the unit yet- so cznt comment o. Whether it would work or not. Sure wou,d be nice to get some releif thohgh.
Anyways, thanks for explaining aboht the trial.
I never had luck with bentoftiamine- or the other b vitamins suplsoedly good for neuropathy. Alpha lipoic acid is suppsoed to help too, but didnt in my case.
Ill mention the otc pa5ches on spine to my dad whk has arhtritis in back pretty bad- i have a bunch of perscription patches left over, so maybe he can get some releif fir his back. Just place it on the spine? Low? High?
I believe that magnesium L-threonate, collagen peptides, and Vitamin D are required before benfotiamine and liposomal vitamin C work for pain relief. Alpha Lipoic Acid is a good addition. I also found Vitamin K-2, high quality krill oil, decaffeinated green tea extract (Soltea), niacinamide, and a good multivitamin helpful toward healing.
From experience and reading in the medical literature, I believe that magnesium, collagen, and vitamin D improve cardiovascular function so that the other nutrients can get to injured places. Otherwise, magnesium deficiency imposes a cellular triage in which the body allocates the inadequate supply of magnesium to essential organs and processes needed to maintain life. This can result in the decline of, lack of healing, and chronic pain in neglected, magnesium deficient tissues and structures.
Ok, thanks for the info. I didnt take those others at thw same time, though i have taken them seperately over the years. Ill look i to giving the combo another good try for several months
As a test, you could try the combination of collagen peptides and magnesium L-threonate for several weeks.
Imhave to be carwful with magnesium. It does help a little with the exhzustion though. (Ithink i might have idiopathic hypersomnia- sleep a lot and am unrefreshed, weak, brain fog etc- might be chronic fatigue, i dont know for sure)
In essence, for me at least, it was due to celiac disease and a persistent, atypical case of shingles. The vitamin and mineral deficiencies from celiac disease were then amplified by specific Vitamin D and magnesium deficiencies caused by prescription meds.
A salt deficiency and a vitamin B12 deficiency were part of the mix as well and were the first nutritional issues that I recognized. Taking salt helped to redress the fatigue, and the brain fog that I had was remedied by sublingual vitamin B12.
I have kidney disease too and have to be careful of salt whcih causes stones u fortunately if i get too much.
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