SS as a treatment for neuropathy?

[bjvinson]

I have a 50 year old relative who has neuropathy. He says it hurts so bad he can't do anything. He walks around on a cane when he does move around which isn't often. He recently started falling down 2 or 3 times a day.

Does anyone have experience treating this with anything besides drugs? I think he needs to do something besides sit on his ass.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Barry

[Mark Rippetoe]

Sitting on his ass is what got him the diabetes, which is what got him the neuropathy. Usually/probably/almost certainly. Good luck with your behavior modification experiment.

[Pluripotent]

I guess I'll bite. The major problem with diabetes (Type II) is, as Rip said, you get it from extreme inactivity. The treatment for the disease is very involved and usually requires the patient to take more of an interest in his own health than he ever has. It does respond well to diet and exercise, and SS would be an excellent choice, but you usually can't even get someone even less far gone than your relative appears to be to make even minor behavioral changes, let alone embark on a SS routine, which is a major behavioral change by any stretch, even for a relatively healthy person. The neuropathy would likely improve. How much improvement depends on the amount of damage already done. As anyone who has has tendonitis knows, nerves heal very slowly. Good luck is right. In my experience, those who do what it takes to reverse the damage once diabetes has been established are in a very small minority (similar to obesity). The response is generally what you seem to be describing; "I can't do that because...____, _____, ______."

[bjvinson]

Sitting on his ass is what got him the diabetes, which is what got him the neuropathy. Usually/probably/almost certainly. Good luck with your behavior modification experiment.

All of this is true. I guess if he was too lazy to get off his ass at 30, 35, 40 or 45 before he got sick the chances of him doing anything now but bitching about hurting are nonexistent.

[SCW]

I have a 50 year old relative who has neuropathy. He says it hurts so bad he can't do anything. He walks around on a cane when he does move around which isn't often. He recently started falling down 2 or 3 times a day.

Does anyone have experience treating this with anything besides drugs? I think he needs to do something besides sit on his ass.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Barry

In this forum you'll see my post about being in a wheelchair due to nerve damage. Part of the symptoms include some pretty severe neuropathy, but my understanding is that's a pretty large catch-all term to handle nerve problems.

He needs to just get motivated. The pain can be pretty severe, I get that. I once took two hours to shower and dress in a hotel, then was soaked in sweat when I was done. I had 'banding' which is a symptom where my abdomen would feel constricted and the muscles wouldn't let go for hours. Falling? Yeah, it's part of life maybe.

The lifting is a huge improvement overall, but it will cause the symptoms to be worse while in the process of lifting. For example my banding was always worse when running or squatting and dead lifts were somewhat less painful. However after a few weeks of it the lifting would create windows of pain-free living for a few hours that grew into days. Again, while lifting the pain is always worse. Now 6 months later the only time I feel traces of banding is when I squat or sometime on a run after squatting.

I'm 39yo. I am on no prescription drugs as they didn't react well and turned me into a stoned out blob.