increased neuropathic activity correlates with decreased growth-factor
activity – (insulin-like-growth-factors I & II; nerve-growth-factor) _
see (Ishii, 1995).

decreased growth-factor activity correlates with reduced insulin activity.

reduced insulin activity correlates with dieting.  did your mother lose
weight whilst on Glucophage?  if so, the remedy is clear – lose weight
slower.

if not, we are left with the slow, inexorable march of neuropathy due to
endoneural hypoxia.  about which, things can be done. (endoneural hypoxia
is cased by the oxygen-starvation and subsequent death of nerves due to
a failure of the micro-circulatory system.  due to a chronic shortage of
prostacyclin, the oxygen-bearing blood corpuscles lose their deformability
and become brittle – thus losing their ability to physically squeeze through
small capillaries – hence the failure of the blood’s oxygen-delivery system
at the micro-circulatory level).

a "cure" of this specific woe would involve the repair of the prostacyclin
production mechanism and that would probably involve genetic repair of the
impaired fatty-acid metabolism that diabetics are heir to. but not today.

however, a remedy is at hand in the form of the prescription drug Trental
(pentoxiphylline) which, amongst other things, increases the amount of
prostacyclin released where it is needed. By all (anecdotal) accounts,
Trental seems to command a massively positive approval amongst users.
hopefully your mother’s, physician will also be aware of it’s manifold
benefits in diabetic neuropathy / vascular insufficiency / peripheral
arterial disease.  if not, a Medline search could settle that issue
real quickly.

the vitamin supplementation could be expanded to include vitamin e
at about 400iu per day (see: Ceriello, 1991) and alpha-lipoic acid
(aka thioctic acid) at 50mg – 100mg daily (see: Busse, 1992).

a substance showing great promise is acetyl-L-carnitine.(see: Lowitt, 1995).
most of the research involves the injectable form and how this translates
to the oral forms (which is vitamin-store available) is unknown to me.

i hope that some of the above is of use to you.

References:

E. Busse et al; Influence of alpha-lipoic acid on intracellular glutathione
 in vitro and in vivo; Drug Res. 42(1), Nr. 6(1992); p829-831.

A. Ceriello et al; Vitamin E reduction of protein glycosylation in diabetics;
 Diabetes Care, 14(1),1991; 68-72.

S. Lowitt et al; Acetyl-L-carnitine corrects the altered peripheral nerve
 function of experimental diabetes; Metabolism 44(5),1995: 677-680.

–

_______________________________________________________________________________
Stan Angilley               | "We waste our lives in half-truths,
                            |  nonsense and puddles of snake-oil"      
email: angil…@netcom.com  |         …after Tomb the Dwarf (The Pastel City)

Has anyone heard any reports that Glucophage has no effect on (or even
worsens) peripheral neuropathy?  Does anyone have any suggestions for her?

Thanks in advance for any advice/information.

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Blake Wilfong  bl…@phoenix.net  Houston, TX  DHT DOOM Master
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