Episode #4: Is It Possible To Reverse Neuropathy?

May 28, 2019

Show Notes:

Speaker 1: (00:00)
Hey everybody, what's going on? Doctor Chad Woolner here and Dr Buddy Alan, and this is episode four of the Health fundamentals podcast. And on today's episode we wanted to dive deep into a subject that's really important. We want to talk about neuropathy. Is it possible to reverse neuropathy? So let's get started.

Speaker 2: (00:17)
You're listening to the health fundamentals podcast. I'm Dr Chad Woolner and I'm Dr Buddy Alan. And this show is about giving you the simple but powerful cutting edge tools you need to change your health and your life. So sit back and enjoy the show as we show you the path to your best life down to a science.

Speaker 1: (00:36)
So, hey everybody, hope you guys are having an awesome day today. We wanted to talk a little bit about a really important subject that we as of late have been working a lot with. Uh, and that is the condition neuropathy. Roughly 8% of the population suffers from this condition. And, um, the experience that we've had, it's been pretty debilitating for a lot of people. And, and, uh, quite frankly, it's, it's pretty heartbreaking to see a lot of these cases that come through our door of people that have been, um, in, in most instances, uh, struggling with it for years. You Bet. And you know, it's, uh, for those of you who have neuropathy, you certainly know what it is, but there are plenty of people who have heard the term and don't actually understand what goes on with that. And, uh, and there's, there's multiple different causes, but ultimately the symptoms are very similar.

Speaker 1: (01:27)
There's none. Usually it starts with numbness, tingling and it kind of progressed is from tingling to burning to constant pain to, uh, literally where you can't sleep. It's, it's always there people. And typically when we say the location, you're usually going to have it either in the hands or in the feet or in both. Yes. You, yeah, exactly. And it generally just gets worse and worse. It's kind of this progressive, a condition that people feel truly trapped. Um, and, and there's really not a lot of answers, answers and, or to them finding help or, or results. Yeah. And, uh, for a lot of people too, it can influence balance, uh, create balance problems because whether you realize it or not there, there are a variety of different types of nerves in our body that do a lot of different types of things, right? So there are nerves that are involved in light touch sensation.

Speaker 1: (02:23)
There are nerves that are involved in, in a deeper touch or you know, Sharp, the sharp, a Dole, uh, temperature, cold, hot, um, balance since stabilization. And so, uh, these different nerve fibers are responsible for a lot of different things. And so, um, it can have some pretty far reaching effects on people for, for the, for the worse. Um, and so again, we see a lot of people who are, quite frankly, they've just lost a lot of hope and they're pretty frustrated. And so we wanted to create an episode of this podcast to really answer that question. You know, can you reverse neuropathy? So let's, let's really dive into that. Dr. Allen, is it possible to reverse neuropathy? The very short answer is yes, absolutely. It's not necessarily that simplistic. And, and part of it goes down to, or it comes down to first of all, what caused it, what's the cause and when, I guess even a better question, backing up real quick is the answer to that question.

Speaker 1: (03:25)
Can you reverse neuropathy? I think a lot of it depends on who you would ask. That's trite, the conventional models and the conventional approaches and the conventional doctors that, that probably see this, um, whether it be out of ignorance or, or just out of sheer frustration of, of them being at a loss in terms of what they can provide in terms of answers. Um, we hear from patients all the time who tell us that the answers that they've been given, uh, largely is you have to live with it. You just have to live with it. Here's the drug or drugs multiple or here is, you know, these, these things to try and manage the symptoms. Um, but for the most part, the, the majority of people that we talk with, the majority of the patients that we see, those are the types of answers that they're getting out there.

Speaker 1: (04:11)
You know, in terms of is it possible reverse it? Nope. You just got to live with it. Yup. But it's possible to manage it, you know, at best. Well, and the sad part with that is recently in one of our talks and talking about neuropathy, um, with the public that it was a gal that showed up with two missing lower legs. Oh, that's right. Yeah. It was literally because she came to a point where they said there's nothing we can do for you. And it was so maddening. And so, um, she was in so much pain exactly that she was finally to that point. And, and first I think for people listening here, they might think what would drive a person to do that? Well, day in, day out pain that is relentless I think can do a lot of things to people. And she finally made that decision, like you said, to have her legs amputated or record.

Speaker 1: (04:57)
It was pretty much all the way almost up to our knees. It was most of the lower leg and most of the lower leg were amputated. And the saddest part was did that solve the problem? No, she was, she came to the event because she was still having terrible phantom pain and other pains associated with what she had gone through. Yeah. So it didn't, it didn't solve anything. Exactly. So, so anyways, kind of getting back to this question then. So we're saying at our clinic, uh, we tell patients all the time, it is not only possible, um, to reverse neuropathy, but it's quite frankly, we tell patients it's inevitable that you'll reverse it if, if you start on the right path. Exactly. And so you were kind of talking about something there, uh, in terms of kind of before we even get into that, what were you were talking about in terms of the call, what caused it or, exactly.

Speaker 1: (05:45)
So there are actually several different causes that people may have. The symptoms of neuropathy sometimes at the specifics might be different. Exactly. Like some, there are people that have neuropathy because of chemotherapy, which causes a tremendous amount of damage in the body and those nerves get injured. Right? Yeah. Um, you know, probably more commonly are people who have diabetes or uncontrolled diabetes and um, and what happens or other toxic exposure to toxic chemicals or you know, exposure in those, in those things that you were going to say about diabetes and with diabetes, it just comes down to, um, because because you don't, it's not managed correctly at damages. The vessels, which in turn damages the nerves. And as those start dying off, you start having all these crazy symptoms, you know, these unrelenting symptoms, high, high blood sugar levels are toxic, they're toxic to the body.

Speaker 1: (06:36)
Your body is not meant to have that in the system. And so your body's going to do everything it can to try and flush and shuttle, um, and utilize that blood sugar. But eventually there's a point in time where things just kind of tap out when enough's enough, right? So, um, whether we're dealing with diabetic neuropathy, whether we're dealing with, uh, uh, neuropathy that's caused by chemo or some other toxic agent, at the end of the day, the problem is still the same nerves have been damaged. There is damage to the nerves. And so if we understand, uh, number one kind of where we're starting with that starting point, that universally, regardless of where you came from, where you're at right now is you're in a situation where the nerves are not functioning like they should, they've been damaged. Um, so that's kind of number one. But then number two, we really have to start from the right framework and that is understanding the inherent truth.

Speaker 1: (07:31)
And this is something we teach in our five fundamentals of health, that the body is self healing. This is a fundamental number one. Health comes from the inside. The body is capable of miraculous things. It really truly is. And that might sound perhaps even a bit cliche to people like yeah, I've heard that before, but it really is true. And that's the thing that's been I think so amazing to me in, in working with a neuropathy patients and other patients who struggle with a lot of these chronic, really nasty chronic health issues is the body even after it's taken a tremendous amount of abuse is capable of incredible things in terms of healing itself. But we have to understand that premise and start there first. Because if we don't start there, no amount of anything we throw at it is going to fix it. Right?

Speaker 1: (08:17)
Because the problem with the conventional approach in general is what, what's the problem? We're addressing symptoms rather than the cause of the issue. Generally we're trying to mitigate and or less than the pain or discomfort, which is basically kind of the, the proverbial just covering up the engine light that's on. So you don't see it. Therefore the engine problems not there. Right. So if we cover the symptoms, we're not truly doing anything other than masking. Right. We'll end. The other thing I would say too about the conventional approach, whether intentional or unintentional, what you are saying, uh, whoever is prescribing the medication, what you're basically is, you are inherently saying your body is incapable of taking care of itself and managing these problems on it's own. So therefore we will externally come in from the outside and we will manage it from this source. And unfortunately in, in some instances, some people are in that position where they don't want to manage these problems on their own.

Speaker 1: (09:14)
They don't want to take responsibility for their health. And this isn't a point any fingers or cast any judgment or, and I would say that the majority of the people that we've met who are dealing with neuropathy or anything but that most of these people are honestly, sincerely seeking answers and are ready there to a point where they're just so fed up, so frustrated, so desperate and quite frankly so on the verge of hopelessness that they're ready to, to take action and they're highly motivated. So understanding that that number one health comes from the inside. Um, so now the question is, is it possible then to restore these nerves, uh, you know, these nerves that have been damaged, is it possible for them to heal? Is it possible for them to restore normal, healthy function? Uh, again, the, the short answer is absolutely. Okay. And, uh, and, and it comes back to what is, what does it take to heal?

Speaker 1: (10:02)
All right. When we, and any part of our body, right, we got to make sure we're getting the proper nutrition to the and the proper, um, building blocks to the area that needs to be repaired, right? Right. So if the nerves are largely dying and, or damage because of lack of blood supply or lack of nutrition to the area, how do we fix that? Simple answer is we got to start by restoring some blood flow down to that area. We have to, and again, even a step B step before that is you got to clean up. If it's, if it's your poor diet or poor management of your diet or whatever it might be, you can't continue to insult your body and expect it to be able to heal faster than you're breaking it down, right? Right. So the bleeding, where will, and I think sometimes people will do this where they will think that, um, uh, a handful of magical herbs or supplements can somehow offset or compensate for a poor diet.

Speaker 1: (10:57)
And that's just not the case. Uh, supplements are there to supplement. That's the point is they're there to assist or help. They're not there to compensate for poor dietary choices or lifestyle choices. Right? And so, um, you know, something Dr. Allen I learned, I learned from, from Dr. Allen, uh, quite some time ago. Uh, you know, that we've kind of taken as kind of our mantra is that a healing the equation for healing is doing the right things in the right order for the right amount of time. And so, uh, W W we'll get into some of the more specifics, but just understand first we got to create a framework or at least the foundation, you know, create the right environment for the body to heal itself. If we're, if we're gonna, if we're gonna reverse this process, if we're going to reverse neuropathy, you've got to first put your body into a better state to allow it and assist it to heal itself.

Speaker 1: (11:47)
So in terms of dietary modification, what sorts of things would you recommend for a patient generally speaking, approach it with somewhat of an anti inflammatory type of a diet. Generally, that's going to be lower in carbohydrates. Not completely devoid, but it's going to be lower in carbohydrates. It's going to be, again, probably a medium to moderate amounts of protein, healthy proteins. Um, and again, just it, it really just comes back to avoiding those things that cause inflammation, which are, you know, like the, the fatty red meats, a lot of processed meats, processed foods. You know, we're kind of bringing people back to a bit more of a whole food type diet and it goes without saying lots of green leafy vegetables, uh, a variety of different colors. These are going to be loaded with a lot of different vitamins and minerals. Uh, you know, I think we had mentioned on a previous episode, Dr. Allen and myself had been doing a continuing education clinical nutrition training, uh, that we've been going to.

Speaker 1: (12:43)
And one of the interesting things, we've been talking with some of our colleagues, other doctors that are there and one of the doctors was saying, you know, that, um, you're not going to get the same benefit taking a, let's say a vitamin C supplement, you know, that extracted supplement. Um, and, and think that that's going to do the same thing as eating an orange. You know, there are other constituents, other things that we just don't quite fully understand yet in terms of what makes whole food so special. There are other elements in terms of the, the, the total context of it. You know, as much as we would love to be able to think that we can just extract different elements. So this has lots of vitamin C, so if we take lots of vitamin C, it's going to get the same result. Not necessarily, you know, it's not saying you shouldn't take vitamin C, that's fantastic, but just understand in context of a whole food diet, there's something really special about the whole food.

Speaker 1: (13:35)
You're getting those vitamins, you're getting minerals, you're getting a lot of other, uh, what people would kind of judge enzymes, enzymatic process, fiber, uh, you know, Fido nutrients, you know, just in general things that we, you know, understand, but other things we quite honestly don't fully understand. You know what I mean? And that's the [inaudible] we should be okay with the hat. We should be okay saying we don't fully understand this, but we just know that when it's taken in that context in the whole context, uh, it gets an overall better result. So dietary modifications going to be a huge part of this. What are some other, what are some other tools that we use to assist the body? Um, we actually do use some supplementation to kind of help our body with different, um, uh, I guess metabolic processes because again, our food, it's hard sometimes to get all of the nutrition.

Speaker 1: (14:23)
We absolutely don't have whole foods, you know, if, and especially once we've been devoid for some times, we have to build those you bat surpluses up to where we have an adequate amount in our body to actually utilize. Yeah. So the goal is we, you know, we want to, we want to, again, a supplement with things that are going to help with blood flow because again, blood, our blood flow is what supplies nutrition to our body. So we want to help regrow these nerve cells and improve their function. We have to be to get blood to them. So we have supplements that help to increase the blood flow, increase a space more specifically. Um, there's a chemical called nitric oxide, which is a what's called a vasodilator and opens up blood vessels, helps get more blood flow to the area. One of the other things we talked about on a previous episode, the Miracle Mineral Magnesium, right?

Speaker 1: (15:11)
It's a natural muscle relaxer that's going to help also to open up those blood vessels and start getting more blood flow to that area. Right? And then not to mention all the other wonderful things that magnesium is involved with, right? So supplements to help assist in getting better blood flow to the, to those areas specifically, uh, to the nerves, right? Uh, the further away your body part is from the heart, the more energy is required to get it there, right? So we want to really try as best we can to open up those blood vessels and really try and deliver a as much blood flow to the extremities, to your, to your hands, your fingers, your, your feet and your toes as much as possible. Um, so then in terms of blood flow, what else do we use? We use what's called low level light therapy.

Speaker 1: (15:56)
And a w with a specific wavelength of light helps to actually regrow vessels and vasculature in those, um, those far reaching parts of your body. Again, your hands, your feet, your fingers, toes. Yeah. It stimulates something called V e g f. It creates more what's called Vgf at stands for Vasos endothelial growth factor. It's a fancy word that basically means this, this chemical will go into the area and it will stimulate a process called angiogenesis, which is basically create, it's fancy term, basically means creating new blood vessels so you can create more blood vessels to the area. Uh, even if there's been damage to the area, it's a way of creating new ones to begin, uh, getting more blood flow to the area and ultimately getting those healing nutrients that the, that the nerves need that the body needs. Um, so using low level light therapy, uh, what else do we use?

Speaker 1: (16:48)
We conjunction with that. Uh, we do some other therapies again that helped to retrain the nerves and start waking, you know, again, reconnecting them to our brain. We do some, uh, balance challenge trainings. Yeah. There's other and there's a handful of different, uh, you know, things that can be done, but again, doing these things together, you know, and in the right order for that right amount of time. And that's just what I was going to get at there too, is that for, for somebody listening to this show and like a light goes on in their head, I haven't tried that. You know, don't think that any single one therapy by itself is going to be the answer. Right. The answer really is in a comprehensive solution. That's what's allowing us to help so many patients reverse their neuropathy is a comprehensive approach that really does the very best job of setting the stage for the body to begin the process of healing and repairing itself.

Speaker 1: (17:42)
I mean, it really isn't it, it's not really rocket science when you think about it. No. It's a very simple approach. But that simple consistency that we preach right then that our highest levels of health are going to be achieved when our approaches one of simplicity and consistency. This is a very simple strategy, but in that when people are consistent with it, that that kind of multipronged approach just gets such amazing results. So anything else you want to add? Um, not really other than just the fact that remember our bodies are, like we said in the very beginning, they are incredible when we start doing the right things for him. And that's, I mean that's, while neuropathy is horrific, there's plenty of other chronic issues that people have. And same applies to tell exactly like there is, it's never too late. Obviously the sooner you get after things, the better results you're going to have.

Speaker 1: (18:35)
Don't just keep thinking, oh, I'm going to be the exception. If you already have symptoms, don't wait. Don't wait for it to get worse. The, we always tell patients that the last thing we want is for you to progress to that next level of, of broken down, you know? So we want to make sure that one have hope to, um, there is help out there, you know, so don't, don't give up despite what you've heard or been told or even past failures. Um, there is absolutely things you can do to help repair the neuropathy damage that you may be suffering with. Yeah. And if you or somebody you know is struggling with neuropathy, please feel free to reach out to us. We'd be happy to set up a time for us to chat, discuss it, and ultimately find out if we can help. Um, so hopefully this has been valuable to you guys.

Speaker 1: (19:23)
Any final thoughts in closing now, Sir Alan? So, uh, thank you guys so much for listening. Please subscribe and hopefully you can, uh, this is either helps you or you know, somebody that you can share this with, um, that can help them. So, uh, neuropathy is definitely, definitely something that can be reversed and we see it all the time at our clinic. We see miracles each and every day and that's why we love what we do. So, uh, thanks for listening to this episode of the Health Fundamentals podcast. We'll talk to you guys on the next episode.

Speaker 2: (19:54)
Thanks for listening to the health fundamentals podcast. Be sure to subscribe so that you stay in the loop and in the note with all of the cutting edge health information that we share, if you know other people that could benefit from this information, please share it with them as well. Also, be sure to give us a review. These really help us to ultimately help more people. Last but not least, if you have questions that you want answered live on the show, or if you have ideas for topics that you would like us to cover, please shoot us an email and let us know at info@thehealthfundamentals.com.

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