In Part I of this series, Pete had discovered he had Peripheral Neuropathy, nerve damage in his feet, over a year ago. His doctor prescribed Neurontin?, and for awhile it worked. But the condition was progressive, and the pain increased. It seemed the drug was having an increasingly difficult time handling it.

Pete wasn't satisfied that his condition had no cure. He got on the Internet and found out?

Peripheral Neuropathy has a variety of causes (For a more in-depth explanation, see www.neuropathy.org).

These are:

-- Immune Related, the most prominent of which is the Guillane-Barre syndrome in which the body's immune system attacks the Peripheral Nervous System. Weakness in the legs is usually a preliminary sign of this condition.

-- Diabetic, caused by excessive blood sugar. This can take the forms of either Peripheral (damage to the extremities) or autonomic (damage to the Central Nervous System).

-- Infectious, caused by HIV, Hepatitus or Lyme disease.

-- Drug and Nutrition Related. Excessive alcohol consumption can result in a deficiency in thiamine (Vitamin B1) that is essential to the health of the Peripheral Nervous System.

-- Hereditary. Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease is an example of hereditary Neuropathy. Nerves in the legs are affected first, followed by those in the feet and ultimately to the hands and arms.

-- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Neuropathy resulting from repetitive damage.

-- Critical Illness. Neuropathy can be brought on by attempts to combat cancer, such as chemotherapy.

-- Idiopathic. A word for saying that nobody knows what causes it.

And nobody, it seems, knows how to cure it.

TWO ESSENTIALS YOUR NERVES DESPERATELY NEED.

Neuropathy brought about by excessive alcohol consumption is thought to be caused by the reduction of Thiamine, or Vitamin B1, in the body. Thiamine has long been known to be vital to the healthy functioning of nerves and was linked to the disease Beriberi in 1937.

It has long been known that nerves respond to the presence, or absence of Vitamin B1, but only recently, Neuropathy has been shown to also be made worse by the absence of B12 which supports nerve cell sheathing and promotes and regenerates nerve cells.

Unfortunately, both Vitamins B1 and B12 are water soluble complexes that are not retained long in the body. Thiamine is flushed out of the body in 4 - 5 hours, and less than 1/2 of 1% of Vitamin B12 consumed orally is retained. It is almost impossible to get enough of this vitamin, and nerve cells are not protected well without it.

So, is there a possibility that with the proper intake of Vitamins B1 and B12, that damaged nerves can be healed?

There may be gain that kills the pain

Pete was getting scared. The Neurontin? dosage levels weren't cutting it and the neuropathy was rapidly taking over his feet.

Where was this headed? And, more importantly...

Was there any way to stop it? Was there any actual ? cure -- out there? Somewhere?

From his Internet research, Pete learned that there was indeed some ongoing medical research into the role Vitamin B1 played in actually reversing Neuropathy, but little was known.

But then he discovered something. Medical research was focused on water soluble vitamins B1 and B12, vitamins that didn't remain long enough in the body to do much good.

If somehow they could be retained by the body longer ?

HANG AROUND AND SOMETHING MIGHT HAPPEN.

Pete discovered there was a possibility that Vitamins B1 and B12 could be retained in the body long enough to be therapeutic for nerve damage. It just had to be in an oil soluble form, rather than water soluble.

The term "like dissolves like" has been a maxim of Chemists since the dawn of Chemistry. It has long been known that chemicals can be divided into two classes: polar and non-polar. The former are generally water soluble, and the latter are oil soluble.

Oil soluble materials are taken up by the body and retained longer than the polar, water soluble, chemicals.

A new form of Vitamin B1, known as Benfotiamine, has been discovered to be retained in the body much longer than Thiamine, and Methalcobalamine, known as Methyl B12, is also retained longer and is effective for nerve repair.

Packaged together they may provide a real alternative for Peripheral Neuropathy sufferers, particularly those with Neuropathy symptoms in their hands and feet.

SOMETHING MORE?

Pete needed something more than pain management. He needed something that would actually therapeutically work to "heal" his condition, but he couldn't find it in conventional medicine.

All available drugs did little more than to block or "manage" the pain, and as time went by and Pete's condition worsened, they were having steadily more difficulty doing that.

Vitamin therapies exist which offered promise...but Pete was reluctant to try them. He was locked into the notion that any "alternative" solution to a medical problem was somewhere in that hazy world of medical quackery...

And he didn't fully realize that alternate therapies were relegated to ?quackery? by an industry dependent on pharmaceutical companies whose business economy depends on increasing the public's drug dependence....not true therapy.

But alternate solutions do work, and without the side effects conventional pharmaceuticals usually produce.

Vitamin therapies, based on oil soluble B complexes, are known to have a powerful role in healing damaged nerve cells without side effects, are based on sound medical principles ?that provide bright hope for healing Peripheral Neuropathy.