Nothing seems to alleviate the pins & needles, burning, tingling, or numbness. Am I a lost cause?

During a recent live Q&A on Facebook, I got a question from Rose – who’s been dealing with a combination of balance problems, pain, and numbness in her hands and feet.

I’ve heard this same question asked over and over during my 35+ years as a family doctor in Florida…

So, I wanted to address it here in a blog post to help Rose – as well as the thousands of others who probably have the same question.

Her question was this:

My balance is really bad as when I walk (in any shoes). It feels like I am walking on water balloons. Both my hands feel like I’ve got sandpaper on it or ants inside of it, things slip out of my hand, and a few fingers are numb. I can no longer type in a normal way as my pinky finger won’t even hit the key. I have been to several neurologist and I’ve had many tests.  

I bought Nerve Renew a couple years ago, but I didn’t seem to see any difference. Am I a lost cause?

First off, you’re not a lost cause.

The one thing I never want my patients to do is give up. You may not have found the right thing for your nerve discomfort yet – but that doesn’t mean you’re a lost cause.

Keep researching, keep trying new things, and keep searching until you find what works.

Because I’ve seen my fair share of patients who’ve finally found relief after years of being let down by treatments that didn’t work.

One of those people was Susan McQuay – whose story is very similar to Rose’s.

For years, Susan suffered a varying combination of numbness, severe burning, itching, stabbing pains, and loss of balance. Her nerve damage was affecting her hands, fingers, toes, feet, and legs up to her knees.

She was forced to walk with a cane as her balance waned – and she often had embarrassing falls (usually backwards).

And because she couldn’t feel the pedals beneath her feet, she’d had to stop driving and was using a taxi service to get around.

Not only that – but the numbness in her fingers made it extremely difficult to type on a computer for her job. And writing by hand was both challenging and sloppy.

She even waited an hour at the voting booth to be able to use the one electronic voting device in her precinct because “trying to fill in the little circles on a paper ballot would have been a disaster since my hands and fingers are painful and shaky.”

Like Rose, Susan tried Nerve Renew but it didn’t work. So, she added it to her list of treatments that let her down.

Which could have been the end of Susan’s story.

But a few months later she heard about R-Alpha Lipoic Acid, an antioxidant that has been shown to help accelerate relief from nerve damage.

Nerve Renew contains 300mg of R-Alpha Lipoic Acid – which is enough for most folks with mild to moderate nerve damage.

But for folks with chronic or severe symptoms, there’s Nerve Repair Optimizer – which is a booster supplement designed to be taken together with Nerve Renew for more effective relief.

It has an additional 300mg of R-Alpha Lipoic Acid.

When taken with Nerve Renew, you get a combined 600mg of R-ALA...which is the same amount that new studies have shown not only reduces nerve pain or numbness, but in some cases even reverses the damage completely.

Susan decided to give Nerve Renew one more shot - this time with the Optimizer. Within just one month of taking both Nerve Renew and Nerve Repair Optimizer, this is what she reported:

“EUREKA! After only one month on my regimen of Nerve Renew combined with the Nerve Repair Optimizer, I was thrilled when I could begin to feel my fingers! To confirm this I scratched the pad of each finger with a fingernail on the opposite hand AND I FELT IT ON EVERY FINGER! I will continue with this supplement regimen indefinitely. Having gotten such dramatic results in my fingers in such a short period of time, I am now hopeful that I will regain feeling in other parts of my body and hopefully retire my cane and drive my car again. Perhaps I will be able to walk on the grass or the sand on the beach without falling over - and EVEN PLAY TENNIS again!”

So – for anyone who feels like a “lost cause”, the first thing I’d recommend is you take an Alpha Lipoic Acid supplement like Nerve Repair Optimizer in addition to a nerve supplement like Nerve Renew.

Whether you take Nerve Repair Optimizer or find a quality Alpha Lipoic Acid supplement on your own is up to you...

But if you do source one on your own, there are two things you need to check for:

First, make sure it’s “R-Alpha Lipoic Acid” (..and not “S-Alpha Lipoic Acid”).

So, what’s the difference between R-ALA and S-ALA?

S-ALA is the most common form of ALA and about 90% of ALA supplements use this form. It is man-made, synthesized in a lab. It’s cheaper to produce, and most supplements use S-ALA, so they can sell it at a lower price or drive up their profit margins.

But every study that has documented a benefit from taking Alpha Lipoic Acid for nerve damage has used R-ALA. This is the natural form of ALA. It’s more expensive because it’s more difficult to harvest and store - but it absorbs better and is the only form of ALA shown to benefit your nerves.

In fact, researchers have found that the other form, S-ALA, not only doesn’t absorb well into your body, but it may even inhibit the nerve-healing properties of natural Alpha Lipoic Acid.

So - be sure to get “R” Alpha Lipoic Acid. if the ingredient label doesn’t say R-Alpha Lipoic Acid, it’s the cheaper, less effective S-ALA.

The second thing you need to check for is if the supplement is a “stabilized” form of R-ALA.

I mentioned that R-ALA is more difficult to harvest and store. That’s because Alpha Lipoic Acid is an extremely unstable molecule. Exposure to heat or light can cause it to quickly degrade and lose its potency - rendering it useless to your nerves.

Because of this, R-ALA can only be harvested during certain parts of the year - and after harvesting, it needs to undergo a “stabilization” process to ensure that by the time it reaches your medicine cabinet, it hasn’t destabilized and lost its potency.

If you decide to try Nerve Repair Optimizer, you’ll be getting Stabilized R-Alpha Lipoic Acid.

Something else I’d recommend for folks like Rose and Susan…

...is trying a Nitric Oxide supplement to boost circulation, especially since you’re dealing with numbness.

Nitric Oxide is a gas naturally produced by your body that relaxes and widens blood vessels to promote better blood flow.

And good circulation is critical to repairing damaged nerves, since your nerves rely on the bloodstream to deliver the vital oxygen and vitamins they need to regenerate.

The problem though is that as we age, our body’s Nitric Oxide production decreases. By age 40, it’s producing 50% less nitric oxide than it did when we were younger. And it continues to decrease with age.

Which is where a Nitric Oxide supplement can help.

One of the best ways to boost Nitric Oxide production is with an arginine-based supplement.

Your body converts arginine into Nitric Oxide to help relax and widen blood vessels, which will boost blood flow to every part of the body.

To recap, if you’re dealing with chronic or severe nerve damage like Rose and your nerves aren’t responding – there are two things I’d recommend you take in addition to Nerve Renew:

1. First, a stabilized R-Alpha Lipoic Acid supplement (300mg if taking it together with Nerve Renew, or 600mg if taking it on its own)
2. Second, an arginine based Nitric Oxide supplement to widen blood vessels and improve delivery of vital oxygen and nutrients to starved and damaged nerve cells.

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