Alpha Lipoic Acid

If you do a search (3rd title from the right) you can search for this and it will bring up many posts with the answers you’re looking for.

HTH.

MC,

Wow, I’m glad it is helping but that’s a lot of ALA.

I remember reading that in Europe they use 600mg a day ALA to treat diabetic pain.

I only take 100mg ALA – and now I’ve found a daily vitamin that includes my ALA as well as all the antioxidants I want. I also take 1000 mg fish oil capsules, calcium pills and glucosamine with MSM. However, my main pain pill is the Lyrica.

A healthy diet, lots of rest and medication help with CIDP symptoms. A balanced supplement plan should be a back up for traditional treatments.

Good luck,
Flossie

Great, I am glad you found it useful! I hate when old posts “go to waste”. Whenever looking for ideas/suggestions, do a quick “search” first and that will often provide you with at least a background to your question 🙂

Maybe discuss a dose decrease with your Dr, he should be aware you are taking it (and most neuros don’t care) and letting him know you see positive results helps too!

Good luck, take care,
jdunk

my neuro has me taking 300 mg twice a day as a liver detoxifier…

I´m happy the ALA is on the “arena” again.
I just enter the forum to do some ALA “marketing” as I´m nearly cured (maybe 99% improve in pain) of my neuropahty thanks to ALA.
Everyone should try it for at least 3 months to see the resaults.
I was on 2x600mg for 3 months, and now 1x600mg a day, maintenance dosis saids my neuro.
All you should try it.
For me is better than the imuran, gabapentine, anything I tried before.

Best wishes,
Pablo,

For those of you that use ALA, where do you get yours?

Online or local health food stores?

I just went to Walmart. It is also good as a liver cleaner. We ar trying to remove some chemicals.

Is ALA used with other treatments such as gabapentin, or is it effective alone?

[QUOTE=elsie]Is ALA used with other treatments such as gabapentin, or is it effective alone?[/QUOTE]
It’s intended to be an adjunct to other treatments. I suppose it might be possible if one had good results to try reducing a medication you were already on if you seemed to get better after starting it, but that would be the drs decision. I kind of doubt it’s that dramatic in most cases.

I was on it several years ago, when I lifted weights a lot. I did not notice any difference in my sxs back then, but I was not as bad as I am now.
In the past it was only available at health food stores or online for quality supplement, so I was surprised to hear WalMart has it now.

It’s been a good 5 years since I last used it though.

edit: haha….not a “good” 5 years since using it…it’s been almost the worst 3-4 years of my life. I meant, it’s probably been at least 5 years since I used ALA. Didn’t notice any change for me at the time

Thanks for the great info. I am currently on Gabapentin and recently am having more pain in my legs and feet but hate to increase the drug. So I am thinking ALA could be added. I will ask of course and see what the doc thinks.. Thanks again.

[QUOTE=elsie]Thanks for the great info. I am currently on Gabapentin and recently am having more pain in my legs and feet but hate to increase the drug. So I am thinking ALA could be added. I will ask of course and see what the doc thinks.. Thanks again.[/QUOTE]

What’s your current dose of gabapentin?

I think I would tend to lean towards getting my sxs under control first with gabapentin since you are already on it. Then later add ALA and see if a reduction in gabapentin could be made. The gabapentin change will work much faster than any results you will see with ALA. Remember, this is just my opinion, but I speak from the basis of being an RN, CIDP patient with bad neuropathy and a pain clinic nurse.

Do buy your ALA from a quality source though, if you try that route, you might want to do some research on brands first. Quality can vary hugely. You also don’t want to switch brands while taking it, so find a good one to start with.

Good luck, keep us posted!!

JDunk,

You can buy it at Walgreens, probably any pharmacy or vitamin store.

There is a discounted web site where I buy my supplements, [url]www.swansonvitamins.com[/url]. Seems like it is half price.

Thanks, Jessica!!

I used to be in body building and used quite a few supplements then. I typically bought them from online sources because that was where they were highest quality, most affordable and many are/were only available online.

ALA can not be compared to gabapentin as a treatment.
Gabapentin is not a treatment, is just a pain relief for us, and has devasting side effects long term in the liver.
I does not lower the antibodies titles in our blood, and there is not improve
in all the other thar ALA does (liver, blood circulation, cholesterol, eyes, etc).
ALA has no one side effect, even at high dosis as 3x 600 mg/day.
Believe or not….(as Jack Palace said…)

I can say for certain that Alpha Lopaic Acid has helped with my nerve pain. I currently take 3,600mg of Neurontin and 600mg of Cymbalta and my nerve pain was still pretty bad at times. My doc didn’t want to increase my Neurontin and was talking about changing my meds. I said I wanted to wait a month or two before I decided. In the meantime, I tried the Alpha Lopaic Acid- 600mg. It noticably took the edge off. I called my doc- (Dr. Lewis at Wayne State University) and he said I could actually take it up to 1,800 mg. Right now I am taking 1,200mg but I just increased it so I can’t say if it will lessen any more or not.

The ALA treatment is 1800 mg/day.
600 mg is maintenance dosis.
I did what my doc saids and i’m 100% pain free now.
Right now i’m in a trip to USA now, traveling by plane8 hours fligth,
and i’m ok. Four month before, before ALA treatment, I was no able to drive home from work without terrible pains.

“Lipoic Acid for Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo Controlled Pilot Study”

[url]http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00962429[/url]

[url]http://clinicaltrialsfeeds.org/clinical-trials/show/NCT00962429[/url]

Alpha Lopoic Acid really helps me alot. I take 1,800 mg per day.

Does ALA help with numbness in the feet too or just pain? Lori

I had some numbness in my feet at night, and prioception that troubled me driving (we do not have automatic cars like in the USA).
All gone since started ALA. Only the fatigue seems to stay.

Dr. Lewis approved 1,800 mg a day for me. I take 600 3x/day. It is helping me considerably. I have CIDP

did the dr rx just any otc ALA or a special brand ? I got some right at wal*mart and started it a few weeks ago.—–personal question—is it normal for urine to have a strange smell while on high doses of ala Lori

[FONT=”Microsoft Sans Serif”]wow, this stuff is amazing!

it feels like a whole body analgesic! big time pain reduction with no side effects… i am experimenting with dosage. started at 750mg once daily and now am at about 1000mg divided daily. i will increase with a watchful eye on side effects.[/FONT]

From reading clinical trials for ala—they are using doses of 1200 in one and 1800 in another broken down to 3x daily (neither trial i found had posted results yet—some never post their results : ( I started a few weeks ago and have worked up to 1800–thats where i’ll stay (600 3x daily) and have noticed a reduction in feet numbness–I have never had any pain, so no comment there. The trials stated 3 months to see full benefits. Lori

Is good to know that ALA is helping others.
I wish some more would give a pace and ask their doctors to try it, as we did.
Do not be afraid about urine, it smells like skunk and looks like gasoline when you are 3x600mg but do not damage the kidneys.
My doc told me to started it with 1 pill a day, and move to 2 and 3 pills in days.
Best regards, Pablo

I absolutely swear that Alpha Lipoic Acid had done wonders for me. Dr. Lewis from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan is my Neurologist. He currently has me on 600 mg 4 times a day. That’s 2,400 mg per day. And he said I could take an additional one each day if needed. I also take Gabapentin, also called Neurontin. I was on a total of 3,600 mg daily of that but I have been able to decrease it (1,200mg) so far each day. I know it’s from the help of the ALA. You can buy ALA at most drug stores or department stores but I get mine on line as I get a better deal (buy one get one free).

I wanted to add two things: First–my Dr. started me on a lower dose. It is as of very recently that I increased my ALA; also, I have not notice a wierd odor yet– but you have me curious now—so I’ll be sniffing. LOL

Sorry I missed your question Lori- about the numbness: So far, I have only noticed it helping the nerve pain and I have more mobility w/ my hands. I have not noticed a reduction in my numbness but I have only been on it for about 3-4 weeks. If it continues to make more of a diffence in my life—I will call it the MIRICLE MED!

oh you’ll smell it !!lol I had to cut back to 1200 instead of the 1600. Started feeling a little light headed (Im not diabetic)–I happened to be at work where i had access to a glucometer checked my blood sugar and it was only 37, so figured I should cut back on the ala since it decreases blood sugar. anyway cutting back on the ala made the urine odor go away–so either my body is just more used to it, or its the lower dose. Lori

Here we in my country ALA is cheaper than neurotin and lyrica.
20 x 600 mg ALA pills = 550 pesos = 25 $ (US dollar)
20 x 300 mg neurotin = 850 peosos = 40 $
20 x 300 mg lyrica = 2300 pesos = 120 $
In my case pain control 2x600mg of ALA equals 2 x 300 mg of Neurotin.
Have no reason not to try for the ones that has not tried it.
Best regards Pablo,

Dr. Lewis, my Neuro, told me I could take more ALA than the 1,800 mg I was taking. I have been slowly decreasing my Neurontin. It has actually been working very well. I have been able to lower my Neurontin so far by 1,800 mg a day. I am still taking 1,800 m.g. but hopefully I will be able to let you all know soon that I was able to decrease the neurontin even more. I know it has been because of the ALA….that I have been able to do this. I just feel better since I started taking the ALA. Thank you so much to those who brought this to our attention.

Today I had a strong fall to the floor, and this week everyday have foot drops as I had not have for a year.
It seems the ALA is loosing its power, and is the end of the “primavera” (spring in spanish) I´m having. Maybe I go for another round of 3x600mg instead fo the 1x600mg maintenance dosis. Or may I wait until more sympthoms flare up and visit my neuro.

After all my ALA marketing, maybe I will do ALA anti-markenting next month here. After 3 weeks with cyatic and lumbar pain, having trouble to work, I started 3 x 600 mg ALA, last JAN 27, I will keep it to end of month. If not better, in two weeks I will give up with ALA and ask my doc to move to azathioprine and/or start gabapentin again.

I stopped taking the ALA. I was OK in pains and fatigue last month (febrary), but it seems the ALA 3x600mg is loosing its power on me.
I´m thinking of starting with GLA gamma linoleic acid (mostly Omega 3) when the pains starts to get too strong to stand them, to see if there is any improvement. In Dr. Gil I. Wolfe book talks about taking 480 in one page and 1500 mg in other of GLA.
I do not know how many omega 3 pills, one have to take to get 1000 mg of GLA.

pj- I have found some references to gamma linolenic acid and it’s benefits. Yet, I cannot find any that suggest Omega-3s are a good source for GLA.

For example, from the American Cancer Society-

“[I]Gamma Linolenic Acid

Other common name(s): GLA (also found in evening primrose oil, borage seed oil, black currant oil)

Scientific/medical name(s): gamma linolenic acid
Description

Gamma linolenic acid (GLA) is an omega-6 unsaturated fatty acid made in the human body from linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid found in vegetable oils and egg yolks. The main supplemental sources of GLA are oils of the seeds of evening primrose, borage, and black currant plants. (For more information, see Evening Primrose.) Many companies sell these oils as good sources of GLA. It is also found in human breast milk.[/I]”

Please double check your source(s) and see if you can confirm this.

Actually i started with VERUS Omega 3. Five gel pills a day, since last month, after the alpha lipoic 3x600mg/day treatment for one month.
I´m still ok, not having anything more pills than the omega3, like gabapetin.

PJ,

I do not believe there is an adequate substitute for prescription drug treatment of CIDP and pain. However, I am a HUGE fan of nutritional supplements to help my body heal and keep my pharmacuetical needs at a minimum. Taking just one supplement is not as good as a balanced program.
…………………………………….

Here is another suggestion for a supplement that tremendously helped my pain – Grape Seed Extract. Start with 50 or 100mg a day and gradually increase to 200mg taken 3 times a day (600mg total in a day).

I hope this helps,
Flossie

ALA is a prescription drug here in my country. I need the recepie to get it, and is not from a fruit or a plant made of, is drug chemichal produced.