Originally Posted by DavidHC

I wasn't sure what to title this post but I'm here to talk about the significant improvement and healing I've experienced recently after so many years of suffering with this disease. I haven't posted in some time and it's been years since I was active on this forum, but I've been meaning to come back and post this. You can look up my posts under my profile to learn my story if that interests you, but suffice it to say I've been suffering from full body small fiber polyneuropathy with autonomic dysfunction for at least the last 10 years. I was diagnosed around 2015 I believe, though I'm not completely sure at this point without looking back at the paperwork.

I was diagnosed in my early 30s and suffered a great deal over the years, losing my chosen/preferred career, many friends, hobbies and goals, not to mention all the pain I suffered. I had it all unfortunately. I've watched as much body became less and less mine, and more and more something I no longer recognized. I became depressed and effectively gave up on life, just wasting each day and doing just what I needed to do to pay the bills. I lost more and more control of my body with each passing day. Don't get me wrong, initially I tried everything, from tracking down the best neurologists to try to determine the etiology of my idiopathic SFN to trying every diet and supplement. Nothing worked and I was left watching the disease progress and target new parts and functions of my body.

It had been years since I had given up, until by chance I came across something people are calling a carnivore or animal based diet. I had tried paleo for a while and the same with a ketogenic diet, but neither had truly changed anything for me, nothing remotely akin to the carnivore diet. I began a 6 month project of reading up on the diet and the mechanisms at work, watching YouTube videos with experts (scientists and physicians), reading pertinent research/studies, etc. I finally took the plunge recently and the change to my life has been dramatic to say the least.

There is a great deal of talk about various diets reducing inflammation and reversing disease processes but this one actually did it. Sure, I had some improvement on other diets, but it wasn't until I removed all plant foods that I saw an almost complete reduction of my inflammation. For example, on the keto diet, I could still eat some veggies and nuts and seeds, which were hugely problematic with their high levels of anti-nutrients. Of course, there is stress and other factors in life, but within weeks I resolved my IBS, fasciculations, joint pain, and so much more. My trigger finger disappeared within the first month, something steroidal injections has been unable to do, and which had lead my doctor to say I may lose the use of my hand and that surgery likely would not reverse the problem permanently. Most important of all, in the first week my neuropathic pain was reduced. Several weeks in my symptoms and pain were reduced by 95%! I still get the odd symptom but most of the time I forget about my disease. I don’t even shake/vibrate intensely when I lie down to sleep. The first night I experienced this for the first time since this disease began I found myself reduced to tears. My energy levels, mood, and focus are as they were a decade ago, and I have no complaints. I don't believe in miracles but this way of eating has changed my life. With every passing week I notice more improvements and I can't wait to hit the 1 year mark. I also lose about 10-15 pounds a month, and lost 20 lbs the first month, though it does seem like I’m reaching my body’s healthy weight now and so I’m not losing as much these days. My body is becoming leaner and more muscular and I’ve been able to lift weights again, which I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do.

My wife decided to be supportive and take the plunge with me and one of her autoimmune illnesses seems to have gone into remission. Her doctor was amazed but she said she would see her at the 6 month mark before she formally says it's in remission in her notes. My parents have also come on this journey with me and they have both reversed their high blood pressure and now have normal A1C after being diagnosed with pre-diabetes and diabetes. Their doctor also can't believe it and was initially convinced this way of eating and living would kill them. Now he says they should do whatever they’re doing as it’s working for them.

As I see it, this is just the beginning, and though I'm amazed it's fare to say I'm cautiously optimistic. I’ve always been that way. There's no doubt I'm cautious and would like to see how this is working for me in 1 year’s time, in 2 years, and so on, but it's fair to say nothing I did before this had this level of impact on my health, nothing has come close. The science makes sense and I'm basing my future projections on that and the results I’ve already seen. However, the human body is complex and only time will tell. It’s too early to say whether I’ve managed to do enough for to reverse my neuropathy or not allow it to progress. It’s far too early to tell and I’m not the kind of person to jump to conclusions and false hope. But I can say I feel stronger, have far less pain, and don’t feel like I have neuropathy 95% of the time. Of course, the severe damage to my body is still there and, for example, I haven’t gotten feeling back in my feet or my hands, and the like, but I have gotten some strength back. I’ve only just started and nerves regenerate quite slowly.

It's also important to mention how there were hiccups in the transition process and it takes some time to become fat adapted. If you have a high level of insulin resistance, this will be even more so the case, and your body may fight you when you remove the carbohydrates. There may be issues with sleep, GI related, and the like, but eventually your body should adapt, or mine and my family's did within days and weeks. What also helped me was working with a health coach, a profession I didn’t know existed! Well, it does, and when I hit some road blocks, speaking to someone who knew more than me and who had worked with others in the carnivore space/community made a big difference. He also recommended a number of Youtube videos with firsthand accounts/personal experiences and with experts addressing the various issues and the science, as well as scientific papers, and I found all this helpful.

It’s all really simple, removing all the plant anti-nutrients from my diet, and eating nutrient rich animal foods, fats and protein, significantly improved my health. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t take some time to wrap my head around what a healthy diet really is after many years of thinking otherwise. Thinking back on my life, I now realize that my neuropathy began shortly after my many years as a vegetarian and the GI issues that resulted in at the time. Of course, I can’t know for sure, but that’s when my gut health began to deteriorate and one disease after another began to spring up. That’s neither here nor there though, and what matters is that for the first time in a decade I feel like I have my life back. I hope I continue to feel this good and to see improvement in my health.

The funny thing is that for me it wasn’t difficult giving up the carbs because just after a few days I began to see one improvement after another, and when the nerve pain went, no amount of cravings could make me turn back. The cravings disappeared after a few days and I’m happy to eat this way the rest of my life if it means living like this, with better health and almost no pain. Though it would be something to see some reversal of my nerve damage! It should go without saying that this is not medical advice but my own experience, though if you have any questions, I’m happy to answer any I can in the comments or private messages.

Originally Posted by Rick1081

Hi David,

I am new to this forum and I have been following your posts for the past couple of weeks. I am very happy to know that after years of suffering you were finally able to significantly reduce your symptoms.

I have been diagnosed with PN 3 weeks ago. It all started about 4 weeks ago when I suddenly started fighting mild numbness and a tingling sensation in the thumb and index fingers in my both hands. Sometimes I also felt it in my middle fingers. After a week I consulted a neurologist and he confirmed that it is PN. My blood reports came back normal. I am not diabetic and my B12 is 275. The doc couldnÂ’t figure out the reason for my PN. He says that it could be an autoimmune condition.

It has been 3 weeks now and I feel mild pain in my heels when walking. Sometimes there is a mild burning sensation. It looks like PN is progressing. I have started taking Benfotiamine 400mg every day but thereÂ’s little difference. I know that supplements take a while.

I am in my early 40s and I am completely devastated. My daughter is just 5 years old and I have a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders. Although my wife has been very supportive, I would never wanna be a burden on my family.

I came across this post of your and this gave me a lot of hope. I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.

IÂ’ve also read many posts where people have claimed that a carnivore diet has helped them a lot with neuropathy.

I want to start this diet but I am a bit concerned as my LDL is 136 and my total cholesterol is 229.

Nevertheless, if you donÂ’t mind can I ask you whether you are still on a carnivore diet and is it helping?

I see that you were last active in April but I look forward to hearing from you.

God bless!

Originally Posted by Rick1081

Hello David,

I am so happy to hear from you and I am glad to know that you have been doing great. I’ve been following your story and I can understand all the pain and suffering you must have gone through. I’ve been diagnosed only a few weeks ago and it feels so terrible. But you have lived with it for a decade and I must admit that it takes a lot of courage and determination to keep fighting. People like you make me feel hopeful buddy.

After reading your post, I researched on the carnivore diet and I came across so many people who claim that this way of eating has changed their life. It is indeed surprising to know that when modern medical science has failed to cure so many autoimmune diseases, a simple diet is able to help people in healing themselves. People call it a miracle diet and this explains the effectiveness of the diet and how it has brought a positive change in their lives.

I have been a fairly active person all my life. I’ve been hitting the gym and doing heavy resistance training about 5 times a week. My diet has always been up to the mark, no junk food. I have been quantifying my diet for years and I count my calories. I never smoke and I am not a heavy boozer. I used to have a couple of pints on Saturdays. I am not really sure what could have caused my neuropathy. Destiny probably.

Nevertheless, after coming across so many stories I finally decided to take the plunge and I am on day 2 of my carnivore diet. Currently I am only eating eggs and beef cooked in tallow. I use salt and pepper for seasoning my meat. Fat accounts to about 70% of my calories and remaining 30% comes from protein. I am avoiding all other meats at the moment. Will consider adding them once I start feeling better.

So far I have been doing pretty well on this diet but on my Day 2 I noticed a slight increase in my symptoms. The numbness in my palms was gone but it came back today. I am not sure if it has something to do with my new diet. May be a result of oxalate dumping? Or could it be because of the eggs? I’ll observe it for a couple of more days and will exclude eggs if this continues.

I’ve also started taking benfotiamine, R-ala and B-12. I know it’s too early to start expecting results. I will continue this diet atleast for 90 days before drawing any conclusions. But I am hopeful that if it has helped so many people it might help me too.

Thank you so much for the encouraging words and tips David. It means a lot. I really appreciate it and I wish you great health and a happiness life. Keep rocking! 😊

Originally Posted by RationalBeing

Rick, I am in the same situation as you. Healthy, lifted, no chronic diseases. Got covid and 6 weeks later, small fiber neuropathy. I now have numbness in my entire body. Even neurologists I see can't believe it because its in every piece of skin which is supposedly extremely rare.

I am now on day 18 of ketovore - I drink kefir with whey protein powder and eat some cheese. I also just started taking 500mg a day of benfotiame, 1200mg of ALA, 2500mg fish oil, 5000IU Vit D, 5g createine and costco's Mega B-complex. So far no real changes.

If you need support or want to bounce ideas off each other, I can be reached on telegram @Depeche_Made or whatsapp

Originally Posted by Rick1081

Hi RationalBeing, I am so sorry to know about your condition. I can relate to what you are experiencing and I understand that this could be quite overwhelming. I was diagnosed about a month ago and to be honest, I felt that this was the end of road for me. But then I came across many people like David who were successful is managing and even reversing their condition. This gave me a lot of hope and I started my own research on different diets, supplements and lifestyle changes that could help me in reversing my neuropathy.

I am in a better position now. Although I still feel some numbness and a vibratory sense in my palms, my foot pain has reduced by 90%. The pin and needle feeling has also gone.

In the beginning I started with intermittent fasting and I could notice that my symptoms would subside a bit but they would come back as soon as I ate carbs. I felt needles and tingling immediately after I ate rice, bread or pasta. So I went totally low carb and I could see some difference.

I also added supplements like benfotiamine, R-ALA, L-Citruline but I did not notice any significant improvement until I included B12. My B12 came to be around 250 and people here advised me to start supplementing immediately. I started taking 6000mcg of B12 and within days I could notice reduction in my foot pain. Just to make sure that B12 was helping, I stopped it for a few days and the pain came back. I reintroduced it and now my foot pain is gone 90%.

I came across David’s post about managing his neuropathy through the carnivore diet. I also spoke to many people who were able to reverse their autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, MS etc by going carnivore. With some many case studies, I decided to give it a try. I’ve been on a carnivore diet for about 5 days now. Although I did not notice any significant improvement in my hand numbness, I feel great from inside. I’ve been suffering from ulcerative colitis for years and my gut has improved a lot immediately after going carnivore.

I started with eggs, red meat, salt and pepper. But now I’ve excluded eggs completely. I still have that vibratory sense in my palms and forearms. It is like how we feel immediately after an electric shock. It is difficult to explain. But I’ve not lost hope yet and I’ve decided to continue this diet for atleast 6 months before making any conclusions. Nerves take a lot of time to heal so I need to be patient.

I understand your case. Covid and Covid vaccine induced neuropathy are quite common these days. But the good news is that since this is not related to diabetes or any other autoimmune condition, there is a high a probability of getting this reversed. Unlike diabetic or autoimmune neuropathy where the nerves will continue to degenerate due to the associated health conditions, in covid induced neuropathy there is nothing ongoing that could continue contributing to this condition. Well, although I am not a doctor atleast that’s my opinion. This is somewhat similar to alcohol induced neuropathy and I’ve come across many patients who were able to reverse it by simply cutting alcohol completely.

You made a good decision by going ketovore because going carnivore directly might be hard on the body. But I would recommend that you slowly transition into a Lion’s diet as suggested by David. This is an elimination diet and it will help you in figuring out which foods you are allergic to. After about 6 months you can slowly start reintroducing other meats. Our myelin sheath is made of fat and only animal fat can help in regenerating it.

How’s your B12 by the way? If it is anywhere below 600 please start supplementing immediately. You can also include beef liver in your diet as it is rich in B12. Lion’s diet allows organ meat of all ruminant animals. This will also help you with some variety in your food.

If possible, also get an ANA test done just to make sure that you don’t have any autoimmune issues. My ANA came out +++positive and that freaked me out in the beginning. But as modern medicine can’t help with this, i decided to focus more on diet, supplementation and exercise.

Last but not the least, don’t get disheartened as this will lead to stress and stress can further aggravate your symptoms. People in this forum are very helpful and you can reach out if you need help. I would also suggest that you join carnivore groups on Facebook. It has helped me a lot.

I hope this helps. Sure, you can get in touch with me on telegram. My id is @beachlifez

Wishing you all the best and praying for your speedy recovery 😊