Health Problems

Dr.Retarded

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Did you ever try the agmatine sulfate mentioned in the other thread? Not sure about the nerve pain claims, but I picked up a bottle and it makes my coffee work like I was a caffeine noob.
Bottle came in maybe a week ago, and I forget the gentleman who has suggested it in the maybe the legalization thread. I don't necessarily know if it's making a difference but it might be one of those things like glucosamine chondroitin where you have to take it for a while and then it starts to build up and actually do something.

IMG_20240510_171058358_HDR.jpg
 
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Gurgeh

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What do you guys do for sciatic pain or neuropathy BS?

I'm at my wits end, I'm just so tired of dealing with it everyday. Open to any options, or at least experience / knowledge of said problem.

Haven't had cancer, or anything really horrifying, but I got my own stack a problems, and as I'm getting older, are starting to manifest their issues more and more. It's easily one of the things that screws me up on a day-to-day basis.

Orthopedic surgeon I didn't detect anything wrong with my spine pinching nerves or what have you, try to go into a chiropractor but that's a goddamn crapshoot.

I'm just so tired of my feet or my legs going numb, I'm having to sit there and try to do things like a salt bath every evening. I never had these problems prior to the end of 2019, and it just infuriates me, and it doesn't seem like there's a lot I can do about.

Anyways, if anybody's got when I hate to call a life hack, I'll be most appreciative. The constant pain and bullshit and screwing with my relationships with people because I'm just always agitated and angry, now that said individual, but just being on edge.

I'm just looking for whatever fucking solution I can find.

Thank you in advance.
Do you have diabetes ?
 

Dr.Retarded

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Do you have diabetes ?
Not to my knowledge. I know it's something at least on my mom's side of the family, but I've not had anything that indicates that might be a problem.

I'm in the last time I went to the doctor, a few years ago, they didn't tell me that I had the BETUS!
 

Daidraco

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My mother, granted she's fucking 68.. She was experiencing sciatic nerve pain, numbing in the legs, etc. She was prescribed Flexeril anytime she had a flare up, with a low strength script for Loratabs. Outside of those two, she was also prescribed Duloxetine, which I think is a depression medicine that has good results for lower back pain for whatever reason. Never looked into it. I didnt know she was taking all of this shit until about a year ago. But looking back over the years, she had became more and more sedentary as time passed until it was hard for her to walk. Kind of a vicious cycle in my head, as the thought is to be more sedentary so you dont irritate the muscles further.. but at the same time, being sedentary exacerbates the problem.

When I found out she was taking all those pills, and.. was still fucking having a hard time moving around - I went out of my way to get her with my Physical Therapist for Sports Medicine. I use him anytime I have a problem in my shoulders from lifting, or in my hip for squats, etc. But when I talked to him about her condition, he was confident about what he said and that he could help her ... fast forward a month after she's been working with him, getting proper stretches in, training the muscles that have grown weak, and she was now moving around the house and doing fairly well. Fast forward to now - she goes and sees him once a week and does some basic mobility work outs (I think shes sweet on him, but I dont think my pops gives af anymore.) She says she only has pain when shes been sitting around too long.

Im not saying that the same remedy will work for you, but when you havent had any major accidents and your doctors cant find a cause.. I want to say its where you've let some muscles atrophy and you just need to get them back up to speed. Its not always about bone on bone with this kind of stuff - your big muscles could be over compensating for a weak muscle, until they cant hold up any longer and now you're completely depending on that smaller muscle to do the work it was meant to do all along PLUS the load of the other muscle.
figure_1-16A-copy-2-691x1024.jpg
 
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Dr.Retarded

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My mother, granted she's fucking 68.. She was experiencing sciatic nerve pain, numbing in the legs, etc. She was prescribed Flexeril anytime she had a flare up, with a low strength script for Loratabs. Outside of those two, she was also prescribed Duloxetine, which I think is a depression medicine that has good results for lower back pain for whatever reason. Never looked into it. I didnt know she was taking all of this shit until about a year ago. But looking back over the years, she had became more and more sedentary as time passed until it was hard for her to walk. Kind of a vicious cycle in my head, as the thought is to be more sedentary so you dont irritate the muscles further.. but at the same time, being sedentary exacerbates the problem.

When I found out she was taking all those pills, and.. was still fucking having a hard time moving around - I went out of my way to get her with my Physical Therapist for Sports Medicine. I use him anytime I have a problem in my shoulders from lifting, or in my hip for squats, etc. But when I talked to him about her condition, he was confident about what he said and that he could help her ... fast forward a month after she's been working with him, getting proper stretches in, training the muscles that have grown weak, and she was now moving around the house and doing fairly well. Fast forward to now - she goes and sees him once a week and does some basic mobility work outs (I think shes sweet on him, but I dont think my pops gives af anymore.) She says she only has pain when shes been sitting around too long.

Im not saying that the same remedy will work for you, but when you havent had any major accidents and your doctors cant find a cause.. I want to say its where you've let some muscles atrophy and you just need to get them back up to speed. Its not always about bone on bone with this kind of stuff - your big muscles could be over compensating for a weak muscle, until they cant hold up any longer and now you're completely depending on that smaller muscle to do the work it was meant to do all along PLUS the load of the other muscle.
figure_1-16A-copy-2-691x1024.jpg
I think the problem is I had a major accident, and the doctors didn't necessarily do anything to make certain I wasn't going to have long-term benefits from their operations and what have you. My take away from everything was patch him up as quick as possible and move on to the next person. That was the last medical experience I've had and my adult life, we're prior everything has been wonderful, but the whole ordeal was just damn nightmare. I could sit and try to tell them that hey I have this problem or pain or whatever, nope you'll be okay it'll go away in 2 months or some bullshit.

One thing that never came up was back problems despite me bringing it up constantly with the orthopedic clinic. I asked the goddamn surgeon, hey I fell 25ft, I get all this weird nerve pain, I think my back is out of line or whatever. Oh we already ran a CT scan you're perfectly fine. I mean if your soul from a couple of stories, wouldn't your spine be completely messed up, or at least that's what I asked the stupid surgeon. Nope you're good the scans showed us that everything is okay.

No mother fucker, I'm not. Hurts when I do stuff.

I do know at least for the couple years I was going to physical therapy it really made a difference. I was a religious about it, and saw very good benefits, I just became I'm affordable when insurance stop paying for it. I stole talk with my therapist though and he tells me what routine I need to be doing and what have you then I'll pop an occasionally so he kind of gives me a free evaluation. The man was a lifesaver..

I'm sorry I'm not trying to rant, I'm just so utterly tired of pain from one portion of the body or the other. I try to be as active as possible, riding my bike which thank God I can actually do, walk the dogs with my wife, and spend time outdoors being mobile, but it just seems that I can't shake what I'm assuming to be nerve damage.

I try to take all the right vitamins, I eat healthy, whatever, still dealing with it, it's getting to the point where I'm just always pissed and agitated because it's chronic pain.

I know there are other people that have far worse situations, but I guess it's all relative, and I don't think it helps getting older.
 
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Kajiimagi

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What do you guys do for sciatic pain or neuropathy BS?

I'm at my wits end, I'm just so tired of dealing with it everyday. Open to any options, or at least experience / knowledge of said problem.

Haven't had cancer, or anything really horrifying, but I got my own stack a problems, and as I'm getting older, are starting to manifest their issues more and more. It's easily one of the things that screws me up on a day-to-day basis.

Orthopedic surgeon I didn't detect anything wrong with my spine pinching nerves or what have you, try to go into a chiropractor but that's a goddamn crapshoot.

I'm just so tired of my feet or my legs going numb, I'm having to sit there and try to do things like a salt bath every evening. I never had these problems prior to the end of 2019, and it just infuriates me, and it doesn't seem like there's a lot I can do about.

Anyways, if anybody's got when I hate to call a life hack, I'll be most appreciative. The constant pain and bullshit and screwing with my relationships with people because I'm just always agitated and angry, now that said individual, but just being on edge.

I'm just looking for whatever fucking solution I can find.

Thank you in advance.
Bro my understanding reading this thread is to share and try to help, not to 'outsick' each other. That said:

I do not have great news. I've had brain / cancer /tumor and chronic back pain and fun fact: Back pain is worse. A good exercise for sciatic pain is to lay on a flat surface, bend your knees , put one leg across the knee of the other (the leg with the bent knee is where you will fill this so usually this is the leg being a problem) and both legs up. Like a stretch. You can wrap a folded towel around your knee and pull up if that is hard. If it's both legs, just do each side.

I'm sooooo goddamn close to being over the tumor BS that I cannot wait. Next thing is to go back to my doc and try 'from scratch' to find out why my left foot from the ankle down feels like it's in a bear trap all the time. I'll report here when/if I find anything but my hopes are not high.
 
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Daidraco

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Not sure if you have the same kind of sciatic issues, but my dad has a lot of leg pain on one side. He uses a brace/pad similar to this, though not sure what position/orientation. He says it’s helped him, for what it’s worth.

Amazon product ASIN B0C38WH7VG
Why cant I ever see Amazon stuff on this website. So weird.

Tell him to try this exercise. Took me a second to find it, but no surprise that its easily findable through back pain search. My mother could barely lift her leg that way, and now she can do it like its nothing.
 
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Koushirou

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Why cant I ever see Amazon stuff on this website. So weird.

Tell him to try this exercise. Took me a second to find it, but no surprise that its easily findable through back pain search. My mother could barely lift her leg that way, and now she can do it like its nothing.


Ah fucks sake. I swear it works when other people seem to post shit, but I can’t get it to. Threw the raw link in there.
 
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Dr.Retarded

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Bro my understanding reading this thread is to share and try to help, not to 'outsick' each other. That said:

I do not have great news. I've had brain / cancer /tumor and chronic back pain and fun fact: Back pain is worse. A good exercise for sciatic pain is to lay on a flat surface, bend your knees , put one leg across the knee of the other (the leg with the bent knee is where you will fill this so usually this is the leg being a problem) and both legs up. Like a stretch. You can wrap a folded towel around your knee and pull up if that is hard. If it's both legs, just do each side.

I'm sooooo goddamn close to being over the tumor BS that I cannot wait. Next thing is to go back to my doc and try 'from scratch' to find out why my left foot from the ankle down feels like it's in a bear trap all the time. I'll report here when/if I find anything but my hopes are not high.
No worries, bud. That that sucks, though. How long have you been dealing with it? I don't know if you talked about it in the past but I don't frequent this thread very often, but I guess I post it because I'm just so goddamn frustrated right now.

That's one thing that we don't necessarily have on either side of my family being cancer of any sort. I just have to worry about losing my mind or dying of a heart attack. I think I'd prefer a heart attack over Alzheimer's.

When you mention a bear trap on your foot, that's a very accurate way to describe the shit that I feel. Sometimes it's a super sharp pain and sometimes my feet are just numb, and it flips flops between whatever leg I think I'm maybe overworking that day, because it seems like I tend to overly compensate for the bad one.
 

Kajiimagi

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No worries, bud. That that sucks, though. How long have you been dealing with it? I don't know if you talked about it in the past but I don't frequent this thread very often, but I guess I post it because I'm just so goddamn frustrated right now.

That's one thing that we don't necessarily have on either side of my family being cancer of any sort. I just have to worry about losing my mind or dying of a heart attack. I think I'd prefer a heart attack over Alzheimer's.

When you mention a bear trap on your foot, that's a very accurate way to describe the shit that I feel. Sometimes it's a super sharp pain and sometimes my feet are just numb, and it flips flops between whatever leg I think I'm maybe overworking that day, because it seems like I tend to overly compensate for the bad one.
Back pain? Um in 1992 I had back surgery #1 and I was 21 at the time. I don't know if I mentioned it before or not, I know I've mentioned being on Oxy and stronger. Also to be completely honest, if I'd done what the doc's told me to I'd probably be a lot happier right now but, you know, fuck them kids docs.

Brain issues were a complete surprise , and they determined I'd had it for a long time and it was likely due to 'environmental factors'. I knew I should not have snorted that glowing cocaine!
 
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The_Black_Log Foler

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Others have already posted a bunch of good advice regarding lifestyle modification. If you want a specific diet plan, check the DASH diet or the MIND diet (which is basically a modified DASH that is associated with a substantially lower risk of Alzheimer's).

Diastolic (bottom number) is generally a better predictor of heart disease issues when the numbers are only slightly elevated. 130 or 135/80 isn't as concerning as 130/90. AAFP clinical guidelines are that high blood pressure should be treated when systolic goes above 140 (mid quality evidence) or diastolic above 90 (high quality evidence).

Also: blood pressure is a notoriously finicky vital sign that can change on a dime. Things that seem very mundane can cause 10-20 point systolic spikes. If your provider wants you to measure your BP at home,

  • Take it about the same time every day
  • Piss before you take your BP, because a full bladder can increase BP
  • Don't cross your legs, because crossing them can increase BP
  • Sit quietly and don't talk, because talking can increase BP
  • Don't take a blood pressure reading with a sleeve on your arm, because wearing a sleeve can...you know.

But to directly answer the question regarding meds, the most common side effects that they all share are dizziness and fatigue. These happen in about 10-20% of people and can be annoying at first, but they often go away if you stick with the meds for a few months, because your body eventually goes back to its old "set point."

ACEs (lisinopril and all the -prils) and ARBs (irbesartan and all the -sartans), the major scary side effect is angioedema (swelling of the tongue, which can be a legitimate medical emergency, because your tongue/throat can swell so much that it blocks your airway. Angioedema is uncommon, however - 0.1 to 0.7%, in ACEs, and even rarer in ARBs.

Thiazide diuretics can cause you to piss a lot, but they are typically not used as a first-line agent outside of black people (they respond better to thiazides than ACEs/ARBs).

DHP Calcium channel blockers (nifedipine/amlodipine/isradipine/all the -dipines) can cause minor swelling in the ankles, but this is generally more a cosmetic issue than a serious problem, and it may not be a problem at all if you stay active, which will keep the fluid moving. They can sometimes cause people to feel "flushed" or hot.
Appreciate all the info. Quick question.. I work a lot outside in my free time doing farming type stuff, manual labor etc. It gets so hot here that last summer I was probably borderline heat exhaustion multiple times despite downing tons of water. A friend suggested LMNT and I’ve been using it ever since for when I work outside on weekends and it’s been a game changer.

It’s packed with sodium.. How bad is this for my BP? Is it OK to use in the context I am? When doing manual labor in heavy heat?

 

The_Black_Log Foler

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What do you guys do for sciatic pain or neuropathy BS?

I'm at my wits end, I'm just so tired of dealing with it everyday. Open to any options, or at least experience / knowledge of said problem.

Haven't had cancer, or anything really horrifying, but I got my own stack a problems, and as I'm getting older, are starting to manifest their issues more and more. It's easily one of the things that screws me up on a day-to-day basis.

Orthopedic surgeon I didn't detect anything wrong with my spine pinching nerves or what have you, try to go into a chiropractor but that's a goddamn crapshoot.

I'm just so tired of my feet or my legs going numb, I'm having to sit there and try to do things like a salt bath every evening. I never had these problems prior to the end of 2019, and it just infuriates me, and it doesn't seem like there's a lot I can do about.

Anyways, if anybody's got when I hate to call a life hack, I'll be most appreciative. The constant pain and bullshit and screwing with my relationships with people because I'm just always agitated and angry, now that said individual, but just being on edge.

I'm just looking for whatever fucking solution I can find.

Thank you in advance.
Have you gotten a few alternative opinions? I had shoulder pain and neuropathy in my arm/hand for years. My ortho MRI’d my shoulder and found nothing. I spent the next 4 years dumping 10s of thousands of dollars into everything you can imagine. I saw every specialist from endo, rheumatologist, thoracic surgeon, spinal surgeon etc etc. I got dumped into the fibromyalgia category and thrown on gabapentin with occasional injections. Tried chiro, acupuncture, specialized massage for neuro pain etc etc. Chronic pain ruled my life and as I’m sure you know it can get to the point where your life revolves around it, it changes the way you think and everything you do. It is absolutely awful and I completely empathize with anyone going through it.

4 years going through this I decide to get another opinion from an ortho my shoulder. Within 5 minutes he’s able to do a manual evaluation and come to the conclusion I have a tear. Unlike the first ortho, he does an MRI with contrast which shows the tear. It was a SLAP tear which would only show with an MRI with contrast.. The first ortho I went to 4 years prior didn’t do contrast. Note that ortho also has the reputation of being the best shoulder and hand surgeon in my greater area yet he completely missed it.

I had that shoulder done and it changed my pain so much that I didn’t realize I had been living in pain in my other shoulder. Same exact tear.. Had that done and it absolutely changed my life. Frankly I was in a very dark place at my wits end with chronic pain. It was a tough year of double shoulder surgeon and a good 1 year of PT and really probably 1.5-2 years before feeling fully recovered and more comfortable using my shoulder in my vigorous ways.

My TLDR is get a second opinion, maybe a third, etc. I’m going through a minor foot issue right now. First doc I saw said if it’s really bothering me he can do surgeon, no problem. I dig deeper in research and the surgery failure rate due to recurrence is insanely significant. I find there’s alternative options some doctors are doing such as special ultrasound guided injections with a lot of success. Yet this foot doctor, who again has a reputation of being one of the best in my area, wanted to jump straight to surgery without offering up alternatives or even warning me of failure rate.

I hope you figure it out man. I know it’s awful and I know it’s a money pit. I wish I could be more helpful but just want to emphasize always get multiple opinions, deep dive research (facebook groups can be helpful).
 
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The_Black_Log Foler

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My mother, granted she's fucking 68.. She was experiencing sciatic nerve pain, numbing in the legs, etc. She was prescribed Flexeril anytime she had a flare up, with a low strength script for Loratabs. Outside of those two, she was also prescribed Duloxetine, which I think is a depression medicine that has good results for lower back pain for whatever reason. Never looked into it. I didnt know she was taking all of this shit until about a year ago. But looking back over the years, she had became more and more sedentary as time passed until it was hard for her to walk. Kind of a vicious cycle in my head, as the thought is to be more sedentary so you dont irritate the muscles further.. but at the same time, being sedentary exacerbates the problem.

When I found out she was taking all those pills, and.. was still fucking having a hard time moving around - I went out of my way to get her with my Physical Therapist for Sports Medicine. I use him anytime I have a problem in my shoulders from lifting, or in my hip for squats, etc. But when I talked to him about her condition, he was confident about what he said and that he could help her ... fast forward a month after she's been working with him, getting proper stretches in, training the muscles that have grown weak, and she was now moving around the house and doing fairly well. Fast forward to now - she goes and sees him once a week and does some basic mobility work outs (I think shes sweet on him, but I dont think my pops gives af anymore.) She says she only has pain when shes been sitting around too long.

Im not saying that the same remedy will work for you, but when you havent had any major accidents and your doctors cant find a cause.. I want to say its where you've let some muscles atrophy and you just need to get them back up to speed. Its not always about bone on bone with this kind of stuff - your big muscles could be over compensating for a weak muscle, until they cant hold up any longer and now you're completely depending on that smaller muscle to do the work it was meant to do all along PLUS the load of the other muscle.
figure_1-16A-copy-2-691x1024.jpg
Yeah duloxetine is generic cymbalta which is also used for neuro pain. I was on that too.

+1 on sports PT. I didn’t mention this but in that journey I found a sports PT, not some burned out old hag that’s showing up to do PT for post ops, but a younger PT who primarily works with athletes, doesn’t do insurance etc.

She is awesome. Any time I have something come up I go to her. She doesn’t try to rope you into coming back. In fact she evals you, shows you exercises and then has YouTube videos or creates them specifically showing you how to do those exercises with an emphasis on proper form.
 
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Kajiimagi

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Appreciate all the info. Quick question.. I work a lot outside in my free time doing farming type stuff, manual labor etc. It gets so hot here that last summer I was probably borderline heat exhaustion multiple times despite downing tons of water. A friend suggested LMNT and I’ve been using it ever since for when I work outside on weekends and it’s been a game changer.

It’s packed with sodium.. How bad is this for my BP? Is it OK to use in the context I am? When doing manual labor in heavy heat?

Never heard of those. Here in the desert, my company was using these for the guys on the job. I worked there 6 years in the Vegas desert heat and we had zero heat issues. These are loaded with electrolytes.

 
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Fogel

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Appreciate all the info. Quick question.. I work a lot outside in my free time doing farming type stuff, manual labor etc. It gets so hot here that last summer I was probably borderline heat exhaustion multiple times despite downing tons of water. A friend suggested LMNT and I’ve been using it ever since for when I work outside on weekends and it’s been a game changer.

It’s packed with sodium.. How bad is this for my BP? Is it OK to use in the context I am? When doing manual labor in heavy heat?


Everything I've read shows that we're not getting enough sodium in our diets now ever since the now apparent misguided war on sodium was launched, combined with the "hydration" push. Drinking straight water only makes the issue worse since we're now filtering out more electrolytes without replenishing them. Amazing how many things modern medicine, the FDA, etc have gotten wrong over the years while taking plenty of corporate money. It's almost like we've forgotten that the body needs sodium to survive.

If you're working/sweating a lot, than more sodium and other electrolytes shouldn't be an issue.
 
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The_Black_Log Foler

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Everything I've read shows that we're not getting enough sodium in our diets now ever since the now apparent misguided war on sodium was launched, combined with the "hydration" push. Drinking straight water only makes the issue worse since we're now filtering out more electrolytes without replenishing them. Amazing how many things modern medicine, the FDA, etc have gotten wrong over the years while taking plenty of corporate money. It's almost like we've forgotten that the body needs sodium to survive.

If you're working/sweating a lot, than more sodium and other electrolytes shouldn't be an issue.
Seems like this is one of those “listen to your body” things. If I drink straight water I don’t feel hydrated. I throw lmnt in it and I’m doing great. Seems like the body wants sodium in this context.
 
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Koushirou

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Everything I've read shows that we're not getting enough sodium in our diets now ever since the now apparent misguided war on sodium was launched, combined with the "hydration" push. Drinking straight water only makes the issue worse since we're now filtering out more electrolytes without replenishing them. Amazing how many things modern medicine, the FDA, etc have gotten wrong over the years while taking plenty of corporate money. It's almost like we've forgotten that the body needs sodium to survive.

If you're working/sweating a lot, than more sodium and other electrolytes shouldn't be an issue.

For what it's worth, last I talked to my doctor and mentioned I was trying to drink more water during the day, she said to make sure to get some salt in there with it, otherwise it just doesn't really do shit.
 
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Gurgeh

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Keto diet might be worth trying for neuropathy.
Most studies looking at it show some sort of benefit. I know someone who had severe pain in her arm for 2 years (thx vax) that got rid of it with a low carb diet.
Worst case is you won't have eaten sugar for a couple of weeks...
 
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