Diabetes, HIV, alcoholism > Neuropathy

[Bruce Lamar Rosenberg]

8/13/96
Hello,

I am 61 years old and have been treated for diabetes with oral drugs for the past 2 1/2 
years.  Even though I keep my sugar under good control and test my blood at least once 
a day, I have progressing bilateral neuropathy of my feet and possibly chest area 
(autonomic neuropathy? which can screw up all sorts of things). For about a year I have 
had heart rhythm irregularities, presumably skipping a beat or possibly an extra beat, 
it's hard to know.  The rhythm is typically: beat, beat, silence, beat, beat, 
silence, etc.  A month ago I had an echo cardiogram with a treadmill stress test and the 
cardiologist did not find any heart insufficiency.  The irregularities bother me, so, 
thinking that it might be related to my diabetic neuropathy, I started looking for nerve 
growth factors which might help my condition.  I am trying DHEA (anabolic growth 
factor?), vitamin B12 (for it's lipotropic and nerve sheath activity), brewer's yeast (B 
complex), and  E & selenium.  One treatment which seems to be effective is BHT (about 
1/8 teaspoon dissolved in heated olive oil). 

One possibility is that adult onset diabetes is that it is related to early childhood 
viral infection (chicken pox? which also causes shingles, residing in the chest nerves). 
Thus, it is a persistent, retroviral? infection which is in its long term effects 
similar to HIV (not as quickly fatal; but fatal nevertheless). So, I wonder, has anyone 
been treated for neuropathy with antiviral drugs?    

I would be glad to communicate with anyone about this.

Regards,
Bruce Rosenberg
betarose at ix.netcom.com
(609) 345-4712