A journey with Dr. Bao Thai and reversing neuropathy

It's been almost 2 weeks since my last update- the last week of which has been in the winter storm of 2021.  Because of the inclement weather, both therapy sessions last week were canceled.  I never did receive a reply to my previous email and i haven't been able to meet the staff to ask in person.   Regardless, i don't feel particularly better... i don't feel worse.  I really do feel like the benefits of the therapy are so small, it is difficult to say it is working.   During my last conversation with Dr. Buckley in early February, he effectively asked me to quit measuring progress against my expectations- he said it is creating stress that is working against the therapy.    I'll be transparent- i personally don't buy it.  I'm not getting better because i think I'm not getting better?!?!  If i (or anyone) could think myself to healing, i would have saved thousands of dollars. Evenings still remain almost painful.  My toes stil...

I sent the following message to the clinic earlier today: "I recall when given instructions for the home light machine that i should be positive that both lights were on for "R" and "NIR"- which i have done every time without fail. However, tonight i was cycling through the settings and paying especially close attention to the settings and behavior of the machine and I noticed that when i set the settings to "NIR" only, that there are *no* lights at all.  I know that from day 1, that only half the lights on the light panel have come on and now wonder if the 2 are related. Is this proper and expected behavior from this home unit?  Is it possible that the "NIR" functions of the home machine are not working right?  If so, would this contribute to the underwhelming results i have seen so far?"

I know i should be putting up a picture of where i felt the laser today- but the sad unfortunate reality is that the sensations today were so slight, a picture would over exaggerate .  I still felt the laser on the back of my hands as i always have- and i felt a small warmth at the very tips of my fingers on my right hand.  I don't recall anything on my palms, fingers, or most anything on my feet today.  In other news, i told Dr. Buckley about my unpleasant driving experience and he was appropriately concerned.   He asked questions about how i felt later, how i achieved relief, etc.  The conclusion was that he added mm wave therapy to my back also.  He asked about my diet- which i am sticking to nearly religiously without cheating.   For example- today's meals were: Breakfast - pork sausage & fried eggs Lunch - 2 broiled chicken breasts (yeah- meat only) Dinner - triple meat cheese burger from in-and-out... but i threw their buns away and...

Tonight was a pretty bad night for me-  I drove 4 hours to see family.   The tingling/numbness in my feet grew so bad about 2 hours in that i couldn't tell how hard i was pressing the gas or brake pedals.... it seemed to be a rather dangerous and unpleasant sensation. I managed to recover and finish the drive by: 1) stopping long enough to walk around and get circulation going 2) cruise control helped A LOT - mostly because i could move my feet and toes.  This was the biggest assist. 3) removed my shoes and drove with just socks - that also helped a lot.  This was the 2nd biggest help. 4) hand massaging also took the sharp edge off.

Progress is moving slow- much slower than i had hoped.  I completed treatment 13 of 24 and in don't feel halfway better.  To be fair, even from the beginning, the expectation put forth was that they can achieve a 50% improvement by the end of treatment. Dr. Thai did lead me to believe that we caught mine early enough i should see full recovery, but i emphasize... that was not a promise.  One suggestion from Dr. Buckley is that i intentionally recall differences and improvements in the laser sensations.   I still remember when i had my first treatment, i couldn't feel the laser on my palms.  To be transparent, I recall because it freaked me out.  Anyway, I'm going to periodically try to capture my hands/foot drawing- but rather than show pain (green/yellow/orange/red), i want to use purple to show where i felt the laser during treatment.

I'm a few days late putting this in, but it's easy to recall.   I had my annual physical yesterday (Jan 28) and received my test results today.   Everything came back perfect.  A1C was 5.6.  Cholesterol levels were in the desired ranges also (HDL, LDL, Triglycerides, ratio).  All other blood work came back perfect.   My physician was so exceedingly pleased he said i could stop metformin if i wish and just manage through diet and exercise.   Well i do wish.  Generally speaking, i don't like to take medicine until i MUST.  Just watch any drug commercial on television and see the list of potential side effects often sounds worse than the thing they are treating..... and then there are the ambulance chasing lawyers that run commercials about drugs people used for years that now we find are linked to various cancers.   So while metformin may be a tested medicine with few known side effects- and fewer confirmed.... i j...