Peripheral neuropathy occurs from damage to the nerves located outside of the brain and spinal cord, known as the peripheral nerves, and frequently starts in the hands and feet, but can also affect other parts of the body. People describe the pain as stabbing, burning or tingling and can become quite debilitating.
Diabetes has been cited as the most common cause for neuropathy, but I have treated so many cases of neuropathy where the patient did not have diabetes or any of the other common underlying causes, such as trauma, autoimmune disorders, alcoholism or the use of some medications such as chemotherapy.
When you have been in practice as long as I have, having seen thousands upon thousands of patients over the past 35 years, you start to see patterns emerge. For example, early on in my practice I could see that many of the women who had taken hormone replacement therapy (HRT) eventually developed breast cancer. Then years later a large study was done, the Women’s Health Initiative Study, which did in fact prove a huge relationship between use of HRT and breast cancer.
In much the same way, I have seen a definite link between the use of flu shots which contain mercury and/or the use of statin drugs as another possible cause of neuropathy. Let me explain further.
Mercury used to be found as a preservative in most of the vaccines but fortunately since 2006 it was finally taken out of most of the shots, but it is still found in the flu shot. I have seen many patients develop neuropathy from repeated flu shots which contain mercury. Mercury is considered the most dangerous heavy metal and has affinity for fat tissue, such as the delicate nerve cells known as neurons. And from my experience it seems that the neuropathy occurs after receiving many flu shots, more than 10 or so over a broad span of time. Which is why it is not listed as one of the causes of neuropathy, as it doesn’t usually occur after a single shot, but tends to be from an accumulation of the mercury which occurs over many years and after many flu shots.
As Ayurvedic practitioners we are able to feel mercury in the pulse and where it has gone — usually it has an affinity for the brain, liver, bone marrow and nerve tissue, all of which we can feel in the pulse after someone has had years of flu shots. My Ayurvedic teacher and mentor, Vaidya Rama Kant Mishra taught me how mercury was able to actually burn the nerve tissue because of its tremendous heating effect on the physiology. He told me how he spent the whole first year in Ayurvedic college studying the harmful effects of mercury and how it was described in the ancient Ayurvedic texts as extremely piercing and burning to whatever tissue it came in contact with. Research shows that mercury has an affinity for fat tissue which is why it always lands in the fatty areas of the body, such as the brain, the nerve cells, the liver, kidneys and bone marrow.
The other cause of neuropathy I see in my practice comes from statin drugs, the pharmaceuticals which decrease cholesterol. Sometimes these drugs work too well and they can actually starve the nerve tissue to the point where it can shrivel up, since the nerve tissue is made out of cholesterol.
To put it more scientifically, cholesterol nourishes and lubricates the brain and nerve cells and is one of the factors involved in allowing nerve cells to communicate with each other and exchange electrical signals. Cholesterol is also required for the formation of the myelin sheath, the white fatty covering that provides a protective coating on the nerve cells.The myelin sheath insulates nerve cells and enhances the passing of electrical signals throughout the nervous system. Cholesterol makes up the majority of the myelin in your body.
In fact, the brain is considered the fattiest organ in your body, and consists of a minimum of 60% fat. And it is considered the most cholesterol-rich organ, containing about 25% of all the cholesterol in your body.
We get cholesterol from two sources. Once source is from the dietary cholesterol found in the food we eat. But we cannot possibly eat the amount of cholesterol the body requires each day to make hormones and nourish the brain and nerve cells, so it is the job of the liver to make the rest. The liver makes most of the cholesterol your body needs, but the statin drugs work by reducing the liver’s production of cholesterol. According to the Mayo Clinic, the statin drugs can both damage the liver and create neurological side effects since they are depriving the much needed cholesterol to nourish the nerve tissue.
On top of that the latest study from October 5, 2021 from Health Day News, states that “researchers found that among those taking statins, 56% saw their diabetes progress compared with 48% of those not taking statins. And the higher the dose of the statin, the faster the progression of the diabetes.” This study compared 83,000 diabetic patients who used statins and more than 83,000 who didn’t.
And the levels of neuropathy go up as diabetes worsens.
I remember about 20 years ago in my practice a patient came to me with unexplained neuropathy. He was suffering from pain in his hands and feet but his doctors couldn’t find out the underlying cause. After I tested him I told him his nerve tissue was suffering from lack of fats due to the statin drugs he was taking. I recommended he ask his doctor if he could wean off them and at the same time my plan was to teach him the good sources of cholesterol that wouldn’t clog his arteries, such as in boiled unhomogenized cow’s milk and ghee, so he could nourish his fat-deprived nerve tissue.
He decided to get a second opinion so he went to the Mayo Clinic. They ran all sorts of studies on him and told him his neuropathy was in fact coming from lack of fats due to the statin drugs.
So either one alone, flu shots or statin drugs, may create depletion of the nerve tissue in susceptible patients, and the two together may worsen the tendency.
Luckily, Vaidya got me the special herbs to heal both the nerve tissue and the myelin sheath. We also use transdermal magnesium therapy, which means we apply magnesium chloride to the skin through various oils and lotions to help the nerve conduction and some specially made alpha lipoic acid products to heal the inflammation in the nerve tissue. He made them from spinach and broccoli which is 10x more potent than the synthetic versions commonly used on the market. He also developed some transdermal creams to be put directly onto the area of neuropathy. These creams open up the physical channels to allow the herbs which heal the nerves to penetrate into the nerve tissue, since it is considered a deep tissue which can be somewhat hard to reach.
At the same time we repair the nerve cells we must also regenerate the damaged liver cells, clean the bone marrow and liver using various foods and herbs, and then of course we have to chelate or pull the mercury off the nerve tissue and out of the liver and other fat cells.
As we do this we have to flush the toxins out through the kidneys and urine using special tea preparations. And we have to bind the toxins and direct them into the bowel movement. This flushing and binding of the toxins is important because you don’t want these serious toxins traveling around the body once you pull them out.
Since mercury and chemical drugs are so heating and have such a strong tendency to burn, we must also lubricate the delicate system of channels which take out these nasty chemicals so they don’t rupture as the toxins exit the body into the bowel movement, urine and sweat. To do this we must prepare the channels before any detox begins using special lubricating herbs such as slippery elm, marshmallow root and deglycerized licorice or DGL.
If you must get the flu shot each year always ask for the one which doesn’t contain mercury. And you might want to study the cholesterol issue a little further and see if you think it might better serve you to fix the underlying reasons why the cholesterol might be high in the first place — usually it comes from improper liver and/or gall bladder function, since both organs clear the cholesterol out of the blood. And the same is true of diabetes — the underlying initial cause of diabetes lies in improper liver function, usually from consuming bad vegetable oils, hydrogenated and trans fats, processed foods and many pharmaceuticals.
In fact, the liver is at the root of most of the diseases we suffer from, however, modern medicine doesn’t place enough emphasis on the liver and instead only monitors frank liver disease, so they miss these early stages when the liver is toxic and unable to perform its hundreds of functions properly. Plus, all pharmaceuticals are toxic to the liver so there isn’t much they could offer anyway.
On the other hand, there are numerous herbal remedies given to us by nature which can heal the liver by gently cleaning it out, cooling it down and regenerating damaged liver cells. If you address the liver in these very early stages when its function is compromised from holding onto so many toxins, you can prevent most diseases from arising in the first place.
While yes, neuropathy can be somewhat difficult to fix, at least now you know of some alternative methods that lie outside of what modern medicine may have to offer you. Plus, it is very difficult to treat any disease without getting to the root cause of the disease, so now you can reassess your condition and see if you think it may be coming from too much exposure to mercury and/or depletion of the nourishing fats your nerve tissue needs to stay healthy.
And finally, while it is true that there aren’t definitive studies showing a relationship between flu shots and neuropathy, we are getting closer in that some doctors are starting to become aware of the burning influence of the mercury in the flu shots.
A patient of mine was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a disease where the myelin sheath has holes burnt into it, affecting the brain and spinal cord. She went to one of the country’s top neurologists here at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and after examining her he stated definitively that the underlying cause of her MS was from the numerous flu shots containing mercury which she had received through the years. So we are getting much closer to the understanding that mercury should never be injected into the body and can have great consequences on our brain and nerve tissue, resulting in many diseases, as well as neuropathy.
Don’t sit around and wait for research to prove this point. Take control of your health and learn how to eat healthy, learn how to cleanse impurities from your body and above all how to navigate your way through modern medicine. While it is true they have amazing diagnostic tools, life-saving procedures and medicines, we must also be careful when we use these medicines due to their underlying toxicity and side effects.
Our bodies are naturally programmed to rise at dawn and slow down with the setting of the sun, but modern technology in addition to many other cultural factors may interfere with our natural cycles, and disrupt the needed hours of rejuvenative sleep. You don’t have to rise by rise or sleep by sunset to get better rejuvenative sleep. Find out what you can do to get more energy, clarity of mind and heart, and even reduced inflammation through ayurvedic tips and guidelines. Join the conversation with Andrea.
Melina Takvorian-Mishra (PhD) – got her first ayurvedic consult with the Dalai Lama’s own vaidya/healer, during a backpacking trip in North India -Dharmashala in 1998. That was the beginning of a lifelong passionate adventure with the science of Ayurveda: food, herbs, energetic healing. Back in the USA, it was not until she met Vaidya Mishra that same year that she knew she had met her ayurvedic guru: the greatest of living healers and teachers. In 2002, while completing her graduate work on trans-generational trauma, she started working with Vaidya Mishra on ayurvedic remedies for healing the heart and mind, including transdermal marma protocols. In 2003, together they founded 2 companies for ayurvedic formulations and knowledge. For 14 years, Melina travelled with Vaidya as he offered workshops and consultations across the USA, Canada, and Europe. Vaidya Mishra transitioned in 2017. Vaidya Mishra’s full range of ayurvedic herbal formulations, as well as knowledge (audiovisual and print) and other courses are still available to a global audience.
Andrea Pflaumer is the author of the Amazon best-selling book Shopping for the Real You, the only book based on the Personal Style Counselors system, providing a customized, detailed guide to wardrobe, color, style, and design. Her focus is on helping women recognize their unique expression in style and personality. Andrea is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, Better after 50, Sixty and Me, SheSavvy, and writes her own regular blog at
shoppingfortherealyou.com. Her articles on art, fashion, and shopping have appeared in local and national publications, including the San Francisco Examiner, Oakland Magazine, East Bay Express, San Francisco Weekly, and the East Bay Monthly.
She has been a follower of Ayurveda for more than 30 years and has taught the Transcendental Meditation technique since 1974. She has developed a month-long series for her readers and social media followers called “31 Days of Self Care” and invited us to be a part of that series to speak about the profound need and benefits of getting a good night’s sleep.
We want to help you protect your purchase – there’s been an increase in lost/stolen packages.
To protect your shipment – in case your shipping address is not secure – we have now added the “signature delivery” option upon check-out on www.chandika.com and we highly recommend you select it to ensure your package is guaranteed to reach you after it leaves our warehouse. Kindly note we are unable to replace stolen/misplaced packages once they are confirmed delivered by the carrier of your choice.
