The Physiologic Basics for the ReBuilding of Neurological Synapses.

Neuropathy, a problem for many older patients, is characterized by pain, numbness, loss of tactile feedback, and poor tissue perfusion. These symptoms indicate that blood is not getting to all the cells and thus these cells suffer. Decreasing the quality of life, these results are often devastating. Pain medication does not treat the condition; it only helps manage it and, eventually, leads to complications and adverse side effects such confused thinking and intestinal problems. In addition to doing nothing for the numbness some individuals experience, these chemical not only depress the nerves and reduce the sensation of pain, they can actually cause the neuropathy to worsen.

As a result of conduction our own research and reviewing published studies from around the world, we have been led to new models concerning the causes of neuropathy. We have concluded that it is not reasonable to label neuropathy symptoms as just diabetic or "idiopathic (cause unknown). What neuropathy patients deserve is a more complete understanding of what is really happening at the cellular level where pain, numbness, and loss of tactile feedback affect an individuals balance.

We believe neuropathy has the following fundamental causes:

Diabetes

Chemo-therapy

Cardio-vascular disease

Trauma

High blood pressure medications

Psychoactive drug therapy

Diabetes can trigger neuropathy by affecting the levels of glucose and/or insulin in the blood stream. When this occurs minerals are driven out of the synaptic junctions between the nerve cells thereby reducing the conductivity and making nerve impulse transmission across the synaptic junction (the gap between the cells) difficult.

Atrophy occurs when any part of the body becomes inactive. As nerve cells atrophy, they shrink like rubber bands resulting in a greater distance between the cells. Thus nerve signals must now try to jump a larger gap through less conductive medium. This loss of nerve transmission is first perceived as tingling, then burning, and finally as pain as the demineralization and gap widening process progresses. Then, after the nerve signals can no longer be transmitted, numbness is the primary complaint. This secondary effect of neuropathy reduces the strength of the calf muscles which in turn reduce the blood flow to the lower extremities. This condition often results in insecure gait, balance problems, and other mobility issues.

Chemo-therapy has a similar effect of demineralizing the synaptic fluid, damaging the integrity of the nerve cells, and making it difficult for the ionization of the cell membranes to propagate the signal along the surface of the nerve. Ionization means the outer membrane of the nerve cells change from positive to negative in a wave like motion taking a positive charge from one end of the nerve all the way to the other end.

Chemotherapeutic agents are prescribed for cancer precisely because they inhibit fast growing or fast acting cells. Though nerve cells do not reproduce themselves like a cancer cell does, they do change electrical states quickly and are thus particularly susceptible to the damaging effects of chemotherapeutic drugs.

Cardio-vascular disease can cause neuropathy by reducing the amount of blood that can perfuse the tissue of the lower legs and feet. When the arteries and veins become blocked, blood flow is reduced. One of the first symptoms is intermittent claudication (a sudden closing down of the blood supply causing pain and weakness in the legs.). This claudication results in a reduction in the distance a patient can walk before the onset of localized leg pain due to reduced oxygen availability. Therefore, the muscle cells switch for using oxygen to operate (aerobic metabolism) to using sugar to operate (anaerobic metabolism) thereby creating greater than normal amounts of lactic acid, the by-product of muscle metabolism. The increase lactic acid collects in the cells causing inflammation and pain.

Trauma to the lumbar area of the back can be another cause of neuropathy. This trauma can be as slight as lifting a bag of groceries out of the trunk, picking up a grandchild, or bending down to tie a shoe. Our studies show a 60% correlation between an injury to the lower back and subsequent development of neuropathy symptoms. During the acute phase of localized trauma, inflammation develops reducing arterial and venous blood to the lumbar synaptic junctions. Nerves in the region suffer due to the reduction in activity. Since the body tends to conserve resources, the affected nerves begin to atrophy, the synaptic junction gap begins to widen, and synaptic minerals are leeched away making it much harder for the signal transmission.

Signals of normal strength can no longer cross synapses that are affected by the reduction in blood flow, The loss of signals across the synapses compounds the process of deterioration. Muscle atrophy and a whole host of problems follow. Fortunately, we know that a signal delivered at the body's natural electo-magnetic resonant frequency (7.83 cycles per second) and at an amplitude approximately 10 times that originally required, will cross these enlarge synapses.

High blood pressure medication not only lower blood pressure, they also reduce the ability of the arterial blood to refill the veins. This vacancy results as the venous muscle pumps the blood back to the heart. When this occurs the blood has a tendency to pool in the lower extremities; the nerves and synaptic junctions do not have enough of the necessary food and oxygen to maintain their health resulting in nerve cell atrophy, loss of mineralization, and conductivity of the synaptic junctions as explained above.

Psychoactive drug therapy, used to reduce anxiety or seizures, has the effect of reducing the intensity/frequency of nerve signals. This, too, can result in loss of motor and sensory nerve function. These conditions can result in impaired mobility and balance issues due to the loss of muscle strength. Whenever overactive nerves that might be causing psychological problems are depressed, they also depress poorly functioning nerves.

Other probable causes of neuropathy include:

• hypoglycemia
• exposure to industrial toxins
• exposure to Agent Orange
• back, knee, and leg surgery
• anesthesia from operations
• poorly administered intra-muscular injections in the sciatic nerve area

The rebuilding addressed all these conditions in a simple to use home care system that is not only effective in helping relieve many of the symptoms of neuropathy but also the progression neuropathy. In some causes pain, burning, and numbness are actually reversed.

            a. The footbath utilizes rebuilding's electrolyte solution™ which the patient adds to the footbath. This electrolyte solution contains the active ingredients of tea tree oil  and colloidal silver. These two ingredients provide an antiseptic environment to help combat the localized infections that are endemic in diabetic neuropathy and often lead to gangrene and amputation. The combination of Epsom salts (added when necessary) and the rebuilding electrolyte solution conditions the water in the foot bath to a conductivity level that matches the electrical properties of the rebuilding.

            b. In addition to the colloidal silver and tea tree oil for antiseptic functions, the rebuilding electrolyte solution also contains a full complement of minerals including potassium, calcium, and other trace minerals in exactly the proper proportions necessary to support the nerves.

            c. This electrically supportive medium is used to deliver minute electrical signals to the patient. When the conductive rubber electrodes are in the water, the current path is directed through the water to the patient (the water actually becomes the electrodes) thereby ensuring a much larger surface area for conductivity and also ensuring greater comfort and safety for the patient.

            d. The warm water in the footbath opens blood vessels in the skin (vasodilation) and carries the essential minerals from the rebuilding electrolyte solution into the blood stream.

           e. When the rebuilding electrical signals stimulate the leg muscles to contact, this "venous muscle pump" moves the mineral rich blood to the muscle and the nerves. Osmotic pressure them carries these necessary minerals into the synaptic junctions between the nerve cells helping to restore the conductivity that is characteristically lost. Such loss can be due to high glucose or insulin levels from diabetic induced neuropathy, from inactivity of these junctions due to other causes of neuropathy such as localized trauma, of from high blood concentrations of chemotherapeutic elements of cancer patients.

Quick Reference Guide

1. Clean the inside surface of the footbath with the supplied silver cleaner. (Note: for multiple users, place protective vinyl liner in foot bath and proceed to step two.)

2. Fill both sides of footbath with warm water 1 inch over ankle bone (about 4 inches deep). Place footbath on towel in front of chair.

3. Put one teaspoon of epsom salt and approximately /12 teaspoon of electrolyte solution in each compartment. Place one electrode pad in each compartment. Turn unit on to lowest setting