MEDICATIONS AND PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY

I have written on a few occasions of neuropathy and THC-V. Just a quick follow up, we are finding that THC-V is proving to be a reliable cannabinoid in the treatment of peripheral neuropathy, including some patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

The focus of this entry is why are so many people getting peripheral neuropathy of unknown cause. If the patient has had chemotherapy or has Diabetes, we know there is an obvious relationship. However, the majority of patients I have seen with peripheral neuropathy have no known cause. There have been a few patients where the neuropathy started shortly after starting a drug and the drug was stopped with rapid reversal of the neuropathy. Here is a list of drugs that have been shown to cause neuropathy. If you check out this report you will see a lot of fairly common medications.

The group of drugs that stands out the most, by far, are the statins. I am certain the incidence of neuropathy with statins and other drugs is hugely under-reported. The vast majority of patients have probably been on one of these drugs and we will be following up some of our patient groups to see how many were on statins or other drugs on the list.

So, if there are patients out there with an early neuropathy of unknown etiology and are on statins or one of the other drugs, consider discussing with your physician.

LIST OF MEDICATIONS

Author

Allan Frankel, MD