Nerve decompression surgery?

[BAK524]

I'd be interested in hearing what forum members think about this. Dr. Anderson is a podiatrist who claims to have a 90% success rate relieving RLS by performing decompression surgery on the "nerve tunnels" of the lower leg.

youtube.com/watch?v=4yM0NyU...(Not working as expected?)

[CindyPatt]

I traveled to CO to have Dr Anderson’s surgery for RLS. DID NOT HELP AT ALL…just left some awful scars on my legs. RLS is really in the brain so this procedure will not help!

[BAK524 in reply to CindyPatt]

Thanks CindyPatt. It seems too good to be true. Maybe it does help some people, but the website seems to have a real sales pitch vibe.

[Eryl]

I would concur with his theory that the cause of rls is compression of the nerves but would disagree with his solution because I belive the fundamental cause of the compression is internal not external i.e. it's die to inflammation of the nerves themselves. The answer is not to give the nerves more room but to reduce the inflammation which is most often due to high blood sugar levels and the consumption of oils containing PUFAS. like margirine and processed foods.

[GuillaumeL in reply to Eryl]

Hi, I'm just curious as to any sources for the hypothesis that PUFAS are causing inflammation of nerves? PUFAS include OMEGA-3-6-9 and are part of all the diets that are considered healthy. They are not specifically associated with processed foods. Do you mean certain PUFAS, such as OMEGA-6?

[GuillaumeL in reply to Eryl]

After a quick search on Google Scholar, it seems that there is actually quite a lot of scientific literature about Omega-3 PUFAS playing a role in reducing inflammation of nerve tissue. I found no literature about the reverse. This 2021 meta-analysis summarizes current knowledge: mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/7/242...

[Eryl in reply to GuillaumeL]

Omega 3 is the one spcific type of PUFA that reduces inflamation and we have to get it from oily fish while the ones most PUFAs consumed are omega 6 and omega 9 which promote inflammation. alexfergus.com/blog/pufa-s-...

[GuillaumeL in reply to Eryl]

I figured that this infamous blog post would be your source. He's misquoting a lot of scientific study and making correlations between totally different studies. As a scientist who makes the effort to read the actual studies instead of the website articles and blog posts, I can only disagree about this hypothesis.

He's notably suggesting that rapid oxidation (which happens to everything) is a cause for not using PUFAs. Of course, don't eat oil that has gone rancid. Otherwise, based on this type of argument, you shouldn't eat anything.

Also, he's misquoting a number of old studies done on rats that were only fed with different types of oils and then measured for colon cancer. The purpose of these studies is explicitely to induce colon cancer in those rats. Based on this methodology, these studies only show that abusing certain types of oils (and again, this is based on rats that were forced-fed oils for all the study duration and not on a human balanced diet) will have detrimental health effect and that some oils are worst than others. Furthermore, a 2008 study with the same methodology found no difference between olive and corn oils: link.springer.com/article/1...

[Eryl in reply to GuillaumeL]

Do you disagree with Pub Med Central then? ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[GuillaumeL in reply to Eryl]

As I understand it, and again, nutrition science and biology are not my background, this paper's argument is the same as the papers I cited above. Essentially, Omega 3 supplementation helps reduce inflammation but, more importantly, a better balance between Omegas (reduce 6 and increase 3) in our diets is necessary for the best outcome.

All these papers agree on this subject. In practice, this means eating a more balanced diet focused on whole unprocessed food. I saw no paper suggesting a total ban on all PUFAs as you seem to suggest. On the contrary, they all state that PUFAs are essential part of our diets. This is in line with the findings from the studies based on the dataset of "aging in Chianti" which shows that the Mediterranean diet promotes healthy aging.

I think that looking at these long term population studies gives a better idea of what works and what doesn't in the real world with a balanced diet.

[Eryl in reply to GuillaumeL]

So you agree with me that the cause can be the consumption of oils containing PUFAS. like margirine and processed foods? chriskresser.com/an-update-...

[GuillaumeL in reply to Eryl]

Well again, we need to be more specific and more importantly, we can't claim that there is a relation of causality. I'd rather say that to live long and healthy, we should reduce the use of Omega-6 oils in favor of other types of fat. Even more important for RLS, I'd say, no sugar, no alcohol and no MSG, that seems to be triggers for everyone here.

Furthermore, I see no evidence for a relation of causality between RLS and PUFAs. I'm really glad that you managed the crippling condition that is RLS through a [paleo?] diet, but we can't generalize from a single case.

Personally, I've had RLS since I was a kid and no matter the diets I've tried, RLS was part of my life. And that's with most of my adult life spent on a diet of high fruits & veggies, high saturated fat, with no processed foods. I definitely need medication to manage my condition. From what I've seen on this forum, there is no definite correlation between diet and RLS except for the triggers mentioned above and, sadly, to this day, there's no scientific study that has found a correlation between diets and RLS either.

[Eryl in reply to GuillaumeL]

You realise that many fruits are high in sugar?

[GuillaumeL in reply to Eryl]

Sugars in fruits is slowly digested as it is locked in their natural fibers. You're also getting all the minerals and vitamins of these fruits alongside.

Again, I think we should focus on what has been proven to be a healthy diet to live a long healthy life - fruits are part of these diets.

[GuillaumeL in reply to Eryl]

I started a new thread here to discuss this subject so as to make is easier for people to find the discussion: healthunlocked.com/rlsuk/po...

[GuillaumeL in reply to Eryl]

Similarly, a large sample study that used the "Aging in Chianti" data from Chianti (Italy) found that higher Omega-3 and 6 levels was directly correlated with reduced risk of peripheral nerve function disorders: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi...

[Eryl]

Honestly I'm not bothered about wining this argument, I'm just happy to have eliminated my rls through following my diet and without the use of drugs.