Let’s start at the beginning with the diagnosis.  Unfortunately, a wrong diagnosis is a very real possibility.  PN is relatively rare, so there are NOT that many doctors and derms who have real life extensive experiences diagnosing PN, and still less successful experiences treating PN.  I don’t totally blame the doctors and derms because there are just not enough patients, relatively speaking, for them to develop successful diagnosis and treatment histories.

At a minimum after you read and understand our websites, you will be much better prepared to question your doctor or derm.  Armed with our collective experiences, you can accelerate your understanding of PN, and choose to be an aggressive advocate for yourself, or just passively and blindly trust whatever your doctor or derm tells you.  The choice is yours.  Choose wisely!!

There are doctors and derms who still rely on just a biopsy for PN diagnosis when they should know better.  A biopsy can exclude PN, but NOT CONFIRM PN with complete certainty.  There is currently NO test that can completely confirm PN.  But what we can do is have several tests to exclude other possibilities, thereby increasing our confidence for a more accurate PN diagnosis.

At minimum, your doctor should order a Blood Panel and Urinary Hormone Evaluation with GH.  These tests will help to exclude or include other possibilities.  The Blood Panel should include a CBC/Platelets, Complete Lipid Profile, Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, and Endocrinology (Free T3).  This test will help to detect other possibilities like Diabetes, Renal Problems, Allergies, etc.  The Urinary Hormone Evaluation with GH will help detect hormonal imbalances, etc.  By eliminating the usual suspects, you can be more certain you have PN.

If you are quite certain you have PN, then the next question is what next? I’ve listed many of the Allopathic treatments typically available for PN people on this site. (See Allopathic Treatment article).  I’ve noted the Allopathic treatments I’ve tried and failed with many Allopathic treatments because it was just symptom coping and did not address the root causes for PN. I suspect many of you will need to do likewise before you may be open to Natural Healing.  That’s okay!  My purpose is to empower you with many options so you don’t need to take unnecessary risks you may regret one day!

My choice to go with Natural Healing was easy after the Allopathic failures, since I feel there isn’t a better option currently available.  Allopathic treatments include potentially serious side effects, and a potential lifetime of symptom coping, as we have members who have had PN for decades.  It’s debatable whether PN increases mortality.  What’s not debatable is PN increases morbidity, as it reduces one’s quality of life.  Therefore, these are my main reasons for using Natural Healing, to deal with root causes, and to end PN, since I don’t want to spend the rest of my life symptom coping.  Executing the Natural Healing recommendations herewith is the harder part since it requires some work, discipline, commitment and patience.  But, I feel it’s worth it and one reason why I share this information with like-minded people.

I gave you a list of typical Allopathic treatments on my site for your future reference.  I’m not endorsing these Allopathic treatments, but I do realize it may be a necessary part for you to experience.  However, I do strongly warn you against using two types of Allopathic treatments – inflammatory inhibitors and immunosuppressants.

Inflammatory Inhibitors  are drugs like Thalidomide and Enbrel.  Prednisone, Cyclosporine, and Protopic are Immunosuppressive drugs.  A simple search on the FDA and other medical websites reveal many citations,abstracts, clinical studies and trials published about these drugs.  There are people who know about the risks associated with these drugs but choose to ignore or accept the risk.  But, there are other people (the newly diagnosed) who really don’t know about these risky drugs, which compelled me to write this beginner’s primer. It’s one thing to take a risk, fully informed of a drug’s dangers.  But it would be irresponsible of me, knowing the dangers and not bother to disclose it; so new people can make informed decisions.  I’m lucky I had and continue to have people watch out for my well being, and helping me to sort out what can be the very daunting task of PN.  I pass on this due diligence so others may benefit likewise.

Inflammation is a natural reaction to infections, injuries, allergic reactions, and other insults to your body.  They are warning signs that something is internally and potentially externally wrong.  These warning signs should be heeded, not inhibited.  Inhibiting the inflammation with drugs, is just suppressing the warning signs, but not really dealing with what the body is trying to tell you.  Everyday, there are people who die of a heart attack and had unheeded signs of chronic inflammation.  They did not have any typical risk factors for heart disease, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoker, overweight, etc.  However, the medical community is beginning to acknowledge the real dangers of unaddressed chronic inflammation as an additional risk factor for heart disease, blood vessel diseases, and other diseases.  That's why some doctors ask their patients to get tested for inflammation by testing inflammatory markers like C-Reactive Protein, TNF alpha, and many more.  Inhibiting inflammation is not the answer.  Inflammation, like the significant PN symptoms, are nature's warning signs, giving us a chance to investigate the causes, and to make corrections with meaningful life and lifestyle changes.

Immunosuppressants are the second type of drugs.  Since PN share some autoimmune like symptoms, and some PN people have autoimmune diseases in addition to PN, the idea with immunosuppressants is to suppress the immune system to suppress the autoimmune like symptoms.  However, using immunosuppressants is like playing Russian Roulette with your health.  A strong immune system is essential to your overall health since it protects you from bacteria, viruses, pathogens, and may prevent cancer cells from forming.  A quick scan of the FDA site reveal people who not surprisingly have cancer, after using these immunosuppressants.  Think about this!  How long can one suppress their own immune system and still reasonably expect it to protect them?  Don’t misunderstand me.  I think there are times when using immunosuppressants are necessary and preferred.  If one had an organ transplant, and is facing a life or death decision regarding organ rejection, then take the immunosuppressant.  But using immunosuppressants to suppress PN symptoms is a classic case of the treatment being worse than the disease.

Unfortunately, there’s more.  Some people mistakenly believe if they use these immunosuppressants long enough, they can eventually end their PN.  This thinking is not grounded with common sense, but wishful thinking.  Common sense tells us that the same immune system responsible for protecting us is the same immune system trying to scream warning signs of symptoms to us.  The sooner we heed the warning signs, the better chance we have of a full recovery.  The longer we try to suppress or ignore the warning signs, the greater the chance for permanent damage.  My doctor told me I'm lucky because I started making meaningful changes early and I have a great chance for a full recovery.  Most doctors would agree that the longer a chronic disease is unaddressed in terms of root causes, the less likely for a full recovery. 

Unfortunately, it gets worse.  Inflammatory Inhibitors and Immunosuppressants are for SHORT TERM uses.  There are no clinical studies, trials, or other research that can definitively conclude these drugs are safe for LONG TERM USES.  This is not surprising because when a drug is risky even for short term uses, taking it long term don't make the drug safer, but more risky.  At best, one may or may not get some temporary symptom relief with these drugs.  But when you stop taking these drugs, hopefully for your sake, your immune system can still reassert itself, do its job of protecting you and giving you warning symptoms.  This assumes that there wasn't permanent damage to your immune system in the interim while taking these drugs.  If your immune system is no longer able to generate warning symptoms, what else is your immune system no longer able to do?

Some may retort and say that life is filled with risks, and that this is a time to take some risks.  I feel there is a time to take NECESSARY RISK when it's your best option.  In my case, I do have better options, and currently I use them, which makes it unnecessary for me to use these risky drugs.

Lastly, you have control of two things, your attitude and your actions.  My attitude is I feel the PN symptoms are warning signs, and a blessing because it was significant enough to get my attention, and it gave me a second chance to make meaningful changes in my life and lifestyle.  I realize how lucky I am because not everyone gets a second chance, so I better make the most of my second chance and not waste it.  What actions I’ve chosen to take, and continue to take, are detailed on this website.  May this information help you as you begin your journey towards true healing!  Choose your attitude and actions wisely because your results will be a reflection of those choices.