What this was, and why it still has a page.
Newsletter #3 went out on June 3, 2020 as part of a weekly series, and it was built around a companion set of three video episodes on the practice's channel. Those videos are not reproduced, embedded, or transcribed here — the reuse rights were never verified, so the responsible thing is to describe the piece rather than republish its media.
What is left is the newsletter's own text, and it opened with a good hook: nearly everyone has had a foot go dead and buzzy after sitting on it wrong, and nearly everyone remembers the strangeness of it. The newsletter's point was that for people with peripheral neuropathy, that sensation is not a novelty that fades in ninety seconds. It is most of the day, most days, usually in the feet and sometimes in the hands.
The piece is preserved because the questions it raised — what is this, what caused it, is anything reversible — are the ones people still bring to the phone. The answers below are re-sourced, not reprinted.
"So what exactly is it?" — the 2020 question, answered from sources.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke describes peripheral neuropathy as an umbrella over many conditions that damage the peripheral nervous system, the signalling network running between your brain and spinal cord and the rest of your body. When those nerves cannot send and receive properly, signals go missing, fire when they should not, or arrive garbled — which is a fair description of what pins and needles actually are.
The newsletter guessed there were roughly a hundred causes. It was closer than most guesses: NINDS states that more than 100 types of peripheral neuropathy have been identified, each with its own symptoms and likely course. That is the honest shape of this topic. It is not one disease with one answer.
On diabetes, the newsletter said half of cases. The sourced figure runs the other direction: NINDS names diabetes the leading cause in the United States and reports that about two-thirds of people with diabetes have mild to severe nerve problems. NIDDK puts peripheral neuropathy specifically in about one-third to one-half of people with diabetes, and attributes the damage to high blood glucose and high blood fats such as triglycerides. Beyond diabetes, NINDS lists physical injury, vascular and blood problems, autoimmune disease, kidney and liver disorders, certain cancers and chemotherapy, infections, medications, and toxic exposures. On vitamins, it is specific: B12 deficiency and excess B6 are the best-known vitamin-related causes.
MedlinePlus adds the sentence the newsletter would not say out loud: in certain cases, the cause is not known. That is not a failure of the search. It is a real category.
The wire-and-insulation part holds up.
The best line in the original compared a nerve to an insulated wire, with the difference that nerve tissue can regenerate and copper cannot. That analogy survives the source check. NINDS describes Schwann cells building the insulating myelin coating around axons, and credits those same cells with a critical role in regenerating nerve axons in the peripheral nervous system.
The regrowth claim survives too, with a condition attached that the newsletter skipped. NINDS puts it this way: sometimes, when the underlying cause is corrected, neuropathy can resolve on its own as nerves recover and regrow. MedlinePlus says the same thing from the other end — treating whatever is causing the nerve damage matters, and in certain cases that lets nerves heal over time. The load-bearing words are "sometimes," "certain cases," and "when the underlying cause is corrected." Nobody can tell you from a webpage which case is yours.
One more sourced note, because it cuts against how the original talked about medication: NINDS says many people with neuropathy manage symptoms without medication, and that over time, as nerves heal, many can reduce their dose or stop altogether. It also says to talk with a doctor before stopping anything. Both halves of that belong together.
On diet, and on why testing is the whole job.
The newsletter's instinct that daily habits matter here is supported, just more plainly than it put it. NINDS lists lifestyle changes that support healthier nerves: stopping smoking, avoiding toxins such as alcohol, exercising, eating healthfully, and keeping a healthy weight. It says managing diabetes and other conditions along with healthy eating and exercise can help prevent peripheral neuropathy and reduce symptoms in people who already have it, and that keeping blood glucose at safe levels may reduce or eliminate diabetic neuropathy symptoms. General, uncontroversial, and worth doing regardless.
The original spent its longest stretch arguing that neurologists are blocked from testing. We are not carrying that argument, but the underlying worry — did anyone actually look for my cause? — is worth keeping, and the sourced answer is more useful than the grievance. NINDS is upfront that peripheral neuropathy can be difficult to diagnose given how widely symptoms vary, and then lists a genuinely long toolkit: history covering work environment, toxin exposure and alcohol use; a neurological exam testing touch, vibration, and temperature; blood tests that can detect diabetes, vitamin deficiencies, liver or kidney dysfunction, other metabolic disorders, infections, and abnormal immune activity; imaging where a pinched nerve or disc is in question; nerve conduction studies and EMG; genetic tests; and skin biopsy for small-fiber neuropathies.
That list is the reason to ask your own clinician a direct question rather than read a newsletter about it: which of these have I had, and what did they show?
What came out, and why.
Being straight about the edit is part of keeping the page. Several 2020 statements had no source we could find behind them, so they were removed rather than hedged: a specific share of non-diabetic cases attributed to gluten intolerance, prediabetes, vitamin deficiencies, and bone-marrow disturbance; the characterisation of a journal study and the motives of its authors; the claim that laser or electrical stimulation has been shown to grow nerves and improve blood flow in them; and the recommendation of supplementation.
On stimulation specifically, NINDS describes transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation as a noninvasive intervention used for pain relief, sometimes prescribed alongside other treatments for severe nerve pain. That is a narrower statement than the original made, and it is the one with a source under it.
The largest removal was the newsletter's answer to its own closing question — whether this practice can deliver results for neuropathy most of the time. No page here will answer that, because no page can. Gates Brain Health is a functional neurology practice in Reno, Nevada, led by Dr. Randall Gates, D.C., DACNB. People living with numbness, burning, and balance trouble do call and ask. Whether this practice fits your situation is decided in a conversation and an evaluation, and nothing here stands in for your primary care provider, a neurologist, or whoever manages your diabetes and your medicines.
Read the current guide instead.
If you landed here looking for information rather than history, the condition guide on peripheral neuropathy is the page you want. It covers the same ground with current sourcing, including which symptoms mean you should seek care immediately rather than book anything.
To ask about a consultation, call (775) 507-2000, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. There is no form or scheduler on this site, so please keep the medical details for the phone call.
- Which causes on the NINDS list have already been ruled out for me, and with what test?
- Have my blood sugar and B12 been checked, and how long ago?
- Is there an underlying cause here that is still worth chasing?
- Would you tell me if a neurologist is the better next step?