Normast for Chronic Pain. Anyone try it?

[mrsD]

There are a few levels for new members built into the software.

Newbies start out as "visitor", then move on to "new member"
and finally "member". It is all automatic and done by the software.

I see in your profile that you posted in 2011, then returned.

I would like to ask a few questions, if I may....
Has Normast done anything for your progression, or for numbness? What dose do you use currently?

I've read several pain forums and have seen numerous people say it didn't work. And it is very expensive. If they wanted to get more patients to try it, they should lower the price, and
word of mouth would bring them more profits thru more patients. One way some supplement companies work is to charge high prices because there will always be some who are impressed by that. Placebo effect and all that.

Edit to say: I believe the confusion about Jan K Hesselink comes from these two profiles on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Jan/Keppel+Hesselink
Looks like the same person, worked as VP at Bayer, when to the same university, same age, same appearance but very different other information. I know I find it confusing.

[Wide-O]

It is the same person.

[pepper999]

I have been pretty stable for the past year. I would say the pain is not progressing. I have pain flares but they are not as bad and they go away after a few days or hours. Then I have days or weeks of very low pain, the kind you can ignore if you put your mind on something else. That has been the pattern for all of 2012. I used to be in unrelenting high pain. I have not had a lot of numbness, mostly pain, so I can't say about the numbness, sorry.

When I started the Normast, I went as high as 600mg 4 times a day. Now I have cut down to 300 mg twice a day. But when I run out of my tablets, I will switch to the PEAPure twice a day, which comes in 400 mg capsules. I actually have the PurePEA already, but am using up the last of my Normast tablets right now.

I have tried taking Normast 600mg once a day, but that didn't seem to work well. To save money, I cut the 600mg tablets in half rather than ordering the 300mg tablets. That worked OK.

I'm glad the new form is a capsule. I think they are easier to digest than tablets. I suspect that the sweetened powder form that people start on just works better because it is quicker/easier to digest. Some older people or people with digestion problems would likely do better on the powder. I messaged Dr. Jan about it via another forum. He told me to try the tablets to save money, but that some people need the powder. My friend in California always takes the powder, not the tablets. The powder costs more, though, so I switched to the tablets and they seemed OK for me.

I also take some supplements that I read about on this forum, I think from you. I started with higher doses, then experimented with those until I got to as low a dose as seemed OK to save money on those, too. It took a lot of experimenting to find a dose that was affordable and effective.

My neuropathy is idiopathic, but likely autoimmune. It was confirmed by a skin punch biopsy. I was then tested for everything under the sun but all came back negative. That's when I got the label idiopathic and likely autoimmune. Because of the autoimmune suspicion, I also have tried dietary changes. I tried eliminating a lot of common allergens. So far, only gluten seems to be suspect, so I avoid that. I find that keeping my blood sugar stable and eating a very healthy diet also helps.

I know that not everyone responds to Normast. Dr. Jan recommends to trying it for 2 months and if you see no improvement, then you are likely not a responder and you should stop. I decided it was worth the expense of a 2-month trial, so I did it. And it did seem to help, so I continued it. Slowly I improved to the way I am now.

I wish I knew what was causing the neuropathy in the first place so that it would go away completely. But that doesn't seem likely. At my age, 50+, it is more likely that it will get worse as I get older. I hope that Normast becomes more widely used and available. Meanwhile, I will have to keep ordering it from the Netherlands. And will have to keep pinching the budget to pay for it. Not so bad now that I am on a lower dose, though.

[mrsD]

Thank you for the expanded post, pepper.

You see, pharmaceutical preparations are tricky. One thing that
bothers me about this product is that only the sachets are listed as micronized. PEA...the ingredient is not really very soluble and hence is difficult to get absorbed into people. I found the patent online for solubilizing/micronizing the powder itself.

I personally think making a transdermal product would be better, and more bioavailable. But that is just my opinion. Perhaps even making a nano liposomal form like glutathione and Curcumin are coming out with now, would be better for bioavailability.

We'll have to see how it all works out over time. Thanks for your postings.

[pepper999]

I see the two linkedin brief profiles. I don't have a linkedin account, so I cannot read the full profiles. However, it seems possible that some people, who have more than one business, would make more than one profile, since this is a site for making business connections.

It also seems odd that if a person were actually trying to hide something, they would make a public profile on linkedin about it.

Since I can't see the full profiles, I don't know if they contradict each other or complement each other. If you see something questionable, I'm sure it would be helpful for forum members to know what it is.

However, Dr. Jan is not the only person promoting Normast. So, while his potentially contradictory profiles would be a concern, they wouldn't necessarily be a reason to dismiss Normast as quackery. I'm sure you know all this, mrsD. I'm just stating it because I felt that some of the accusations made by a previous member deserved to be challenged here. I don't normally get involved in online arguments. They are out of my comfort zone. But I want to encourage people to consider another point of view before they make up their minds. So I am sharing it.

If (notice I said IF) I would come to the conclusion that Dr. Jan was not reliable, I would go back to asking my friend to ask her Italian cousin to ask her neurosurgeon for advice. I am fortunate to have that option. I switched to using the resources in the Netherlands (Dr. Jan and his website and ergomax) just to not be a nuisance to my Italian American friend and her cousin. I felt that it was too much to keep asking them questions and asking them to go to the store and buy the Normast for me and mail it from Italy.

That's my story. I don't share it to tell people they should or shouldn't take Normast. Each person's illness is different. Each person's circumstances are different. So each person must decided for him/herself what is right for him/her. But, I would say, don't give up hope. There is a lot of helpful information on this forum and lots of people do improve. Even people like me, labeled "idiopathic" and without many options. It just took time, lots of patience, and persistence even when I felt like I couldn't go on, to find what worked for me.

[pepper999]

Ah, I see our posts crossed in cyber space. Makes sense that the micronized product would work better. For me, the tablets do work. Perhaps they are soluble in fat? I don't know about the new capsules. I wonder if they are micronized? I should look into that when I get the chance.

Now I am back to being busy with helping my mom move to an assisted living. It is a huge task to find one and make the transition, but once it is done, my life should finally settle down. They will be able to do so much for her that my sis and I do now.

Thanks for all of your hard work on this forum. I know you do so much to help so many people.

[mrsD]

PEA has been around for many many years. One would think any earnest science attempt to make a bioavailable product today would possible. Many advances today are being done that were
not 10 yrs ago. So we have this product that has at least 3 incarnations and is still out of range price wise for most people.

So IMO the book is still open on this topic... no concrete answers yet.

[Michael777]

PEA does NOT go for the cannabis receptors...this is what people thought 10 years ago..bu the affinity to the CB receptors is ziltch. PEA goes to the nuclear receptor PPAR and resets pain and inflammation cascades....

[Michael777]

Hi mrs D; the pharmacology and the first big clinical trials have all been done with PEA without micronization. Micronization is just a patent to try to protect a specific formulation a bit, but never anyone proved micronization is necessary....