Why you don't need drugs to treat PAD successfully

You may have seen TV commercials recently that talk about PAD, or peripheral artery disease. PAD, which causes significant pain in your lower legs especially when you walk, affects nearly 12 million Americans. And most of those are over 65. It can cause so much pain that it can severely curtail your ability to walk.

The TV ads say you should take drugs to lessen the pain of PAD. I say there's a better option — one that not only lessens the pain, but deals with the direct cause. And two studies confirm what I've seen in my clinic for years.

The first study followed 26 men — average age 65 — with PAD. All of the subjects saw their ability to walk deteriorate in the month prior to the study. The researchers gave them propionyl-l-carnitine daily for 33 days. The dose they gave was an IV of 330 mg.

The result? All of the patients had increased walking distance. They also took less time to recover from the pain. Their capillary function improved as well. And they all had increases in visible capillaries — a sign of better circulation.

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The second study followed 42 patients. In this study, the researchers gave the patients 1,200 mg of propionyl-l-carnitine by IV. They gave the treatment five days a week for four weeks. And some had additional physical therapy in the form of calf compression.

Again, the results were impressive. They had significant improvements in walking distance. The diabetics in the study showed a 102% increase after receiving the carnitine treatment alone and a 94% increase after receiving the carnitine plus physical therapy. Non-diabetics showed a 118% increase after the carnitine treatment alone. But they went up a tremendous 193% when they did physical therapy as well.

To show you how effective the carnitine was, those who did physical therapy alone didn't have results nearly as good as these. They yielded only a 33% increase among diabetics and a 67% increase among non-diabetics. Calf pain also significantly decreased among those subjects who received the combined treatment. The researchers also found indicators of better blood perfusion.

You can find carnitine at any health food store. In these studies, the researchers gave it by IV in doses comparable to what you would take orally. While IV carnitine will be considerably more expensive, these studies strongly suggest that it's worth the price. But taking it orally is effective as well.

Carnitine is crucial in helping your mitochondria burn fats. If you have peripheral artery disease, I suggest you begin by taking 500 mg three times daily. You can increase this if you like. I have used even twice that much. I find it very useful for circulation problems of all kinds. And it will help heart disease too. If oral use does not give you similar effects to these studies, please take this information to your integrative physician for IV administration.

Yours for better health and medical freedom,

Ref: Int Angiol, 2008; 27(3); Ann Vasc Surg, 2008 May 23.