The U.S. embargo of Cuba between 1991 and 1993 caused more than just economic consequences for the tiny island nation; it also caused interesting medical consequences that wealthier nations could learn from. The medical consequences of the embargo included an 'outbreak' of a painful nerve problem called 'neuropathy' that ended up affecting over 50,000 people. While it was determined that this 'epidemic' was caused by a virus, this virus was not treated with antiviral medications, antibiotics or any other pharmaceuticals. This epidemic was completely stopped in its tracks and the more than 50,000 people affected were CURED
Neuropathy is a nerve condition that causes pain and decreased sensation in many parts of the body but typically affects the lower extremities where it is called Peripheral Neuropathy. However, it may also affect the hands, the hearing, the face and even the nerves of the eyes causing not only pain and decreased sensation, but also deafness and blindness as well. The Cuban Neuropathy Epidemic, as this outbreak was later called, affected a combination of the extremities, the hearing and the eyes - sometimes in the same person. Young and old alike were affected and medical care was scarce due to many factors related to the embargo:
The poor economic conditions
The limited medical supplies entering the country
and
The vast numbers of people that were seeking medical attention for the epidemic
But in this environment of minimal funds in a so-called 'third world' country, the majority of the 50,000 people affected were completely cured of their neuropathy with nothing more than plain over-the-counter vitamin supplements. Even those who were so severely affected that they required hospitalization simply received intravenous vitamin infusions in the hospital while the government instituted a free multivitamin distribution program for the rest of the population. Those with neuropathy were 'cured' and the neuropathy 'epidemic', except for a few isolated cases, ended completely.
Today in the US, there are tens of thousands of people - primarily diabetics and the elderly - who are suffering with neuropathy and are told that there is no cure. They have blood tests, CT scans, perfusion scans, electrical muscle tests and nerve conduction tests. In the end, they are given pain pills and told that they will have to live with excruciating nerve pain and decreased sensation for the rest of their lives. For diabetics, this decreased ability to feel their feet can mean wounds that don't heal and amputated limbs; for the elderly, the ever-present risk of falling and breaking a bone is compounded.
While not ALL cases of neuropathy can be cured with multivitamins, as the Cuban Neuropathy Epidemic teaches us, there certainly are some cases that CAN be improved or cured with vitamins. Yet there are almost no doctors in 'first world' countries that will discuss vitamins for neuropathy despite the lessons from Cuba and from some liberated prisoner-of-war camps where the same phenomenon has been observed. Doctors in western countries require formal double-blind placebo-controlled trials to perceive a therapy as being worthwhile. So the lack of studies using vitamins to treat peripheral neuropathy ensure that people in western countries with this debilitating life-altering illness will not be given the same option of simply trying a safe and inexpensive multivitamin supplement as they would be if they lived in a third world country. simply by taking a multivitamin supplement.
Neuropathy is a nerve condition that causes pain and decreased sensation in many parts of the body but typically affects the lower extremities where it is called Peripheral Neuropathy. However, it may also affect the hands, the hearing, the face and even the nerves of the eyes causing not only pain and decreased sensation, but also deafness and blindness as well. The Cuban Neuropathy Epidemic, as this outbreak was later called, affected a combination of the extremities, the hearing and the eyes - sometimes in the same person. Young and old alike were affected and medical care was scarce due to many factors related to the embargo:
The poor economic conditions
The limited medical supplies entering the country
and
The vast numbers of people that were seeking medical attention for the epidemic
But in this environment of minimal funds in a so-called 'third world' country, the majority of the 50,000 people affected were completely cured of their neuropathy with nothing more than plain over-the-counter vitamin supplements. Even those who were so severely affected that they required hospitalization simply received intravenous vitamin infusions in the hospital while the government instituted a free multivitamin distribution program for the rest of the population. Those with neuropathy were 'cured' and the neuropathy 'epidemic', except for a few isolated cases, ended completely.
Today in the US, there are tens of thousands of people - primarily diabetics and the elderly - who are suffering with neuropathy and are told that there is no cure. They have blood tests, CT scans, perfusion scans, electrical muscle tests and nerve conduction tests. In the end, they are given pain pills and told that they will have to live with excruciating nerve pain and decreased sensation for the rest of their lives. For diabetics, this decreased ability to feel their feet can mean wounds that don't heal and amputated limbs; for the elderly, the ever-present risk of falling and breaking a bone is compounded.
While not ALL cases of neuropathy can be cured with multivitamins, as the Cuban Neuropathy Epidemic teaches us, there certainly are some cases that CAN be improved or cured with vitamins. Yet there are almost no doctors in 'first world' countries that will discuss vitamins for neuropathy despite the lessons from Cuba and from some liberated prisoner-of-war camps where the same phenomenon has been observed. Doctors in western countries require formal double-blind placebo-controlled trials to perceive a therapy as being worthwhile. So the lack of studies using vitamins to treat peripheral neuropathy ensure that people in western countries with this debilitating life-altering illness will not be given the same option of simply trying a safe and inexpensive multivitamin supplement as they would be if they lived in a third world country. simply by taking a multivitamin supplement.
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