Tinkerin' und Tinklein'

Reading up and trying to find the optimal daily dosage for alpha lipoic acid to help improve/diminish my proteinuria, and hopefully lower my BP in conjunction w/my ACE inhibitor.

Found this article re: The Impact of Lipoic Acid on Endothelial Function and Proteinuria in Quinapril-Treated Diabetic Patients With Stage I Hypertension: Results From the QUALITY Study, and it looks promising:

Conclusions: In diabetic patients with hypertension, QUI reduces blood pressure, proteinuria, and improves endothelial function. Moreover, this effect is strongly potentiated with a combination of QUI and ALA. These results may attenuate the progression of vascular pathophysiology seen in patients with a combination of diabetes and hypertension.

The cliffnotes:  The article listed that out of the 40 patients participating in a double blind study, the patients who were dosed with the combination of 40 mg of Quinipril and 600 mg of ALA daily w/a resulting protein decrease of 53.5% in a 24 hr collection.

For years, I've been taking 250 mg of ALA daily, and I'm considering bumping this to 500 a day.

Just now sent out an email to my nephrologist and my endocrinologist. Endo will no doubt give me a speedy reply, and I may have to wait until Tuesday's appointment with the nephrologist to get his response.

Hurry up and wait.

End note: Still waiting on reply from the kidney guy. Endo, with Swiss predictability and precision, emailed me within 24 hours with three words: GO FOR IT.