Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice, and is just the opinion of the writer(s). We recommend that patients follow their doctor's guidance in regard to nervous system health.
Nervive is a brand that sells products for nerve health and pain relief. The brand claims to be the “world’s #1 selling nerve care company,” and claims that their supplement helps with nerve aches, discomfort and weakness.
But does Nervive contain ingredients proven in clinical research to reduce pain and aid nerve health? Does it contain any questionable additives? Are the pills or the cream better-formulated? And how do real users rate and describe the effects of Nervive?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Nervive to give our take on whether or not the supplement is likely to be effective for nerve pain, and whether or not it's healthy.
Because Nervive’s supplement contains a large number of ingredients, we’ll break our ingredient analysis into two sections: active ingredients and inactive ingredients. We’ll also feature real customer reviews of the brand.
Active Ingredient Analysis
The active ingredients in Nervive Nerve Relief capsules are shown above.
Thiamin, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 are all B-vitamins, and a medical review published in the CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics journal found that B-vitamins help promote healthy nervous system function, and may be effective in treating peripheral neuropathy.
However, B-vitamins are quite easily attainable from food, and it may not be necessary to take supplemental B-vitamins without a proven deficiency in those vitamins.
Calcium is a mineral easily attainable from food, and we can’t find any clinical evidence that calcium supplementation in patients without calcium deficiency improves nervous system function.
Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is included at a dose of 600 milligrams (mg).
This appears to be an effective dose. As we documented in our review of a supplement called Heal and Soothe, ALA has been clinically shown to reduce pain at a dose at or above 400 mg.
Turmeric extract and ginger extract are included in an Herbal Blend with a total dose of 30 mg, which equals an average ingredient dose of 15 mg.
This is a relatively low dose, and we consider these doses too low to have any meaningful effect.
As an example, turmeric was shown in a 2018 medical review to be effective for natural pain reduction, but the effective dosing range was described as 400 mg to 600 mg daily, or around 33x the average ingredient dose in Nervive Nerve Health.
Overall, we consider this supplement to be potentially effective for improving nerve health and reducing pain due to the inclusion of B-vitamins and ALA at effective doses.
Ingredient Label Issues
At the time of updating this article, there are several ingredient label discrepancies between the Nervive brand website and the Procter & Gamble (P&G) website.
P&G is the manufacturer of this supplement.
The calcium dosage is stated as 27 grams (g) on the P&G website, but 27 mg on the Nervive brand website, as documented below.
P&G website:
Nervive brand website:
Excessive calcium intake is clinically shown to cause severe health issues in some cases, so this type of ingredient discrepancy is unacceptable and is a consumer safety issue.
We urge P&G to publish accurate ingredient doses across all sales channels, and we’re surprised that such a large company would have such an obvious quality control failure.
Inactive Ingredient Analysis
Some of the inactive ingredients in Nervive are shown above.
Flavors is a broad descriptor which fails to explain which specific flavoring agents are used.
It also fails to describe whether the flavors are natural or artificial, which is an important consideration in our opinion, because we consider artificial flavors to be less healthy.
In 2018, the FDA removed seven artificial flavors from use as food additives due to concerns over their potential to cause cancer.
FD&C Blue No. 2 is an artificial dye, and as we documented in our review of Instaflex ingredients, there are legitimate toxicity concerns documented in clinical studies regarding all artificial dyes.
Customers Rate Nervive
Amazon is a better resource for honest customer reviews than a brand's website in our opinion.
At the time of updating this article, Nervive capsules have been reviewed over 10,000 times on Amazon, with an average customer review rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars.
A top positive review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named “KAREN TAYLOR” who gave the product a 5/5 rating:
“It really does help the nerve issues my husband has in his feet because of diabetes. He would wake up with his feet throbbing in pain. We know for a fact this product helps because after a month of taking the pill he thought Nervive was not helping him so he told me not to order the product any more ; just after one week of not taking Nervive he realized it was helping manage the nerve pain.”
A top negative review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named "Sergio Herrera" who gave the product a 1/5 rating:
“That product SAID after 15 days you will see results.. THAT IS A BIG LIE!! I only have 5left (30 pills) the cram's continues like nothing. That is not working. Now I can not get my money back, I took all those pills for nothing???? Putting garbage on my system that doesn't work.!!!!!”
A TikTok user named “LouisvilleMakeupJunkie” claims that Nervive Cream helped her significantly:
@louisvillemakeupjunkie I found some help for body pain! #nervive #bodypain #chronicillness #chronicpain #SplashSummerVibe #longcovid ♬ Roxanne - Instrumental - Califa Azul
Nervive Cream Analysis
The ingredients in Nervive Pain Relieving Cream are shown above.
This product contains two active ingredients: lidocaine (at a concentration of 4%) and menthol (1%).
Lidocaine is an FDA-approved medication that was shown in a 2021 medical review to be effective at reducing pain levels, including neuropathic pain.
In one of the cited clinical trials, pain scores decreased by over 50% after eight weeks of topical lidocaine treatment.
Menthol was shown in a clinical trial published in the Journal of Sport Rehabilitation to significantly decrease pain scores at a concentration similar to that in Nervive Pain Relieving Cream.
While both of the active ingredients in this formulation have considerable research backing, there is one questionable inactive ingredient.
Phenoxyethanol is a synthetic preservative that was shown in at least one clinical trial to be toxic to human cells, as we documented in our Nioxin Shampoo reviews article.
Overall, we consider Nervive Pain Cream likely to relieve pain, and we consider it to be better-formulated than the oral supplement.
We don't currently recommend this product due to the inclusion of phenoxyethanol.
Does Nervive Cause Side Effects?
Nervive does not appear to have been studied in any clinical trials, which makes it challenging to determine whether or not the product will cause side effects.
However, we can make an educated guess based on its ingredients.
Lidocaine may cause topical effects like itching, redness and swelling.
According to a meta-study published in the Medicina journal, 17 out of 100 individuals may be allergic to lidocaine, and lidocaine allergy can cause rare and life-threatening side effects.
This suggests that patients may wish to speak with their doctor about lidocaine allergy and potentially consider a patch test prior to using Nervive Cream.
We do not consider Nervive’s oral supplement likely to cause side effects, because all of its active ingredients are well-studied, and should be safe.
Where to Get the Best Price
Nervive is sold at a variety of online retailers.
Here’s a price breakdown for a one-time purchase at the time of updating this article:
Nervive Capsules
CVS: $27.99 (plus shipping, link)
Walmart: $23.18 (free shipping, third-party seller, link)
Amazon: $18.63 (free shipping, link to official product listing)
Nervive Cream
Walgreens: $14.99 (plus shipping, link)
CVS: $13.49 (plus shipping, link)
Amazon: $12.49 (free shipping, link to official Amazon listing)
Amazon currently has the best prices on both of Nervive's most popular products.
Our Clean Anti-Inflammatory Picks
Illuminate Labs Ceylon Cinnamon Extract is our top anti-inflammatory supplement.
Cinnamon was shown to reduce inflammatory markers in a 2020 clinical trial. The study authors concluded that “Cinnamon could be regarded as a safe supplement to relieve pain.”
Cornbread CBD Lotion is our top anti-inflammatory skin lotion.
Cannabidiol (CBD) is clinically shown to be effectively absorbed through the skin, and CBD caused "significant improvements in pain" when applied topically in a 2020 clinical trial.
Both of the products recommended in this section are entirely free of ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
Nervive Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of Nervive in our opinion:
Pros:
- Research-backed active ingredients
- Cream should relieve pain
- Supplement may relieve pain
- Affordable
- Not many brands target nerve pain
Cons:
- Ingredient dose discrepancies
- Oral supplement contains artificial color
- Oral supplement contains flavors
- Cream contains phenoxyethanol
- Doesn't appear clinically tested
