Does anyone know of a fast way in VB to go from a string to a generic type T constrained to a valuetype (Of T as Structure), when I know that T will always be some number type?

This is too slow for my taste:

Return DirectCast(Convert.ChangeType(myStr, GetType(T)), T)

But it seems to be the only sane method of getting from a String --> T. I've tried using Reflector to see how Convert.ChangeType works, and while I can convert from the String to a given number type via a hacked-up version of that code, I have no idea how to jam that type back into T so it can be returned.

I'll add that part of the speed penalty I'm seeing (in a timing loop) is because the return value is getting assigned to a Nullable(Of T) value. If I strongly-type my class for a specific number type (i.e., UInt16), then I can vastly increase the performance, but then the class would need to be duplicated for each numeric type that I use.

It'd almost be nice if there was converter to/from T while working on it in a generic method/class. Maybe there is and I'm oblivious to its existence?