Posted by raybakes on September 5, 2004, at 13:19:05
In reply to Supplements for brain fog?, posted by KaraS on June 23, 2004, at 23:06:51
Hi Kara and all,
Came across your posts on a google search as I'm a fellow sufferer of brain fog.
Find Dr Pall's theory on peroxynitrite and mitochondrial dysfunction relevant to me as anything that helps reduce peroxynitrite or superoxide seems to help. Have started taking carnosine recently to help in mopping up products of mitochondrial membrane damage (4 hydroxynonenal) and help balance cellular pH. Also taking lipothiamine (thiamine + alpha lipoic acid) - one of the few B1 supplements I can tolerate, I feel quite ill on most thiamines like thiamine HCl in a lot of multiples.
I've got a feeling that the enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase in the kreb's cycle is a problem, so getting a good balance of B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and alpha lipoic acid is important for me, but taking a B complex is a nightmare, and I just have to juggle the balance. At the moment I'm fine with lipothiamine and niacinamide, but have previously taken R5P, P5P, and pantethine. I have to avoid things that damage either the enzyme or B1 such as alcohol, pesticides and heavy metals. Insulin resistance can also inhibit pyruvate dehyrogenase, so keeping my blood sugar and insulin in balance seems to help.
Don't do that well with NAC alone but find thiodox by allergy research works well - I had a liver genetic test done by great smokies labs and I have a null gene for one of my glutathione enzymes.
Don't do that well with methionine alone but do well when I combine it with lysine - wonder if it's helping make carnitine? TMG and B12 are both excellent, but the B12 from intensive nutrition works best - other B12s have made me feel awful!
Tried DLPA a couple of years ago and felt like my head was going to explode! But in the last few weeks since I've been taking norival (n-acetyl tyrosine and biopterin that you mention) and niacinamide, I now feel on top of the world if I take DLPA. I wonder if the niacinamide and biopterin are helping phenylalanine hydroxylase so I can now metabolise l-phenylalanine? This abstract looks interesting, and might explain why I felt so awful with the phenylalanine initially - it might have been blocking my tyrosine and tryptophan transport into my neurons?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3540926&dopt=AbstractHave taken tyrosine before, and felt nothing, n-acetyl tyrosine and biopterin feels great though. Might try Jarrow's n-acetyl tyrosine without biopterin to feel the difference, unless anyone know's where you can get biopterin alone.
I know foilc acid and biopterin are related and share activating enzymes (methyl tetrahydrobiopterin and methyl tetrahydrofolate use the same enzyme I think) but I'm not sure if there's any overlap in their function - it doesn't seem to feel that way when I've experimented.
So now I feel excellent when I take DLPA and I hope it stays that way, as I know from experience that crashes are never far away! I've heard that D-phenylalanine blocks the degradation of endorphins - I took some mistletoe tincture, also claimed to boost endorphins, and got a similar feeling too - although, too much and I got that 'wired/hyper' feeling. What I find with the DLPA is that parts of my brain 'light up', and pain in my abdominal area reduces. Also my skin feels more tingly, alive and sensitive, but none of that happened when I took it before!
PARP (poly ADPribose polymerase) seems to be important to me too, the DNA repair enzyme triggered by superoxide/peroxynitrite. Hopefully the niacinamide reduces it's energy sapping effect - but I also do well on other peroxynitrite/superoxide quenchers such as blueberries, grape seed and do very well on the herbs in venocap by thorne research - maybe venocap protects blood vessels by, in part, inhibiting the free radicals that trigger PARP? There's quite a few abstracts on PARP and it's involvement in blood vessel and neural dysfuntion in diabetes.
Also had great smokies immune genetic profile done, and I have a polymorphisms in my interleukin 1 receptor antagonist gene! It means that I'm prone to chronic inflammation from unopposed expression of interleukin 1 - seems people with autoimmune disease frequently have this polymorphism. High levels of interleukin 1 can trigger free radical production and all the mitochondrial problems mentioned before.
Sorry, I'm going on a bit! Not much more to go! Do well on thorne's st john's wort (hyper-ex), especially if I've eaten too many oranges. Think my cyp3A4 enzyme can be low sometimes, does it work on hydroxylase enzymes too? Interested that it also increases p-glycoprotein, and so helps with glutathione transport across cell membranes (and other conjugates too). For infection, I do well with lactoferrin, medium chain triglycerides and citricidin.....phew, hope you're not overwhelmed or bored!
Ray
poster:raybakes
thread:359642
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040901/msgs/386715.html