Posted by KaraS on September 5, 2004, at 15:13:44
In reply to Re: Supplements for brain fog? » KaraS, posted by raybakes on September 5, 2004, at 13:19:05
Hi Ray,
Overwhelmed or bored? I'm totally amazed and fascinated! Some of it is over my head at this point in my exploration but I'm just blown away by the amount of detailed information you've managed to find out about yourself and brain fog and impart to us here.
I have been wanting to get a complete set of tests done by a holistic doctor for quite a while now but haven't been able to afford it. The doctor I want to see uses Great Smokies Lab as well. Now I'm even more certain that's a step I need to take.
I have some comments and questions sprinkled throughout your post if you wouldn't mind answering them.
> 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.Fortunately I am able to tolerate all of the B vitamins and have been taking them fairly regularly. I think I may need to take them in better proportion though. What is R5P?
> 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.
That's so amazing to me that your test was able to show this. I hadn't realized that the tests were so far evolved. I also can tolerate NAC and was taking it regularly for awhile. It's one of those supplements for me that I'm sure is doing good things but I can't tell in terms of seing effects.
> 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!I have methionine here at home that I should finish up. Again, I couldn't tell any difference when taking it. Perhaps I should try it with lysine. Then when those are used up, I'll switch to TMG and B12 as I'm sure that would be a better overall combination.
> 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=AbstractI only feel a little bit of a stimulation on DLPA which I attributed to PEA but I didn't find that helped my depression or that I was able to concentrate better. I may not have been taking enough though or perhaps I do need to experiment with Norival and niacinamide. Thanks for the abstract. I'll read it after I send this message to you.
> Have 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.
Good suggestion.
> 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!What amount of DLPA do you take? Do you feel at all wired or hyper on that dose or maybe just mildly stimulated? I'm trying to find solutions right now that won't tax my adrenal glands as I fear I have adrenal fatigue.
> 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.
Recently I've been feeling somewhat better and I wasn't sure why. The changes I made were adding maca and extra magnesium to my routine. The only other thing I changed was adding chromium although that was at least a couple of weeks back. I didn't see any change soon enough with the chromium and so never thought it could explain my improvement but now that I read your last paragraph, I'm wondering. Could it take at least two weeks to see it's effects? I'm definitely going to check out the Venocap herbs by Thorne Research. Thanks for the tip.
> 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.Hmmmm. I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis so I bet the above pertains to me as well. If you don't mind what might be a dumb question: How does one oppose expression of interleukin 1?
> Sorry, I'm going on a bit! Not much more to go! Do well on thorne's st john's wort (hyper-ex),Are you using "hyper-ex" to mean hypericin, hypericum or hyperforin? That's interesting to me that SJW helped you. Since it's more serotonergic, I don't generally associate it with helping with brain fog. Quite the contrary in fact.
>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).
I guess that might explain it.
For infection, I do well with lactoferrin, medium chain triglycerides and citricidin.....phew, hope you're not overwhelmed or bored!Where do you get the two things you just mentioned? I have Monolaurin at home to try for immune support. It's a monoglyceride that's supposed to have anti-microbial properties. I haven't given it much of a trial yet though.
> Ray
>Also, I'm curious as to whether you read most or all of that long thread we had going here on brain fog. Sometimes we'd include some silliness as well as a lot of personal information in the posts. I wonder if all of that made it into the archives.
Thanks again for all of that valuable information! Glad to hear from a fellow sufferer who has made so much progress!!
Kara
poster:KaraS
thread:359642
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040901/msgs/386754.html