Posted by karaS on October 21, 2004, at 23:56:52
In reply to Re: Supplements for brain fog? » karaS, posted by raybakes on October 20, 2004, at 5:50:10
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> > I was taking 1200 mg. of NAC for a while but didn't notice any relief. Wouldn't that have provided enough glutathione had that been my problem or is that more the kind of thing where it would take a long time to see any kind of difference? Also, I read another post here a little while back about the perils of taking NAC when you have mercury amalgams (which I have) so I'm a bit worried now about taking it again.
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> Hi Kara,
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> Yes there is always the concern that mercury can be transported into the brain as well as out - in the excellent book "children with starving brains" they have a few protocols listed for heavy metal detoxification - they first use something called 'captomer' which is claimed not to cross the blood brain barrier.
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> I would be very surprised if glutathione wasn't a problem - there are many ways of raising it, each individual to the person. All the co-factors might be necessary combined with NAC - Thiodox is an excellent supplement. Glutamine is useful in raising glutathione as it can also buffer cellular acidity, as well as supply gluatamate for glutathione. My own practitioner gave me something by jarrow called 'homocysteine pf' yesterday which helped me massively. I talked to her about my concerns about my poor methylation and how it's required for creatine prouction and acidity buffering - so we checked it out and found I was really high in folate (like Jan) but couldn't use it - homocysteine PF got my folate working (checked with kinesiology). As glutamine and methylation improve my fog too, I think part of the 'fogginess' may be because I'm too acid.
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> Here's a few abstracts....
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> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8412764&dopt=Abstract
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> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15090905
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> this is interesting about buffering and celluar calcium, sorry it's complex though!
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> 'These results suggest that local ADP buffering by PCr is essential for normal Ca(2+) regulation by the SR.' (SR = sarcoplasmic reticulum)
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> So when energy is low, and ADP is higher than ATP, the cell becomes more acid - creatine (in my case 'think methylation' ) buffers the acidity and allows a cell to function more efficiently.
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> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11897848
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Ray,
Since I've been working the past couple of days and will be again tomorrow, I haven't had much time to answer these or read the citations. I was going to wait until this weekend to respond but I have the feeling that with all of this activity here, the train will have taken off if I wait until then...In answer to your post, what is "captomer" - something to be taken in place of NAC, with it or just separately to prevent mercury from entering the brain? Also, what is Thiodox? Do you believe that I should take the NAC and if so, what dosage? Do you think that there is any concern about taking l-glutamine? (in respect to it's producing too much glutamate which can serve as an excitotoxin). What is a reasonable dosage then for l-glutamine? (Had you read any of the posts below on this topic?) I hadn't realized that it played an important role in the immune system as your abstract indicated but by taking it are you helping your immune system while doing damage to your brain? Also, if creatine allows for methylation, then what is a good dosage to take of that? Do you recommend that for everyone or only for those with a methylation problem. If one has a methylation problem, then how does one determine that?
Actually, I have a book at home here by Dr. David Perlmutter. It’s called "The Better Brain Book." He has a dosing schedule of various supplements to take for various levels of need. It’s written for the masses so it’s easy for people like me to read but he has also published some more in depth articles on the topic. He’s a neurologist with a holistic bent – not a very common combination. Anyway, I guess I should follow his dosing schedules when I can afford to. He doesn’t have creatine or l-glutamine on there at all however, so I’d still be especially interested in how much of that you recommend taking.
Thanks,
KaraP.S. Simus isn’t the only one who can ask a lot of questions!
poster:karaS
thread:359642
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040928/msgs/405709.html