thiamine deficiency dysautonomia

Thiamine Deficiency, Dysautonomia, and High Calorie Malnutrition

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thiamine deficiency book

This book by Lonsdale D, and Marrs C, is available on Amazon books. It is published by Elsevier. Written particularly for physicians who are practicing in the field of Integrative Medicine, it would be of interest to the educated public, particularly those affected by chronic disease.

Beriberi, the classical thiamine deficiency disease, long known to have been caused by consumption of white rice, is thought to have been abolished in developed cultures. It is actually widespread in America due to the colossal ingestion of sugar and is usually diagnosed as psychosomatic disease. Because the standard laboratory studies are negative or nonspecific, it is assumed that no organic disease is responsible.

Beginning with a review of the many symptoms of beriberi, it is described as the “great imitator” of a large number of disease conditions, each of which is thought to have its own etiology. It is relevant in all mitochondrial disease, because thiamine sits astride the vital initiation of energy synthesis. Thiamine deficiency interferes with carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism, but is particularly important in the etiology of diabetes, types I and II and metabolic syndrome. It also has a place in the etiology of Alzheimer disease and may have an important part to play in cancer.

Evidence is provided to show that the relatively new science of epigenetics is crucial to the understanding of the part played by nutrition and lifestyle in genetic function. If the early symptoms of nutritional deficiency are treated symptomatically and high calorie malnutrition continues, the result is an array of chronic brain diseases. When thiamine deficiency was discovered as the cause of beriberi, the early investigators recognized that therapeutic doses of the vitamin involved the administration of 100-300 mg a day for months. The book reviewed here should be in the library of any Integrative Medicine physician.

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Two New Cases of Beriberi-like Syndromes: Thiamine Deficiency in Modern Medicine

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As a result of my participation in Hormones Matter, I receive quite a few emails that record histories of patients who have often languished with inexplicable symptoms, sometimes for years. I am going to record two histories here without identifying any possibility of the involved patients being recognized.

Patient number 1: Cyclic Vomiting, Hyper-salivation, Sensory and Neurological Issues

This is the story of a boy who had what was described as “chronic cyclic vomiting from 11 months until 24 months of age, sometimes 3 to 4 times a day”. Food refusal with chronic vomiting and severe weight loss (failure to gain) was described. His diet was recorded as consisting basically of chicken/beef and vegetables. Frequent use of Paracetamol for ear infections with fever was described. As an infant he experienced hyper-salivation, bad enough for wearing a bib 24/7. Extreme sensory issues were mentioned but were not specified. Dilated pupils from a very young age***, neurological issues with confusion, memory problems, speech difficulty and heart racing/palpitations were mentioned together with eye tracking difficulties. A high concentration of arsenic had been found, presumably in urine, although this was not specified. Candida, a form of yeast, had evidently been a frequent infection. He was reported to have Hashimoto (a thyroid dysfunction) and a high blood glucose ***. He exhibited complete lack of coordination, always “appearing drunk”, talking gibberish and repetitive behavior.

Discussion of Symptoms: Patient 1

Cyclic Vomiting

Sometimes known as winter vomiting, the cause of this relatively common condition is said to be unknown. Recurrent vomiting is one of the symptoms recognized for centuries in the thiamine ( vitamin B1) deficiency disease, beriberi. I had several patients with cyclic vomiting, described in our book (Thiamine Deficiency Disease, Dysautonomia and High Calorie Malnutrition) that responded to thiamine treatment.

Food Refusal

Appetite is governed in the lower brain by several hormones, explaining why a voracious appetite and food refusal could both be a signature of thiamine deficiency, depending on severity and chronicity of the deficiency.

Weight Loss

Severe weight and stature increase (failure to thrive), is a signature finding in familial dysautonomia, a genetically determined disease. Thiamine deficiency also causes dysautonomia. I reported a patient with eosinophilic esophagitis whose dysautonomia resulted in failure to thrive. With thiamine treatment his weight and height increased dramatically (see: Eosinophilic Esophagitis May Be a Sugar Sensitive Disease).

Ear Infections

Extremely common in children, this and jaundice of the newborn are both now known to be the result of inefficient oxygen utilization. Thiamine deficiency is an outstanding cause.

Excessive Salivation

The salivary glands are under the control of the lower brain and this fits with thiamine deficiency.

Extreme Sensory Issues

This is the result of inefficient oxidative metabolism in brain and has been a well known problem in thiamine deficiency beriberi. It is interesting that diabetics are sometimes pulled over and accused of drinking because of erratic driving and subsequent “drunken” behavior. I strongly suspect that this is a thiamine deficiency affect, because thiamine metabolism has recently been found to be closely related to metabolism in diabetes.

Permanently Dilated Pupils ***

This is a cardinal sign of sympathetic nervous system overdrive, fitting in with the diagnosis of dysautonomia.

Neurological Issues: Confusion, Memory, Speech, and Eye Tracking Problems

All of this is the result of inefficient oxidative metabolism in brain.

Tachycardia

This is the term for a fast heart rhythm and is a cardinal sign of dysautonomic sympathetic nervous system overdrive.

Urinary Arsenic

Pressure-treated wood in the United States contains a significant amount of arsenic and is generally touted as being the source for children using playgrounds. This is much more significant than arsenic in drinking water. Arsenic damages oxidative metabolism and could be contributive to the effects of thiamine deficiency.

Candida Infections

Candida is a common form of yeast that infects humans. It dislikes oxygen: consequently this infection is much more likely to occur in people whose oxygen metabolism is inefficient.

High Blood Glucose***

Of course, this means that the patient has some form of diabetes. Both type I and type II diabetes are now known to have thiamine deficiency as part of the syndrome. Alzheimer’s disease may be diabetes type III. Thiamine is absolutely vital in glucose metabolism.

Pattern Suggests Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Disease

Pyruvate dehydrogenase is an enzyme that demands thiamine and magnesium in order to function properly. I would be willing to bet that this boy would be responsive to high doses of Lipothiamine and should be studied in detail by a physician who understands the possibility of inborn errors of metabolism. Note the two starred items above. The observation of permanently dilated pupils indicates excessive activity of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. The high blood glucose is a sure indicator that thiamine metabolism is involved, even if there is insulin deficiency.

Patient number 2: ROHHAD

This is a little girl, age not specified. She was described as a patient with ROHHAD. This stands for “rapid onset weight gain, hypothalamic dysfunction and autonomic dysregulation”. The parent described this as “a very rare syndrome and only 150 cases have been recorded worldwide”. Children with this diagnosis are said to have similar symptoms. Most of them have central and obstructive sleep apnea. Many depend on CPAP. This child requires it only during sleeping but many other kids have tracheostomy and all are living on CPAP day and night.

Symptoms of patient 2: Sweaty Palms, Cold Intolerance, Tachycardia and More

At my request, the parent observed that there was no family history of alcoholism or smoking. The mother had been thinking of thiamine deficiency because of the child’s autonomic dysfunction. I have noticed that alcoholism and sugar sensitivity appear to be closely related genetically.

She has palm sweating. Father has blepharospasm (spasm of the eyelids) frequently, lasting for weeks at a time. She also has tachycardia (fast heart rate), excessive vomiting, cold intolerance with persistent cold extremities, peripheral neuropathy, binocular diplopia, double vision, gastrointestinal dysmotility, mood swings, and low pain perception are all symptoms of dysautonomia, the commonest cause being thiamine deficiency. Fortunately the family is working with a physician who had started thiamine treatment for this child. The parent closed with the remarks that “since she started TTFD she is having a fast heart rate at 140 beats a minute and low oxygen saturation with restless sleep. I decreased TTFD from 250 mg to 50 mg but my opinion is that she became more stable with oxygen saturation and pulse rate”.

Discussion of Symptoms: Patient 2

ROHHAD

Rapid weight gain, hypothalamic dysfunction, dysautonomia and sleep apnea are all included in this syndrome. I must point out that the word “syndrome” is always used for a collection of symptoms whose cause is unknown. In fact, all can be caused by thiamine deficiency.

Palm Sweating

Sweating is a result of sympathetic nervous system overdrive. She also has tachycardia, excessive vomiting, cold intolerance, peripheral neuropathy and double vision. Various forms of peripheral neuropathy are cardinal symptom in thiamine deficiency.

Gastrointestinal Dysmotility

The intestine is innervated by the vagus nerve which originates in the brain. This nerve uses a neurotransmitter known as acetylcholine, highly dependent on energy metabolism and therefore also dependent on thiamine. Japanese physicians have used thiamine derivatives for years to treat postoperative intestinal paralysis.

Mood Swings

I learned the hard way about mood swings in children when I found that the dominant cause was poor diet resulting in thiamine deficiency.

Low Pain Perception

Decreases in pain perception are described in familial dysautonomia, a genetically determined condition. Thiamine deficiency results in dysautonomia and may well be responsible for low pain perception.

Points of Consideration: Polysymptomatic Disease and Thiamine Deficiency

Both these children have fallen into diagnostic cracks. It seems only to be the persistence of struggling parents that do their own research and persist in trying to find an adequate explanation that addresses the plight of these children. To me, the problem is obvious. Polysymptomatic disease that affects so many body systems can only be explained by some form of energy deficiency, dependent on oxidative metabolism. Thiamine deficiency, arising from both genetic and nutritional abnormalities is a common cause. It could be a simple thiamine deficiency from diet but this is unlikely in the case of these two children who may have a genetically determined condition that is responsive to megadose thiamine.

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Just Released: Thiamine Deficiency Disease, Dysautonomia, and High Calorie Malnutrition

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Thiamine Deficiency Disease, Dysautonomia, and High Calorie Malnutrition

Together with Dr. Lonsdale, I am proud to announce the release of our new book: Thiamine Deficiency Disease, Dysautonomia, and High Calorie Malnutrition.

If you have followed our blog, Hormones Matter, for any amount of time, you’ll know that we spend a lot time writing about mitochondrial distress. Mitochondria are the engines that fuel our cells and sit at the nexus of health and disease. Healthy mitochondria do much to stave off disease, allowing the body to survive all manner of modern stressors, from illness to toxicant exposures, and everything in between. Unhealthy mitochondria, on the other hand, can set into motion a series of reactions leading to complex, multisystem illnesses that modern medicine often has no earthly idea how to treat. This book is about those illnesses and the mitochondrial cascades that allow their existence.

We cover the chemistry of illness from the mitochondria upwards through the autonomic system, to the symptoms and back again. It is a chemistry that we seem to have forgotten in recent years, a chemistry we like to ignore when it contradicts our presumptions about pharmaceutical medicine and diet, and a chemistry that kicks us in the butt when we deny its importance. The chemistry is complicated on its surface, but a deeper dive reveals what Dr. Lonsdale refers to as ‘the exquisite simplicity‘ of health and disease. This book will teach you that chemistry and much more.

Why Thiamine? Why Now?

Thiamine takes center stage in this book, not because it is a magic vitamin that cures all, but because it sits atop the mitochondrial energy pathways. It is a gatekeeper of sorts, determining if or how other downstream mitochondrial functions proceed. For some inexplicable reason, amid all the research on the importance of other nutrients, we seem to have forgotten thiamine. Over and over again, we are presented with cases on Hormones Matter of overt thiamine deficiency, and yet, rarely do physicians consider it. More often than not, it is the patients or their caregivers that figure it out.

Why don’t we consider one of the most fundamental units of health? The short answer, if we are honest with ourselves, pharmacology and surgery are far sexier than nutrition. Unfortunately, however, disease processes do not develop because of drug deficiencies or a lack of surgical prowess. In the Western world, they develop in large part because of nutrient deficiencies within the context of high calorie malnutrition and in conjunction with other stressors. Understanding the chemistry that decides health or disease is critical to achieving health. A key component of that chemistry involves thiamine. This book details how to recognize, evaluate, treat, and understand thiamine deficiency. It is a complicated topic, but written for a broad audience.

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For a limited time, the publisher is offering a 30% discount off of the list price and free shipping if the book is ordered from their site. Just click the link below enter the promotional code ATR30 at checkout.

Thiamine Deficiency Disease, Dysautonomia, and High Calorie Malnutrition

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More Ideas on Gardasil Toxicity and the Thiamine Connection

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I am in constant touch with the mother of the Gardasil treated daughter whose personal research suggested that her daughter had beriberi after she received the HPV vaccine.  As has been previously posted on this web site, thiamine deficiency, the basic cause of beriberi, was proved in this girl by a blood test called transketolase. It led to the test being done on two other girls and a boy, all of whom had been Gardasil vaccinated. All proved to have thiamine deficiency through this test.  Each of these young people, who have had the HPV vaccination and have succumbed to prolonged illness, have a variety of symptoms that have defied diagnosis and treatment.

As the original post on this subject pointed out, Postural Orthostatic Hypotension Syndrome (POTS), an apparently common post Gardasil illness, is a form of dysautonomia [damage to the autonomic nervous system] as is beriberi in its early stages. More recently, cerebellar ataxia has also been reported as a post Gardasil phenomenon. I have already pointed out on a previous post that the first case of thiamine dependency to be reported was in a six year old boy who suffered repeated attacks of cerebellar ataxia (see below for reference). Thus, thiamine plays a vital part in the brain.

As an analogy, the effect of its deficiency can roughly be compared with a defective spark plug in the engine of a car, thus killing the engine. It has been difficult for a number of Gardasil affected families to accept this proven fact because it seems so simple. It is not at all simple, for thiamine deficiency is a very serious problem in the brain. Believe it or not, it is capable of explaining all the symptoms that have been described to me.

The mother, whose research had led to the belief that beriberi was the cause of her daughter’s illness, has notified me of a number of symptoms that have been the subject of many questions from other mothers of Gardasil affected individuals. For example, one of the most classical signs of beriberi is swelling of tissues from fluid under the skin. This is called edema, a phenomenon that occurs in what is generally known as “wet” beriberi.  In dealing with a complex subject where technical knowledge is required, it was one of the observations in her daughter that convinced the mother that this was in fact beriberi.

Puzzling Symptoms Post HPV Vaccine

One of the puzzles that the mothers have discussed is that the vaccination seems to pick off the brightest and the best students who are usually also excellent athletes.  Another puzzle they have discussed is that symptoms seem to get worse when there is an abrupt change in the weather. Severe reactions to food and histamine related skin problems seem to be common to many of these affected individuals. Naturally, these have been passed on to me to try to provide an explanation, based on the proof that has been shown by the transketolase test.

Oxidative Metabolism 

We all understand that our lives depend upon the consumption of oxygen.  The brain uses 20% of the oxygen that you intake with every breath. This is because the metabolism in nervous tissue and the brain is very rapid. The same is true for the heart and that is why beriberi predominantly affects the nervous system, the brain and the heart. Thiamine “ignites” (spark plug) the fuel (glucose) by causing the glucose to combine with oxygen (combustion). This is what is called oxidative metabolism and why I refer to thiamine as “the spark of life”.  It is how we generate energy in every one of our 70 to 100 trillion cells that enable them to function.

Thiamine and the Brain

The lower part of the brain is highly sensitive to thiamine deficiency, interrupting the normal course of oxidative metabolism. If this part of the brain (the computer) is made to be inefficient from mild to moderate thiamine deficiency, it becomes irritable. If the deficiency persists or is more severe, structural damage begins and is irreversible. When the brain is healthy, all the physical and mental stimuli that we encounter on a daily basis are passed into the computer through our senses.

With the aid of the “thinking brain”, a decision is made as to how we will respond to the input stimulus, including our emotional responses which are generated in the limbic system and modified by the upper “thinking brain”. This is how we continuously adapt to both the mental and physical “stress factors” that we encounter in our daily lives.  But if the computer is made irritable, it will over-react to a stimulus and create an exaggerated response. For example, a normal response to an insult would be anger.

An exaggerated response might be associated with violence because the thinking brain has not suppressed or modified the reflex.  It is the limbic system (computer) that generates the fight-or-flight reflex. When it is made to be irritable this reflex may be initiated without there being a reason for it. It is then called a panic attack. Or, with a trivial stimulus, it might send a signal to the cells which release histamine, the reaction being initiated by something as simple as perception of a quick change in the weather.

Like a high powered car that requires more energy, so a high IQ is more demanding of oxidative metabolism, thus perhaps explaining why superior students are at greater risk. When we put food into the stomach, it automatically sends a signal into the computer. As we fill the stomach, these signals gradually crescendo, finally telling us that we have had enough to eat.  If, however, the computer has been made to be more sensitive, a severe reaction to the food may be generated and we call it food allergy. We can begin to see that the action is in the brain, not in the stomach.

How Could Gardasil Induce Thiamine Deficiency?

The primary answer to this difficult question is – we don’t know.  For example, we do not know whether a person has an abnormal transketolase before the vaccine is given.  We know that thiamine metabolism is related to the intake of sugar in the diet.  Beriberi has been reported in Japanese students ingesting carbonated beverages, a common worldwide activity associated with social groups, particularly adolescents. We know also that our present food supply does not contain the kind of concentration of vitamins and minerals required for perfect health, again suggesting the greater risk of a high IQ in relation to the quality of diet. The only direct connection between thiamine deficiency and the action of the Gardasil vaccine is that it is a yeast based vaccine. The yeast used in its preparation contains an enzyme called thiaminase. This naturally occurring enzyme breaks thiamine into its component parts and destroys its biologic action. Thiaminase disease has been reported in Japan.

Could Any Vaccine or Medication be a Stress Factor Sufficient to Induce Thiamine Deficiency?

In a previous post I told the story of how workers in factories succumbed to their first symptoms of beriberi as a result of their exposure to sunlight. What this implies is that you can have a marginal thiamine deficiency which is asymptomatic. Some kind of stress factor such as a simple viral illness, an injury, or even an inoculation can initiate symptoms. There are many examples of this in the medical literature, where a marginal metabolic situation that affects the brain is activated in this manner. Evidence provided by an abnormal transketolase is but a beginning, providing a scientific clue that should, in a sane world, initiate further research.

Additional Reference

Lonsdale D, Faulkner W R, Price J W, and Smeby R R. Intermittent cerebellar ataxia associated with hyperpyruvic acidemia, hyperalaninemia, and hyperalaninuria. Pediatrics 1969;43:1025-34.

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My Son’s Gardasil Story and Thiamine Deficiency

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On June 16th 2012 my son complained of ear pain, so I took him to his doctor thinking he had an ear infection. He had no infection but his doctor suggested doing a physical exam since he had not been in for a couple of years. My son had just turned 18 years old three weeks prior and just graduated from high school. He was happy, healthy, and active. After the exam I was called into the room. His doctor said he was in good health and observed no problems, but since he would be going off to college in the fall, he recommended that he should receive the meningococcal vaccine along with the Gardasil vaccine. In his words, “HPV is rampant in colleges and he should have this vaccine.” This had been my son’s physician since birth, and having no prior knowledge of the Gardasil vaccine controversy, I trusted him and agreed to these two vaccines that day.

There was absolutely no discussion of possible harmful side effects.

My son did not have any immediate reactions that I can remember, but on July 30th 2012 that all changed. We were out to lunch and when his food arrived he looked at me with a very strange look on his face and said that he just didn’t feel right, something was wrong. He could not eat that day even though he was hungry just prior. He would complain of severe stomach pain that came and went over the next few weeks.

On August 7th 2012 he received the second dose of Gardasil. His stomach pain increased in severity, but we still did not make the Gardasil connection. Who would think that a vaccine for HPV would cause stomach aches?

Just nine days after that second injection, he felt he needed to go in and see his doctor. The pain was becoming unbearable. The doctor prescribed antacids but this only made his problem worse, so he then suggested an endoscopy. The endoscopy came back completely normal. At this point his doctor felt that his stomach pain was due to stress and anxiety because he was going off to college. The doctor suggested that he should “go talk to someone.” I knew for a fact that the pain was not in his head or simply due to stress. It was real. Now, almost a year later, and with the knowledge of the possible side effects of the Gardasil vaccine, I am very angry that his doctor did not recognize “severe stomach aches” as being one of the Gardasil side effects. How did he not connect those dots, especially given the fact that my son was in his office just nine days after receiving the second dose complaining of that very thing? This recognition would have prevented him from getting that dreadful final dose.

My son left for college and soon after began developing other symptoms, mainly extreme fatigue and brain fog. He made it through the quarter and came home for Winter break. On December 27th he received the 3rd and final dose of Gardasil. The very next evening he became extremely sick. All the symptoms he had been experiencing along with many others became instantly worse. I was finally able to make the Gardasil connection. Since then he has had more symptoms than I can list, sinus headaches, pain at the base of his skull, fever, chills, hair loss, vision changes, gallbladder pain/gallstones, sleep disturbances, tingling, numbness, no appetite, weight loss, anxiety, excessive thirst, salt cravings, kidney issues, liver issues, heart palpitations, slow heartbeat, fast heartbeat, dizzy, rashes, mouth sores, yeast issues, low stomach acid… the list goes on. To this day he still suffers from many of these symptoms.

What has followed are many doctors and  many, many tests; most of which have come back normal with the exception of his most recent test. After reading Dr. Lonsdale’s article on thiamine deficiency and his recommendation for Gardasil injured to have a red cell transketolase blood test,  I immediately requested one for my son. I researched the symptoms of thiamine deficiency and he pretty much had every single one. The test came back strongly positive. He was severely thiamine deficient.

This is where we are today. We started immediate supplementation with oral alliathiamine and we are looking into possible IV supplementation, for perhaps, a quicker, more thorough improvement. I sincerely hope that this discovery might be the key to my son finally being well again and that this devastating nightmare may finally come to an end.

Participate in Research

Hormones MatterTM is conducting research on the side effects and adverse events associated with Gardasil and its counterpart Cervarix. If you or your daughter has had either HPV vaccine (we hope to launch the male version soon), please take this important survey. The Gardasil Cervarix HPV Vaccine Survey.

To take one of our other Real Women. Real Data.TM surveys, click here.

To sign up for our newsletter and receive weekly updates on the latest research news and research participation opportunities click here.

To share your health story with our community, click here.

If you think what we do at Hormones Matter is worthwhile, contribute to our research programs and our continued health research reporting. Hormones Matter is totally unfunded and can use your help to continue operations. Crowdfund Hormones Matter – Buy an Unsubscription.

 

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