thiamine Archives - Page 8 of 12

Why Thiamine Supplementation Requires Magnesium

Published on July 7, 2022

28772 views

In this article, we will briefly examine some of the reasons why supplementing with the mineral magnesium is often essential when repleting thiamine, and also when using higher doses to support health conditions. In a minority of people, intolerance of magnesium supplements might be resolved when using thiamine simultaneously.

First of all, thiamine and magnesium are closely paired biochemically speaking. Magnesium is either directly or indirectly involved in the activity of numerous thiamine-dependent enzymes. Importantly, the activation of thiamine inside the cell greatly depends upon sufficient magnesium stores.

Thiamine Activation Requires Magnesium

thiamine activation by magnesium After absorption, dietary forms of thiamine gain entry into the cell through transport proteins. Once inside, free thiamine must be converted (or “activated”) into thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), the biochemically active coenzyme form. This is achieved by an enzyme called thiamine pyrophosphokinase, which removes a phosphate from adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and attaches it to thiamine to make TPP. This enzymatic reaction has been shown to require a divalent cation, which in most cases is magnesium.

This is especially important when using supplements with the aim of rapidly increasing intracellular thiamine levels, because the above “activation” process will increase the requirement for magnesium. Without enough magnesium to meet this demand, it is at least theoretically plausible that there will be less active TPP which can be utilized.

The Transketolase Enzyme

Likewise, the transketolase enzyme located within the pentose phosphate pathway also requires magnesium to undertake its activities. Research has shown that both magnesium and thiamine alone are capable of increasing transketolase activity.
thiamine transketolase pentose phosphate pathway

Alpha-ketoglutarate Dehydrogenase and Pyruvate Dehydrogenase

Magnesium ions were shown to directly increase the activity of the thiamine-dependent rate-limiting alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (KGDH), an enzyme unit involved in the Krebs cycle (part of the larger process of generating cellular energy). Research indicates that KGDH requires both TPP and magnesium for maximal activity.

Furthermore, a similar thiamine-dependent enzyme complex positioned at the interface between glycolysis and the Krebs cycle called the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHC) also requires magnesium, but indirectly. The PDHC is essential for carbohydrate metabolism. Although magnesium ions do not directly interact with the PHDC, they do exert significant influence on a related regulatory enzyme called pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphate phosphatase (PDHP). Magnesium activates PDHP, and PDHP is responsible activation of the PDHC. Hence, thiamine directly increases PDHC activity, and magnesium indirectly increase it as well.

Thiamine and Magnesium Should Be Supplemented Together

With the numerous interrelated roles of these two nutrients taken into consideration, is it any wonder that research has demonstrated negative consequences of supplementing one without the other?

One animal study showed that thiamine supplementation in magnesium-deficiency (and/or sulfate deficiency) resulted in reduced thiamine concentrations in liver and elevated triglycerides, suggesting a role for magnesium in liver retention of thiamine. Another study looking at thiamine supplementation in magnesium deficient animals found that the addition of thiamine results in a significant decrease in blood and bone concentrations of magnesium, which indicates an increased demand for magnesium and depletion of the stored mineral. The same study showed a lower levels of thiamine in nerve, liver, and kidney of magnesium deficient animal, providing further support for magnesium’s role in thiamine retention. Additionally, they showed that thiamine could not increase transketolase activity in the presence of magnesium deficiency.

Correcting Wernicke Encephalopathy, the end stage neurological consequence of severe thiamine deficiency with thiamine alone was found to be ineffective in one case report, and only after correcting hypomagnesaemia (addressing magnesium deficiency) did the patient’s transketolase normalize and symptoms resolve. A more recent report showed the same results.

So to conclude, it is clear that magnesium is absolutely essential for normal thiamine activity in the body, and one should take great care to ensure sufficient intake when addressing underlying thiamine issues. This is especially important when consistently using high doses.

Magnesium and Thiamine

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter.

Image created using Craiyon.com

This article was published originally on October 25, 2021.

Thiamine Deficiency Gaining Recognition: New Book

by Chandler Marrs, PhD

Published on June 2, 2022

10160 views

In the 5 years since Dr. Lonsdale and I published our book: Thiamine Deficiency Disease, Dysautonomia, and High Calorie Malnutrition (and 50 years since Dr. Lonsdale first began working with thiamine) recognition of the role of thiamine in health and disease have increased steadily year over year. Sales of the book double each year. Admittedly, the numbers were low and remain low in comparison to other popular topics, but the increase in awareness is heartening. Unfortunately, much of this awareness has not reached the medical profession. We regularly see reports in the medical literature boasting recognition of ‘rare’ cases of thiamine deficiency diseases like beriberi and Wernicke’s. If only physicians knew how common these conditions were and that they are only rare because we are not looking. Insufficient thiamine is Hiding in Plain Sight.

A New Book

In 2020, a UK physician by the name of Jo Dixon published a new book on thiamine deficiency, a personal account of her declining health, her discovery of thiamine, and her efforts to get treatment and spread the word. The book, called The Missing Link in Dementia, A Memoir, documents her journey. Unfortunately, she neither mentions thiamine in the title, the description, or even in the text until halfway through. One would not know the book is about thiamine until one reads it or unless it is recommended, so I will recommend it here. This would be a great starter book for someone beginning their health journey.

She has a second book listed on Amazon, Swimming in Circles that I have not read, but I suspect it details thiamine deficiency in fish in other animal populations.

While I would have preferred her to mention thiamine deficiency in the title or introduction, I found the book quite telling of the lengths one has to go to uncover this deficiency, even as a physician. Her case, unfortunately, is highly typical of what we see in patients everywhere. She had longstanding bowel dysfunction, which limited her ability to eat and maintain nutritional status. She led a busy life as a physician and mother of four children, which put pressure on thiamine stability. Even so, she functioned quite well for a long time. It wasn’t until her health took a severe turn for the worse that thiamine deficiency was recognized. Like others who develop issues with thiamine, she was forced to diagnose herself. No other physician, and she saw many, could provide any answers to her declining health. She had to figure it out herself. She was also forced to treat herself. Fortunately for her, she convinced a physician friend to provide IV thiamine, a protocol that was not accepted by her hospital and one she could not readily provide to other patients when she identified their deficiencies.

All of this is typical. We believe that thiamine deficiency was solved and thus any cases that do appear must be rare (to a tee, most case reports include ‘rare’ in the title or introduction). In reality, they are only rare because we do not look for them. We believe falsely that thiamine deficiency emerges acutely, and while it does in some cases, mostly it sits in the background, quietly and insidiously destroying one’s health. We have cases of high functioning individuals whose health begins to decline and whose thiamine levels are tested as low and should merit treatment but ignored for years as not being pertinent. And those are the lucky ones. Most physicians refuse to test for thiamine.

Thiamine deficiency is easily treatable if recognized early. It becomes more complicated as the years pass, and it is impossible if we never bother to look.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, and like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter.

Photo by Alif Caesar Rizqi Pratama on Unsplash.

Sugar Intake and Thiamine

by Derrick Lonsdale MD, FACN, CNS

Published on May 23, 2022

6472 views

Between 1962 and 1982, I was a pediatrician at Cleveland Clinic, a multispecialty medical institution. Because I was a consultant pediatrician. doctors in a private practice referred some of their more difficult patients. I was confronted with a number of children who were experiencing emotional diseases such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Learning Disability, and Hyperactivity. The usual explanation for this kind of emotional disease is poor parenting. Therefore, I would sit down with the parents and discuss their approach. In most cases, it was healthy, but when I looked into the diet of the affected children, I found that in each and every case, it was full of empty calories, particularly from consumption of sugar and fat, consumed for their sense of taste. Indeed, this consumption was actively encouraged, since it provided the child with obvious pleasure.

Sugar Induced Cellular Energy Deficiency

I turned to the library and read the details concerning the processing of sugar and fat in the body. Without going into the details, vitamin B1 (thiamine) stands at the head of the complex machinery that enables our cells to turn food into energy. I concluded that cellular energy deficiency in the brain was causing distortion of normal brain function in these children, I looked into what research was available and I found a 1935 publication by Sir Rudolph Peters, a famous researcher who worked at Cambridge University. He was trying to discover the role of vitamin B1 (thiamine) in the body. It had only recently been discovered that dietary thiamine deficiency was the cause of beriberi.

It had also been found that thiamine deficiency-induced in pigeons produced the histopathology that had been observed in humans with beriberi. He was therefore able to study the action of thiamine by creating what is known as a brei, a preparation of brain cells taken while the pigeon was alive. He then placed it under a microscope. The cellular activity, known as respiration, could be studied. He made a similar preparation from the brain of a thiamine replete pigeon and placed the two together under a microscope. There was no difference in respiration between the thiamine deficient cells compared with those that were thiamine sufficient until glucose was added to the preparation. The thiamine sufficient cells immediately began to respire, whereas the thiamine deficient cells remained inactive. This showed that glucose was the main fuel for brain cells and that thiamine was necessary for its consumption. He called this the catatorulin effect. Not only this, but Peters found that the deficiency was more severe in the cells from the lower part of the thiamine deficient pigeon brain, providing an important clue. We now know that the lower part of the human brain is peculiarly sensitive to thiamine deficiency. This research was extremely important because it formed a foundation that led to understanding oxidative metabolism.

The high sugar diet was affecting the brains of these children and I found that supplementing them with thiamine made their emotional symptoms disappear. I was in fact imitating the catatorulin effect. I found this very intriguing and began library research on the biological role of thiamine that has continued to the present day.

Thiamine Is the Spark

Without going into details, it stands at the entry of glucose into the complex cellular machinery that produces the energy required for all the functions of the body. Much of our food is turned into glucose in the body and acts as cellular fuel, particularly in the brain. Oxidative metabolism, to put it simply, is the combustion of glucose. Combustion in the body is known as oxidation and although the analogy is too simple. Thiamine provides the spark like a spark plug in a car that ignites the gasoline.

If glucose provides fuel for the brain, the children with emotional disease were getting plenty of fuel, so how could I explain this excess as the cause? We have to turn to analogy. Some older people will remember that the early cars all possessed a choke mechanism that introduced a rich gasoline mixture to start a cold engine. But if the choke was not removed when the engine was warm, black smoke came out of the exhaust pipe and the engine ran poorly, indicating poor combustion and energy production. A similar thing happens in the body, particularly in the brain. An excess of fuel overwhelms the ability of cells to combine it with oxygen like a persistent choke. The result is that the brain cells work inefficiently, giving rise to changes in behavior. It made the administration of thiamine quite rational.

Using a vitamin for treatment was not even suggested at that time. I took early retirement and joined a private practice that specialized in nutrient treatment. This was an early example of what has come to be known as Orthomolecular Medicine, which involves the ingestion of molecules that are well recognized by the body.

Behavior is a function of the brain and whether it be purely mental, or gives rise to bodily activity, requires energy. Psychosomatic disease is not due to the patient’s imagination. It is the result of a declining ability to produce sufficient ATP. This leads to the obvious suggestion that disease is a variable manifestation of energy deficiency dependent on the severity of the deficiency and its cellular distribution.

Thiamine Deficiency and Dysautonomia

One of the important results of thiamine deficiency is dysautonomia, dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. This is the nervous system by which body organs are controlled by the lower brain. The deficiency is rarely seen as a cause of disease in America so the symptoms are attributed to other “more acceptable” conditions. Usually neglected, sometimes for years, thiamine has to be given to the patient in mega-doses to restore normal function. Damage to the affected cells may cause poor or no response. The research on beriberi, exclusively performed in China and Japan, discovered that recovery was most likely when the blood sugar was normal. If it were high, recovery was slower and if it were low, recovery may not occur at all. The dose of thiamine had to be huge to cure a patient of long-standing beriberi after its deficiency had been found as the cause of a widespread disease that had occurred for thousands of years.

Prevalent in rice-consuming countries, if and when the peasants made more money, they would take the rice to a mill where the cusps were removed. They would then serve the white rice in a silver bowl and invite their friends to demonstrate their newly acquired affluence. Of course, they did not know that the vitamins were in the cusp around the grain.

Thiamine Dosing Varies

I had found, ironically enough, that my insomnia was caused by thiamine deficiency and my diet has been supplemented with it for years. Being an entirely new treatment, it requires some detailed research, but self-research is time-honored. So I am going to describe a recent experience that illustrates how thiamine affected my autonomic nervous system. I had noted that when I ate virtually any food at all, my nose would run. One day I was eating some canned pears and I experienced a rather severe choking fit and my nose ran like a faucet. I was taking 300 mg of Lipothiamine (thiamine tetrahydrofurfuryl disulfide) and 200 mg of a magnesium salt. I concluded that the dose of TTFD was too great and lacking in balance with magnesium, which I increased to 400 mg. I reduced the dose of TTFD to 250 mg. Even within days, there was an improvement. The pharynx, esophagus, and nostrils are controlled by the ANS and the dose change was born out of my unique clinical and biochemical experience. Although orthomolecular medicine is in its infancy, it is hoped that it will become the orthodox medicine of the future. Not only is it non-toxic, but it is also extremely efficient and I have helped thousands over my 61 years of practice.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, and like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter.

Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash.

What Is Scoliosis?

by Derrick Lonsdale MD, FACN, CNS

Published on January 18, 2022

8486 views

scoliosis and impaired oxidative metabolism

As everyone knows, the spinal column is made up of a series of bones known as vertebrae. Like bricks in a column, they collectively support the entire body in an upright position. Their anatomy is very complex because, collectively, they have to allow for the spinal column to bend in every direction without parting company with each other. Sometimes a child develops a permanent bend in the spinal column known as scoliosis. It usually develops relatively slowly and is usually watched by anxious parents as it becomes more severe. Anyone reading this who has had experience of it will know that the treatment is very advanced surgery in which the spinal column is straightened and supported with steel rods. This post is to try to explain why scoliosis happens and how it may possibly be prevented.

Brain Symmetry

Most people know that the left half of the body is controlled by the right side of the brain and vice versa. The reason for this asymmetry is unknown. However, asymmetry appears to be pretty important with many aspects of brain function. For example, I collected 17 patients, in each of whom their respective blood pressure was totally different in the two arms. The difference was so great that I imagined such an individual, when visiting a physician, would leave the office with a blood pressure pill if the pressure had been measured in the arm on the higher side, and without it if it had been taken in the arm on the low side. As most people know, the blood pressure is taken almost invariably in only one arm. The blood pressures in my 17 patients were compared with healthy controls. Although the pressures of controls varied only slightly in the two arms, the difference was extremely obvious when compared with the patients.

The asymmetry in the patients was greatly exaggerated, whereas in the controls it was minimal. This asymmetry is capable of increasing in direct relationship to loss of efficient metabolism in the control mechanisms in the brain. The loss of efficiency may be due to genetic effect or long-term malnutrition. These 17 patients had many symptoms, indicating that their autonomic nervous system was compromised because of poor oxidative metabolism. The symptoms responded to treatment with nutritional elements.

Dysautonomia

We have two nervous systems, known respectively as the voluntary and autonomic. The voluntary system enables us to use free will, whereas the autonomic is automatic and organizes brain/body functions that we cannot control voluntarily. The prefix dys means abnormal, so dysautonomia refers to abnormal function of that system. This can be due to genetic influence or from metabolic changes related to poor diet. One of the abnormalities that can occur is that the normal mild asymmetry in autonomic control can become exaggerated, giving more power to one side of the body than the other. Under normal healthy conditions, this asymmetry is much less marked. In fact, it is well known that all of us have some degree of asymmetry. One foot may be slightly bigger than the other or one eye may be a little bit more closed than the other. The autonomic nervous system is deployed to every part of the body and is the messenger system by which the brain controls all the organs that together, create body functions.

What Has This to Do with Scoliosis?

The spinal column is lined by very strong ligaments and muscles. It is these muscles that enable us to bend in every direction. However, those muscles are kept in what is called constant tone. Notice the hardness of the muscles in the low back. They feel to the touch like steel almost. This is because they are kept in tone as a permanent support. This tone is maintained through the autonomic nervous system by constant signals from the brainstem to the muscles surrounding the spinal column. The voluntary system can overcome the autonomic signals to enable us to bend as we wish. Asymmetric signaling to the muscles on either side of the spinal column occurs in health but may be only slight. If however, control mechanisms in the lower part of the brain are metabolically inefficient, asymmetric signaling evidently increases. If the tonic signals have exaggerated asymmetry, the tone of the muscles on one side of the spinal column will have stronger signals than on the other side. This explains why the scoliosis occurs gradually, but we have to realize that the real cause of the disease is because of the exaggerated asymmetry in the autonomic nervous system. In other words, scoliosis can be a disease of the autonomic nervous system as well as from genetic changes in the vertebral column.

An experimental treatment for scoliosis was reported some years ago in which electrodes were attached to the weaker muscles on the convex side of the scoliosis and tonic electrical signals attempted to straighten the spinal column. I do not know what happened to that experiment, but it seems to me that scoliosis should be treated by preventive treatment of the dysautonomia. The patients with the asymmetric blood pressures all had evidence of dysfunctional oxidative metabolism in the lower part of the brain, an effect that can be produced by thiamine deficiency. All of them were treated by nutritional therapeutic measures with variable degrees of success. Quite a few of them, but not all, had thiamine deficiency as the underlying cause. It was concluded therefore that it was oxidative dysfunction, for any cause, in the brain that was the underlying cause of the exaggerated asymmetry, whether this was genetic or nutritional in origin. They responded to a number of intravenous infusions of water-soluble vitamins, all of which contained thiamine. The control mechanisms of the autonomic nervous system in the lower part of the brain are particularly prone to develop thiamine deficiency. Therefore this is an important cause of inefficient oxidative brain metabolism.

Prevention

As far as I know, prevention of scoliosis has never been attempted and what follows is therefore a hypothesis based on some evidence. It may well be that nutrition of the mother in pregnancy can induce faulty metabolism in the fetus that may deploy its effect in many different ways. We now know that thiamine deficiency is common in pregnancy and most of its complications can be prevented by taking a modest dose of thiamine, starting even before pregnancy. Since the major effect of thiamine deficiency is dysautonomia, perhaps the exaggeration of asymmetry can be prevented. The new science of epigenetics enables some modification of genetic defects. A mouse model has shown that the combination of a genetic risk factor with short-term gestational hypoxia (oxygen deficit) significantly increases the gene penetrance and severity of vertebral defects. There is no harm in a supplement of thiamine during pregnancy. Whether it would be capable of preventing scoliosis would depend on its disappearance from the medical literature and would be a long-term goal.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter.

https://www.scientificanimations.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This article was published originally on August 28, 2017.

I’ll Sleep When I Am Dead: Connections Between Diet, Sleep, and Health

by Lisa Hazelgrove

Published on January 10, 2022

4494 views

My journey into discovering what it means to be well began over 60 years ago, when Coca Cola’s popularity burst on the scene back in the late 60’s early 70’s, when a McDonald’s big Mac could be purchased for 49 cents, and Wonder Bread’s claim to fame was “Helps build strong bodies 12 ways.” Instead of eating a nutritious lunch, we were snookered into believing that bologna, whose first name was Oscar and was sandwiched between two slices of white bread, a Tab soda, and a bag of Charles chips was considered a healthy meal. It was anything but healthy and it left us feeling empty, with grumbling stomachs and an unsteady blood sugar level. I lived on these types of foods for decades as my health declined. I did not learn until I was 44 years old that my poor food choices were not only affecting my health but my capacity to sleep. I never slept. When I cleaned up my diet, sleep improved. Unfortunately, the improvements were short-lived because my thyroid became overactive with onset of Graves’ disease. This too, I largely resolved with diet, supplements, and alternative therapies, as conventional medicine seemed to make me worse and all that was offered were drugs and/or surgery. Although I am not yet recovered, I am much better than I was. This is my story.

Early Childhood: Skinny, Unattractive, and Sickly

As a child, I was very thin and clumsy. Nowadays, I probably would have been considered anorexic. I did not have an appetite due to the postnasal drip running down the back of my throat like a sieve. All I could eat on our weekly trip to McDonald’s was half of a regular size hamburger with no condiments. I remember picking through my food with my fork to dig a hole, hoping somehow the food would fall into the hole and disappear, or wishing the dog was inside so that I could hand off my vegetables to him.

The food I consumed came from what is considered a SAD diet (Standard American diet). It originated from the fast-food industry, had no nutritional value whatsoever, and laid a poor foundation for what I believe was my general unwellness. I was never well as child or young adult. As a result of my poor eating habits, allergies, buck teeth, breathing problems, and fitful sleep were my constant companions. I was labeled skinny, unattractive, and sickly. The Weston A. Price Foundation would have had a field day reviewing my overall health relationships. From inadequate nutrition to underdeveloped and overcrowded dental health which then led to poor physical health. I looked like a raccoon with dark circles under my eyes. I was a mess – (spoken with a thick southern accent.)

My mother did her best by encouraging me, providing what she considered to be a balanced diet, general health, and sleep basics, but over time, my body developed poorly, and I suffered miserable allergies to everything. Allergy shots were the recommendation for all of my environmental conflicts. I was left battered and bruised and they did not even work. Eventually, to combat the allergies, they removed my tonsils. This is a barbaric answer to solving a health issue, just remove the organ. I found out much later that the tonsils are an important part of our immune system.

Young Adulthood: Bone Demineralization and Costochondritis

I managed to make it through high school unscathed except for mononucleosis and skin irritations that could be traced back to a poor diet. College brought about new challenges when it came time to eat. This was solved by the plethora of quick meals that provided little to no vitamins or minerals, and of course, my sleep habits continued to decline.

At age 27, I was diagnosed with costochondritis. This was brought about by a rigorous exercise routine at the gym, in the name of getting healthy. “Let’s Get Physical” was the song that sent everyone running to the clubs to get fit and trim, but my lack of essential nutrients caused extreme damage to my ribs. Looking back, I find it hard to believe that I had two relatively healthy children, but then, they received most of the nutrients that were being ingested and I was left with zero. I was eating healthy salads, but I had no clue that my bones were breaking down.

By the time I reached age 39, I could now add osteopenia, depression, sleep deprivation and menopause to my list of infirmities. Nine medications and 75 pounds later, I would also be able to add obesity to my list. It was almost as if this deterioration had catapulted me into a rapid aging process. This makes sense, as Matthew Walker sleep expert, author, and professor at UC Berkley says, ‘the shorter your sleep, the shorter your life’.

Connecting Poor Diet to Poor Sleep and Everything Else In Between

While I was struggling with my own health issues, my son developed his own. At age 12, he confessed to me and my husband that he wasn’t sure he wanted to live anymore. Around the same time, my mother died. This was enough to send anyone over the edge, but my son needed me, so it was time to put my big girl panties on and get answers to why this was happening. I began connecting the dots. We both had depression, allergies or asthma, symptoms of ADD and the “piece-de-resistance” we didn’t sleep! Upon further investigation, I learned that we were both anxious all the time. Could the poor diet and sleep deprivation be behind our illnesses? Turns out they were.

From that point forward, I cleaned up our diet. My husband came home one day to find me chucking all the processed food into the garbage. We began drinking water instead of soda or other flavored drinks and I began to research sleep, nutrition, and energy medicine. This was now my passion. I was determined to not only repair the damage I had caused with the decades long poor diet, but to give my son the gift of healing and create a reason for him to live.

Polypharmacy Induced Vertigo: Enough is Enough

In 2003, I would unlearn everything I thought I knew about wellness. It began with trip to the ER to investigate vertigo. I was sent home with no information as to why I had vertigo other then they could do an MRI if needed. Could the very medications I was taking (9 prescriptions) be behind this malady? My nurse practitioner helped me to slowly detox from the medication I was taking for depression, and this is when I began seeing a nutritionist and using something called magnet therapy. I had read a study on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) that showed promise as a novel antidepressant treatment. It was in 1831 that Michael Faraday discovered that electrical currents can be converted into magnetic fields and vice versa. How fortuitous I was introduced to a company that was utilizing magnets as wellness tools.

The nutritionist performed what is called microscopy. His assessment was dead on. He said, ‘I bet you’re tired all the time’. He also asked if I was on a statin, to which I replied ‘yes, but that I was trying to find a better alternative’. He suggested a liver/gallbladder cleanse and whole food supplements that would support these organs. If it were not for his intervention, I doubt that I would have my gallbladder today. I’m honored and humbled to have known Ted Aloisio and learn about how “Blood Never Lies” his book and his teachings that forever changed the quality of my life.

Thyroid Storm

Another pivotal time for me was September 2017. I wound up in the emergency room. My heart felt like it was about to be launched like a projectile right out of my chest. It was skipping beats too. I had lost a lot of weight with my new focus on nutrition. I thought I was just shedding the old me that was full of emotional discord, bad nutritional habits, and unearthing the real me that was hiding inside. I was in denial. In reality, I had not been feeling well for over a year. My sleep was horrible. I was lucky if I got 5 hours a night and there was a lump on my neck which scared the living hell out of me.

Here, I was a teacher of wellness, and yet was the poster child for being unhealthy. Surprise, surprise you have a problem with your thyroid Ms. Hazelgrove. The official diagnosis was thyrotoxicosis with nodule. My heart was reacting to a hyperactive thyroid, which was being fueled by an autoimmune condition called Graves’ disease. I was immediately put on propranolol for my heart. I asked if it was going to interfere with my sleep and was told that it would not. He lied. I was already having issues the very first night with melatonin production due to the influence of this particular beta-blocker. Beta blockers reduce melatonin release.

I was getting only 2 hours of sleep, so I started Hemp oil two days later. I was not about to go back into the depths of depression because of sleep deprivation. My visit to my primary physician 21 days later was short and sweet. After reviewing my blood lab results and the ultrasound, he had his office manager call me to tell me I was toxic and needed to find an endocrinologists immediately. My T3 was 13, which was extremely high. I agreed to go on methimazole in the meantime so I could look at options, but according to the endocrinologist, I had only the one option. “What am I going to do now?’ I thought to myself. My head was spinning. I knew I had to get away and think. ‘Can’t I just heal it by eating better, sleeping more, and eliminating stress?’

I am truly blessed to have such amazing friends and one in particular had offered to let me stay at her cottage for a weekend. This was about a month into my engorged thyroid, which was now causing me dreadful bouts of diarrhea. I had to wear a diaper on my trip down there, as my bowels were now in charge of my life. I got there and unpacked. This was not an easy task because my body was running “Mach 2 with my Hair on Fire.” Since the thyroid controls metabolism and mine was hyperactive, it felt like I was exercising 24/7. Maintaining energy was a continuous struggle, like a rollercoaster going up and down multiple times a day. I was in the fight or flight mode continuously and my body was in a constant state of catabolism, in order to fuel the persistently heightened metabolism.

Limited Options from Conventional Medicine

My visits with the endocrinologists started out cordial but didn’t end well. I stayed on methimazole for three months, to see if the numbers could be brought down – which they did eventually lower, but the liver enzymes went up and the level 10 pain was unbearable. The only option I was given was nuclear medicine, which meant using radioactive iodine to destroy my thyroid and test the nodule to see if it was cancer. I was told a needle biopsy would not be accurate. I didn’t like the side effects of radioactive iodine and the fact that it increased my chances of breast cancer, which was already an inherited trait in my family. The endocrinologist didn’t want to perform any tests or protocol to see if the nodule was cancerous until these numbers were in a more manageable range and scheduled a second appointment for 5 months later – 5 months!

This was not acceptable to me and so in the meantime, I began researching, and implementing other strategies. I had a friend who owned a wellness center, and I began using sound and infrared sauna therapy. I met with a colleague who recommended a liver cleanse and supplements to help with the healing process. When I had my lab tests done in January, all the numbers looked good, but the liver enzymes were still elevated. I remember the doctor telling me that I shouldn’t stay on the methimazole very long. When I questioned if the medicine had caused the increase in the liver enzymes, she became defensive and said that she didn’t think it was the medicine. Somehow, it was my fault that I didn’t want her to perform a test using radioactive iodine to see if I had cancer, which could inevitably cause cancer down the road.

When I saw her again in February, she asked about the methimazole. I told her that because my liver enzymes were high and so, I had stopped taking it and started taking Iodoral, a high potassium-based iodine supplement. There is much research on this form of treatment. She was not happy. She said that if the nodule was cancer, then it could have now spread to my liver and that could be the reason for the high liver enzymes. She continued to deny that the liver enzymes were elevated because of the methimazole. It was at this point, I mentioned that the nodule had receded. Her response was that nodules just doesn’t disappear. She then grabbed my throat with such force that it hurt. Needless to say, she was fired.

In March, I began seeing a practitioner that specialized in thyroid issues. He recommended running blood tests to see if there were any other autoimmune issues. Sure enough, I also had the Epstein-Barr Virus. I visited another practitioner that did thermographic imaging. The tests did not show any inflammation in the breasts or the thyroid area. March, I went back to my PCP and my blood tests looked good but continued with the propranolol because my heart rate was still elevated. It was also recommended that I keep a close watch on my eyes, so my eye doctor was enlisted to get his perspective on the pressure and strain the Graves’ disease can have on the eyes. In July, I went back to the PCP. He said that I shouldn’t do so much research into nutrition, that knowledge can be dangerous and referenced the Garden of Eden.

Discovering Energy Work

While all of this was going on, I finished my certification for the Emotion Code Technique (link to a reference The Emotion Code | Energy Healing Method | Discover Healing). In August, I started to learn how to meditate and in September started breast milk protocol (Milk Therapy: Unexpected Uses for Human Breast Milk (nih.gov)) to see if I could address a mitochondrial energy reboot and the autoimmune issue. I was gifted about a month’s supply of frozen milk from someone who owned an organic farm. Since breast milk has stem cells and T cells, maybe it could help increase neutrophils and help reverse the autoimmune disease. I read a blog by the medical medium that had talked about pregnancy and thyroid issues. It begged the question, what if my last pregnancy could have been the final straw to being so nutritiously energetically depleted that there was now collateral damage. Interestingly enough, my mom wasn’t able to breast feed me. So maybe this was another missing piece to my poor health.

January 2019, I had to go back on propranolol. I continued with sound and infrared sauna therapy each week. I am forever grateful to my friend who offered this treatment. Some weeks were just hard to rally around with energy to do even the simplest of tasks. Mind you I’m still running my Wellness teaching and coaching business but on a much smaller scale. February through April I concentrated on being a grandmother, you never know how much time we have with family. Easter Sunday, I met with a practitioner to experienced Pranic healing for the first time. This was definitely the icing on the cake as far as energy work is concerned. I went home feeling better that I had felt in years, but this too was short lived. In June, I was able to get away to the beach, which always rejuvenated me. Meditation continued to also give me some peace in between the thyroid revolution I was enduring, and it gave me a chance to learn different approaches to this incredible way to connect to our inner spirit. In September, I began to learn how to incorporate medicinal cooking and more about Ayurveda herbs. In November, my friend closed her wellness center and I had to teach my class at the University of Richmond from a chair again. My daughter came through with some more of her frozen breast milk, which seemed to help somewhat, but again, I would plateau.

Searching For Healing Amid a Pandemic

The pandemic brought us all a year we will never forget. It started with a high note but then April we would all experience dare I say it the new normal. The best thing I can say about 2020 is I continued to search for healing. I figured I had tried all I could to modulate the physical, so now I would elevate the spiritual side of me. We are after all spirit mind and body why not explore how this can facilitate and streamline the healing process? I began to learn all I could about Pranic healing. Each day I would incorporate my spiritual practice of meditation and cleansing of dirty energy. This worked well with my emotion code technique of taking out the trash of old emotional baggage that doesn’t serve us and can even cause illness. I was still teaching my class and now doing online podcast educating others how to create wellness. I began doing a lot of blogging about my journey of healing encouraging others and planting seeds of hope. Being at home gave me the opportunity to also do research and take classes to learn what I could about healing the whole self; a time windfall that otherwise wouldn’t have presented itself if it weren’t for the pandemic.

Discovering Thiamine

In April of this year, the eye doctor noticed an increase in eye pressure, which he wasn’t sure if it was due to the Graves or if it could be glaucoma. When I went back in July and it was still there, I was referred to an eye specialist to investigate further. I am now seeing more cross-eyed, and it appeared to be worsening. In October, I learned about thiamine – vitamin B1 and began taking 500-1,000 mg a day. Wow, immediately my neck felt cooler, and the headaches I had been suffering from subsided. When I saw the doctor again in November and questioned whether or not the eye problems could be related to a thiamine deficiency, he got agitated and said he was not a nutritionist. He wanted to know if I had been tested to see if I was deficient in the first place. I guess physical improvement is not a sign of progress or healing.

It was around the same time that I also learned about pyrroloquinoline quinone and added that to what I was already taking. This is what I am currently taking: Kenzen Mega Daily 4® , Kenzen Omegagreen plus DHA®, Kenzen Immunity® (14 medicinal mushrooms), Jade GreenZymes® (Gluten Free barely grass which has SOD/Superoxide dismutase an antioxidant), Kenzen Vital Balance shake®,(® from Nikken), Lithium, Iordoral, Bilberry, Ginkgo Biloba, Resveratrol, L Carnitine, N Acetylcysteine, Siberian ginseng, Boswellia – Frankincense, Vitamin B1, Cal-mag-zinc, D3 & K2, Ubiquinol + Pyrroloquinoline quinone, Astragalus tincture, oil of oregano, tincture, Bugleweed tincture, Sarsaparilla tincture, Artichoke tincture and cod liver oil. I drink a tea everyday with elderberry, Chamomile, fennel, hibiscus, and green tea because of ECGC (epigallocatechin gallate); which inhibits cellular oxidation and prevents free radical damage to cells.

While I am not fully recovered, I am doing much better, in part because of dietary changes that have allowed me to sleep longer, and more soundly which has enabled me to achieve a parasympathetic or healing response. I am hopeful that 2022 will bring to light some interesting answers. I have an appointment with a doctor of Chinese Medicine soon and looking forward to improved health. Stay tuned to find out what happens next on my journey navigating the road less traveled.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter.

High Dose Thiamine and Parkinson’s Disease

by Derrick Lonsdale MD, FACN, CNS

Published on June 17, 2021

29155 views

An Italian physician by the name of Dr. Antonio Costantini has reported the use of megadose thiamine for the successful treatment of Parkinson’s disease and several other diseases. This post is organized from “Frequently asked questions about high-dose thiamine (HDT) therapy” on the now closed Facebook group Parkinson’s and Thiamine HCL.

Dosing Thiamine

A standard dose of thiamine to start the treatment protocol does not exist. The dose that he and his group have been using is 4 g/day as tablets by mouth or 2 injections of 100 mg each, twice a week. Because he has had several years of experience, the right dose has always been tailored to the specific characteristics of the patient. On the basis of their observations the right dose is the one that suppresses the majority of the non-motor symptoms and at least 50% of the motor symptoms, without causing over-dosage symptoms. This is an important point because the dose of thiamine can be too little or too big, making me think of the ancient Chinese whose philosophy was expressed as Yin and Yang for too little or too much. The right dose is found when the disturbed balance is suppressed and the patient regains normal balance. On the basis of their experience, if symptoms are exaggerated at the beginning of treatment, it may mean that the dose of thiamine is already too high for the needs of the specific patient. One of the questions that was asked was whether thiamine could be administered in association with any of the existing therapies for Parkinson’s disease. The answer was that it is compatible with any drug on the market.

Course of Improvement

The oral therapy produces an appreciable improvement within a few days, but the patient may not realize it. Within 30 days in most of the cases, an appreciable improvement of the symptoms is detected by the patient as well. Further improvement is observed within the following 2-3 months. The effectiveness of one intramuscular injection of 100 mg is nothing short of impressive in all cases they have observed. It determines an almost sudden improvement, clearly appreciable by the doctor as well as by the patient. The tremor, one of the major symptoms in this disease, is strikingly reduced.

Obviously, one of the questions was whether there were any side effects from high dose oral thiamine. The answer was that the only known side effect associated with this therapy was from over-dosage. When the dose of thiamine is higher than the needs of the patient, there is worsening of the symptoms of the disease and reduction of the dose usually results in improvement. If high oral doses of thiamine are taken later in the day (evening or night) there may be difficulties in falling asleep. If taken in the morning or early afternoon, patients reported an improvement in their sleep. Patients reached the peak of improvement within 3-6 months and no further improvement was observed past that.

Thiamine is highly effective with all the symptoms, both motor and non-motor. It is best to start with low-doses, increasing gradually until the symptoms improve satisfactorily. More than 2,500 patients have been treated. All responded favorably, regardless of severity. Many have been following the clinic protocol for 3-5 years and progression of the disease appears to have been halted. This is truly an amazing story. How many more patients could be helped if their doctors would put aside their skepticism and humbly try to learn more about the use of high-dose thiamine?

Only one patient was unable to tolerate the high dose. Each time she tried, it caused vomiting. Finally, they state that they prefer to see how the high-dose thiamine performs before adding any more dietary supplements.

It is pretty clear that neurologists need to study this pioneering program for Parkinson’s disease. These results have been published in peer reviewed medical journals. Dr. Costantini unfortunately succumbed to Covid-19 but I have no doubt that his colleagues will continue to explore this remarkable innovation Of course, using a vitamin in large doses turns it into a drug, an entirely new concept in medical treatment and it is natural that skepticism will have to be overcome. However, the results are so dramatic that they cannot be ignored.

Mechanisms of High Dose Thiamine Therapy

Although we know a lot about the activity of thiamine in the body, there are aspects about it that are still shrouded in mystery. We have known for a long time that it is a cofactor for many enzymes that function to produce energy. There is little doubt that Parkinson’s disease, like many other human diseases, is an energy-deficiency condition, so the use of thiamine in its treatment would make sense. However, much more information is required concerning its non-enzymatic functions. To become active in the body, thiamine has to have two molecules of phosphate added to it to act as a cofactor. Its non-enzymatic form includes thiamine triphosphate about which we know surprisingly little, in spite of the fact that it was discovered 70 years ago. This treatment of a severe crippling disease forecasts the arrival of Orthomolecular Medicine as the orthodox form of therapy.

Final thoughts

The use of a vitamin in megadoses to treat disease is brand new. It seems that enough clinical evidence of its benign, non-toxic effect has been reported by this Italian group to “set the world of medicine on fire”. The concept of using a molecule, essential to life, in large doses as a drug will undoubtedly require further confirmation, but it would be absurd to ignore these results. The “exactly right dose” seems to confirm the long held philosophy that “the truth lies between two extremes”.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter.

Image by Annick Vanblaere from Pixabay.

COVID Notes: “I Don’t See A Role For Mitochondria.” Say What?

by Chandler Marrs, PhD

Published on April 12, 2021

5742 views

covid notes mitochondria immune function

A persistent notion in medicine is that the only time mitochondria precipitate, or in any way influence illness, is when mDNA mutations are involved and/or with frank starvation. Absent those two events, the magical mitochondria will keep chugging along and there is no need to consider their impact on health or disease. This belief emanates partly from another all-too-persistent notion that holds tightly to a compartmentalized model of organismal function, suggesting that each bodily system and thus each disease process is unique and distinctly separate from everything else, and partly from the way most folks are taught about mitochondria – by rote memorization of the Krebs cycle. As a result and except in specific circumstances, most physicians and many researchers see no role for mitochondria in health or disease.

This is true with COVID as well. Even though COVID presents disparately across patient populations, is clearly not limited by body compartment or system, and not only does not fit within any diagnostic model to date but shatters everything we think we know about illness, folks are reticent, nay adamant, that mitochondria are not involved. COVID is not a mitochondrial illness, they proclaim. To that end, on a somewhat regular basis, I see posts, threads, and comments about just how unimportant mitochondria are to COVID and really, to health in general.

Stressed Mitochondria, Inflammation, and COVID

Some months ago, a gentleman argued that the chronic inflammation caused by COVID was related solely to altered immune function similar to that seen in conditions like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. He went on to say that he did not see any role for mitochondria in this. Similarly, another gentleman was equally adamant that there was no known relationship between “mitochondrial health impacting which immune response or pathway will be activated.” He argued further that my suggestion of stressed mitochondria triggering the inflammatory responses seen in COVID-related blood pressure drops and cytokine storms was not possible per the tenets of modern immunology. It was foolhardy for me to consider otherwise.

Beyond the obvious faceplant response – ‘as if the immune system could function without the help of the mitochondria; as if anything could function without the mitochondria’ – there is an ample amount of research linking mitochondrial function to immune function predating COVID and a burgeoning body of research linking mitochondrial response to COVID severity. Indeed, some of the more recent research suggests that not only does SARS- COV2, the viral protein associated with COVID directly influence mitochondrial function like many other viruses do, but also that it is only the host variables e.g. mitochondrial fitness that determine how far the virus is allowed to progress. Mitochondria, it appears, are the determining factor of illness severity, something I have been saying since the beginning of this pandemic.

When this particular series of ‘COVID does not involve the mitochondria’ comments came up, I was speaking about the hijacking of the mTOR pathway by other viruses and speculating as to whether COVID might do the same. The mTOR pathway includes a set of enzymes that regulate cell and mitochondrial metabolism via multiple mechanisms. Though mTOR are not mitochondrial proteins, as they are located in the cytosol adjacent to another set of organelles called lysosomes, they provide critical signaling to mitochondria involving energy metabolism and stress response. In fact, mTOR coordinate mitochondrial energy consumption and production. They initiate these nutrient signals by binding or unbinding themselves to the lysosomes. Among those signals that mTOR respond to is protein or amino acid status. Low protein effectively inhibits mTOR enzymes. Absent outright starvation, which is entirely possible in critical illness, protein metabolism is dependent upon mitochondrial function. Specifically, protein catabolism and synthesis both require energy or ATP, which in turn requires an array of micronutrient co-factors to power mitochondrial enzymes, the machinery involved in these processes.

Returning to the claim that the COVID cytokine response was akin to the autoimmune diseases like arthritis or lupus, that claim is absolutely correct. The response is akin to one of an autoimmune disease process, but what most fail to recognize is that autoimmune disease process is itself tied to the mitochondria, through multiple channels, including mTOR. Since these conversations arose from a post on viral hijacking of mTOR and the inflammatory patterns observed with autoimmunity, let us dig into those relationships.

Th-17 Cells, mTOR and the Mitochondria

Common to both the severe and long COVID and autoimmune illness, are hyperactive pro-inflammatory Th17 cells with underactive anti-inflammatory Treg cells. Th17 modulation is tied to mitochondrial fitness. The Th17 response is thiamine dependent. Thiamine is the rate limiting co-factor to key enzymes involved in mitochondrial energy production, including those at the entry points for the glucose, fatty acid, and amino acid pathways and other enzymes within the TCA/Krebs cycle. Thiamine deficiency derails mitochondrial energy production, shifting it from oxidative phosphorylation and towards aerobic and eventually, anaerobic glycolysis. Even aerobic glycolysis, however, is thiamine dependent. These shifts in energy production are mitochondrial danger signals to the immune cells, including Th17 proinflammatory response. The mTOR proteins, are also involved. When oxidative phosphorylation, glutamine metabolism, and fatty acid synthesis, all which are thiamine dependent, are lagging and energy wanes (e.g. with insufficient thiamine or other mitochondrial nutrients), mTORs energy metabolism becomes anaerobic and pro-inflammatory – e.g. Th17s upregulate and the anti-inflammatory Treg cells downregulate.

Renowned mitochondrial researcher Robert Naviaux would tell us that in both autoimmunity, and in COVID, particularly Long COVID, the mitochondria are stuck in battleship mode; that they lack the energy not only to complete the tasks at hand, but to create more energy. Dr. Lonsdale would tell us that this is because the mitochondria lack the sufficient nutrients to convert food into energy, especially thiamine. From our book, notice how many times thiamine, vitamin B1, is required. Notice also, how many other micronutrients are required to convert food substrates, glucose, proteins, and fatty acids into ATP.

Now consider the high calorie, low nutrient composition of the modern American diet, the metabolic dysfunction associated with the severity and chronicity of COVID, and the range of inflammatory disorders afflicting many of the patients who develop severe and/or long COVID. These are connections that must be recognized.

We know that absent sufficient mitochondrial nutrients, energy wanes. When energy wanes, inflammatory cascades remain unchecked; among them, hyperactive pro-inflammatory Th17 and underactive anti-inflammatory Treg cells. We have to consider also that although pharmaceutical interventions may abrogate that inflammation superficially and temporarily, they do nothing resolve the underlying issue, which is micronutrient deficiency. Since most, if not all, medications damage mitochondria by one mechanism or another, their use, while necessary in some instances, ultimately imperil mitochondrial capacity and exacerbate any underlying energy deficiency as well. So, when we look at folks most at risk for the more severe cases of COVID and/or those who develop symptoms consistent with Long COVID, it is important address the inflammatory response caused by the lack of sufficient energy.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter.

Longstanding Mitochondrial Malnutrition in a Young Male Athlete

by OC

Published on April 5, 2021

6987 views

Male athlete with mitochondrial malnutrition

My health issues started rearing their head in ninth grade, and given the vitiligo of my mother and MS (stabilized) of my father, perhaps it should not have been much of a surprise. I had mono in middle school, and then after getting a bad virus at the start of freshman year, my health deteriorated rather quickly.

Over the course of the first few years of high school, I was diagnosed with immunoglobulin deficiencies, gastritis induced anemia that was often recurrent, IBS, elevated blood sugar, insomnia, and hypothyroidism. I also developed hand tremors and was told I had SIBO. I was a student athlete and was often exercising over eight hours a week at the time. My diet in middle school represented the Standard American Diet, but after my health issues started, I ate a diet that loosely resembled the paleo diet without much benefit.

Entering college, doctors convinced me that my issues were due to malnutrition from undereating. I was encouraged to eat more and so I did. Over the next two years, I followed an unrestricted diet with a mix of junk and traditional health food. I went from 130 to 190lbs, a 60 pound weight gain. My stomach issues got better, but everything else remained the same, except I started experiencing anxiety and exhaustion. The doctors were right, but their advice was wrong. I wasn’t malnourished from a lack of food, but from a lack of the micronutrients that allow the mitochondria to convert food into energy. Looking back, it is no wonder I had no energy.

Just recently, I discovered the articles about thiamine on this website. It all began to make sense. Thiamine is a required mitochondrial nutrient, one that I was likely missing. I began thiamine and magnesium. I had previously tried magnesium, but I was intolerant to it. Since taking the duo for two weeks, I have started to notice a bit more energy, much better warmth in my extremities, and more stable blood sugar. However, that was preceded by major nausea, freezing low body temps, and worse blood sugar instability than ever suggesting a thiamine paradox at work. Here’s to hoping that this treatment works wonders going forward.

Health History

Current Age: 20
Height: 6ft
Gender: Male
Weight and body fat: 190lbs 15% Body fat

Family History

Mom with vitiligo
Dad with stabilized MS

Middle School

Had mono at one point, always generally had minor fatigue
Junk food diet

Ninth Grade

Got terrible stomach virus at start of year
Developed hand tremor
Found out I was anemic with collagenous gastritis. (I suspect it was actually iron overload aka Morley Robbins theory.)
Treated with Prilosec and iron supplements
Ate relatively low carb
Lots of tennis

Tenth Grade

Developed IBS
Discovered IGG and IGA deficiency and low vitamin D
Got SIBO diagnosis
Restricted diet even more by eliminating gluten and dairy
Lots of tennis and track

Eleventh Grade

Diagnosed hypothyroid
Took synthroid without success
Lots of tennis and track

Twelfth Grade

Unrestricted diet as doctors convinced me that undereating was the cause of my issues. I went from 130lbs to 160lbs.
Lots of tennis, track, and weightlifting

Freshman Year of College

Ate paleo style to drop weight, dropped to 150lbs.
Main issues were insomnia, chronic dry mouth, cold hands and feet, GERD, bloating, anxiety

Summer Before Sophomore Year Through End of Sophomore Year

Started eating a lot again, unrestricted, and went up to 175lbs over the course of a year with lots of heavy lifting
Fasting blood sugar of 99 and then 104
Same symptoms as freshman year
Tried things like megadosing zinc, megadosing vitamin D without success

Junior Year Through March 2021

Same symptoms as freshman year, but slightly improved due to nutrient density
Got shingles and recovered
Ate lots of eggs, whole milk, liver, oysters, ground beef, chocolate, liver, potatoes, rice, bagels, butter — Ray Peat style
Felt a bit better and warmer, but exhaustion became a symptom
Had negative reactions to magnesium supplements despite low RBC
I was trying to implement root cause protocol (Morley Robbins) after discovering my ceruloplasmin was low
Donated blood per Morley Robbins advice. Of all the stuff I have done, this provided the most benefit to me in terms of improved thyroid function and general sense of wellbeing, but still had tons of issues

Present

Discovered thiamine and this website and began thiamine supplementation. First with thiamine mononitrate March 20, 21. Suddenly, I had energy.
Switched to 250 mg Benfotiamine with 120 mg magnesium on March 24^th.
Switched again to 100 mg Thiamax with 125 mg magnesium on March 25th.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter.

Image by hansmarkutt from Pixabay.

thiamine - Page 8

Thiamine Activation Requires Magnesium

The Transketolase Enzyme

Alpha-ketoglutarate Dehydrogenase and Pyruvate Dehydrogenase

Thiamine and Magnesium Should Be Supplemented Together

Magnesium and Thiamine

We Need Your Help

Related posts:

You might be interested in

A New Book

We Need Your Help

Related posts:

You might be interested in

Sugar Induced Cellular Energy Deficiency

Thiamine Is the Spark

Thiamine Deficiency and Dysautonomia

Thiamine Dosing Varies

We Need Your Help

Related posts:

You might be interested in

Brain Symmetry

Dysautonomia

What Has This to Do with Scoliosis?

Prevention

We Need Your Help

Related posts:

You might be interested in

Early Childhood: Skinny, Unattractive, and Sickly

Young Adulthood: Bone Demineralization and Costochondritis

Connecting Poor Diet to Poor Sleep and Everything Else In Between

Polypharmacy Induced Vertigo: Enough is Enough

Thyroid Storm

Limited Options from Conventional Medicine

Discovering Energy Work

Searching For Healing Amid a Pandemic

Discovering Thiamine

We Need Your Help

Related posts:

You might be interested in

Dosing Thiamine

Course of Improvement

Mechanisms of High Dose Thiamine Therapy

Final thoughts

We Need Your Help

Related posts:

You might be interested in

Stressed Mitochondria, Inflammation, and COVID

Th-17 Cells, mTOR and the Mitochondria

We Need Your Help

Related posts:

You might be interested in

Health History

We Need Your Help

Related posts:

You might be interested in