just some thoughts regarding tests

I was surfing the net tody and came across the optimum health clinic

now, I don't know them nd I have no idea if they're any good. Since they seem to be very focused on psychological stuff  I have my doubts, but that's nothing but a first impression and maybe that's a totally wrong impression. But the website lists a number of interesting tests that can be ordered through them and of course elswhere also. These tests might be really interesting and important in the search for the cause of CFS symptoms. And I firmly believe that everyone is different and so the investigation can be really tricky. So here's the site:

http://freedomfromme.co.uk

here's their list of the tests they offer, you never know, maybe this list will help someone:

• Adrenal Stress Index Test
• Comprehensive Stool Analysis/Gastro-Intestinal Function
• Vitamin & mineral status (blood test)
• ATP Profile/Mitochondrial Function
• Translocator Protein Study
• Cell Free DNA
• SODase
• Co-enzyme Q10

• Epithelial growth factor (sEGF) for stomach acid
• Glutathione studies
• DNA Adducts
• Full Thyroid Panels
• Urine Iodine/Halides
• Hair Mineral Analysis
• Leaky Gut (Gut Permeability)
• Food & environmental Intolerances & Allergies
• Candida Antibody
• Kryptopyrroles/Pyroluria
• Heavy Metals
• Metal or chemical Sensitivity
• Fat Biopsy for Pesticides and Volatile Organic Compounds
• Essential Fatty Acid Profile

Amazing advance in testing - just one drop of blood

Just a very short post about a new company I came across on the internet today:

http://www.talking20.com/     or outside the USA     http://www.talking20international.com

they have developed a blood test which needs only one drop of blood on a test card and it can be done easily at home and needs no refrigiration or other complicated shipping stuff.

I have no idea if its good or bad or whatever but I thought it sounded really interesting and might be a way to become more independent of uncooparative doctors and to become more self reliant and proactive.

I will certainly try it out sooner or later and then I'll post my experiences here. If someone reads this post who's already tried them it would be great if you'd let me know what you think about them.

over two pounds of veg a day keeps constipation away

I've been eating (and drinking) over two pounds (1 kg) of vegetables
a day for the past three months. Plus meat and cheese and eggs and fish
and nuts and yoghurt and small amounts of gluten free low carb bread...
I am guessing it's about 50% veg and 50% the other stuff. I do not believe
in any kind of fasting, especially not for people with CFS who need all the
strength they can get from food or anywhere else. I just thought that I needed
more natural vitamins and stuff and after reading the book
'Minding my mitochondria' I thought I'd give it a try.

It was really impossible at first to get such a volume of food down. So I
decided to juice some of it and that made it a little easier. But since I am
a very strict low carber my choices for juicing are limited and my veg juices
don't taste very nice. I am using quite a bit of cabbage (white and red),
celery stalks and cucumber and limited amounts of fennel, carrots and
red beets which have more carbs. I have to be careful, If I eat more than
50 gr carbs a day I immediately put on weight. I'll have about half of
my veg as juice and the rest as whole veg: green beans, kohlrabi, green salads,
cauliflower, radishes, spinach, bamboo sprouts, tomatoes, zucchini, aubergines,
artichokes, asparagus, leek, spring onion, endives...
(I do not have a machine for juicing. I put my selection into my blender and
after blending with 1-2- cups of water I strain it through a plastic sieve.
And I leave quite a bit of fiber in because that works best for my bowels)

At first all the veg did nothing at all, then about 5 weeks into the experiment
the constipation I had been fighting with for the last ten years started to lift.
I had been taking huge amounts of magnesium to cope with it. 
Now, three months in, I don't need any magnesium at all for this purpose.
I still take magnesium against cramps and restless leg syndrome but I need
only a fraction of what I used to take. And that's great because magnesium
can be quite harsh on the stomach and gut lining. If I eat less than 800gr a day
the constipation comes back. If I eat over 1200gr it clears out completely.

But the primary reason why I started this vegetable binge is my constant
excruciating fatigue. And it hasn't budged an inch. Maybe it takes longer
maybe there's no connection. I'll continue anyway because the constipation
relief alone is worth the hassle.

ATP: normal levels and causes of low ATP production

I got my new ATP levels a couple of weeks ago and they were at 0.53 nmol/l

my first measurement of ATP levels showed 0.46 nmol/l    (beginning of November 2012)

6 weeks later                                                    0.50               (mid December 2012)

7 weeks later                                                    0.52               (end of January 2013)

and again 6 weeks later                                    0.53               (mid March 2013)

all in all that's roughly a 15% improvement in about 5 month which is not bad at all, still I'm a bit disappointed because the improvement has slowed down so much and nearly stopped alltogether.

I found a paper on normal ATP count in healthy adults and they all had levels around 8.5 nmol/l

unfortunately my computer crashed at some point and I lost the link. If I find again it I'll post it here.

So, the question is: how do I get my ATP count up? The Gesswein protocol has brought some improvements but it's stopped working. Also the danger of overmedicating is relatively high with this protocol (i.e. my Vitamin D problems).


Possible causes of ATP production problems:

1. problems with lack of nutriens 
                                1.1. bad diet /not enough supplements etc.
                                1.2. bad absorption of nutrients
                                1.3. disrupted transport of nutrients to the cells

2. promlems with the transport of nutrients/ATP across the mitochondrial cell membranes
                                2.1. nutrients in
                                2.2. ATP out

3. problems with ATP production itself
                                3.1. not enough mitochondria
                                3.2. damaged mitochondria

4. problems with ATP - ADP recycling


 so that's the big question then, where is the problem? how can I find it out?

I'll be posting more soon

Natural Vitamin D-Levels

Vitamin D is still quite a mystery to me - So here's an update on what's been happening to me

my levels used to be really low (last autumn around 40)
then I took Vitamin D as a sublingual spray and my levels skyrocketed
and even after I stopped taking it my levels still increased (up to 230 at the last test two weeks ago)
that's of course far too high

But what I have noticed doesn't seem to be such a bad thing at least at first glance:

 

a huge change in my circadian rhythm:

 

I used to have problems with sleeping, I only managed to go to sleep around 2 am and woke up 3-4 times a night. Now I get so tired, not the sickly exhausted CFS feeling, but real overwhelming genuine tiredness, that I go to sleep just before midnight and sleep until eight with just one or two interruptions. And it makes a small but noticeable difference: I have more 'good' days. Meaning that on the CFS ability scale I'll be a 3 instead of a 2 more often.

 

But this happened only when my levels went over 200.

The usual opinion is that optimal Vitamin D levels are between 60-80 or 60-100 at most.

One German guy, Dr. Gesswein gives values from 180-230 which seems oddly high.


So I searched the net for 'normal' levels and finally found an article on 'natural' levels here:

http://www.vitamindsociety.org/benefits.php

Natural Levels of Vitamin D

 

Sunlight = Vitamin D: Humans make 90 percent of their vitamin D naturally through sun exposure to the skin (without sunscreen). In Canada‚ our northern climate means UVB levels in sunlight are too weak 4-6 months of the year to make any vitamin D naturally.

What is the intended, natural level of vitamin D that the human body was designed to operate with?

Humans evolved in the horn of Africa, close to the Equator over 30,000 years ago. They spent their days out in the full sun, with no clothing, hunting and gathering food. Their skin pigment evolved and protected them from sun burns and allowed the production of vitamin D through the skin. Nature never intended for humans to live and work indoors, in cubicles, without sunshine exposure.

 

Non-Human Primates: 125 – 200 nmol/L
Vieth 2004 – Why the optimal requirement for Vitamin D3 is probably much higher than what is officially recommended for adults    

Maasai and Hadzabe, Tanzania: 115 nmol/L
Luxwolda 2012 – Traditionally living populations in East Africa have a mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration of 115 nmol/L

 

Outdoor Workers – Lifeguards: 163 nmol/L
Haddad 1971 – Competitive protein-binding radioassay for 25-hydroxycholecalciferol

 

Outdoor Workers – Puerto Rico Farmers:135 nmol/L
Haddock 1982 – 25(OH)D serum levels in normal Puerto Rican population and its subjects with tropical sprue and parathyroid disease

 

Outdoor Workers – Nebraska: 122 nmol/L
Barger-Lux, Heaney 2002 – Effects of above average summer sun exposure on serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D and calcium absorption

 

Indoor Tanners: 95 nmol/L
Schwalfenberg 2010 – Addressing vitamin D deficiency in Canada: A public health innovation whose time has come

 

Average Canadian: 68 nmol/L
Statistics Canada – Langlois 2010 – Vitamin D status of Canadians as measured in the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey

 

Dermatologists: 35 nmol/L
Czarnecki 2009 – The vitamin D status of Australian Dermatologists

 

Grassroots Health and over 40 Vitamin D Scientists recommend achieving an optimal Vitamin D level for disease prevention of 100-150 nmol/L using a 25(OH)D blood test. This is the natural levels that the human body had as it evolved over thousands of years. Everyone should have their vitamin D 25(OH)D blood serum levels tested and make sure they are within these guidelines.

So maybe the D-levels should be a lot higher than the mainstream 60-80 recommendation

I however will try to get my levels down to under 150 asap hoping that the benefits of my circadian rhythm change will stay with me.


(Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I am only searching for solutions and trying out things to improve my quality of life. Do not try anything I didjust on a whim. Always ask a qualified doctor for advice before trying something. All I am writing about are my personal experiences as my very own guinea pig. Everybody is different and I cannot be held responsible for anything anybody tries out.)

Vitamin D and sleep: an update

A few months ago I wrote about mild sleep apnoea and quality of sleep. I had measured my blood oxygen levels for several nights and found I had an average of about 90 disruptions per night (so called desaturation events: A desaturation event is when oxygen levels drop by at least 4% for a minimum duration of 10 seconds. One doesn't necessarily wake up completely because of such a desaturation event but the brain kicks into gear because of the relative drop in oxygen levels and pulls the sleeper out of deep sleep)

Last night I measured again and I had only 28 disruptions (desaturation events). Something seems to be improving.

I think reason number one is the vitamin D even though my levels went a little too high at some point because of the supplement I was taking. (I took the D in a sublingual spray and it worked incredibly well. What I learned is that when taking a spray one has to test frequently to not overdo it.)

The second reson is a new experiment I have started 4 weeks ago: I have been drinking two large glasses of green vegetable juice every day (on top of what I usually eat. I do not believe in juice fasts or other fasts, especially not for people with CFS)
This seems to have altered my sleeping pattern as well, I just don't know why.
I used to be unable to get to sleep befor 2:00 am. Now I regularly go to sleep before 1:00 am. That's one hour every night and it's great. I also feel a little better in the morning ever since.

The third reason might be my light box. I've been using it a lot lately because the weather was so joyless and grey. I am using it every day now for about 3 hours between 10 am -1 pm.

So now I hope this will continue and my sleep will continue improving, since there's still a lot of room for improvements.

I'll be testing my Vitamin D levels again very soon and report them here.



(Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I am only searching for solutions and trying out things to improve my quality of life. Do not try anything I didjust on a whim. Always ask a qualified doctor for advice before trying something. All I am writing about are my personal experiences as my very own guinea pig. Everybody is different and I cannot be held responsible for anything anybody tries out.)

Glutathione and ATP - my new labs

I've been taking acetylglutathione for the past three months to heal my mitochondria
and the results so far are interesting even though they are not amazing.


my first glutathione test showed a level of                         3.2 mmol/l

I started taking 1.200 mg of acetylglutathione per day

6 weeks later my levels were at                                          5.3

so I took less: just 400 mg of AGL per day

7 weeks later my levels were at                                           5.6

I think these numbers are pretty impressive and that gives me a lot of hope.
since I am aiming for 5.8-6-0 of glutathione I'll continue with 400 mg for the next 4-6 weeks and get another blood test done and then I'll probably go on a 100-200 mg maintenance dose


Glutathione is supposed to boost ATP production through protecting mitochondria from oxidative damage. The theory is, that once intracellular glutathione levels are restored through taking acetylglutathione (the masked version that actually manages to reach the cells) the mitochondria can heal and then start producing more ATP. This realtionship seems to be less direct than I was hoping for, since my ATP levels have only reluctantly followed the trend set by the glutathione levels:

first measurement of ATP showed                                         0.46 nmol/l

6 weeks later                                                                           0.50

7 weeks later                                                                           0.52


but it's a 8% increase between the first and second and a 4% increase between the second and third test. slow but still it's moving in the right direction.

Now,I do not feel any better but the changes are probably still too subtle to register clearly but I do hope, if i manage to continue this trend the day will come where I will feel it.

so, I am very cautiously optimistic today and I will reboot the whole Gesswein protocoll since I've slipped a bit on it recently. for the protocol see my earlier blogpost : 

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1919903102337610179#editor/target=post;postID=1950664008712364699



(Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I am only searching for solutions and trying out things to improve my quality of life. Do not try anything I didjust on a whim. Always ask a qualified doctor for advice before trying something. All I am writing about are my personal experiences as my very own guinea pig. Everybody is different and I cannot be held responsible for anything anybody tries out.)