Author Archives: lassesen

Unknown's avatar lassesen 2:41 pm on March 26, 2014  

Histamines, Allergies and Gut Bacteria

A recent article Altered Fecal Microbiota Composition Associated with Food Allergy in Infants found levels of 20 predominant genera were significantly different between the Food Allergy  and healthy control groups.   Allergies produces histamines [WebMD]. Thus Histamine Intolerance may be due to overgrowth of bacteria — and we now have some suspects!  At the highest level

  • Reduced
    • Bacteroidetes,
    • Proteobacteria,
    • Actinobacteria
  • Increased:
    •  Clostridiaceae 1 /  Clostridium

And ended with “The specific microbiota signature could distinguish infants with IgE-mediated FA from non-IgE-mediated ones.” which is keeping with my belief that one day the exact variation of CFS/FM/IBS that a patient has may be determined by a stool test and need no other labs.

As a FYI, the only probiotic that I know which contains some of the reduced bacteria is Prescript Assist, I have added family information to my summary to make it easy to navigate the biological naming complexities.

Unknown's avatar lassesen 11:33 pm on March 25, 2014  

Starting up on Probiotics – my thoughts

<Disclaimer>As always, discuss with your knowledgable medical professional before doing any changes in supplements or probiotics, etc </Disclaimer>

A reader sent me the following email:

Hello Ken,
 
I am preparing to test out various probiotics.  I want to see how I react to the various probiotics prior to starting on the herbs.
 
I plan on trying:
 
1. Align
2. BioGaia Protectis
3. 4X probiotics (If I can find a company that will ship it to Canada)
4. Jarrow Femdophilus
5. Mutaflor
 
Probably in that order.
 
I would appreciate your recommendations on how long I should try each probiotic, and what maximum dose I should aim for, for each?
 
Also, do you recommend taking the probiotics with food or on an empty stomach?
 
Should I take a break in between each probiotic?  If so, how long?
 
 
I thank you, in advance, for your input.

Comments

My general comments are:

  1. Start with one capsule (or if in tablet form, 1/2 tablet) for the first 3 days, then increase every three days unless your body is clearly adjusting to it. Once an adjustment starts — keep on that dosage until it stops.
    1. If it does not stop within 7 days stop.
    2. When it stops, increase the dosage for another 3 days
  2. Maximum time on any probiotic should be 10-14 days – I prefer the pulsing model.
  3. Maximum dosage is 2x recommended dosage — there are some studies suggesting a negative return from higher amounts. Of course, we do not know where that threshold is.
    1. Remember, the purpose is nudge your gut bacteria in the right direction — not to clobber it with “strangers”.

Keep notes on any changes that you experience. If you are living with a significant other, ask them to note any changes of mood, speech etc.

When / How to take

My usual pattern is to take the probiotic just before bed-time. This is a habit from the antibiotics days — if a herx or other reaction starts, you would rather sleep thru it! In some cases, it will help with sleep. I would suggest a 100% rye bread (no wheat flour) slice as an evening snack because rye bread appears to be encourage more diversity of gut bacteria. My usuals can be purchased on Amazon or my local grocery store (and likely a few deli’s).

Additionally, supplement with D-Ribose. It is the food for e-coli (Mutaflor)

Specific answers:

Unknown's avatar lassesen 12:30 am on March 25, 2014  

Thick Blood – a 15th year Retrospective

Before Dave Berg of Hemex Labs retired (and the Lab sold), I had several occasions to talk with him, both at CFS conferences and hosting online interviews. The transcriptions are available here:

For those not around and interested in CFS back in 1999, I should provide some links to his publications:

There were many presentations / poster papers that year, including this one at AACFS Conference. My family had panels done at Hemex and with remission, the panels normalized. A few blood draws were sent to a different lab, and the results were similar. My panels are in the PDF of my 1999-2000 remission.

Science Dropped The Ball

Standard scientific practice is to have another lab/person attempt to replicate the results using the same methods that were described (to make sure it was not a lab error). No one stepped up to do this. The result is that his findings, some 15 years later, are still not confirmed or disputed. They are largely ignored. His model did not interest any one doing research.

A new perspective on thick blood

Recently I was introduced to the histamine model for CFS. Histamine is released from mast cells. It was interesting to discover these have “many granules rich in histamine and heparin.”  Last night a light shone — mast cells releasing the contents of the granules is the result of chemical signals. One signal (to release histamine) is an allergic reaction, the other signal (to release heparin) may be low oxygen levels (or some related condition that suggests heparin is needed).

Consider this scenario, thick blood triggers the granules and while the amount of heparin released have the desired effect, the amount of histamine is more than the body can handle — i.e. histamine overload (just like you can get heparin overload).

Checking PubMed for histamine and altitude, some studies suggests that histamine release increases with altitude [1985], I suspect as a result of the body trying to get more oxygen by thinning the blood (by releasing heparin).

This suggested that for a histamine reduction treatment, that there are three facets that should be considered:

  • Altering volume of bacteria that converts histidine to histamine
  • Reduced consumption of histamine and histadine
  • Improving blood circulation and oxygen penetration into the tissue (to reduce the chemicals asking granules to discharge their contents).

This also means that histamine overload can be a factor for a subset of CFS patients — especially those that have some low level hypercoagulation (which may not clinically present). For those patients, heparin — either injections or sublingual — may reduce the histamine sensitivity because the heparin is being obtained without the release of histamine.

We are back to the story of blind men describing an elephant. It is all one creature with various textures and characteristics. If we feel around long enough, the parts start to form a complete picture of what we have.

Unknown's avatar lassesen 6:39 pm on March 23, 2014  

Histamines and Anticoagulants – a review

A good friend is testing the excessive histamine model as a significant vector for CFS. This model does fit with the dysfunctional microbiome model because gut bacteria changes histidine into histamine. The friend is showing significant signs of improvement (with a lot of symptom changes).

I was asked to double check my usual list of anti-coagulants against histamine influence. These are notes that I extracted my reference book and PubMed  review. There are three supplements that appear to reduce histamine levels, improve cognitive function and reduce coagulation (thick blood):

  • Alpha Lipoic Acid
  • Turmeric
  • Vitamin D3

Choline

In CFS patients this is important because it impacts cognitive function:

  • Relatively high in occipital cortex of the brain
  • Abnormally high in general
  • Improves with viral clearance, resulting in significant improvements in verbal learning, memory, and visual-spatial memory
  • Normalizes with Turmeric (curcumin – reduces histamine levels [2014] [2013])
  • Normalizes with Alpha Lipoic Acid (reduces histamine levels [2010] [2010])

Alpha Lipoic Acid

  • Decreases CD62P platelet expression
  • Decreases CRP levels by 19%
  • Decreases fibrinogen, factor VII, vWF, and triglycerides
  • Decreases plasma levels of free fatty acids, triglyceride, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol, small dense LDL-cholesterol, oxidized LDL-cholesterol, very low density lipoprotein-cholesterol
  • Decreases symptoms of neuropathy and neuropathic deficit
  • Decreases TNF, IL-6
  • Improves blood flow and nerve function

Turmeric

The active ingredient of this kitchen spice is curcumin. Turmeric may be more effective than curcumin, the extract. Curcumin has anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, pro-apoptotic, chemo preventive, chemotherapeutic, anti-proliferative, wound healing, anti-parasitic, anti-malarial and anti-bacterial activity. Although inexpensive, apparently well tolerated and potentially active, curcumin has not been approved for the treatment of any human disease.

  • Benefits IBS
  • Bioactivity is increased by adding 1% black pepper
  • Increases fibrinolytic activity
  • Inhibits platelet aggregation, increases coagulation time
  • Inhibits EBV, antiviral
  • Inhibits H. pylori
  • Inhibits inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)
  • Neuroprotective
  • Reduces high level of fibrinogen
  • Reduces IL6, IL8, TNF

Vitamin D3

  • 22% – 65% of CFS patients are deficient (less than 20 ng/mL)
  • 61% – 80% of Fibromyalgia patients are deficient (less than 20 ng/mL)
  • Associated with headaches, hypersomnia
  • Associated with orthostatic intolerance
  • Hypersomnia eliminated with supplements
  • Improvement became more significant with FM when blood level of 25(OH) D exceeded 50 ng/ mL (125 nmol/L)
  • Moderately to severely sub-optimal in CFS patients
  • Remission seen with 2000–10000 IU/day (with magnesium and phosphate)
  • Treatment with high-dose vitamin D resulted in clinical improvement in all FM patients
  • With myalgia in statin-treated patients, 92% were resolved when levels reached 50 ng/mL (125 nmol/L)
  • Patients with 25-OHD less than 20 ng/ml (50 nmol/L) are more likely to have
    • impaired short memory
    • confusion
    • mood disturbance
    • sleep disturbance
    • restless leg syndrome
    • palpitation
  • Inhibits  thrombus formation [2014]
  • Attenuates platelet activation  [2011]
  • Low levels seen with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) with thrombotic disease[2012]  (a variation of APS is Dave Berg’s Hemex model of CFS)
  • Reduces histamine levels [1996] [1995] [2014]
  • A dosage to discuss with you health profession may be 15,000 to 20,000 IU/day for a few months.

To Be Avoided Anticoagulants

Aspirin

  • “aspirin enhanced histamine release” [2013]

Bromelain

  • AVOID:  allergic reaction is known to happen with this [nih] – which implies histamine release.

Other  OTC anti-coagulants

Serrapeptase

  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Effective for inflammatory venous disease
  • Improves antibiotic concentration up to 850%
  • Inhibits the formation of biofilms
  • No information on Histamine or Mast Cell impact

Nattokinase

  • Anti-hypertensive
  • Cleaves cross-linked fibrin
  • Decreases red blood cell aggregation and shear-viscosity of blood cells
  • Inactivates plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 and then potentiates fibrinolytic activity
  • Increases activated factor VII levels
  • No information on Histamine or Mast Cell impact

Lumbrokinase

  • Anti-thrombotic
  • Digests fibrinogen and inhibits platelet adhesion
  • Decreases fibrinogen significantly. Inhibition of intrinsic coagulation pathway and the activation of fibrinolysis via an increase of t-PA activity
  • No information on Histamine or Mast Cell impact

Grape Seed Extract

Grape seed extract is rich in proanthocyanidins. Proanthocyanidins are available from other supplements (cranberry juice, cider). There are contradictory reports on whether it increases or decreases IL6, IL8, TNF. It may or may not offer protection for glutamate excitotoxicity (depends on grapes being used)

  • Decrease in uPA and PAI-1 activities and thus decreased fibrinolytic activity
  • Decreased fibrinolytic activity, decreased cell-surface plasmin activity
  • Decreases fatigue when taken with L-arginine
  • Decreases COX2
  • Decreases fatigue
  • Decreases IL-17, IL-6
  • Decreases IL-1-beta,TNF, IL-6 and IL-8
  • Decreases platelet activation
  • Decreases thrombus formation, inhibitory effect on platelets
  • Increases anti-thrombin activity
  • Increases TNF
  • No information on Histamine or Mast Cell impact.
    • Because it is a salicylate (like aspirin and bromelain) – probably best to avoid
Unknown's avatar lassesen 11:10 pm on March 19, 2014  

Bifidobacterium, Chocolate and CFS

There are studies on PubMed which now agree and has implication for CFS/IBS patients

A reader forward me Chemists discover secret to dark chocolate’s health benefits from the LA times… and behold

What they found was that after cocoa was “digested,” long molecules called polyphenolic polymers remained within the gastrointestinal, or GI, tract. The molecules are too large to cross the walls of the gut and be used as nutrients, according to researcher John Finley, a professor of food science and biochemistry at Louisiana State University. “They do nothing for us except travel down the GI tract after we consume them,” Finley said. That is until they encounter some of the many microbes that inhabit the human colon, particularly Bifidobacterium and lactic acid bacteria, researchers said.

“These little guys say, ‘Hey —   there’s something in there that I can use,’ and they start to break it down,” Finley said.

The smaller molecules that result from this fermentation can travel through the gut wall and be used by the body, researchers said.

“These materials are anti-inflammatory and they serve to prevent or delay the onset of some forms of cardiovascular disease that are associated with inflammation,” Finley said.

So dark chocolate promotes the growth of bifidobacterium (a known undergrowth in CFS), as well as pumping in anti-inflammatory chemicals.

Bottom Line for diet: Take  bifidobacterium and chocolate together!