Category Archives: Conditions

Unknown's avatar lassesen 2:02 am on December 22, 2013  

Catecholamines, Heart Palpitations, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Bacteria

Health Rising recently had a nice article published on Nov 1, 2013 on the research of Dr.Visser on this common symptoms of CFS patients. Later in the month there was also a video.

Reading the article, I noted that catecholamines appears to be a significant part of the symptom. Catecholamines is a family of chemicals consisting of  epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine and hydrocortisone: cortisol. This caused me to wonder what we knew about the microflora and catecholamines. A search on PubMed found 1880 articles — too much information for most people!

Articles summarizes what I was expecting “These results indicate that gut microbiota play a critical role in the generation of free CA[catecholamines] in the gut lumen.” [2012] and a treatment that some would like: ” Dark chocolate reduced the urinary excretion of the stress hormone cortisol and catecholamines and partially normalized stress-related differences in energy metabolism (glycine, citrate, trans-aconitate, proline, beta-alanine) and gut microbial activities (hippurate and p-cresol sulfate)….   a daily consumption of 40 g of dark chocolate during a period of 2 weeks is sufficient to modify…” [2009]

And their impact on species typically overgrown in CFS is significant [2002], which is why stress often worsen CFS symptoms — the overgrowth increases.

It is interesting to read the NIH list of items that increases catecholamines (and thus risk of palpitations)

  • Acetaminophen (Tylenol, Paracetamol, Anacin)
  • Albuterol
  • Aminophylline
  • Amphetamines
  • Buspirone
  • Caffeine
  • Calcium channel blockers
  • Cocaine
  • Cyclobenzaprine
  • Levodopa
  • Methyldopa
  • Nicotinic acid (large doses)
  • Phenoxybenzamine
  • Phenothiazines
  • Pseudoephedrine
  • Reserpine
  • Tricyclic antidepressants

The only thing listed for reducing were prescription drugs.  However, a little research on PubMed found

During the research I found 1 2013 article: “Plant-based medicines for anxiety disorders, part 2: a review of clinical studies with supporting preclinical evidence“, which list some familiar herbs and some new-to-me ones that were deemed to be effective in the studies reviewed  (Yes — an already researched list!). I am assuming that their mechanism is reducing catecholamines levels.

  •  Piper methysticum [Kava]
  • Matricaria recutita, [German Chamomile]
  • Ginkgo biloba, [Ginkgo]
  • Scutellaria lateriflora, [Blue skullcap]
  • Silybum marianum, [Milk thistle]
  • Passiflora incarnata, [Purple Passionflower]
  • Withania somniferum, [Ashwagandha]
  • Galphimia glauca, [Thryallis]
  • Centella asiatica, [Centella]
  • Rhodiola rosea, [Rosavin]
  • Echinacea spp., [Echinacea]
  • Melissa officinalis [Lemon Balm]
  • Echium amoenum [Borage]

Each has different chemicals, so it you have regular palpitations — you may wish to discuss with your medical profession about trying each of these for a week to see if any has a positive effect.

Unknown's avatar lassesen 5:31 am on December 16, 2013
Tags: Misdirection   

Depression: “Natural”, CFS, and other forms

Often CFS patients have their problem ascribed to depression. MDs then attempts to treat the patients with conventional depression medication with results contrary to what they expected [Distinguishing between depression and chronic fatigue syndrome 2013]. As Dr.Bell mentions, “The constant fatigue and other symptoms would cause anybody to be depressed. Claiming depression causes the fatigue is naive and dismissive”. As a result of a recent conversation, I thought a little review on the state of research on depression may be nice. There have been a lot of very interesting recent publications.

Depression can have several sources:

It is my belief the CFS is primarily the last one – specifically biological agents(gut bacteria alteration), although the others may be a factor in some. This is not my theory — it was proposed 70 years ago and there has been little scientific followup – see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3038963/ for a good write up.

One of the key predictor of the severity of depression is vitamin D level (Relationship between vitamin D and depression in multiple sclerosis. [2012], Vitamin D Status during Pregnancy and the Risk of Subsequent Postpartum Depression: A Case-Control Study(2013), Low vitamin D levels are associated with symptoms of depression in young adult males (2013). It also impacts gut bacteria: Vitamin D regulates the gut microbiome and protects mice from dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis. (2013), Vitamin D and prebiotics may benefit the intestinal microbacteria and improve glucose homeostasis in prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (2013)

An interesting article that I spotted while reviewing the literature was Could yeast infections impair recovery from mental illness? A case study using micronutrients and olive leaf extract for the treatment of ADHD and depression (2013) — which agrees with some reports of Olive Leaf Extracts lessening some CFS symptoms over the years.

Unknown's avatar lassesen 4:29 am on December 3, 2013  

Brain – Gut Bacteria: Recent Research

NPR recently had a program where they found the brain MRI’s and gut bacteria were related. The program is here. An example quote:

…they’ve found changes in both brain chemistry and behavior. One experiment involved replacing the gut bacteria of anxious mice with bacteria from fearless mice. “The mice became less anxious, more gregarious,”  It worked the other way around, too — bold mice became timid when they got the microbes of anxious ones. 
 

This suggests that many psychologists and psychiatrists may be replaced by a bottle of ‘designer probiotics‘. One example from the literature referenced as a probiotic containing:

  • Bifidobacterium animalis subsp Lactis,
  • Streptococcus thermophiles,
  • Lactobacillus bulgaricus, and
  • Lactococcus lactis subspLactis.

Additional articles on this area are:
http://www.optibacprobiotics.co.uk/blog/2013/05/could-probiotics-affect-brain-function.html

Unfortunately, the brand or source of this fermented milk was not given. I have been unsuccessful locating any commercial offering precisely matching this offering. Some Kefirs come close, Onaka appears to be a closer match, as well as  Danone’s Activia (“Bifidus Regularis”) which has 3 of the 4 species listed (once you wade thru advertising renaming of species).

Unknown's avatar lassesen 6:00 am on December 2, 2013  

A recent experience of a MCS attack and treatment outcomes

Over this last weekend, I had the misfortune to be exposed to someone whose clothes had been exposed to an auto oil-based air freshener, it could have been Febreze or some other brand. My wife was immediately effective. I was not — until the second day of exposure. I have had only one other incidence of MCS reaction in my life, and that was some 12 years prior. Having suffered from it once, I believe it is a very real condition.

Day 1: exposure – no effect
Day 2: re-exposure. following happen at about 2 hr intervals…
  1. Suddenly chilled, even in a warm room – I had confusion about why?
  2. Bronchial issues started appearing (i.e. IgE response, klaxon went off that it could be MCS reaction) – I immediately left the exposure area
  3. Noticeable cognitive issues
  4. Gut cramping, difficulty swallowing(throat was constricted significantly)
  5. Significant physical clumsiness (some nice bruises from the clumsiness)
  6. Disorientation, lack of focus
Day 3: Took some racetams (3 different ones) and anti-fibrins, anti-inflammatories. Detox with Olestra chips. I felt like I was living in a different body, mind was extremely scattered, did not feel normal, etc
Day 4: Kept up the above — dizziness, lack of mental focus continued. Attempted to do WII fit. On Day 1 I did over an hour with no problem; today, barely did 20 minutes before I had to sit down. Played against the computer for backgammon — instead of winning 90% of them, I was loosing 100% of them.
Day 5: Recall that I had significant improvement of cognitive issues with Neem and Tulsi, so I started taking 3 “00” capsules of one of them every two-three hours. Soon after taking them, had chills again, etc — I chose to believe that it was herx and that part of the MCS reaction was due to gut bacteria. Gut cramping also returned for about 1 hr.  After some five rounds, my cognitive abilities felt normal-ish. I was winning at least 50% of the backgammon. I could do 40 min of WII fit without any problem.
Day 6: Sleep in, sluggish. Once I had coffee and a WII fit session, I was close to normal. Slightly scattered (easy to loose focus).
Day 7: Awoke at usual time, a very little bit of sluggishness, much less scattered. Keeping on task and focused well – still not up to my usual standards, but close enough others do not notice.
This was not a control experiment. I do not know if the recovery would be the same if I had not taken Neem/Tulsi.  I am shifting my belief about MCS towards it having a significant gut bacteria component. The model of these synthetic chemicals being misinterpreted by the immune system may still apply, but these chemicals may also be acting as signals (or signal interference) to gut bacteria growth rate.
I do not know if this may also apply to asthma and food allergies, but I suspect it may be worth investigating.
Unknown's avatar lassesen 12:15 am on December 2, 2013  

A primer on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity for those unfamiliar with it

With the holiday season comes family gatherings, and with that — some challenges with MCS. Some of you family members that do not get MCS fully. MCS is an allergy but with one key difference: it does have have the pronounced IgE response that MDs normally see with allergies.

MCS is very much like a peanut allergy. “Oh, I cannot taste any peanuts in this food — so it is safe for Johnny to eat”. “Oh,  I can’t detect any smell so it’s safe to be around Mary” or worst (showing your ignorance) “It’s a psychological response to the smell” or better still “Johnny’s allergic response is psychological to the taste of peanuts and is attention seeking!”

MCS is not “smell base” – it is not multiple smell sensitivity or multiple fragrance sensitivity. It is sensitivity to certain modern synthetic chemicals. Often the chemicals are those used by the fragrance industry (and thus are not listed, or just listed as ‘fragrance’).

MCS impacts the brain

Recent studies have found that a MCS attack results in changes of SPECT brain scans:

MCS is in the brain, in the physical brain and not a psychological issue.

Symptoms

First, what is MCS symptoms – the department of Education disagrees with many MDs and believe that it is very real

From US Dept. of Education policy letter (2001)  (paper)

  • asthma or other breathing problems
  • autoimmune disorders
  • behavioral problems
  • bloating or other intestinal problems
  • cardiovascular irregularities
  • chronic exhaustion
  • disorientation or becoming “lost”
  • dizziness
  • dystonia (paralysis)
  • eye, nose and throat problems
  • fatigue and depression
  • flu-like symptoms
  • food allergies and intolerances
  • genitourinary problems
  • headaches
  • increased sensitivity to odors
  • inflammation
  • irritability
  • learning disabilities
  • mental confusion
  • movement disorders
  • muscle weakness and joint pains
  • numbness and tingling in limbs
  • persistent infections, especially yeast
  • persistent skin rashes and sores
  • seizure disorders
  • short or long term memory loss
  • visual disturbance

“Both the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) have recognized MCS, in some cases, as a disabling condition.”

The next question is to understand a bit about MCS — Studies from 1985 onwards has found that about 30% of people that have an allergic response (IgE response) also had coagulation triggered. If you look at most of the above symptoms, you will see that many of them are consistent with excessive coagulation happening: mental confusion, learning disability, irritability, etc

  • “This represents the first demonstration that cutaneous IgE-mediated allergic responses are associated with local activation of the intrinsic plasma coagulation-kinin pathways.” [1987]
  • “A patient presented with coagulation problems a few days after honeybee sting….She manifested signs of hypotension with disturbance of consciousness” [2004]

MCS can lead to transient ischemic attack and in rare cases to strokes, because of the massive coagulation produced. MCS attacks do not respond to anti-histamines (which is the normal treatment to allergies) because the IgE response is not dominant; coagulation is. Like with all allergies, if a person has had a recent attack, they may be hypersensitive for up to a year after a reaction. The “memory” of the reaction is carried in cells that have a life expectancy over 6 months. It is suspected that the epigenetics of a person changes due to the reaction.

If you are visiting with someone with MCS

There are simple rules that need to be followed precisely:

  1. Read this site on MCS
  2. Toss out every freshener in your house and car NOW.
  3. Toss out “Bounce” and every other type of dryer sheet and fabric care sheet
  4. Toss out everything that says “Unscented” – typically this means that a chemical has been added to mask the scent
  5. Do not use aftershave or perfume for at least 3 days before visiting
  6. Run your dryer on hot(not warm) for 3-6 cycles to drive out residue chemicals
  7. Use only Fragrance Free Laundry Liquid (for example biokleen) and wash the clothes that you are planning to use:
    1. With Laundry Liquid
    2. With vinegar
    3. With Laundry Liquid
    4. Store in a plastic bag until worn away from the rest of your clothes, ideally, outside.

If you cannot do this, then please contact the person and tell them you cannot be MCS safe and tell them what you are doing – assuming you are willing to do something more than just token steps (I would suggest it is said in an email — if it is not a long email describing many things, then a wise MCS person will simply say “forget it (and silently think: if they care so little for me — then the contact is not worth it)”.

There is no such thing as “I thought it would be ok” with MCS. If it is a family event, then the decisions become tough. If you are not willing to do it, then you need to decide: “Am I going to the event, or are they going to the event”  — it is an either/or.

If you decide to go, tell them and be frank and tell them you will not be MCS safe. End of story. End of visit for them likely. It is not a matter of them “inconveniencing you”, it’s a matter of putting their life at risk. You are giving a kid with a mild peanut allergy something that may be cross contaminated with peanuts (just a very little!) – you could be very luck and there is no response, mildly lucky and he has a mild reaction, or he could go into anaphylactic shock.