Category Archives: Treatment

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 8:42 pm on November 27, 2013  

Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale on Piracetam

I just got this via one of my regular suppliers. Piracetam is often hard to find.

Piracetam 800 mg 120 capsules (MSRP $34.99) $15.39
[Click here for a direct link:
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?CognitiveNutritionIn/98f757b7a6/db3f9b3f5f/0b026d451d/dispatch=products.view&product_id=60&utm_content=ken%40lassesen.com&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Text%20Version%20-%20Link%202&utm_campaign=Black%20Friday%20Nootropic%20Sale]

This is cheaper then the $25 for 60 capsules I paid back in 1999 from the Czech republic.

 

Unknown's avatar lassesen 6:04 am on November 24, 2013  

Phosphatidlylserine: A review and alternatives for cognitive improvement

Phosphatidlylserine is commonly used to help with cognitive issues in Alzheimer’s Disease and other memory issues. According to Mayo clinic “improvements in memory lasted only a few months and were seen in people with the least severe symptoms.” Because chronic fatigue syndrome often manifest with memory issues, some MD’s may speculate that it could help with CFS. I encountered memory issues last time around with CFS and my SPECT scan was read as early Alzheimer’s disease by the radiologist (neurologist that I subsequently saw disagreed about Alzheimer’s).

So, a CFS MD suggesting that as an experiment seems reasonable. A check of pubmed found the following:

  • Phosphatidylserine – 13700+ hits
  • Phosphatidylserine chronic fatigue syndrome – NO hits
  • Phosphatidylserine fibromyalgia  – NO hits
  • Phosphatidylserine Parkinson – 22 hits
  • Phosphatidylserine Alzheimer – 78 hits
  • Phosphatidylserine brain trauma – 17 hits, none examined the impact of phosphatidlylserine supplementation.
  • Phosphatidlylserine supplementation – 136 hits

The most relevant article that I could find was Fish oil supplementation alters the plasma lipidomic profile and increases long-chain PUFAs of phospholipids and triglycerides in healthy subjects [2012]. It implies that taking fish oil may be as good as phosphatidlylserine. Since there has been no published studies that found that phosphatdylserine is low in CFS or FM, IMHO, the prescription of such to CFS patients is highly speculative.

My own experience

Taking Neem and Tulsi (6 – 00 capsules of each per day) causes a dramatic change of cognitive functions after 7 days.   The choice of those two was based on the overgrowth of certain families of bacteria reported from Australia and the effectiveness of Neem and Tulsi as good or better than conventional prescription antibiotics reported in Indian studies on PubMed.

Before I went on disability last time around, I found that I could moderate cognitive issues with the following items (until the anticoagulant impact resulted in easy bruising).

  • Piracetam (and other Racetams)
  • Grape Seed Extract
  • Fibrinolytics (dissolves fibrin): Nattokinease, Serrapetase, Lumbrokinease
  • Anti-inflammatories: Boswellia(Frankincense) , Myrrh
  • Turmeric

Recent Experience

I’m working at present as a Principal Software Engineer for a pre-IPO company with 40% growth/year. This last week has been — well — hectic and stressful, with four deployments schedules that were messy and with complications.  I was actually surprised on how well I handled this week with no cognitive fade out and actually awesome focus compared to several prior weeks. What I took everyday was actually a pretty simple and a short list.

  • Multivitamin with Mineral
  • Double dosage of Lactobacillus Reuteri (at bed time)
  • Ashwagandha (2 – 00 capsules per day) – morning
  • Piracetam (2 x 800 mg) –
  • 500 mg of Niacin (flushing variety)

I know that Ashwagandha acts as an antibiotic against some gut bacteria, although the original reason that I took it was as an adaptogen to moderate the stress response. The Reuteri is the most common lactobacillus in health mammals. I do not know how others may respond to this mixture. For me, after a week, I still find that cognitive function appear to be improving more — in small ways,  but detectable.

Unknown's avatar lassesen 6:00 am on November 21, 2013  

Comments on a reader’s experience

Today I got an email from a reader sharing some of their experience, the email suggests that a post in response was fine — so I’m sharing my thoughts.

I suffer from CFS.  I caught a viral cold on August 8th of this year.  As has been the case since I contracted CFS, my cold lasted for 2 months.

A vitamin A pulse (150,000 IU of Vitamin A for 3 days) will often stop a viral infection quickly, something to try next time.  Other antivirals are Monolaurin and Olive Leaf.

Just as I was getting over the cold, on Oct 4 I suddenly developed new symptoms.  It started with eye burning, then tracheal irritation, then increased fatigue, then a cough, then a feverish feeling (despite not having an actual fever…this happens all the time since I have CFS…I feel feverish but a thermometer shows normal body temp) and chills.

A recent study found that using machine learning, a 90% success rate on illness could be determined by just examining the microbiome (and no, I don’t have the link 😦 ). This has caused me to believe that at the start of the infection, the infection tricks the microbiome to start producing the chemicals that it needs. These custom orders (and shift in chemicals) causes different bacteria to grow more abundant — resulting in many of the symptoms of the infection. Once shifted, the microbiome attempts to return to it’s prior state.

My health was deteriorating quickly, so I finally called my MD …He did not have any idea what was causing my symptoms.  He decided to prescribe Clindamycin orally.  This is where it gets interesting.

Especially since Clindamycin is rarely prescribed for CFS…

I tool my first dose of Clindamycin at 1h30AM Friday night.  When I woke up on Saturday morning, I noticed a HUGE improvement.  I thought that was weird from a single dose.  Unfortunately, the improvement was short-lived and symptoms returned on saturday afternoon.  It took about a week for my symptoms to start improving, although they have not completely disappeared…even to this day.

If the dominate species that was causing the symptom was very sensitive to this antibiotic, that would explain it. Say 90% was killed off and 10% was resistant, then that 10% would regrow.  Typically I use biofilm breakers with antibiotics to make them more effective, EDTA or NAC for example.

However, despite my symptoms, I had a couple brief periods of amazing energy while on the Clindamycin to the point where I started dancing to latin music that was playing on TV.  I have not been able to do that in years.  The last time that I was able to do that was when I was prescribed Nystatin.

Awesome! Getting these short remission period suggests that you are close to starting that remission slope. The usual problem is breaking discipline and sliding off the path. Because you are feeling better, you stop taking stuff and the resistors (bacteria that actually SLEEP thru the first round of being killed off) start making a slow come back.

Also, while on Clindamycin, my constant shortness of breath was better and I was able to speak with a clear voice.
 Other than that I still feel unwell and mildly feverish to this day, despite having been on 25 days of Clindamycin.

Suggest to your MD to try a rotation to Minocycline followed by a course of zithomax.

Given some of the unexpected side benefits that I experienced while on clindamycin, I was wondering if your research points to a GI microbiome alteration by clindamycin as the reason for the improvement.  I find it odd that I would get a sudden dramatic improvement after the first dose.  My thinking is that a single dose barely has time to affect various parts of the body, however it would affect the GI bacteria immediately.

We are on the same page. You have cast one demon out of your house with clindmycin — you need to get good renters in ASAP — L. Reuteri, Prescript Assist would be good folks to invite in (before other demons decide to move in). See this 2012 article on the problem

Also this dramatic burst of energy (although short-lived) and decrease in air-hunger was a bit perplexing.  I am trying to find a rational explanation for these and was wondering if you have any info that points to the GI tract to explain these effects.

Nothing that is absolutely clear (unfortunately).