Entry for February 03, 2008

I’m really happy about getting results with SAM-e and the other thing I’ve noticed? The vibration has stopped since I started taking it. So is it because I found the root cause or is it because it has a calming effect on the body?

Entry for January 22, 2008

Woke up with the vibration.

Entry for January 21, 2008

Woke up with the vibration again…

Entry for January 20, 2008

Woke up this morning with the vibration. Not sure what I’ve done differently except for taking Lipoic acid over the past few days.

Entry for October 11, 2007

Tonight when I went to bed I had the vibration so I got up and went downstairs to my supply cabinet. While looking everything over, I decided to take one capsule of GABA. Went back to bed and there was no vibration.

GABA sure does have a calming effect on the nerves!

Entry for October 04, 2007

Woke up this morning with the vibration. I really hate the fact that it comes and goes. I’ve learned to take things that will help me and make it stop but nothing ever seems to “cure it”.

Sad to think I’ve been at this for two and a half years and I’ve learnt so much and yet, I know nothing. The big thing now is at least I can control it and deal with it because I know what works.

Back to the amino acid research…

Entry for September 10, 2007

No vibration again!

Since taking GABA seems to have an effect on the vibration, I start looking up the function of amino acids and there are several things that are a precursor to GABA. Using some logic, it would only make sense that something must be low to cause a GABA deficiency. Glutamine is one of them and is used to treat anxiety.

Glutamine

* Provides about 80% of the body’s pool of free nitrogen.
* Reduces craving for sugar, alcohol and other drugs.
* Improves nutrient absorption.
* Important with inability to gain weight (cachexia).
* Useful with impotence, allergies, senility, fatigue, peptic ulcers.
* Converted in the brain to the neurotransmitters glutamic acid and GABA.

Glutamine easily passes through the blood-brain barrier, a protective barrier formed by the red blood cells and the glia of the brain that protects the brain from any toxins, bacteria, and viruses, etc., that are circulating through the bloodstream. Inside the brain glutamine may be converted into glutamic acid, another amino acid that helps sustain proper brain function; it also increases levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid that acts as a neurotransmitter in the body.

L-glutamine supplements may improve mental function and have been used to treat epilepsy, depression, schizophrenia, and senility. Glutamine is also an important source of energy for the nervous system. If the brain is not receiving enough glucose, it compensates by increasing glutamine metabolism for energy. Glutamine users often report more energy, less fatigue and better mood.

Glutamine Deficiency Seen In:

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Alcoholism
Anxiety and Panic Disorders

Entry for September 09, 2007

No vibration!

I found some garlic supplements that I stopped using the first time around because they didn’t seem to have an effect on the candida. I’ll try adding that to see if it works this time.

Entry for September 05, 2007

Woke up with the vibration…

I’m not sure how that’s possible because I’m literally swimming in niacin these past few days. That can only mean one thing: I may be low in niacin, but it’s not the cause of the vibration.

My two main symptoms are Candida and the vibration/anxiety.

So using candida as a starting point, I come across the following article:

Glutathione

As Candida albicans spreads beyond the gastrointestinal tract and colonizes in other areas of the body, it produces various toxins. These toxins can impair health by reducing the body’s supply of white blood cells, which are needed by the immune system to properly fend off infectious bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other pathogens. Candida albicans toxins also inhibit the body’s ability to manufacture antioxidants, including glutathione, an enzyme that is important for liver detoxification and cellular respiration. As a result of these negative effects caused by the unchecked spread of Candida albicans, symptoms of candida can manifest in many different ways, mimicking other disease conditions and negatively impacting many areas of your body.

Glutathione, an amino acid is low in people with candida. Okay, I’ve tried amino acids before but maybe I’ll have a different result now that I’ve taken care of the mineral deficiencies.

Here’s some more information about how a Glutathione deficiency can effect the nervous system:

“A deficiency of Glutathione first affects the nervous system, causing such symptoms as lack of coordination, mental disorders, tremors, and difficulty maintaining balance. These problems are believed to be due to development of lesions in the brain.”

Glutathione can be depleted by a host of agents working alone or together. Environmental pollutants, tobacco smoke, alcohol abuse, acetaminophen, mercury from dental fillings, and a sustained immune response against persistent toxins, can all rob you of this most important health asset. Mercury can impair your body’s ability to synthesize Glutathione by normal means.

The liver produces glutathione from the amino acids cysteine, glutamic acid and glycine. Glutathione deficiency results in early aging and in the loss of coordination, balance, tremors, and mental disorders.

Glutathione levels decline with age and if not corrected will accelerate the aging process; so supplementation is important. But the assimilation of supplemental oral glutathione is questionable. Instead it is best to supplement with cysteine, glutamic acid and glycine and have the body use those raw materials to manufacture needed glutathione.

Entry for September 03, 2007

This morning was the fourth day in a row that I haven’t had a vibration in the morning and it’s probably the extra niacin. One thing I’ve noticed this time? Since taking the niacin, my skin feels really smooth. It’s very subtle but there is a difference and I know that there’s a link with niacin and healthy skin.

Niacin Summary

B3 or niacin plays a key role in over 100 functions necessary for health and is especially important for energy production and, as a vasodilator, blood circulation. It’s also needed for red blood cell formation; the health of skin and the digestive tract; healthy nervous system functioning and brain activity; and for the synthesis of the sex hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

Entry for August 29, 2007

Woke up with a vibration…

A week with the high doses of insitol and choline and although there was a huge difference in the beginning, I haven’t noticed any more improvements lately. Originally I thought it had an effect on the vibration. Now I’m not so sure?

Today the cold hands returned around lunchtime and it would come and go without any effect from my supplements. By late afternoon there was something that I did notice…

I can feel something like a pimple in the roof of mouth. The canker sores have returned and this time I’m glad because I know exactly what the problem is and why it is happening.

I don’t recall that I’ve ever mentioned the canker sores in my blog in the past because it was happening before I started to document everything and at the time, I didn’t realize it was a symptom of a vitamin deficiency. There was so many other things going on that I didn’t mention it.

It really makes sense that I would still have a niacin deficiency because I was taking it for months and then stopped thinking I’d taken it long enough and didn’t need it anymore. The low level of phosphorus was the reason for the deficiency in the first place and I needed to address that first.

I’ve taken niacin on and off since I started taking the phosphorus on Aug 1st and didn’t notice a difference but this time, I’ll try it for longer.

Entry for August 28, 2007

I had an early meeting downtown today and we needed to set the alarm for 5:00 AM. Now I’ve never been a morning person and I was slightly worried that I wouldn’t get up in time even with the early alarm.

How did it go? The alarm goes and the first thing I notice is no vibration. 5:15 AM and I’m up getting started and we get out of the house on time to make my early train. Despite getting up at that ungodly hour, my eyes were not itchy and watery like they usually are in the morning and today it was extra early so I think that was a really good test.

Now, if I can just raise my magnesium level…

Entry for August 27, 2007

Woke up with the vibration…

This morning it’s back to work so I added some extra magnesium just in case. I sat down at my desk and started my daily routine and it hit me like a tonne of bricks. The magnesium loss must be because my copper is low. This is fantastic!!!!

I actually have some homeopathic copper on me so I take that with 1 magnesium and I could feel the difference. I should’ve known it because of the candida supplements were working, the minerals were balanced afterall. It makes sense because I’m been taking a high dosage of zinc everyday since the beginning of February. Hard to believe but it’s been over six months of treatment so maybe I did go too far? I had no real sign that the zinc had been corrected.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll take the candida supplements along with my multivitamin and a calcium/magnesium.

This is great news! Magnesium is my friend again.

Entry for August 23, 2007

Yesterday was another great day and I can really feel a difference with these new vitamins. Especially with my eyes so I think it’s the inositol that is responsible for that.

Inositol plays an important part in the health of cell membranes especially the specialized cells in the brain, bone marrow, eyes and intestines.

No vibration and no cold hands during the day either… so I think that’s the choline working.

Choline assists in controlling your weight as well as cholesterol levels, keeping cell membranes healthy and in preventing gallstones. It is also most useful in the maintenance of the nervous system, assisting memory and learning, and may help to fight infections, including hepatitis and AIDS.

Because the candida supplements are working this time round my assumption is that the minerals that I’ve been fighting with for the past months are now getting somewhat balanced.

For breakfast I had Raisin Bran, tuna sandwich for lunch, one apple and two pears for snacks. The success against the candida and the recent improvements, I’m started to feel like I’m really making some progress.

I meet by wife at her parents house and we pick up my daughter and head home. The same routine it’s been for almost a year now. We get home around 7:00 PM and as I enter the house I feel a weird pain in my upper left chest. It’s a pain I’ve had before but not since I discovered magnesium. I was panicked because I’ve been doing so well lately. I don’t go anywhere without my homeopathic magnesium so luckily I took some right away. And because I was home, I could take one 250 mg of magnesium. The pain disappeared and I was somewhat confused as to what had happened. I sat down for a bit and had a glass of water.

When I was settled, I wanted to check my iris in the mirror to see if I could see anything in the area of the heart and it looked normal. Checking my iris in the mirror is actually something I do now almost on a weekly basis. I bought a little flashlight and carry it around with me.

So why the chest pain? I’m not really sure…

Entry for August 22, 2007

No vibration this morning.

Today I’ll split things up a little differently. Here’s today’s dosage:

300 mg Calcium/Magnesium 3x
50 mg Zinc 2x
250 mg Inositol 3x
250 mg Choline 3x
100 mg Phosphorus 2x
Caprylic Acid 3x

Entry for August 21, 2007

Woke up with the vibration but today was a great day and it felt like I had more energy than usual. The stuff I’m taking for the candida is working this time around. When I think back, it’s almost hard to believe how bad it actually was a year ago.

I managed to pick up 250 mg of inositol and 500 mg of choline at the health food store. I take one each with my lunch and my the early afternoon, I can feel the effects. Hard to explain..it just feels different but in a nice way…and no cold hands all day.

Found some suggestions for dosage:

Inositol

Description: 500 mg/2x/day. Improves nerve function; taken with choline and biotin, some have found improvements in HIV-induced neuropathy at doses of 1000-4000 mg/day;

Choline

Description: 1000 mg/2x/day choline citrate. Improves nerve and immune function. May help reverse neuropathy, both peripheral and autonomic; higher doses may be needed, up to 1000-3000 mg of phosphatidylcholine, 3 times per day;

Biotin

Description: 10-15 mg/day. Normally produced by intestinal bacteria which are destroyed in anyone on antibiotics. Not much in food so supplementation necessary. Helps prevent candida problems. Helps metabolize fatty acids, and thus is critical for fat digestion; also necessary for amino acid metabolism. Biotin deficiency can cause dementia; shown in kidney dialysis patients on biotin-free restricted diets; such neurological problems reversed with a couple of months of biotin supps. May also help reverse neuropathy, both peripheral (cause of numbness and pain in feet, legs, hands, arms) and autonomic (contributor or cause of impotency and digestive problems). For neuropathy, works best when used in doses of 15-20 mg/day (15,000-20,000 mcg) and in combination with choline, inositol, B6, B12, and thiamine.

Entry for August 16, 2007

For the past couple of days I’ve had water itchy eyes and although I thought it was because of something I was taking, I now think it’s something that I need…

I’ve cut down on my vitamins and yesterday I only took calcium/magnesium. This morning I still had the problem so I took calcium/magnesium again but I also took B complex which I stopped taking on a regular basis a while back.

That seemed to do the trick so are we back to B vitamins again?

The calcium/magnesium does seem to have an effect on the vibration but yesterday morning I didn’t take my morning dosage and the cold hands returned around noon time which was a bit disappointing…

Entry for August 08, 2007

Woke up this morning with a slight vibration but I’m very happy with the new found results and I think it’s from the extra calcium/magnesium. Because of the vibration, I’m going to add niacin back into the rotation. 100 mg dosage, three times a day and I’m also going to reduce the amount of phosphorus by half.

Daily Supplement Summary:

900 mg Calcium/Magnesium (300 mg 1/1 ratio)
300 mg Niacin (100 mg)
300 mg Phosphorus (100 mg)
600 mg Vitamin D (200 mg)
90 mg Zinc (30 mg)
25 mg Manganese

Entry for August 03, 2007

Went to bed last night and I was fine. Then my wife did something that scared me for whatever reason and I started vibrating right away. It’s weird and I don’t really remember what she did because I was so tired. That kind of thing hasn’t happened in a while so I’m not sure what happened?

Here’s a comment about the relationship between Niacin and Riboflavin that suggest a niacin deficiency can cause a riboflavin deficiency. Interesting because that was the order of my symptoms. The vibration, upset stomach, then the nerve tingling in my head. So if the vibration is being caused by phosphorus this would make sense but I’m still not sure about that…

CONSEQUENCES OF A NIACIN DEFICIENCY

There are many symptoms of niacin deficiency. Initially, muscular weakness, anorexia, indigestion, and skin eruptions occur, with severe deficiencies of niacin commonly leading to pellagra. Symptoms of pellagra include dermatitis, senile dementia, and diarrhea. Tremors and a sore tongue are also symptomatic. With pellagra, the skin becomes cracked and pigmented in the parts exposed to sunlight. Lesions can appear in the central nervous system, producing confusion, disorientation and neuritis.

Inflammation of the mucous membranes of the mouth and the gastrointestinal tract can result from digestive abnormalities developed in niacin deficiency. Symptoms of severe riboflavin deficiency appear; many of the niacin deficiencies are similar due to the close interrelationship of riboflavin and niacin in cell metabolism.

I added niacin back today but I didn’t take any chromium to see what the effect is. If phosphorus is responsible for niacin absorption, then I suppose it’s possible that even though I’d taken it for months, it wasn’t being absorbed in enough quantity to reverse a deficiency.

Entry for July 26, 2007

Okay, now I’m confused… woke up with a slight vibration. Yesterday there was none and today it’s back. I’m still taking the chromium and now I’m eating pears so how could it return?

One thing I’ve noticed lately is my hair. Although I can’t really say 100%, it seems to be a little thicker on top. I have my hair cut really short these days and it’s good for checking the progress.

The amazing thing is that I haven’t had my daily cold hands at all for the entire trip so far. This is all very weird…