Thiamine (Vitamin B1) - A common deficiency in disorders of energy metabolism, cardiovascular and nervous system dysfunction
- Thread starter Keyhole
- Start date
Thank you @Keyhole for this Thiamine thread. I was wondering if it's allowed to give it to small children(mine is 2 1/2years old) . I found a cream, called Authia Cream by Strata Dermatologics, that has allithiamine and B12. (transdermal). It's mostly used for autistic children, but seeing how important allithiamine is and with the EMF and air and water pollution we have to deal with every day, maybe small children might benefit from it...
The ingredients are: Deionized water‚ thiamin tetrahydrofurfuryl disulfide (Vitamin B1) 50 mg/ml‚ PEG-100 stearate‚ glyceryl stearate‚ propylene glycol‚ glycerin‚ isopropyl myristate‚ dimethyl sulfone‚ carthamus tinctorius (safflower) seed oil‚ lecithin‚ dimethicone‚ cetearyl alcohol‚ ceteareth-20‚ diazolidinyl urea‚ carbomer‚ triethanolamine‚ methylcobalamin (Vitamin B12) 500mcg/ml‚ citrus medica limonum (lemon) peel oil‚ phenoxyethanol‚ benzyl alcohol‚ azelaic acid‚ thioctic acid‚ carnosine‚ disodium EDTA‚ ethoxydiglycol.
Paraben-Free.
What do you think?
The ingredients are: Deionized water‚ thiamin tetrahydrofurfuryl disulfide (Vitamin B1) 50 mg/ml‚ PEG-100 stearate‚ glyceryl stearate‚ propylene glycol‚ glycerin‚ isopropyl myristate‚ dimethyl sulfone‚ carthamus tinctorius (safflower) seed oil‚ lecithin‚ dimethicone‚ cetearyl alcohol‚ ceteareth-20‚ diazolidinyl urea‚ carbomer‚ triethanolamine‚ methylcobalamin (Vitamin B12) 500mcg/ml‚ citrus medica limonum (lemon) peel oil‚ phenoxyethanol‚ benzyl alcohol‚ azelaic acid‚ thioctic acid‚ carnosine‚ disodium EDTA‚ ethoxydiglycol.
Paraben-Free.
What do you think?
Ageeva
Jedi
I've been doing a lot of research on Thiamine deficiency in the past two weeks including all the brilliant work @Keyhole has been doing on this vital nutrient these past couple of years. Thank you very much. Reading the research has made me realise I've been having a lot of the symptoms typical of Thiamine deficiency; chronic physical and mental fatigue, neurosis, bouts of insomnia, exercise intolerance, anxiety, heat intolerance and feeling of being disconnected, as well as bouts of constipation and calf muscle cramping. I've started taking 50 mg of Thiamine, but only the HCl form, as well as Magnesium Malate 200 mg, Vit C 1000g (Lipsomal at the moment but I intend to get Ascorbic Acid and take a higher dose), Vit D3 5000 mg and a good multivitamin and mineral supplement. However, I hope to start with TTFD soon when it arrives and I'll report on my progress. I've also been reading through the thread on Iodine and intend to try that in the near future (it's a long thread so it'll take a while) but considering a lot of my symptoms are pointing to Thiamine deficiency I've decided to concentrate on that for now. As regards diet I'm working on reducing my carb intake, I've always been an avid carnivore (Rib eye steak is my favourite, the fattier steak
) but due to my symptoms I've been reaching for the carbs too much.
Even on the Thiamine HCl I've noticed some improvement, so I'm looking forward to supplementing on the TTFD as it crosses the BBB. I'm pretty sure it'll give me the mental focus for dietary and lifestyle changes.
) but due to my symptoms I've been reaching for the carbs too much. Even on the Thiamine HCl I've noticed some improvement, so I'm looking forward to supplementing on the TTFD as it crosses the BBB. I'm pretty sure it'll give me the mental focus for dietary and lifestyle changes.
I've been doing a lot of research on Thiamine deficiency in the past two weeks including all the brilliant work @Keyhole has been doing on this vital nutrient these past couple of years. Thank you very much. Reading the research has made me realise I've been having a lot of the symptoms typical of Thiamine deficiency; chronic physical and mental fatigue, neurosis, bouts of insomnia, exercise intolerance, anxiety, heat intolerance and feeling of being disconnected, as well as bouts of constipation and calf muscle cramping. I've started taking 50 mg of Thiamine, but only the HCl form, as well as Magnesium Malate 200 mg, Vit C 1000g (Lipsomal at the moment but I intend to get Ascorbic Acid and take a higher dose), Vit D3 5000 mg and a good multivitamin and mineral supplement. However, I hope to start with TTFD soon when it arrives and I'll report on my progress. I've also been reading through the thread on Iodine and intend to try that in the near future (it's a long thread so it'll take a while) but considering a lot of my symptoms are pointing to Thiamine deficiency I've decided to concentrate on that for now. As regards diet I'm working on reducing my carb intake, I've always been an avid carnivore (Rib eye steak is my favourite, the fattier steak
Even on the Thiamine HCl I've noticed some improvement, so I'm looking forward to supplementing on the TTFD as it crosses the BBB. I'm pretty sure it'll give me the mental focus for dietary and lifestyle changes.
Thank you for your input, Ageeva.
Concerning physical and mental fatigue I have resorted to a Vitamin B combination supplement ('B complex plus' by 'pure encapsulations').
It contains 100 mg of Thiamine HCI (B 1), 100 mg of Niacinamide (B 3), 100 mg of pantothenic acid (B 5), 10 mg of Inositol (B 3), P-5-P (activated B 6), Riboflavin-5-phosphate (activated B 2) each and 5 mg of Riboflavin (B 2).
Further you get 400 mcg each of biotin, folate and methylcobalamin (B 12).
This combination saves me from swallowing all these supplements consecutively.
In addition I'm taking Magnesium bisglycinate (150 mg), Vitamin D 3 (250 mcg/ 10,000 units) every four days.
BTW: Are you sure you're taking 5,000 mg of D 3?
Judging from my own experience I'd say that neurotic symptoms and anxiety do not always derive from supplemental deficiencies.
I'm also taking 30mg of zinc every couple of days and probiotics daily.
Ageeva
Jedi
Hi @Ursus Minor. I had a look at the Pure Encapsulations website and it's certainly a much better and purer option than the Nutri Advanced brand I'm using at the moment. I would like to switch to TTFD form of Thiamine for its better BBB penetration though.
I haven't been able to get up to date yet on the Magnesium thread and I've noticed Magnesium biglycinate mentioned in posts since my last time on the forum when Magnesium Malate was considered a good bioavailable form. So I'll have a look on the Magnesium thread and check the information on Magnesium biglysinate.
Regarding Vitamin D3, my error, it's of course 5000IU (about 125 mcg?)
This is something I want to look more at. The supplementation was really to give a boost to my mental focus and energy while I look at the psyche, diet and other factors. I hope to do so in the Swamp and other threads soon.
Thanks for the feedback.
I've been thinking that the depressive state that comes with bad food and malnutrition might come from the brain subconsciously, but correctly perceiving that it is at a universal disadvantage (and how we react to that subconscious state determines the remainder of the equation). And then we seem to have this cultural or programmed blind spot where we identify cognitive or physical ailment as an emotion or feeling rather than recognizing that strange mistakes are occurring in our thought process or in our bodies.
This is not an either/or situation as changing our diet and changing our mental state are both part of the solution. If you remedy either symptom you will still have the other to contend with.
If you get over the mental state and start taking actions you will suddenly become aware that you feel very bad physically.
If you fix the diet, you will discover that as soon as some slip up or ordinary illness comes along you will slide back into the same place mentally.
It's never perfectly symmetrical as either diet or internal cognitive situational awareness will be the larger issue just depending on your circumstances. Therefore you may find that after experiencing a good diet you will know how you should be thinking even if your diet puts you at a disadvantage. Or if you become aware of your thinking errors, you will be able to make good decisions despite being under dietary duress.
Example:
In childhood, your parents may fight and this overwhelms you with emotion. The stress causes you to develop stomach pain, but because you are overwhelmed you don't feel it as a symptom of sickness but as indistinguishable from the emotions you are feeling about your parents fighting. And from then ever after, every time you eat a carrot you get depressed because the stomach pain caused by the carrot is indistinguishable from the emotional pain you felt during childhood. I think for many people this process envelopes almost every experience they have of illness, and so they just don't realize how bad they feel and how it is affecting them.
If you merely stop eating carrots you will still have this emotional trigger from stomach pain that will incapacitate you to some degree and cause thinking errors.
If you somehow resolve your childhood feelings, you will still get stomach pain from eating carrots.
This is of course asymmetrical because in the latter case you will easily recognize that you shouldn't eat carrots, whereas in the first case the mental disadvantage makes it very difficult to recognize the pattern.
On the other hand let's say you have a severe nutritional deficiency. It comes and goes, but during some proportion of your life you are extremely lethargic. It takes a disproportionate amount of effort to do mundane things. You receive a box in the mail. You know you have to open the box, but somehow every step takes everything you have. Things which a normal person would do almost reflexively, like picking up the knife and cutting the tape, require from you micromanagement of every step and movement. You cut the tape across the top, and then linger in confusion until you realize you need to cut the sides as well to get the box to open. Just the effort of standing there and moving the box around has drained every last drop of interest you had in what was in the box. After cutting the tape you experience a surge of relief, and in that brief moment of distraction you feel that your work is done. "Man I'm depressed" you think to yourself. You walk away and collapse in the computer chair and begin looking up cat videos on Youtube. After a few hours you realize you still need to get to the box. And so the cycle continues.
Well in theory you could recognize your thinking errors and power through the fatigue. But that doesn't change the fact that you must do everything slowly, checking and double checking and still not catching all of your errors. And the fact is that a normal person could do in 5 minutes what takes you 5 hours. If this is your job, then you are going to lose it.
In this situation I think fixing the diet/nutrition is the priority. Thinking errors contribute, but it's also important not to destroy your pancreas. And if you focus too much on yourself you ignore the fact that others exist and are affected by your poor work, and that is ultimately selfish as well.
This is not an either/or situation as changing our diet and changing our mental state are both part of the solution. If you remedy either symptom you will still have the other to contend with.
If you get over the mental state and start taking actions you will suddenly become aware that you feel very bad physically.
If you fix the diet, you will discover that as soon as some slip up or ordinary illness comes along you will slide back into the same place mentally.
It's never perfectly symmetrical as either diet or internal cognitive situational awareness will be the larger issue just depending on your circumstances. Therefore you may find that after experiencing a good diet you will know how you should be thinking even if your diet puts you at a disadvantage. Or if you become aware of your thinking errors, you will be able to make good decisions despite being under dietary duress.
Example:
In childhood, your parents may fight and this overwhelms you with emotion. The stress causes you to develop stomach pain, but because you are overwhelmed you don't feel it as a symptom of sickness but as indistinguishable from the emotions you are feeling about your parents fighting. And from then ever after, every time you eat a carrot you get depressed because the stomach pain caused by the carrot is indistinguishable from the emotional pain you felt during childhood. I think for many people this process envelopes almost every experience they have of illness, and so they just don't realize how bad they feel and how it is affecting them.
If you merely stop eating carrots you will still have this emotional trigger from stomach pain that will incapacitate you to some degree and cause thinking errors.
If you somehow resolve your childhood feelings, you will still get stomach pain from eating carrots.
This is of course asymmetrical because in the latter case you will easily recognize that you shouldn't eat carrots, whereas in the first case the mental disadvantage makes it very difficult to recognize the pattern.
On the other hand let's say you have a severe nutritional deficiency. It comes and goes, but during some proportion of your life you are extremely lethargic. It takes a disproportionate amount of effort to do mundane things. You receive a box in the mail. You know you have to open the box, but somehow every step takes everything you have. Things which a normal person would do almost reflexively, like picking up the knife and cutting the tape, require from you micromanagement of every step and movement. You cut the tape across the top, and then linger in confusion until you realize you need to cut the sides as well to get the box to open. Just the effort of standing there and moving the box around has drained every last drop of interest you had in what was in the box. After cutting the tape you experience a surge of relief, and in that brief moment of distraction you feel that your work is done. "Man I'm depressed" you think to yourself. You walk away and collapse in the computer chair and begin looking up cat videos on Youtube. After a few hours you realize you still need to get to the box. And so the cycle continues.
Well in theory you could recognize your thinking errors and power through the fatigue. But that doesn't change the fact that you must do everything slowly, checking and double checking and still not catching all of your errors. And the fact is that a normal person could do in 5 minutes what takes you 5 hours. If this is your job, then you are going to lose it.
In this situation I think fixing the diet/nutrition is the priority. Thinking errors contribute, but it's also important not to destroy your pancreas. And if you focus too much on yourself you ignore the fact that others exist and are affected by your poor work, and that is ultimately selfish as well.
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Incidentally, my parents did fight quite a lot and it overwhelmed me with emotions indeed.
It took me a very long time to resolve these childhood conflicts (which I didn't achieve on my own) and if you have been successful in doing that the psychosomatic symptoms should dissolve sooner or later.
If they don't you'll still have some way to go.
What you are describing is a symptom taking on a life of its own.
The reasons for that could either be extremely traumatic experiences or having delayed the necessary therapy for an irresponsible amount of time.
I wouldn't assume that getting stomach pain from carrots is psychosomatic.
I suppose I should have been clear that in the first case, the stomach pain is caused by stress and in the second case it is caused by being sensitive to carrots. Because the stomach pain is indistinguishable from those crystallized feelings, you feel like you are in an emotional crisis every time you get stomach pain, including stomach pain caused by carrots. Therefore you don't realize you are just sensitive to carrots.
Psychosomatic stomach pain from carrots doesn't really fit here because carrots weren't a part of the original trauma. They are just a trigger for the stomach pain which is emotionally indistinguishable from that trauma.
I suppose I should have been clear that in the first case, the stomach pain is caused by stress and in the second case it is caused by being sensitive to carrots. Because the stomach pain is indistinguishable from those crystallized feelings, you feel like you are in an emotional crisis every time you get stomach pain, including stomach pain caused by carrots. Therefore you don't realize you are just sensitive to carrots.
Psychosomatic stomach pain from carrots doesn't really fit here because carrots weren't a part of the original trauma. They are just a trigger for the stomach pain which is emotionally indistinguishable from that trauma.
And I wrote this because I thought it might help Ageeva.
One way to possibly get around this issue of trauma and illness being entangled is to sit with your feelings and try to locate where those feelings are in your body. When I figured this out I was experiencing futile thought patterns and dwelling on past emotional issues. I tried to locate it in my body and realized the only reason I ended up thinking about those things was because I had a headache which I had also had during the original events. I would recognize that stuff was in the past and wasn't relevant but the pain from the headache kept bringing it up in my mind like an intrusive thought that I kept having to put down. Focusing on my body I finally became aware of the headache as separate from the emotional crisis and a surprising shift occurred; I was suddenly able to separate the headache, which was a relevant issue, from the emotional crisis which was long past and irrelevant. The emotional crisis went away and I was able to take care of my body so as not to get headaches. And when I did get headaches after that, it was no longer entangled with those past events.
One way to possibly get around this issue of trauma and illness being entangled is to sit with your feelings and try to locate where those feelings are in your body. When I figured this out I was experiencing futile thought patterns and dwelling on past emotional issues. I tried to locate it in my body and realized the only reason I ended up thinking about those things was because I had a headache which I had also had during the original events. I would recognize that stuff was in the past and wasn't relevant but the pain from the headache kept bringing it up in my mind like an intrusive thought that I kept having to put down. Focusing on my body I finally became aware of the headache as separate from the emotional crisis and a surprising shift occurred; I was suddenly able to separate the headache, which was a relevant issue, from the emotional crisis which was long past and irrelevant. The emotional crisis went away and I was able to take care of my body so as not to get headaches. And when I did get headaches after that, it was no longer entangled with those past events.
Awhile back I did some organic acid testing with Genova Diagnostics, and noticed my lactate and pyruvate levels were all in the low range, which is supposed to indicate good thiamine levels. Is it still worth exploring thiamine supplementation to deal with brain health issues? I think my challenges are more microbiome related, based on symptoms.
Aoide
Jedi
Sorry about the long post ahead. I’ve been having health problems for the past 3 months, feeling exhausted most of the time, not being able to breath enough oxygen, accompanied with tachycardia, shaking and anxiety or panic attacks.
I was on a Paleo/LCHF diet for the last few years, but at the beginning of last year I had many stressful situations within my family (death of my father), and I didn’t took proper care for myself, I started eating too much chocolate and other products containing white sugar, and most often skipping breakfast and sometimes lunch (drinking coffee).
In January of this year, I started working in nearby factory which produces eco-products made of all sorts of grains and my job was mainly to run a flour packing machine, but the problem was that, contrary to my expectations, there was no ventilating system at all in this facility, and the flour particles were flying around every day without some useful mask protection for any of the employees. After a couple of months working there, my boss decided that I also have to learn working with the mill, which was located in other large room, and it was hell working there, on some days you “couldn’t see a finger in front of your face” because of the white gluten fog, and the noise of the machines was extreme. So I needed to do something about it, I asked my boss several times if I could permanently go back to my other job tasks (lesser evil), that I couldn't breathe here and it was too much for me having to lift heavy bags daily with my 54 kilos of weight (it was hard for me, but I didn’t mind it actually because I gained more muscle strength, which I liked), but he refused because he didn’t want to hire another worker, so a few weeks of almost daily work in white fog conditions led me to decision to quit my job (in May).
During the time I worked there (especially the last few weeks) I was having a high-blood pressure issues, feeling faint and without energy, with lots of phlegm coming out. After I stopped working there, all hell broke loose in terms of my blood-pressure, tachycardia, shaking and indigestion – acid reflux (which stopped later), and daily loose stool. In June and July I was having additional issue – always feeling really hungry just few hours after I ate (breakfast, lunch or dinner), so I needed to eat something every 2 or 3 hours to keep this feeling of strong and weird hunger in control, otherwise I would start shaking, heart racing, and generally feeling unwell. Also, different kind of sounds and noises in my environment started to irritate me strongly.
In July, I ditched all the remaining refined sugar and coffee, and lowered my carbs drastically, eating meat and fat and just some veggies, and 1 green banana at the evening. When I eat like that it helps to postpone the hunger to more normal 5 or more hours between meals, and on some days I feel better mentally, with more energy, but it’s usually an exhaustion almost daily, despite what and how much I eat. And I started to have really bad breath after food leaves my stomach.
I visited my doctor in June, made the ECG, blood and urine test, and everything was ok according to her, but just in case she also sent me to check my thyroid hormones, and everything was ok with that too, so she said that the problem must be in my head, that I shouldn’t fear so much, and she prescribed me some betablocker and something for blood-pressure, which I never took, and Alprazolam 0.5mg which I took for the first time yesterday afternoon because I felt strong panic and fear during waves of tachycardia. I asked my doctor about gastroscopy but she said that I’m young and healthy and there’s no need for that, that I just need to calm down.
Last week I went to the Emergency because of a really high blood pressure, heartbeats and pain in the left shoulder and arm - I thought I was having a heart attack and that I will die, it also felt like a strong fire sensation in my chest area, but after ECG and blood and urine tests were done I was told that it’s just some “sinus tachycardia” and everything is fine with me, no signs of any infection or inflammation.
In addition to my diet, I’m taking some supplements: bromelain 500mg once or twice daily with meal, b2 b3 b6 b9 vitamins, taurine 1-3g, magnesium glycinate 200mg, magnesium malate 200mg before sleep, NAC 1000mg, Q10, selenium 200mcg, zinc 50mg (I’ve stopped taking it lately because of possible copper deficiency), and I‘ve started taking 5g of chlorella and 5g of vitamin c on different days. I was having 7mg of Iodine/Potassium Iodide last month for a few times a week but stopped taking it until I find out what is wrong with me.
I can no longer live like this, unable to finish my daily chores, unable to finish cooking or enjoy anything. I was doing EE every day since May (just the first part), but I stopped doing it few weeks ago because sometimes it helps me to get more oxygen and even to stop my heart beating fast, but more often my heart and shaking problems start in the middle of it, leaving me unable to finish the three part breathing.
Searching through the forum health threads for the past few months, I was thinking my problems might be related to heavy metals, gut dysbiosis, thyroid and hypoglycemia. I took one round of Elixa probiotic for my loose stool and other possible gut issues, but I can’t say it did anything noticeable. Reading recently through the B1 Thiamine deficiency thread I thought maybe that’s the big part of my problem, so I’ve took Benfotiamine 150mg a couple of times but I didn’t noticed any effect, and few days ago I took Sulbutiamine 300mg pill with other b vitamins and half hour later my heart started beating faster, dizziness and blood pressure rising, and it cooled down few hours later.
Yesterday I took it again and at first I was feeling well, with more energy, but then the same thing happened with dizziness and all, coming in waves more strongly and I was panicking a bit so I took that 0.5mg Alprazolam in the evening because it just continued throughout the day, exhausting me and making me fear for my life. But I wonder if that is connected to the refeeding syndrome because, since May, I’ve lost about 7kg gradually (I’m 155cm in height), regardless of the amount of food I eat daily. Maybe I should just stop taking thiamine and stop making mess with myself not knowing what I’m doing. My husband is taking all these daily and he’s feeling ok with it. However, these problems are not coming only when I take it, so I don’t know what is causing all this.
Any advice will be highly appreciated!
Just for info (from my visit to the Emergency last Thursday)
Serum Unit Ref. interval
Leukocytes = 14.2 x109/L 3.4-9.7
Erythrocytes = 3.86 x1012/L 3.86-5.08
Hemoglobin = 121 g/L 119-157
HCT = 0.353 L/L 0.356-0.470
MCV = 91.5 fL 83.0-97.2
MCH = 31.3 pg 27.4-33.9
MCHC = 343 g/L 320-345
RDW-CV = 13.7 - 9.0-15.0
Thrombocytes = 297 x109/L 158-424
MPV = 9.8 fL 6.8-10.4
AST (GOT) = 16 U/L
ALT (GPT) = 18 U/L
ALP = 44 U/L
GGT = 14 U/L
AMY-S = 38 U/L
CK = 59 U/L
CKMBa <10 U/L
cTnI = 0.000 ug/L
GUK = 5.9 mmol/L
Urea = 5.8 mmol/L
CRE(s) = 119 umol/L
T-BIL = 4 umol/L
CRP(s) = 0.9 mg/L
Na(s) = 137 mmol/L
K(s) = 3.8 mmol/L
pH = 6.0
Nit(u) = neg (0)
Prot(u) = neg (0)
Glu(u) = neg (0)
Ket(u) = pos (2)
Urob(u) = norm.
Bil(u) = neg
Blood(u) = neg (0)
RBC(u-s) = 0-1 (RBC/HPF)
WBC(u-s) = 0-1 (WBC/HPF)
I was on a Paleo/LCHF diet for the last few years, but at the beginning of last year I had many stressful situations within my family (death of my father), and I didn’t took proper care for myself, I started eating too much chocolate and other products containing white sugar, and most often skipping breakfast and sometimes lunch (drinking coffee).
In January of this year, I started working in nearby factory which produces eco-products made of all sorts of grains and my job was mainly to run a flour packing machine, but the problem was that, contrary to my expectations, there was no ventilating system at all in this facility, and the flour particles were flying around every day without some useful mask protection for any of the employees. After a couple of months working there, my boss decided that I also have to learn working with the mill, which was located in other large room, and it was hell working there, on some days you “couldn’t see a finger in front of your face” because of the white gluten fog, and the noise of the machines was extreme. So I needed to do something about it, I asked my boss several times if I could permanently go back to my other job tasks (lesser evil), that I couldn't breathe here and it was too much for me having to lift heavy bags daily with my 54 kilos of weight (it was hard for me, but I didn’t mind it actually because I gained more muscle strength, which I liked), but he refused because he didn’t want to hire another worker, so a few weeks of almost daily work in white fog conditions led me to decision to quit my job (in May).
During the time I worked there (especially the last few weeks) I was having a high-blood pressure issues, feeling faint and without energy, with lots of phlegm coming out. After I stopped working there, all hell broke loose in terms of my blood-pressure, tachycardia, shaking and indigestion – acid reflux (which stopped later), and daily loose stool. In June and July I was having additional issue – always feeling really hungry just few hours after I ate (breakfast, lunch or dinner), so I needed to eat something every 2 or 3 hours to keep this feeling of strong and weird hunger in control, otherwise I would start shaking, heart racing, and generally feeling unwell. Also, different kind of sounds and noises in my environment started to irritate me strongly.
In July, I ditched all the remaining refined sugar and coffee, and lowered my carbs drastically, eating meat and fat and just some veggies, and 1 green banana at the evening. When I eat like that it helps to postpone the hunger to more normal 5 or more hours between meals, and on some days I feel better mentally, with more energy, but it’s usually an exhaustion almost daily, despite what and how much I eat. And I started to have really bad breath after food leaves my stomach.
I visited my doctor in June, made the ECG, blood and urine test, and everything was ok according to her, but just in case she also sent me to check my thyroid hormones, and everything was ok with that too, so she said that the problem must be in my head, that I shouldn’t fear so much, and she prescribed me some betablocker and something for blood-pressure, which I never took, and Alprazolam 0.5mg which I took for the first time yesterday afternoon because I felt strong panic and fear during waves of tachycardia. I asked my doctor about gastroscopy but she said that I’m young and healthy and there’s no need for that, that I just need to calm down.
Last week I went to the Emergency because of a really high blood pressure, heartbeats and pain in the left shoulder and arm - I thought I was having a heart attack and that I will die, it also felt like a strong fire sensation in my chest area, but after ECG and blood and urine tests were done I was told that it’s just some “sinus tachycardia” and everything is fine with me, no signs of any infection or inflammation.
In addition to my diet, I’m taking some supplements: bromelain 500mg once or twice daily with meal, b2 b3 b6 b9 vitamins, taurine 1-3g, magnesium glycinate 200mg, magnesium malate 200mg before sleep, NAC 1000mg, Q10, selenium 200mcg, zinc 50mg (I’ve stopped taking it lately because of possible copper deficiency), and I‘ve started taking 5g of chlorella and 5g of vitamin c on different days. I was having 7mg of Iodine/Potassium Iodide last month for a few times a week but stopped taking it until I find out what is wrong with me.
I can no longer live like this, unable to finish my daily chores, unable to finish cooking or enjoy anything. I was doing EE every day since May (just the first part), but I stopped doing it few weeks ago because sometimes it helps me to get more oxygen and even to stop my heart beating fast, but more often my heart and shaking problems start in the middle of it, leaving me unable to finish the three part breathing.
Searching through the forum health threads for the past few months, I was thinking my problems might be related to heavy metals, gut dysbiosis, thyroid and hypoglycemia. I took one round of Elixa probiotic for my loose stool and other possible gut issues, but I can’t say it did anything noticeable. Reading recently through the B1 Thiamine deficiency thread I thought maybe that’s the big part of my problem, so I’ve took Benfotiamine 150mg a couple of times but I didn’t noticed any effect, and few days ago I took Sulbutiamine 300mg pill with other b vitamins and half hour later my heart started beating faster, dizziness and blood pressure rising, and it cooled down few hours later.
Yesterday I took it again and at first I was feeling well, with more energy, but then the same thing happened with dizziness and all, coming in waves more strongly and I was panicking a bit so I took that 0.5mg Alprazolam in the evening because it just continued throughout the day, exhausting me and making me fear for my life. But I wonder if that is connected to the refeeding syndrome because, since May, I’ve lost about 7kg gradually (I’m 155cm in height), regardless of the amount of food I eat daily. Maybe I should just stop taking thiamine and stop making mess with myself not knowing what I’m doing. My husband is taking all these daily and he’s feeling ok with it. However, these problems are not coming only when I take it, so I don’t know what is causing all this.
Any advice will be highly appreciated!
Just for info (from my visit to the Emergency last Thursday)
Serum Unit Ref. interval
Leukocytes = 14.2 x109/L 3.4-9.7
Erythrocytes = 3.86 x1012/L 3.86-5.08
Hemoglobin = 121 g/L 119-157
HCT = 0.353 L/L 0.356-0.470
MCV = 91.5 fL 83.0-97.2
MCH = 31.3 pg 27.4-33.9
MCHC = 343 g/L 320-345
RDW-CV = 13.7 - 9.0-15.0
Thrombocytes = 297 x109/L 158-424
MPV = 9.8 fL 6.8-10.4
AST (GOT) = 16 U/L
ALT (GPT) = 18 U/L
ALP = 44 U/L
GGT = 14 U/L
AMY-S = 38 U/L
CK = 59 U/L
CKMBa <10 U/L
cTnI = 0.000 ug/L
GUK = 5.9 mmol/L
Urea = 5.8 mmol/L
CRE(s) = 119 umol/L
T-BIL = 4 umol/L
CRP(s) = 0.9 mg/L
Na(s) = 137 mmol/L
K(s) = 3.8 mmol/L
pH = 6.0
Nit(u) = neg (0)
Prot(u) = neg (0)
Glu(u) = neg (0)
Ket(u) = pos (2)
Urob(u) = norm.
Bil(u) = neg
Blood(u) = neg (0)
RBC(u-s) = 0-1 (RBC/HPF)
WBC(u-s) = 0-1 (WBC/HPF)
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Hi Aoide, I'm sorry you're having to deal with all this, but I'm sure you can come out of it stronger.
FWIW, that could very well be true, anxiety and panic are not necessarily (although they certainly could be) caused by there being something physically wrong. For instance it can be caused by the nervous system reacting to various factors in our external and internal life (such as strong, painful emotions, parts of ourselves that we don't want to acknowledge or deal with, etc.), that are perceived as a threat to our personal integrity or values (or false personality in Work terminology). This reacting by the nervous system happens largely unconsciously, that's why it might feel like panic and anxiety are coming out of the nowhere. All of this causes stress hormones to rise drastically, which can then cause panic and the feeling like you're going to have a heart attack or die, but nobody actually dies from a panic attack, that feeling is the result of stress hormones flooding your system. The tricky thing is that it makes you afraid of having another panic attack, which can set up a pattern of avoidance, which then increases both anxiety and panic. From what I've read on the topic, they way to deal with these intense sensations and accompanying emotions is to actually invite them in, allow them to be without resisting and to become aware of them, and not to try and get rid of them. It can feel overwhelming at first, but it gets better with practice. In fact, trying to get rid of these sensations and emotions has an opposite effects, and they cannot be gotten rid of in the first place, only transformed and turned into something else. Avoidance can cause them to be trapped in the body and our physiology, which could explain the shaking you mentioned during EE.
You could give it a try and see what happens. Maybe adopt both a top down and bottom up approach. A few examples:
Bottom up:
Rosenburg's basic exercise a few times a day.
If you're having trouble with EE, try just deep diaphragmatic belly breathing, accompanied by sensing and relaxing various parts of your body.
Arky Chu Gong or at least parts of it (if you have the energy).
Walking in nature.
Maybe a leptin reset could help with the hunger.
Top down:
Journaling
Networking/talking
Knowledge input on a daily basis.
Hope that helps a bit, take care.
FWIW, that could very well be true, anxiety and panic are not necessarily (although they certainly could be) caused by there being something physically wrong. For instance it can be caused by the nervous system reacting to various factors in our external and internal life (such as strong, painful emotions, parts of ourselves that we don't want to acknowledge or deal with, etc.), that are perceived as a threat to our personal integrity or values (or false personality in Work terminology). This reacting by the nervous system happens largely unconsciously, that's why it might feel like panic and anxiety are coming out of the nowhere. All of this causes stress hormones to rise drastically, which can then cause panic and the feeling like you're going to have a heart attack or die, but nobody actually dies from a panic attack, that feeling is the result of stress hormones flooding your system. The tricky thing is that it makes you afraid of having another panic attack, which can set up a pattern of avoidance, which then increases both anxiety and panic. From what I've read on the topic, they way to deal with these intense sensations and accompanying emotions is to actually invite them in, allow them to be without resisting and to become aware of them, and not to try and get rid of them. It can feel overwhelming at first, but it gets better with practice. In fact, trying to get rid of these sensations and emotions has an opposite effects, and they cannot be gotten rid of in the first place, only transformed and turned into something else. Avoidance can cause them to be trapped in the body and our physiology, which could explain the shaking you mentioned during EE.
You could give it a try and see what happens. Maybe adopt both a top down and bottom up approach. A few examples:
Bottom up:
Rosenburg's basic exercise a few times a day.
If you're having trouble with EE, try just deep diaphragmatic belly breathing, accompanied by sensing and relaxing various parts of your body.
Arky Chu Gong or at least parts of it (if you have the energy).
Walking in nature.
Maybe a leptin reset could help with the hunger.
Top down:
Journaling
Networking/talking
Knowledge input on a daily basis.
Hope that helps a bit, take care.
Aoide
Jedi
I think you are definitely right, my fears will be my doom if I don't acknowledge and deal with those parts of myself, I need to transform them. That would also change and reverse some or all physical manifestations of my psyche issues. That has actually been the problem with me for most of my life, not knowing how to deal with life issues without giving in to fears. Some fears, like getting out and finding a job were a great problem for me, and I'm glad that I'm dealing with that successfuly through last few years, but there are those deeper things that are obviously still buried or not allowed by myself to come out and be dealt with, so they manifest through my health condition, which further sparks my anxiety and panic because one strong fear that I have is that I will die young from some physical health problem. Other great fear is that I will be left without those that I love, left alone in this horrible reality, so I excessively worry about my family members by imagining all kinds of possible threats to them in their lives, which continually stirs up my stress hormones. It' a vicious cycle and I often find myself too weak or not brave enough to stop doing that and to really see what LIFE really IS, and how I interact with the Universe, how that mirrors in my reality. In the end, it's really really selfish of me to think like that, to think only how it will affect me and my life, not taking enough into account that others have their lessons to learn, no matter how painful, and that I shouldn't allow myself to be affected with it like that. I have to deal with my lessons and become stronger and respective of other's free will, to make right choices and have more faith in my interaction with the Universe.
I think I will continue with thiamine supplementation only after I start using that bottom up and top down approach first, with all the practices that you suggested. Thank you Anthony for your view of my situation, much appreciated!
