Often lost in this discussion however is the fact Omega 6 fats are not all bad, in fact GLA from evening primrose oil (preferred) or borage oil are
absolutely essential in order to make E1 (anti-inflammatory) prostaglandins. One can take all the fish, flax and other EFA's by the gallon (to get their EPA's), but they won't do
any good if GLA isn't present in the first place.
Yes, most people these days consume way too much Omega 6 fats from eating too many processed foods, junk foods, salad dressings, etc.. But that doesn't mean everyone does.
Patricia Kane PhD has worked with thousands of chronically ill patients -- mostly autistic children, but also MS, CFS, ALS, etc -- and has found, through fatty acid panels run at Johns Hopkins -- that almost 90% of them had too much omega 3's, and surprisingly not enough omega 6 fats. She contends that if one has high O-3's and low O-6's, then one must replete O-6 with evening primrose oil for several weeks before adding omega 3's. It's interesting that one of the measures they use to judge how treatment is coming along is the Visual Contrast Sensitivity Test (the same as Shoemaker?). Here's just one link to her work:
http://www.health-report.co.uk/chronic_neurotoxic_syndromes.htm
Balance is the key, but you must have both in order to make the so-called "good" prostaglandins.
I had a fatty acid analysis done as part of a NutrEval panel. It showed that my Omega-3's were indeed too high and
my omega 6 levels were too low.
I kind of didn't take it seriously enough and/or forgot about it until just a few days ago but have now started some evening primrose oil. Hopefully my classic O-6 deficiency symptoms (extremely dry skin, dry eyes, eczema, dehydration, severe mood swings, ADD, anxiety, hyperactivity, joint problems, neuropathy, impaired wound healing -- all increasingly worse over the past 3+ months when I ran out of the EPO) will begin to resolve in a few weeks. I was seriously ready to jump out the window.
Just my two cents,
Dan
p.s. I think Lisa posted on another page that MCS patients had lower levels of omega 6 than controls.
Three years ago, just before moving out of my moldy house, I had an Individualized Optimal Nutrition from MetaMetrix. They tested something like 20 different fatty acid measures and recommended to me something like 6 capsules of black currant seed oil (which is GLA) per day. They said nothing about EPA's.
I've periodically taken that, but not as much and not regularly. And I've not looked into this much.
I've recently started thinking about this because I've been focusing less on the inflammatory component of my disease (which seems to be starting to come under control, apparently due to detox and/or pathogen control as well as extended avoidance) and more on the glutamate component (which still is almost as high as it's ever been). The glutamate component is associated with symptoms like "Sensory Storms" (prefrontal lobe cortical seizures) and heart issues and (at least in my case) a particular biotoxin found outdoors.
(The article you pointed out talks about both biotoxins and heavy metals as being factors here, Dan.)
Upon reflection, the glutamate activity seems to me not unrelated to the phenomenon of rapid-cycling bipolar, a diagnosis (misdiagnosis?) I had early in my illness. This is a poorly understood condition that (like ME/CFS and mold illness) is rapidly increasing in the population, especially in women.
In the spirit of this "let's fix our own illness" mentality, in 1998 I found a tiny scale experiment where some people seemed to be benefiting from using Lamictal. My psychopharmacologist wouldn't try it, so I got Dale Guyer (my ME/CFS physician) to let me try it. It stabilized my moods really well with no side effects. (Now the same psychopharmacologist uses it as his first-line treatment on all patients. Think of all the years I'd have wasted waiting for him!)
The Lamictal took away the severe symptoms (suicidal depressions, screaming rages and feelings like my brain was going to shatter into a million little pieces), which was a good thing. But this component of my system still feels off-balance, especially when I am being hit with this glutamate-affecting outdoor biotoxin (which, since I'm not sure what it is, I've been calling the "?") but even on a constant basis when experiencing feeling of excitotoxicity (a key component of Amy Yasko's approach to autism).
As time went on and I became mostly catatonic (and then, after avoidance, hyperreactive) from increased inflammation, this issue became buried. Now it's come more front and center again.
(My fear when I bring up the bipolar stuff is that people are going to dismiss the idea that I actually have ME/CFS, even though I have a truckload of tests showing 100% consistency with classic ME/CFS. I now think that they're components of the same thing and that most ME/CFS patients are more "bipolar" than they think, that it's triggered by this biotoxin, and that the periodic meltdown of all these ME/CFS boards is a component of that.)
The interesting thing is that all the treatments for rapid-cycling bipolar (the kind that doesn't involve psychosis) are the things we're mentioning here: anticonvulsants such as Lamictal (lamotrigine), lithium, large amounts of omega-3 and (in the article Dan brought up) large amounts of phosphatidyl choline.
When I look at that list, it makes me think that if supplements work well enough to get into the published literature, it must be because something related to those supplements is messed up. That article Dan recommended (which actually is really good) is the first time I've seen a comprehensive explanation why.
I recently started taking some phos choline (which is supposed to heal the outer component of the cell membrane) and am thinking that the lack of it has been a huge missing component for me.
Reading this article, I can see why Omega 6's might be deficient. Most oils that people consume (such as canola or peanut) actually create renegade fatty acids that disrupt the membranes, and thus are very bad. (Note that viruses and other pathogens contribute to the proliferation of more renegade fats.)
Olive oil, which (I think) is Omega 9, is neutral. Butter and animal fat is a mix of Omega 6 (I think the good kind?) and Omega 3 (far more Omega 3 if grass-fed).
(Unfortunately, restaurant food is primarily the bad renegade fats. This is a reason not to eat out, which I have been doing way too much.)
Early in the summer, I took a lot of black currant seed oil. This did weird things to my skin, making me think that I didn't need it. I focused more on flax/fish oil. But recently I've been experiencing cravings for butterfat, which makes me think I've moved to needing more omega 6.
This is a little confusing. How do I know what I need, other than getting that lab test done repeatedly?
What is the difference between GLA (present in black currant seed, borage seed and evening primrose oils) and Omega 6?
If I just take a lot of both Omega 3 and GLA, continue to consume Omega 6 (e.g. in butterfat and in the "Udo's Choice" oil I just bought), and try to eliminate the renegade fats, would that be sufficient?
I would think that the body would have a regulating mechanism to use the fats available as needed, so that the proportions I consume aren't so crucial. But maybe that's not the case, or mine is broken.
This seems like a really important component of our illness. I wish we could figure out how the viruses and other pathogens tie into it.
That's a really good article you found, Dan. Maybe we should have a further discussion about it elsewhere on this board.
Best, Lisa