Hi everyone,
Seems difficult to catch @
Freddd, which is understandable, he must be bombarded with questions. So I thought maybe some of the other cunning forum members could comment on my questions. Please note that I've read every FAQ I could find and been browsing through the mazes of threads related to this protocol, trying to work things out myself before bothering others.
I’m not a CFS nor an ME sufferer. But after some years of garden variety (but deep) adrenal fatigue/burnout, I came down with nasty B12 deficiency symptoms that I initially treated with, compared to Freddd’s recommendations, baby doses of B12. I responded to these somewhat, but after a while symptoms got worse again. Then I did some research and found Freddd’s original protocol, which made sense to me. However, it seems hard to find information about how to determine one’s optimal dose of the basic supplements, as well as the ratio between them. I don’t get a lot of ’startup symptoms,” if any, but seem to respond rather well to all three of adB12, mB12, and methylfolate. (Edit: The only ’side effect’ is a marked drowsiness from the mB12, but I'd rather have that than deficiency symptoms.) Should I just keep upping everything as long as I benefit from continuously higher doses? Doing one’s own trials is certainly possible; but since it may take long time to gauge the outcome, and the neurological clock may be ticking, it seems wiser to ask people who have already been down that path and know the terrain.
Here are some of the symptoms I ascribe to my B12 (and possbily folate) deficiency:
More or less constant (responds slightly but not completely to more mB12)
Decreased sensitivity in hands (but far from complete numbness)
Decreased muscular strength
Cognitive: trouble with finding words, creative thinking, relating effortlessly to people, performing non-automatic tasks, executive flexibility
Motor: writing more slowly on keyboard, often writing a random wrong letter when handwriting
Diminished sexual response
Overwhelmed by sensory input (especially noisy and crowded places—also partially related to AF and cortisol status)
Transient, can often be corrected with high enough doses of mB12
anxiety
confusion
sense of impending doom
blurred vision
sense of losing orientation even in familiar surroundings
stiff gait, as if afraid of losing balance (I've never fallen, though)
unusually weak legs
feeling of lower legs verging on falling asleep
Other
Sometimes electric shock sensations in scalp during last hours of sleep—probably because of B12’s half life, I guess: all used up during the night
* * *
Right now I’m taking as much Jarrow 5 g B12 as I need not to feel acutely deficient, typically 4–5 a day, and 1 Source Naturals 10 g dibencozide, plus 2–3 mg methylfolate (Thorne MTHF), plus most of the other basic essentials. I have not been trying LCF, though, as I don’t think I have an overall methylation problem—or do I? Is there a difference between downright B12 deficiency and methylation problems?
I would love to get some feedback on these questions:
1. I’m taking 1 tsp of glutamine a day for other health reasons and often a serving of rice protein, as well as some bone broth now and then. I know Freddd’s standpoint on this and want to do a trial—but
for how long must I exclude things to determine whether glutathione precursors are a problem or not? Would rice protein and bone broth pose an issue, or even things like milk thistle?
2. Ratios and dosages! Gee, this is the tough one.
How much of mB12, adB12, and methylfolate should I be taking for my specific symptoms? And for how long should I stay on the max dosage? I gather for example that adB12 and mB12 heals different domains. I seem to have no major problems with upping doses abruptly, so basically I feel I could pound in any amount starting today if needed for neurological healing. But should I? Recall that I don’t have the CFS achiness/soreness or things like that, and I am not extremely sensitive to supplements.
3. Is there a point in doing the one time megadoses trials? Who could benefit from these and why?
4. Should I add LCF to enhance healing or is this only indicated in clear cut CFS cases?
Thank you so much in advance to anyone who cares to speak to this! All informed input is most welcome.
Best,
