Symptoms of potassium deficiency while doing methylation protocol

[silverseas2014]

I wanted to collate symptoms of potassium deficiency that have occurred since starting the methylation protocol:
--Muscle tension, cramps, spasms largely in the legs, but I have had several (two) severe back spasms as well (and I have never had these in my life).
--Some muscle tension in upper arms and neck and occasionally in hands
--Tension headaches
--A sensation of "heaviness" (i.e. "hard to lift") in my legs---particularly during exercise--this is different from cramps or spasms
--Occasional heart palpitation
--Eye twitching (muscle spasm)

All of the above relieved by taking potassium. I seem to be eating potassium around the clock these days. I take 1/4 tsp (roughly 600 mg.) of Potassium Gluconate (Bulk Supplements via Amazon) every hour in a bit of juice. I take potassium to bed with me as sometimes the muscle tension wakes me up. I am wondering when my need for potassium might slow down.

Cheers,
Silverseas2014

 

[Coolie]

I take 5mg Methylcobalamin daily, and the eye twitching started after a few days. I put this down to the nerves being repaired or reconnecting. About a week later it went away. I don't take any potassium.

 

[Sherpa]

my K deficiency symptoms are:

• muscle twitching or "jerking," particularly in shoulders, while relaxing
• body aches
• malaise
• having to pee a lot - maybe dry mouth?
• craving potato chips
• if really bad: painful, debilitating upper leg cramps

I am taking about 1350mg per day, dissolved into 1.75 liters of water. Just now able to tolerate methylfolate and taking 400mcg per day.

 

[Coolie]

Could these "body aches" also be back aches and pain in the pelvic region?

 

[silverseas2014]

I take 5mg Methylcobalamin daily, and the eye twitching started after a few days. I put this down to the nerves being repaired or reconnecting. About a week later it went away. I don't take any potassium.

Hello Coolie.... I'm not sure. I would guess that back aches could be muscle tension related to low potassium.

Also, what are your SNPs?

Cheers,
Silverseas2014

 

[silverseas2014]

my K deficiency symptoms are:

• muscle twitching or "jerking," particularly in shoulders, while relaxing
• body aches
• malaise
• having to pee a lot - maybe dry mouth?
• craving potato chips
• if really bad: painful, debilitating upper leg cramps

I am taking about 1350mg per day, dissolved into 1.75 liters of water. Just now able to tolerate methylfolate and taking 400mcg per day.

Hey Sherpa-- Thanks for your response. How quickly after drinking your potassium water are your low K symptoms relieved? And what are your SNPs?

Cheers,
Silverseas2014

 

[Sherpa]

@silverseas2014

I would say drinking potassium takes down symptoms very quickly, within 15 minutes.

My SNPs are pretty bad:
+/+ : MTHFR C677T, MTRR A66G, MAO-A R297R, MTR A2756G, NOS3 (rs1800783 & rs1800779), SOD, SOD2 A16V, PEMT, VDR taq, MTHFS, COMT,CYP2d6
+/- : MTRR A664A, BHMT-02, BHMT-08, CBS A360A

I am finally getting methylfolate to work and it feels wonderful!

It sounds like you are on quite a bit of potassium. Not necessarily bad, just that I am "hoping" to keep mine lower for the same of keeping things simple. What's you folate/B12 dosages?

 

[sregan]

I did some similar on my blog entry. Hope it can be useful for you

 

[Coolie]

@silverseas2014 I've ordered some Potassium to see if it changes anything. I don't have SNPs. I'm just the guy that discovered I have a massive B12 shortage possibly due to IBS and have spent the last 6 months tinkering with my diet to see if I am Gluten intolerant ... and am basically coming round to the conclusion that lowering Gluten helps me probably in the same way a BODMAP diet would but at the end of the day seemingly random things can trigger dihorrea any day, and I'm probably going to be taking B12 and Zinc and a few other things for the foreseeable future. It was also Tinnitus though that drove me to this site just to add.

 

[silverseas2014]

Thanks Sherpa, sregan, and Coolie---

Sherpa, I am still figuring out what are optimal doses for Methylfolate and MethylB12---I have gone as high as 20,000mcg for Methylfolate (daily dose) and 50,000 mcg. for MethylB12 and 50 mg. for Dibencozide (Adenosylcobalamin)....BUT, I seem to be going up and down with doses (staircase-effect). Interestingly, my potassium needs, while high, don't change significantly whether my doses of Methylfolate and MB12 are high or low. I am trying to find my optimal (healing turned on and staying turned on) dose of all these things.

sregan-- I will definitely check out your blog--thanks.

Coolie--thanks for more details.

Cheers,
Silverseas2014

 

[mtayl2]

Thanks Sherpa, sregan, and Coolie---

Sherpa, I am still figuring out what are optimal doses for Methylfolate and MethylB12---I have gone as high as 20,000mcg for Methylfolate (daily dose) and 50,000 mcg. for MethylB12 and 50 mg. for Dibencozide (Adenosylcobalamin)....BUT, I seem to be going up and down with doses (staircase-effect). Interestingly, my potassium needs, while high, don't change significantly whether my doses of Methylfolate and MB12 are high or low. I am trying to find my optimal (healing turned on and staying turned on) dose of all these things.

sregan-- I will definitely check out your blog--thanks.

Coolie--thanks for more details.

Cheers,
Silverseas2014

Hi @silverseas2014

How might you know what "healing turned on and staying on" looks or feels like? What's signs are indicative of that for you? Since most healing things for me tend to not typically feel good, I have a hard time discerning this...

Sherpa thanks for raising the question. It's helping me to hear of the ways K deficiency show up for folks in words other than listed in freddds list....

Thanks. -Michael

 

[silverseas2014]

Michael--

Hello. My simple answer is I don't know what it feels like when "healing turns on" ... I am fumbling around in the dark here.

My more vague, wordy answer is this: I feel better around the edges.... my life-long chronic sinusitis has almost completely gone away since starting this Methylation Protocol (I've been on it about 3 1/2 months now--and I am still tweaking and figuring out optimal doses)..... I generally feel more energetic---what does this mean? I can run around and function (take kids to school/do swim class/etc) without collapsing from fatigue or being inundated with an illness (for example: this is the first winter in many many years that I've not gotten one cold--not one)... So, I speculate that the Deadlock Quartet has had a profound effect on raising my glutathione levels (my immune system is functioning much much better than it has in many years)....

I was born with these mutations (and I am 52 this year).... and for my whole life my body has struggled to overcome the fatigue/illness that these mutations make me vulnerable to (largely the c667t and a1298).... And now, in the last 3 months or so, for the first time in 52 years, I have some of what my body needs to function optimally--ie. the supplements that comprise the DQ (plus potassium)..... I suspect there is A LOT of healing going on in my body---tearing down and building up.....this healing can be very noticeable or not noticeable at all.... For me, I have days when I desperately need a nap, sometimes days on end when I need naps---I take them... and think that this is a part of the healing process --my body is doing a tremendous amount of back-logged work, and it needs optimal rest, good food to do its job...

One thing I gave up a couple of years ago--well before starting any Methylation Protocol--was any kind of stimulants. I needed to see how my body functioned without any help---no caffeine of any sort, no drugs (like Adderall, Sudafed).... I pretty much collapsed in my bed for three months, and I knew then I had to find out what my body needed to get out of that hole. I researched researched and finally found the DQ---and it made the most sense to me out of years of research.... and it has helped the most. I suspect I am going to get my health back---and I will be running and hiking, but NOT YET. The healing part might take a year, two years, more.... I just don't know. I think much depends on how long you have lived with these SNPs, and if you have any other health problems unrelated to methylation problems... For me, while not an illness, I have to deal with all the ups and downs of menopause--and parse out the symptoms I think are related to that VS methylation symptoms.... sigh.

Michael, I am wishing you well, and want to make one final comment: Log everything, as much as possible--even if you are logging thoughts comments notes every hour---this document will help help you figure out what is going on in your body. I constantly go back and reread my notes about particularly doses of all supplements (but lately I read all my DQ supplement notes a lot).... I write what I am feeling when I take a particular dose of say Methylfolate (and I make no judgements about the feeling/sensation/reaction)...and I find justifications for upping and lowering my doses....just keep plugging away. Much good health to you.

Cheers,
Silverseas2014

 

[sregan]

Michael, I am wishing you well, and want to make one final comment: Log everything, as much as possible--even if you are logging thoughts comments notes every hour---this document will help help you figure out what is going on in your body. I constantly go back and reread my notes about particularly doses of all supplements (but lately I read all my DQ supplement notes a lot).... I write what I am feeling when I take a particular dose of say Methylfolate (and I make no judgements about the feeling/sensation/reaction)...and I find justifications for upping and lowering my doses....just keep plugging away. Much good health to you.

Starting a blog here on PR (its free) is a great way to do just that! Your journey can and probably will help others in the future. I refer back to mine all the time. I have placed notes in it for myself and pulled pertinent information form various threads for myself (and anyone else interested) also.

 

[mtayl2]

@silverseas2014...Im just getting time to finally reply. Thank you for your thorough response.

I suspect there is A LOT of healing going on in my body---tearing down and building up.....this healing can be very noticeable or not noticeable at all.... For me, I have days when I desperately need a nap, sometimes days on end when I need naps---I take them... and think that this is a part of the healing process --my body is doing a tremendous amount of back-logged work, and it needs optimal rest, good food to do its job...

I am glad to hear you are seeing some clear signs of healing. And thanks for the reminder of the need to be patient with the ups and downs and the tearing down and building up process. I so frequently get caught up in the swing of the current state. The last two weeks it is becoming increasingly clear that between my Nutritional Balancing protocol and Freddds DQ, I am healing. Unfortunately, I am a bit vulnerable to impulse and impatience. When I have a bad day, I tend to start tweaking doses and assuming I am in some type of paradoxic folate deficiency or the protocol is not working etc. Sometimes that is the case, but sometimes I just need to actually detox something, or healing symptoms present, independent of folate deficiency etc.

One thing I gave up a couple of years ago--well before starting any Methylation Protocol--was any kind of stimulants. I needed to see how my body functioned without any help---no caffeine of any sort, no drugs (like Adderall, Sudafed).... I pretty much collapsed in my bed for three months, and I knew then I had to find out what my body needed to get out of that hole.

Nice, good for you. I gave up the Adderall(have ADHD but it was also an energy crutch), I am titrating down off Effexor v-e-r-y slooooowly (at 50mg), but I am still under the spell of caffeine. This one is proving to be the hardest for me to let go of so far. That said, the last two weeks as I have been on full DQ at sufficient doses, I have had several mornings that I actually woke up feeling 80%. And I did not need to reach for my caffeine to be able to get out of bed. It was a glorious feeling...as pre-cfs I was always a morning person and have so missed them. I would like to just cold turkey the caffeine but I still have to work and function and cant yet afford the production drop that would result...not yet anyway. My sense is that my desire and craving for it will dwindle as my authentic energy slowly returns.

Michael, I am wishing you well, and want to make one final comment:

Thank you, I appreciate that. And very same to you. Sounds like you are on your way.

Log everything, as much as possible--even if you are logging thoughts comments notes every hour---this document will help help you figure out what is going on in your body. I constantly go back and reread my notes about particularly doses of all supplements (but lately I read all my DQ supplement notes a lot).... I write what I am feeling when I take a particular dose of say Methylfolate (and I make no judgements about the feeling/sensation/reaction)...and I find justifications for upping and lowering my doses....just keep plugging away.

to you and @sregan...suggestion taken. In fact, although not blogging it publicly, I have a document on my tablet so I can record little tidbits all through out the day. THIS is the primary reason I am beginning to see little clues and patterns starting to form...and why I am beginning to see when I am heading into paradoxical folate deficiency...and how its symptom picture looks, as opposed to productive healing reactions and actual dumping of metals etc.

Cheers to you both and onwards and upwards.

Michael

 

[goonie8473]

Hi Silverseas2015,
Thanks for starting this thread. It seems like there are so many little differences in symptoms for low potassium. Muscle spasms/aches/twitches appear to be very common, but my main symptoms are:

- general weakness, low energy, fatigue (sometimes it feels like when you are waking up from lucid dreaming/sleep paralysis :thumbdown
- shortness of breath, needing to yawn, having trouble taking deep breaths
- heart palpitations, heart muscles feeling weak
- occasionally brain fog or disassociative feeling