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- 17
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- Northeast US
Hi everyone, I wanted to write this to ask if anyone can help me figure out what could be going on with my recent experiment with Lithium Orotate (LO). First a bit of background:
So back in April, I performed a hair mineral analysis and everything essential came within range, all toxic heavy metals were low and in the safe range. Magnesium and Calcium here very high due to my supplementation of their citrate forms, however Lithium was not even registering, it was below .004 which I would assume means there is almost none detected.
My symptoms are as follows: Appear to have had high histamine my entire life, allergies, asthma (as a youth, I am 33 now), hives. Had acne as a teenager which persisted well into my twenties, I have to eat a clean, low histamine diet with stress control to prevent break outs. I continue to have bouts of anxiety with depression during emotional times. I usually rebound out of depressive episodes within a few days. Anxiety subsides a few hours after the trigger event, but have learned to mostly control it and function successfully in life.
However, it is still difficult at times and be a roadblock, causing racing thoughts and brain fog; this is where I thought I put the pieces together, as mentioned by Dr. Yasko, Lithium is required to transfer B12 into the cells, being that I am homozygous MTRR and heterozygous MTR I already have a B12 issue which apparently also causes me to excrete Lithium more readily. So I though by taking LO I would be addressing both.
Once I started LO at one 120mg (5mg Li) tablet a day, I almost immediately noticed a calm come over me, I was more loving, emotionally connected, a better listener and empathizer, also as an aside my libido and ‘lasting’ power went up. Issues that normally would cause a knee-jerk reaction no longer did, I felt happier and in control. Perhaps I have a glutamate-gaba imbalance or some type of serotonin-dopamine issue, maybe even related to B12. Not exactly sure.
Within a week, I could feel that 1 tablet was not enough to cover the whole day, I could feel when it was wearing off, and so I started at 2 a day and eventually found 3 a day to be the sweet spot. This gave me the coverage I needed. But I did notice at times, small issues could make me ‘appear’ depressed, I would slow down, not want to get out of bed and just lay there, really odd feeling. I would be able to bounce back though and be happy and in the moment without ruminating. It’s weird, the very state LO was helping me to control and stay out of, at times it seems like it would put me into it. Anyone else have this experience?
I only experimented for about 3 weeks, 2 of which were at 3 tablets a day dose. Most alarmingly though, I had the following symptom, it appears that the LO was increasing my hair shed and have me slightly oilier skin (regarding my skin, it just feels a bit oiler and I’ve always had oily skin to begin with). I am sensitive to agents that cause or exacerbate hairloss, perhaps related to an overactive immune system / high histamine.
There is very little I can find online for LO causing increased hair shed, especially at such a low dose. I have read of Lithium Carbonate causing Li induced acne / hairloss but that is at really large doses (250+ mg of elemental Li). I stopped all LO 2 weeks ago, but recently restarted at just ½ tablet (2.5mg elemental LI) and it appears that I am shedding more than usual already. Please see below for my supplements and thoughts:
Last year, prior to ever trying LO, I tried methyl B12 at 5mg daily and separately adenosyl B12 at 5mg daily, both made me very irritable.
Ok, now for my questions:
1. Do you think LO, even at such low doses can be triggering extra hair shed?
2. When I am only taking ½ tablet of LO, I do not really get the same benefits, it’s much less pronounced. Anxiety still can kick in, which was not the case at 2-3 tablets a day. Do you think that the ½ dose Li will build up in my system overtime and still provide the same therapeutic effects or is that not how Li works?
3. Do you think the hair shed will stabilize while I continue to low dose LO (and perhaps taper up when it does)?
4. Do you think the mB12 or adB12 at a low dose like 1mg may work better this time around due to the LO in my system?
5. What could have caused the ‘depressive’ episodes while on 2-3 tabs of LO?
I know this is long, but any help or information, anecdotal or not, is much appreciated.
Thanks for your time
- I have a homozygous mutation at MTRR A66G (GG, which affects B12 I believe) and for VDR Taq (AA)
- I have a heterozygous mutation at COMT V158M (AG), COMT H26H (CT), CBS C699T (AG), CBS A360A (AG), and MTR A2756G (AG)
- No MTHFR mutations (at least for those tested in 23andme)
So back in April, I performed a hair mineral analysis and everything essential came within range, all toxic heavy metals were low and in the safe range. Magnesium and Calcium here very high due to my supplementation of their citrate forms, however Lithium was not even registering, it was below .004 which I would assume means there is almost none detected.
My symptoms are as follows: Appear to have had high histamine my entire life, allergies, asthma (as a youth, I am 33 now), hives. Had acne as a teenager which persisted well into my twenties, I have to eat a clean, low histamine diet with stress control to prevent break outs. I continue to have bouts of anxiety with depression during emotional times. I usually rebound out of depressive episodes within a few days. Anxiety subsides a few hours after the trigger event, but have learned to mostly control it and function successfully in life.
However, it is still difficult at times and be a roadblock, causing racing thoughts and brain fog; this is where I thought I put the pieces together, as mentioned by Dr. Yasko, Lithium is required to transfer B12 into the cells, being that I am homozygous MTRR and heterozygous MTR I already have a B12 issue which apparently also causes me to excrete Lithium more readily. So I though by taking LO I would be addressing both.
Once I started LO at one 120mg (5mg Li) tablet a day, I almost immediately noticed a calm come over me, I was more loving, emotionally connected, a better listener and empathizer, also as an aside my libido and ‘lasting’ power went up. Issues that normally would cause a knee-jerk reaction no longer did, I felt happier and in control. Perhaps I have a glutamate-gaba imbalance or some type of serotonin-dopamine issue, maybe even related to B12. Not exactly sure.
Within a week, I could feel that 1 tablet was not enough to cover the whole day, I could feel when it was wearing off, and so I started at 2 a day and eventually found 3 a day to be the sweet spot. This gave me the coverage I needed. But I did notice at times, small issues could make me ‘appear’ depressed, I would slow down, not want to get out of bed and just lay there, really odd feeling. I would be able to bounce back though and be happy and in the moment without ruminating. It’s weird, the very state LO was helping me to control and stay out of, at times it seems like it would put me into it. Anyone else have this experience?
I only experimented for about 3 weeks, 2 of which were at 3 tablets a day dose. Most alarmingly though, I had the following symptom, it appears that the LO was increasing my hair shed and have me slightly oilier skin (regarding my skin, it just feels a bit oiler and I’ve always had oily skin to begin with). I am sensitive to agents that cause or exacerbate hairloss, perhaps related to an overactive immune system / high histamine.
There is very little I can find online for LO causing increased hair shed, especially at such a low dose. I have read of Lithium Carbonate causing Li induced acne / hairloss but that is at really large doses (250+ mg of elemental Li). I stopped all LO 2 weeks ago, but recently restarted at just ½ tablet (2.5mg elemental LI) and it appears that I am shedding more than usual already. Please see below for my supplements and thoughts:
- I take a once daily multi (Alive – Male Ultra Potency) – Been on this for years, B12 is in the cyanocobalamin form
- 1g Ultra pure Fish oil (Omega Rx)
- 5000 IU Vitamin D3
- 250mg Cal Citrate / 200mg Magnesium Citrate
- 200mg Grapeseed Extract
- No previous thyroid or kidney issues, male, 6’2”, 175lbs, eating healthy and organic for years now
Last year, prior to ever trying LO, I tried methyl B12 at 5mg daily and separately adenosyl B12 at 5mg daily, both made me very irritable.
Ok, now for my questions:
1. Do you think LO, even at such low doses can be triggering extra hair shed?
2. When I am only taking ½ tablet of LO, I do not really get the same benefits, it’s much less pronounced. Anxiety still can kick in, which was not the case at 2-3 tablets a day. Do you think that the ½ dose Li will build up in my system overtime and still provide the same therapeutic effects or is that not how Li works?
3. Do you think the hair shed will stabilize while I continue to low dose LO (and perhaps taper up when it does)?
4. Do you think the mB12 or adB12 at a low dose like 1mg may work better this time around due to the LO in my system?
5. What could have caused the ‘depressive’ episodes while on 2-3 tabs of LO?
I know this is long, but any help or information, anecdotal or not, is much appreciated.
Thanks for your time
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