Kitsune
Senior Member
- Messages
- 136
Hi - looking for some help with the seemingly endless quest to balance my supplements. It often seems like as soon as I find something that helps, it throws something else out of whack! I'll try to keep this as short and simple as possible; I did put a more general post about my 2 new supplements (alpha-lipoic acid and milk thistle) in the alt therapies forum, but this one will be more specific, so maybe @Freddd or anyone else with experience with these supplements, and glutathione and methylation, will have some ideas for what I could try.
I've recently found that boosting my glutathione is really helping me get over the chronic fatigue. I was at a point where I was feeling able to start adding some jogging to my walks, even. But in the process of trying to balance my supplements (and dealing with some unanticipated very stressful situations) I'm not feeling so good now. Milk thistle (150mg once a day) seems to be a good thing for me in terms of energy, and it seems to work in synergy with the ALA (100mg once a day). Taking both is better for me than either on its own.
However, the milk thistle is giving me side effects - insomnia, and more disturbingly genital numbness. It isn't complete numbness, but it's enough to be causing me problems as a married gal, and I know it's also an indication that I've developed an imbalance somewhere, which I obviously don't want. This is not an unfamiliar symptom. About 10 years ago I took SSRIs for the CFS and instantly developed the same type of numbness. I began taking ashwagandha and ginkgo biloba for it, and have blessed them ever since because they helped so much (and am still taking them as they seem to be a big help in general, even though I think I've been recovered from the SSRI damage for some time now). I don't want to try to increase my doses of those; I'd rather try to get at the root cause of this and address it. Should I be looking for some imbalance in sex hormones, or something in the methylation cycle that might be "off" due to my body making more glutathione?
One more new symptom, besides the numbness and insomnia that are clearly due to the milk thistle, is evening anxiety. Again, not an unfamiliar symptom - it was one of the cluster I developed when I first got ill 12 years ago, though it disappeared when I started taking supplements. It's hard to pinpoint a cause, since I take the majority of my supplements in the morning, so it's obviously not directly following on from one of them as it's appearing 12 hours later.
I have tried hard to find supplements other than milk thistle that might boost my glutathione, without success. In the past I've tried NAC and whey powder; the latter made me very ill with one dose. TMG gives me the numbness and makes me feel drugged but doesn't seem to do anything positive, which is why I'm suspecting now that anything which boosts my glutathione is probably going to give me the same unwanted symptoms. I also have to be careful with things that are stimulating because my body's quite reactive. I tried taking an extra 1,000mcg methylcobalamin but again, it just made me feel overstimulated without doing anything else. (I do already take a good B-complex with methyl Bs in it; will list below).
I suppose I ought to just explain quickly that I did Freddd's protocol in the past and tried most of the supplements recommended for that. Got up to several thousand mcg of mB12 along with folate etc etc. Didn't seem to be giving me a great deal of help, and I developed an insatiable need for potassium that was very problematic, so I decided to stop and try other things (with, of course, thankfulness that I at least had the option to try this, and learned an incredible amount from it).
Oh also - I'm eating a fairly strict Paleo diet that is also generally low histamine, as I discovered this particular problem last year. My supplements list below is designed to address this, along with the chronic fatigue, and also copper detox (which I began just before Christmas, as I seem to have numerous corresponding symptoms).
Any ideas are very much welcome, thanks. I really am open to advice, as these new symptoms are troublesome.
Breakfast supplements:
Solgar digestive enzymes (ox bile, betaine HCl, pancreatin, etc)
B-complex (Swanson) with 500mcg mB12 & 800mcg methylfolate
krill oil
D3 (10,000iu)
zinc picolinate (22mg)
vitamin C (1000mg)
magnesium citrate (200mg)
quercetin (100mg)
black cohosh (to balance female hormones)
black radish (liver support)
manganese (8mg)
alpha-lipoic acid (100mg)
milk thistle (150mg)
Lunch supplements:
Solgar digestive enzymes
vitamin C (1000mg)
magnesium citrate (200mg)
quercetin (100mg)
Dinner supplements:
Solgar digestive enzymes
zinc picolinate (22mg)
vitamin C (1000mg)
magnesium citrate (200mg)
quercetin (100mg)
black cohosh
black radish
Before-bed supplements:
vitamin C (1000mg)
magnesium citrate (200mg)
ashwagandha
ginkgo biloba
I've recently found that boosting my glutathione is really helping me get over the chronic fatigue. I was at a point where I was feeling able to start adding some jogging to my walks, even. But in the process of trying to balance my supplements (and dealing with some unanticipated very stressful situations) I'm not feeling so good now. Milk thistle (150mg once a day) seems to be a good thing for me in terms of energy, and it seems to work in synergy with the ALA (100mg once a day). Taking both is better for me than either on its own.
However, the milk thistle is giving me side effects - insomnia, and more disturbingly genital numbness. It isn't complete numbness, but it's enough to be causing me problems as a married gal, and I know it's also an indication that I've developed an imbalance somewhere, which I obviously don't want. This is not an unfamiliar symptom. About 10 years ago I took SSRIs for the CFS and instantly developed the same type of numbness. I began taking ashwagandha and ginkgo biloba for it, and have blessed them ever since because they helped so much (and am still taking them as they seem to be a big help in general, even though I think I've been recovered from the SSRI damage for some time now). I don't want to try to increase my doses of those; I'd rather try to get at the root cause of this and address it. Should I be looking for some imbalance in sex hormones, or something in the methylation cycle that might be "off" due to my body making more glutathione?
One more new symptom, besides the numbness and insomnia that are clearly due to the milk thistle, is evening anxiety. Again, not an unfamiliar symptom - it was one of the cluster I developed when I first got ill 12 years ago, though it disappeared when I started taking supplements. It's hard to pinpoint a cause, since I take the majority of my supplements in the morning, so it's obviously not directly following on from one of them as it's appearing 12 hours later.
I have tried hard to find supplements other than milk thistle that might boost my glutathione, without success. In the past I've tried NAC and whey powder; the latter made me very ill with one dose. TMG gives me the numbness and makes me feel drugged but doesn't seem to do anything positive, which is why I'm suspecting now that anything which boosts my glutathione is probably going to give me the same unwanted symptoms. I also have to be careful with things that are stimulating because my body's quite reactive. I tried taking an extra 1,000mcg methylcobalamin but again, it just made me feel overstimulated without doing anything else. (I do already take a good B-complex with methyl Bs in it; will list below).
I suppose I ought to just explain quickly that I did Freddd's protocol in the past and tried most of the supplements recommended for that. Got up to several thousand mcg of mB12 along with folate etc etc. Didn't seem to be giving me a great deal of help, and I developed an insatiable need for potassium that was very problematic, so I decided to stop and try other things (with, of course, thankfulness that I at least had the option to try this, and learned an incredible amount from it).
Oh also - I'm eating a fairly strict Paleo diet that is also generally low histamine, as I discovered this particular problem last year. My supplements list below is designed to address this, along with the chronic fatigue, and also copper detox (which I began just before Christmas, as I seem to have numerous corresponding symptoms).
Any ideas are very much welcome, thanks. I really am open to advice, as these new symptoms are troublesome.
Breakfast supplements:
Solgar digestive enzymes (ox bile, betaine HCl, pancreatin, etc)
B-complex (Swanson) with 500mcg mB12 & 800mcg methylfolate
krill oil
D3 (10,000iu)
zinc picolinate (22mg)
vitamin C (1000mg)
magnesium citrate (200mg)
quercetin (100mg)
black cohosh (to balance female hormones)
black radish (liver support)
manganese (8mg)
alpha-lipoic acid (100mg)
milk thistle (150mg)
Lunch supplements:
Solgar digestive enzymes
vitamin C (1000mg)
magnesium citrate (200mg)
quercetin (100mg)
Dinner supplements:
Solgar digestive enzymes
zinc picolinate (22mg)
vitamin C (1000mg)
magnesium citrate (200mg)
quercetin (100mg)
black cohosh
black radish
Before-bed supplements:
vitamin C (1000mg)
magnesium citrate (200mg)
ashwagandha
ginkgo biloba
Last edited: