ashwagandha was suggested, but Im just confused as usual

[maybe some day]

It was suggested to me from a friend that has the same health challenges, to take ashwag. I did some searching on here, and some take it at night to sleep. Others say it helped their energy levels- so when do you take it? More reading revealed not to take it if you have a hyper active immune system. All this info, plus reading all the side affects- I dont know what to believe. A new bottle is sitting on the counter untouched. Im so reluctant to take anything because of fear of relapsing from it. Beleive it or not, Tylenol is the only thing that takes the edge off. Maybe I'll stick with that and some vitamins. Sigh.....

 

[eljefe19]

For what purpose was it recommended? We need a little more information. Ashwaghanda helps the th1 arm of the immune system therefore if you are th2 dominant it may help. For energy though I would recommend things that activate the Akt/mTOR pathway such as Florinef, Cimetidine, Rhodiola, uridine, TUDCA, etc.

 

[maybe some day]

For what purpose was it recommended? We need a little more information. Ashwaghanda helps the th1 arm of the immune system therefore if you are th2 dominant it may help. For energy though I would recommend things that activate the Akt/mTOR pathway such as Florinef, Cimetidine, Rhodiola, uridine, TUDCA, etc.

Wow, thank you for that reply- far more knowledge then I could ever hope to know. I was going through some anxiety and sleep issues through during my relapses. I was told it will help sleep, anxiety and energy level. But I'm confused how one supplement can do all that. I need a pill that will give me energy and take the flu symptoms away. Wait, that's the pill were all looking for! Thank you for your suggestions. Much appreciated

 

[eljefe19]

Ashwaghanda likely is not strong enough of an anti fatigue agent. It has some beneficial effects on immune balance and has affinity for GABA receptors so it may help with anxiety/sleep but more likely you will need other agents. Nandixon is the user here to talk to about Akt/mTOR and user Hip is very knowledgeable on th1/th2 immune balance. Personally my anxiety is bad enough that I cycle benzos from time to time to take the edge off. You also may want to try rotating an opiate like Tramadol as opiates activate Akt/mTOR, and an underactivated Akt/mTOR is possibly causing the PDH enzyme dysfunction that the Norwegians found recently. I'm too brain fogged/fatigued to link you to the relevant threads here so I would recommend asking those guys for their advice. Though I'm willing to help with any questions you might have. This community is pretty amazing like that.

 

[eljefe19]

For example, I do not believe Ashwaghanda activates Akt/mTOR but Rhodiola and Cordyceps mushrooms do. Opiates upregulate mTOR. Florinef and Cimetidine are medications that for me seem to have improved my baseline energy and also smoothed out my crashes so that they are less intense and also shorter in duration. Both of these activate Akt. Florinef is especially useful if you have OI symptoms (increased HR standing vs sitting) and Cimetidine decreases Tregs, a type of immune cell that deactivates Akt.

 

[eljefe19]

Anxiety is a bitch ain't she? When I first started developing CFS symptoms at age 14 (I'm 26 now), all of a sudden I developed some intense anxiety symptoms. They have stuck with me over the years and I actually had to do 3 months of inpatient rehab because I could not stay away from benzos.

 

[Skippa]

Opiates upregulate mTOR.

Wow, interesting, and sorry to interrupt this thread!

Could this be the reason opiates work well for "opiate responders" (such as myself?)

Just been looking at the effects on cell growth/health and also on insulin uptake of mTOR.

The effects of opiates go way beyond simply killing pain... thanks I wouldn't have found this information anywhere else (I've been looking!)

Are you aware of anything else that upregulates mTOR besides opiates?

 

[eljefe19]

Specifically Tramadol upregulates mTOR by the way, but I think other opiates do too. There are threads on here where people report the same thing as you, where opiates treat not only pain but neurological symptoms as well. As for other things, IIRC Salidroside from Rhodiola Rosea upregulates Akt and a quick search on google found that BCAA's upregulate mTOR.

 

[eljefe19]

@Skippa one other thing, I found an article that said Tramadol was synergistic with Ketamine in treating depression through an mTOR mechanism. Idk if that's your thing or not but I'm going to try it.