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Dizziness and POTS may respond to Choline

ahmo

Senior Member
Messages
4,805
Location
Northcoast NSW, Australia
http://suzycohen.com/articles/choline_bloodpressure_pots/

A study published in The FASEB Journal highlights why certain medications that block acetylcholine breakdown are often extremely helpful for POTS patients. Keeping acetylcholine intact is one target for drugs.

This new study closely examined choline which feeds your cell membranes and connective tissue. The scientists researched “fibroblasts” cells which they extracted from POTS patients who were deficient in choline. Interesting, these patients were also deficient in betaine which is an amino acid and a methyl donor sold as a dietary supplement....
 

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,321
Location
Southern California
@ahmo - That's really interesting about choline and POTS - it's such a huge issue for so many here, it would be great if something this simple could help.

Choline also can improve memory: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130711103239.htm

My memory improved after I started taking a choline supplement a couple of years ago. This article mentions several good sources of choline.
 

halcyon

Senior Member
Messages
2,482
Choline (mixed with vitamin C) was one of the treatments that Dr. John Richardson used over the years, as detailed in his book. There's dosing information in this paper. The form he used was choline citrate. I've been trying this out for a few days but haven't noticed any change in POTS symptoms yet.

It's probably worth noting too that Abhijit Chaudhuri and Peter Behan were looking into cholinergic dysfunction in this disease back in 1997. They felt that the OI could potentially be explained by this and talk about treating with AChE inhibitors.
 

lansbergen

Senior Member
Messages
2,512
It's probably worth noting too that Abhijit Chaudhuri and Peter Behan were looking into cholinergic dysfunction in this disease back in 1997. They felt that the OI could potentially be explained by this and talk about treating with AChE inhibitors.

I have a different approach. I use an a7nAchR positive allosteric modulator
 

voner

Senior Member
Messages
592
@ahmo,

thanks for posting this. Pretty interesting. I wonder if this paper also helps explain the mechanism of Pyridostigmine?

If anyone's interested in the paper they should check the "Would you like to request a paper? thread..
 

voner

Senior Member
Messages
592
here is a quote from the "discussions" section of the paper :

This study describes a disorder related to choline deficiency in a female, who was diagnosed with dysautonomia and POTS. The analysis of patient blood showed very low amounts of choline and betaine, which suggested impairments in choline-related phospholipid pathways and choline transport activity. Using cells obtained from the patient's skin biopsies, we clearly established that the reduced cellular and mitochondrial choline uptake and reduced choline transporter CTL1/SLC44A1 were re-sponsible for the observed deficiency. This is the first known case of a medical disorder related to transport-mediated choline deficiency.

 
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sillysocks84

Senior Member
Messages
445
Choline (mixed with vitamin C) was one of the treatments that Dr. John Richardson used over the years, as detailed in his book. There's dosing information in this paper. The form he used was choline citrate. I've been trying this out for a few days but haven't noticed any change in POTS symptoms yet.

It's probably worth noting too that Abhijit Chaudhuri and Peter Behan were looking into cholinergic dysfunction in this disease back in 1997. They felt that the OI could potentially be explained by this and talk about treating with AChE inhibitors.
I'll be looking forward to following your results.
 

Jenny TipsforME

Senior Member
Messages
1,184
Location
Bristol
You can also get choline from diet eg eggs, prawns/shrimp, cod, broccoli. That may be a fairly safe way forward to try if you can otherwise eat those things. See http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=50

BUT if we have this problem
reduced cellular and mitochondrial choline uptake and reduced choline transporter CTL1/SLC44A1 were re-sponsible for the observed deficiency.
Would this mean it isn't caused by lack of choline but by problems utilising it? So supplementation is pointless. Or is it a percentage type of thing, so you can only utilise 30% so you need 3x the intake?
 

sillysocks84

Senior Member
Messages
445
@ahmo and @halcyon and whoever else takes choline.. Are you taking betaine too? The study said we are low in choline AND betaine. If I missed this the first time, my apologies.
 

sillysocks84

Senior Member
Messages
445
"Mestinon (Pyridostigmine Bromide) has traditionally been used to treat myasthenia gravis, but is now sometimes being used to treat POTS patients (Grubb, 2002). Mestinon works by inhibiting the breakdown ofacetylcholine. Acetylcholine is the main chemical messenger of the parasympathetic nervous system. Some POTS patients may have immune systems that are mistakenly making antibodies that are plugging up acetylcholine receptors (Grubb, 2002). Mestinon works to unplug these receptors by allowing more acetylcholine to remain at the neuromuscular junction. Mestinon is particulary useful in patients who have the postviral, paraneoplastic or autoimmune forms of POTS. Mestinon is usually started at 30 mg orally twice a day, titrating to 60 mg orally twice daily, if necessary (Grubb, Kanjwal & Kosinski, 2006"

This was taken from dinet.org. Does anyone take this medication? Sounds like it could really be helpful in pots.