@zzz
I really appreciate all the time and effort you put into your response and will keep my questions brief!
Those people who are familiar with my posts undoubtedly know what's coming next.
I'll admit... I did know this time LOL.
Dr. Goldstein listed all the usual suspects as possible triggers for ME/CFS. But the exact mechanism by which glutamate and nitric oxide became imbalanced was unidentified. In recent years, strong evidence has emerged for a microglial inflammatory process in the brains of ME/CFS patients. And some of the results of this type of inflammation are toxic amounts of glutamate and nitric oxide.
If there are already toxic amounts of nitric oxide, then how does Nitroglycerin help some people? And how does the toxic amount of glutamate relate?
@Mary said that l-glutamine helps her (but I am not sure if this is the same thing or something totally different with a similar name?)
For those who are interested, I'll be posting a detailed thread about the theory and use of low dose Valcyte in the near future. I'll also discuss new evidence I have found that Valcyte may be helping mitochondrial functionality.
Definitely, we are all very interested in this (especially since I am taking low dose Valcyte myself!) although I am not pulsing it and taking it every day.
@Gingergrrl, I think that it was the combined effect of these two drugs that had such a strong effect on your autonomic symptoms when you were receiving relief from the Valcyte, and that as the inflammatory reactions from your latest traumas gradually subside with the help of these two drugs, you will be able to experience the same effect again, and be able to continue your recovery.
That is what I am deeply hoping for b/c I had some immediate improvements from low dose Valcyte and from Magnesium that are gone now (but I am hoping they return!)
The overall action is similar, but a nitroglycerin patch appears to be somewhat more effective than Isordil. Dr. Goldstein prescribed nitroglycerin patches for his patients who responded positively to the sublingual version of nitroglycerin.
Thanks and was curious re: Goldstein's opinion of this and it sounds like now Fluge & Mella are working on getting a patent on a Nitro related product for ME/CFS. I suspect my cardio will be recommending this patch for me at my appt later this week.
At the top of page 4 of Betrayal by the Brain, you will find microvascular angina listed by Dr. Goldstein as one of the disorders that should be amenable to his neurosomatic treatments. In other words, you may very well have microvascular angina, but if so, it is of autonomic origin just like your POTS symptoms, and will respond to the same treatment. Early on in your nebulizer treatments, you commented on how they reduced your angina significantly. And early on in my own nebulizer treatments, I could feel my angina lessening during the treatment. This is far too fast a reaction to be anything other than neurological.
Thank you and I will look at page 4.
There is the question of why nitroglycerin initially had no effect for you, and now it does.
I have not had another episode since I took the Nitro but when I do (which I will) then I will try it again and see how it works. When I last saw my cardio in Dec or Jan (?) I had never tried the Nitro. But now I have tried it twice so I can give him actual feedback on how it worked each time. I will also tell him about the new mast cell/histamine issue and the new coxsackie B4 positive test.
As you have been on a therapeutic dose of Valcyte for a number of days, the inflammation may have dropped to a level where the nitroglycerin could work.
That is what I am hoping (although I know my cardio will not know anything about this concept.)
@Gingergrrl, it is certainly possible that you have an active Coxsackie B viral infection. But as you have noted, you cannot tolerate Dr. Chia's drugs. The best way for you to fight such an infection, if it exists, is with an enhanced immune system, and Valcyte will give you that over time on your current regimen. Without a reasonably functioning immune system, an antiviral can't completely eradicate viral activity anyway.
I have a titer on CB4 of 1:160 but I guess there is no way to know for sure if it is active. The test results and my doctor said that a fourfold increase from prior test would prove active infection (which would be 1:640- which I do not have) so it seems there is no way to confirm for sure, if I understood him correctly. And I agree with you that I need my immune system to kick in to fight these viruses and hoping the Low dose Valcyte will do that. Also hoping that reducing all this histamine stuff will help.
Thanks again!