To what extent is methylation a ‘ground floor’ fix?

[Johnmac]

Like many here, I’m seemingly always fighting a rearguard battle against deficiencies & toxicities.

As for the deficiencies: I usually improve when I top up iron, zinc, vitamin D and the Bs, chromium, and some amino acids.

As for the toxicities: I also usually improve when I rotate my diet, and chelate out heavy metals, and eat less carbs & sugars, and top up endocrine hormones, and feed my gut good bacteria.

This applies, at least. when the Freddd Protocol dosages are right. A complicating factor is that, after a spectacular start, the improvements usually fade after a few days or a few weeks. I’ll assume for now that over time my dosages somehow become sub-optimal. That’s a problem I’m working on. Ramping folate higher & faster is the present tactic.

But the fact is that, for so long as it is working, the FP provides many of the gains I have been seeking via the above long list of ad hoc measures. My need for many of the listed items diminishes: almost immediately, I can drop hydrocortisone doses, & get away with eating more carbs. I can chelate much more comfortably (a massive thiol reaction from stirring up mercury on taking ALA was ended when I began m-folate). Energy is better, without the need to supplement vitamins & minerals quite so obsessively.

Why is that, in your humble opinion?

 

[Hip]

What is "FP"?

 

[Johnmac]

Apologies - Freddd Protocol. Now amended.

 

[whodathunkit]

I think supplements can work like pharmaceuticals to "bandaid" certain foundational problems in physiological functioning. Certain vitamins and minerals will mask certain problems with physiology. But when you correct those foundational problems, you don't need that vitamin/mineral/bandaid. Like when wound heals, you don't need a bandage any more.

But unlike wound healing, healing physiological processes seems to be more like "three steps forward and two steps back" than a linear improvement. Why? Because there are malicious forces in the universe that like to jack people around.

Seriously, I don't know why. The causes for the improvement/relapse are probably many, and vary according to the individual. But that seems to be the way it is.

My take has always been that if you improve and then relapse, if when you relapse you're even just *a little bit* better than you were before you started whatever helped you improve, that's a win (i.e., a net gain of a single step forward). A journey of 1000 miles can be completed in this manner, even though we'd prefer things to go more quickly and be more straightforward.

Same thing happened to me with a bunch of issues, including methylation. But the simplest example I can think of is adrenals. I used to need tons of salt to ameliorate the symptoms of adrenal fatigue and "balance out" the potassium/sodium problems that come with adrenal dysfunction.

But now that my adrenals (and overall physiology) are in better shape, I don't need nearly as much salt, and my intake has naturally decreased. Quite dramatically, in fact. I no longer need the bandaid of extra sodium because my sodium/potassium balance is healthy.

 

[Johnmac]

Very nicely put, @whodathunkit. That puts lots of flesh on the bone of what I'd intuited.

I too find thinking of vitamin/mineral etc supplements as a 'bandaid' useful - as they only (transiently) work so long as you are taking them. And that is an expensive & disruptive habit.

Fixing 'groundfloor' conditions like methylation & heavy metals seems a more secure fix - tho the boundaries between groundfloor therapies like methylation & heavy metals, & the boundaries between the groundfloor therapies & the more superficial therapies, are sometimes vague.

Dr Walsh treats his ASD patients by normalising metalothionine (maybe another 'groundfloor' therapy):

Our Center’s autism outcomes have greatly improved since beginning metallothionein-promotion therapy. It’s no longer a surprise when a young autistic child becomes free of all traces of autism… Most ASD individuals exhibit a genetic tendency for undermethylation…

My guess is that once MT normalization is attained, a simplified maintenance therapy can be implemented. Also there is a very good chance that CF/GF diets, yeast therapies, digestive enzymes, etc, will become unnecessary at that time. However, at present we recommend these therapies be continued….. just in case the genetically-weak MT system cannot be fully normalized.

And:

Typical anti-candida therapies (including dietary restrictions) can manage the problem for a while……. Maintenance supplementation with zinc (after these interventions) can permanently fix the problem, in many cases, without the need to continue dietary vigilance.

 

[whodathunkit]

Typical anti-candida therapies (including dietary restrictions) can manage the problem for a while……. Maintenance supplementation with zinc (after these interventions) can permanently fix the problem, in many cases, without the need to continue dietary vigilance

Nice. Something else for me to look into, though.