Hi @
Critterina
Very interesting. I checked the bluebonnet multimin, and it looks like it has 200 mcg--which seems to be the dose given in the studies I have read on selenium supplementation. And even the more conservative websites seem to think that 200 mcg is a safe amount to take daily.
Obviously, something is different for you, which makes me curious. Glutathione seems to be
necessary for selenium to be taken into cells (in rainbow trout) and magnesium deficiency
decreases red blood cell selenium while increasing plasma selenium. Which makes me wonder if you might be magnesium deficient and glutathione deficient (remember, magnesium is necessary to make glutathione.) Nearly everyone with chronic fatigue has these issues. Magnesium because we do not have the ATP to sustain the correct membrane potential (pump enough magnesium into the cells), and glutathione...I think I'll leave that to Rich Van K.
Since glutathione and magnesium deficiency seem like possible culprits, and they are quite common in people with chronic fatigue, I am curious why you say you do not have chronic fatigue. Do you not experience post-exertional malaise? (Post-exertional malaise is when you exercise hard, and then get very tired for a day or days afterwards.)
In any case, at this point I would not suggest taking 800 mcg selenium to anyone who was not also taking large amounts of magnesium, and at least some B6. Maybe there are other situations where it might be warranted, but I, at least, do not know of them.
Thank you for sharing your test results and chewing over this with us.
Let me know what you think,
Aaron C
Aaron,
I really appreciate you chewing this over. It is hard to make sense out of all of it. First, yes it's true, I'm somewhat of an imposter on this website. I don't have chronic fatigue or post-exertional malaise. I had some fatigue, but not chronic. I was hypothyroid, which makes you feel not good and a bit tired. And cold. My average waking temp was 96.4. Then I got histamine intolerant and because of the inflammatory reaction it caused in my lungs, they were only working at 80% capacity, as measured by my pulmonologist using spirometry. That can also make you feel tired, when you can't get enough oxygen to sustain exertion. I did an elimination diet and got off my breathing meds, that weren't working well anyway, and causing me a lot of side effects. Then my adrenals sort of slowly stopped working right. It was just before I went back to work that I read about histamine intolerance, so my breathing started to improve more . But...My cortisol was low enough to effect my blood sugar (it is needed in the liver for gluconeogenesis) and give me insomnia and side pain at night, and nausea and dizziness and weakness during the day (I took my previously opened jars to the front desk of the hotel to have them re-open them for me). I was working in a high-stress environment and when there was a conflict, I would start to black out. I had to sit down to argue with someone, so I didn't faint. And my testosterone went to "undetectable on a high sensitivity test", essentially zero. So, at that point, there doesn't seem to be any motivation to even get out of bed, tired or not. So, I ended up here about a year ago, knowing I was MTHFR A1298C +/- and trying to make sense out of why I was a shadow of my former self. I waited a long time to join, but I had to, in order to ask questions. I've tried to be helpful and respectful, knowing that I don't really know what the rest of you are up against.
So, selenium and magnesium and B6. It was about 9 months into the histamine intolerance, not knowing what it was, that an acupuncturist treating me for carpal tunnel told me I was B6 deficient and told me to take 100 mg/day, which I did. Then 3-4 months later my labs showed I was deficient in B6 and magnesium didn't test low but was implicated in some other imbalances (same time we discovered hypothyroid), so I switched to P5P and started the Bluebonnet minerals and 400 mg Mg glycinate (and lots of other supps including methylfolate and methylb12). I've been on the Mg ever since. My labs showed improvement and Mg is still in the normal range. We never tested my glutathione, but my homocysteine was in the lowest quintile of the normal range (19% of the way from low normal to high normal). (OK, so my methionine was a little below normal, too, but I was muscle wasting at the time from not digesting the 2lbs of ground meat, mostly lamb, bison, and turkey, that I ate each week, plus other protein sources, like eggs). I asked about testing the glutathione, but it never got done. Anyway, with my amino acids in better balance, and taking the P5P and the Mg, I'm thinking that I probably do OK in the glutathione department.
And ATP. Interesting, but about 15 years ago, I tested low in creatinine, the breakdown product of creatine, which is the enzyme that regenerates ATP from ADP, so the muscles can contract again. I started using creatine powder and my usual 100-minute route up a canyon, across a ridge, and down another canyon went to 82 minutes after only 2.5 days. That's an 18% increase in performance. ATP was a limiting factor, and creatine was limiting my ATP. At the time, they blamed my low meat diet (never my favorite to cook or clean up, and only so-so for eating it. I'm a fruit person. And dairy, eggs, vegetables.) Fast forward to now, it will still improve my performance, but I only use it a couple of times a month...too many other supplements.
You know, I've really hijacked this thread...sorry. But I'm doing so much better now - breathing without meds except when I eat a high-histamine food, replacing my thyroid, cortisol (with prednisone) and using DHEA and estrogen to address the testosterone/estrogen depletion. My strength is back (OK to move large appliances, not just open jars) and so is most of my stamina (I can walk 6 miles a day, with 500 foot elevation gain, but not the 10-hour mountain hikes I could do 4 years ago. Probably still regaining muscle, and then there was the 20 lbs of not-muscle from the hypoglycemia.) I do exercise about 9-10 hours a week, but I don't walk every day. And I seem to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning, an interest in life. So, no chronic fatigue.
I'm interested in your comments, @
aaron_c . Do you make the same sense out of this as I do?
Critterina