Doctoral student from Lancaster University at Phoenix Rising Forum

[triffid113]

greenshots

So far, I've learned that my CBS snip is not a big deal, and that it's not significant enough to fuss over. I got the urine sulfate test strips, and have never tested over 800, often 400.

I definitely need electrolytes--magnesium and potassium in particular. I have nasty reactions to zinc, probably because it mobilizes the excess of copper that always shows up in hair analyses. I also need to make sure I get enough salt. I have hideously low b.p.--90/50, and sodium helps.

Dreambirdie, you can prioritize your CBS down if you like but don't forget it...I don't believe a sulphate test strip is sufficient to determine it is not a problem for you. I would rely more on a homocysteine test of 6.3 or thereabouts.

But I really got in to say that if you are finding you need more salt it means you have an adrenal problem.
Triff

 

[Dreambirdie]

triffid113 Yes, I am very aware of my adrenal problem. I take lotsa stuff for it, including 7Keto DHEA. I actually asked you about your DHEA doses on another thread, but you didn't respond. I wanted to know if you take 100 mg every day. I couldn't possibly take that much. I take 25 mg 7Keto each day. I do not tolerate the regular DHEA at all.

 

[triffid113]

I take 50-75mg every day. If I take 50mg for too long I start getting adrenal problems (I forget - something weird on my labs like too much CO2) and my muscles feel like they are not getting something they need (they hurt). I am not sure what you mean specifically by "you can't tolerate DHEA". Some symptoms like breaking out only last a day.

 

[Dreambirdie]

Here's Gestalts webpage. He seems to know allot about nervous system typing. I'd guess you to be on the parasympathetic side but you really have to consider how you were before you were ill. I met someone last month who'd seen Watson, the guy who actually wrote the book on this stuff and I guess he messed up because he diagnosed him based on what he was like when he was really sick. It wasn't until he saw my doc that he got the right plan and now he's doing much better. Its weird how you can miss something so fundamental.

http://www.gestaltreality.com/2012/07/11/metabolic-diet-supplements-an-exploration/

I'm very familiar with the MBIT, having studied Jungian psychology for many years, but I have NEVER seen anyone use it to TYPE a nervous system.

Being INFJ, according to his methodology, I would fit into 22% MIxed Type with a slant toward the parasympathetic. But most of my worst symptoms fit into the sympathetic. (I was much more driven before I became ill and even during my remissions.) One thing I know for sure is that strict diets don't work for me. Being vegan for 7 years made me A LOT worse. But eating too much animal protein doesn't work either. I do best when I trust my instincts and eat what feels right at the particular time, in the particular season.

 

[greenshots]

Now thats interesting about Jungian theory and nervous system types, when I had read this posting that part wasn't up yet. I don't know allot about personality types. Dreambirdie, do ya think this theory holds? I find it fascinating if so. I guess I should take the test myself sometime.

As for checking homocysteine levels with the MTHFR, I don't think that still fits when you have the CBS and AHCY (or the BHMTs). The break in the AHCY could mean homocysteine isn't activated so it would be automatically lower and the CBS would allow some more of it to drain out. If your homocysteine levels are still high after all that, they would have been extremely high under normal MTHFR defect circumstances.

 

[Dreambirdie]

Now thats interesting about Jungian theory and nervous system types, when I had read this posting that part wasn't up yet. I don't know allot about personality types. Dreambirdie, do ya think this theory holds? I find it fascinating if so. I guess I should take the test myself sometime.

I have never approached the MBIT from this angle. That test is a personality test, (based on Jung's typology system), which is normally used by therapists and career counselors. It would be interesting to see a study to back up Gestalt's claims about his interpretation of it relating to neuro functioning.

I know that Jerome Kagan (a Harvard cognitive psychologist) did a long term study of children from infancy through adolescence, the findings of which indicated that extraverted children tended to be low level reactors to novel stimuli, whereas introverted children tended to be highly reactive. Recent brain research has backed this up, because apparently the amygdalas of introverts are much more sensitive and reactive than those of extraverts.

As for types themselves (thinking and feeling, which are the Js--as in rational or judging types, and intuition and sensation, which are the Ps--as in irrational or perceiving types).... I think those would be harder to fit into the equation of neuro functioning. It seems like the P dominant types might be more easy going and flexible than the Js, but what about those of us on the borderline... I think that more investigation is needed before coming to conclusions on that.

and btw.. I started a thread about introversion and the MBIT here, in case you're interested and have time for that. http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/the-power-of-introverts.22511/page-7

As for checking homocysteine levels with the MTHFR, I don't think that still fits when you have the CBS and AHCY (or the BHMTs). The break in the AHCY could mean homocysteine isn't activated so it would be automatically lower and the CBS would allow some more of it to drain out. If your homocysteine levels are still high after all that, they would have been extremely high under normal MTHFR defect circumstances.

Good point. You know this stuff a whole lot better than I do.

 

[Bluebell]

The MBTI is an amazing tool and it's really helped me over the years to understand myself and others.

In mainstream academic psychology (at least, the American version), they don't put much stock in the MBTI (at least, officially), but they have something very similar called the Five Factor Model of Personality, by Costa and McCrae.

It looks at five dimensions of personality, not four as the MBTI does. It's been tested a lot and validated by academic psychologists, which the MBTI hasn't so much been (but that doesn't mean the the MBTI isn't powerful too - it really is great, in my opinion).

I have been skimming through old Phoenix Rising threads tonight and I came across this one... I noticed that folks in this thread were talking about genetics and personality types/MBTI results --

and I thought I'd mention that some of the Five Factor Model of Personality crowd (and lots of others) are researching this very issue: genetics and personality types.


Further information and some examples of published studies:

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Basics of the Five Factor Model of Personality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_factor_model

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"McCrae and... Costa.... have developed the Five-Factor Theory, which says that personality traits themselves are genetically based, but that characteristic adaptations--habits, beliefs, values, self-concepts, roles, relationships, skills--are shaped jointly by genetically determined traits and the environment."
from the article "Searching for Genes that Explain our Personalities"
American Psychological Association publication, September 2002
http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep02/genes.aspx

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"The NEO-Five-Factor Inventory divides human personality traits into five dimensions: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness. In this study, we sought to identify regions harboring genes with large effects on the five NEO personality traits by performing genome-wide linkage analysis of individuals scoring in the extremes of these traits.... Our findings imply that there may be genes with relatively large effects involved in personality traits"
"A genome-wide linkage study of individuals with high scores on NEO personality traits"
Mol Psychiatry. 2012 Oct;17(10):1031-41. doi: 10.1038/mp.2011.97. Epub 2011 Aug 9.

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"Personality traits are summarized by five broad dimensions with pervasive influences on major life outcomes, strong links to psychiatric disorders, and clear heritable components. To identify genetic variants associated with each of the five dimensions of personality we performed a genome wide association (GWA) scan of 3,972 individuals from a genetically isolated population within Sardinia, Italy."
"Genome-wide association scan for five major dimensions of personallity"
Mol Psychiatry. 2010 June; 15(6): 647–656.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2874623/

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"The first candidate gene studies of human personality promised much but, in the fifteen years since their publication, have delivered little in the way of clear evidence for the contribution of specific genetic variants to observed variation in personality traits. This is most likely due to the very small effects conferred by individual loci. The advent of genome-wide association studies has brought growing awareness that high levels of statistical stringency, very large sample sizes, and independent replication will be minimum requirements for future genetic studies of personality. At the same time, evidence from other fields indicates that the genetic architecture of personality is likely to consist of the combined effect of many hundreds, if not thousands, of small effect loci."
"Dissecting the Genetic Architecture of Human Personality"
Trends Cogn Sci. 2011 Sep;15(9):395-400. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2011.07.007. Epub 2011 Aug 9.

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"Common SNPs explain some of the variation in the personality dimensions of neuroticism and extraversion."
Transl Psychiatry. 2012 Apr 17;2:e102. doi: 10.1038/tp.2012.27.

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(Oops, I meant to put the Pubmed hyperlinks to all of those, but forgot and then closed the links. These and similar articles are available there.)

 

[Bluebell]

Hello Everyone!

Mette, are you still observing the forum(s) on Phoenix Rising?

 

[peggy-sue]

I'm of the opinion that even extraversion and introversion are still very badly defined concepts, and I'm singularly unimpressed with Costa's "Big Five".
In my Hons.thesis, I did discover a direct correlation (even a stright line graph, p < .05) between a behaviour measurement and Meharabian's concept of dominance, with theory to back it up enough to consider causation.
The way ahead is neuroscience, not top-down theory.