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L Methionine

Messages
38
Hey everyone,

I'm wondering about L Methionine. I was recommended to look into taking it to deal with the edema/water retention I'm stuck with, but I like to do my research first to make sure it's going to be okay for me, and I just don't know. I've searched and Googled and researched some more, and I can't find a definitive answer on this supplement.

All I can glean is that there's some connection to homocystiene but even that, I can't really make heads or tails of. (My homocystiene is very low. I have no clue, one way or the other, what this indicates or how it plays into anything.)

Thoughts on L-Methionine?
 

caledonia

Senior Member
L-methionine is a substance in the methylation cycle - a precursor to SAMe, the major methyl group donor, which would be a precursor to making homocysteine.

You're getting into a very complicated subject, i.e. methylation.

I don't know how that would fit into fixing edema, except that if your methylation is running slow it will affect over 40 major reactions in your body. Edema could be due to kidneys or lymph I think.

See the link in my signature which will lead to some videos called Methylation Made Easy for more info.

That all being said, I do take a tiny bit of methionine along with other methylation supplements in the Holistic Health All In One multi. Since it's in a multi, I can't say what the effect of taking it as a single supplement would be.

Maybe some others can chime in with their experiences trying this as a single supplement.
 

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,335
Location
Southern California
@KimmyB - Methionine may increase homocysteine: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15870821

It's also supposed to be important for a number of things, including edema:
http://www.houseofnutrition.com/lmethionine.html

Methionine helps the body product sam-e, and here's an article about sam-e:
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/sadenosylmethionine

and here's more info: http://www.benbest.com/health/Meth.html


I take 500 mg. of l-methionine 2 x a day and don't feel any different, but my doctor told me to take it and he's pretty knowledgeable.

I just realized something - I've had problems with swelling in one of my knees for several years due to an old injury and it has not been bothering me nearly as much for several months - it may be due to the l-methionine I've been taking ....
 
Messages
38
See the link in my signature which will lead to some videos called Methylation Made Easy for more info.

Thanks for that info, Caledonia!

I've watched those videos... I guess my question is this: I am compound hetero for MTHFR. And I've read what feels like hundreds of hours of posts of Freddd's on this forum, and your primers as well. And still, I'm not sure if my methylation is impaired.

Beyond getting the 23andMe test done, what can a person do to determine their methylation status? Are there definitive tests out there?
 
Messages
38
@KimmyB -

I take 500 mg. of l-methionine 2 x a day and don't feel any different, but my doctor told me to take it and he's pretty knowledgeable.

I just realized something - I've had problems with swelling in one of my knees for several years due to an old injury and it has not been bothering me nearly as much for several months - it may be due to the l-methionine I've been taking ....

That IS interesting. I just checked one of my supplements, and it turns out I've been taking 100mg/day of Methionine for a very very long time. It was 200mg per day for a while but I reduced that supplement a while back.

Hm. I wonder if the amount makes a big difference. In any case, it hasn't done a darn thing for my edema.
 

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,335
Location
Southern California
Thanks for that info, Caledonia!

I've watched those videos... I guess my question is this: I am compound hetero for MTHFR. And I've read what feels like hundreds of hours of posts of Freddd's on this forum, and your primers as well. And still, I'm not sure if my methylation is impaired.

Beyond getting the 23andMe test done, what can a person do to determine their methylation status? Are there definitive tests out there?

Check out this company - they offer a methylation panel test which Richvank recommended:
http://www.hdri-usa.com/
 

caledonia

Senior Member
Check out this company - they offer a methylation panel test which Richvank recommended:
http://www.hdri-usa.com/

You could do this HDRI Methylation Panel, or it can also be inferred via the Nutreval test interpreted with Rich Vank's interpretations (one of my documents). Rich Vank also has an interpretation of the HDRI.

There is also one by Doctors Data that Ben Lynch uses.
http://www.seekinghealth.com/methylation-profile-doctors-data.html
You can't get it through Ben Lynch any more, but that page has a podcast by him with info on how to interpret it.

I've done the HDRI and the Nutreval. While the HDRI was the first test to show how incredibly screwed up I am (most of my results were either extremely low or extremely high), I got a lot more info for treatment from the Nutreval.
 
Messages
38
I've read that, contrary to popular belief, lack of salt can cause edema.

I supplement 2-3tsp of real sea salt daily, I don't think it's a low salt issue. But thank you for the suggestion!

You could do this HDRI Methylation Panel, or it can also be inferred via the Nutreval test interpreted with Rich Vank's interpretations (one of my documents). Rich Vank also has an interpretation of the HDRI.

Hi @caledonia! I did the ONE (Optimal Nutrition Evaluation) test which is by the same company as the Nutreval test -- they're very similar but Nutreval looks more comprehensive. In any case, mine was interesting though not particularly revealing; it really only told me what I already knew, that I am not absorbing nutrients well. Did you have any issues like that to combat first?
 

caledonia

Senior Member
I supplement 2-3tsp of real sea salt daily, I don't think it's a low salt issue. But thank you for the suggestion!

Hi @caledonia! I did the ONE (Optimal Nutrition Evaluation) test which is by the same company as the Nutreval test -- they're very similar but Nutreval looks more comprehensive. In any case, mine was interesting though not particularly revealing; it really only told me what I already knew, that I am not absorbing nutrients well. Did you have any issues like that to combat first?

Yes, even though I have worked on my gut and it's functioning ok, I'm low in minerals and electrolytes and have to supplement those. Trying to get them through food doesn't necessarily work.

I believe the ultimate root cause may be mercury, which causes disordered mineral transport and also adrenal fatigue which affects the electrolytes.

But first I would make sure your gut is functioning properly. You could have low stomach acid (another adrenal issue), leaky gut, be low in good probiotics, etc.