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Carnitine and muscle wasting

CCC

Senior Member
Messages
457
There have been a few threads on carnitine and its importance for us all. It's part of Freddd's deadlock quartet of AdoB12, meB12, methlyfolate and, of course, carnitine (as L-carnitine fumarate or ALCAR).

L-canitine fumarate made my son very, very tired and did nothing else, so we dropped it after a few weeks.

We took ALCAR for almost a year, and we though ti did nothing. We've recently restarted it, and I think it has reverse some of the muscle wasting since... stopping the ALCAR at the end of last year.

For the record, here's what else has been said on PR, but I can't see why it would increase muscle mass.

I'd really like to know why it works. Anyone with better knowledge out there?

Previously, on PR...

@Freddd and his Burning muscle pain (AdoB12 and carnitine-L-fumarate worked for him)
This discussion about L-carnitine fumarate (and including a comparison to ALCAR)
And this:
Yes. That does not mean carnitine isn't good for you. It is essential. But people with hypothyroid are often advised to not go too far with carnitine supplementation without being careful.

Oddly enough as pointed out earlier in this same thread, carnitine = methionine + lysine. Carnitine whether as L-carnitine and carnitine fumarate will disassociate in the gut into methionine + lysine and will be recombined inside the cellular membranes by the body as needed.

Acetly-l-carnitine is blood brain barrier penetrable and is more stable until the acetyl group is removed.

So in reality unless you overdo things the body will be in control and recombine the methionine + lysine as needed if you take the first two forms. The latter form is a bit trickier to manage and has been shown to affect T3 binding in the brain and CNS.

Ironically, for Fozzaw the reason lysine probably helped her muscle problems is increased energy from being able to make carnitine. On the other hand without methylation cycle working, carnitine production is low. Sadly lysine is often sold in the lysine mono-hydrochloride form which while cheap and highly absorbable for some people poses a real problem in terms of reflux, gastritis, etc.

Too much supplemental methionine for a long period will slow the methylation cycle via feedback inhibition in most people. I suspect the reason why methionine damps some of Fozzaw's pain symptoms is it slows down methylation somewhat. That is certainly what happened to me for a long time. I was just to stubborn to see it over the last two years
when I briefly at times supplemented with methionine directly.
And this
Acetyl-carnitine is the best a penetrating the brain but for some may have the highest tendency towards overstimulation effects. It also partially inhibits T3 action at the nuclear hormone receptors in the brain and CNS.

L-carnitine and L-carnitine fumarate are similar in their reduction of T3 action at the receptor sites but in the periphery (unless I suppose your blood brain barrier is defective).

People who take Cytomel or similar T3 medications (probably also Armour) should be cautious on their doses of carnitine. As Freddd rightly points out it is very important to function properly, but I would recommend shooting for physiological levels of carnitine based on ATP and methylation status (methionine production) and the ambient level of the amino acid lysine. Some people have the methionine but not the lysine or ATP. What that dose is for a person will have to be experimented with a look for the appropriate clinical results on an individual basis I would imagine.

And this
I just want to note that several studies have shown that carnitine is low in ME/CFS. I think the reason is that methylation is required to make carnitine in the body. One of the main roles of carnitine is to usher fatty acids into the mitochondria of cells to be burned as fuel. In the urine organic acids test results that many people have posted or sent to me, I usually find that the fatty acids markers are showing buildup of omega oxidation of fatty acids, which occurs when there is a carnitine deficiency. Under these conditions, it makes sense that your muscles would respond to carnitine supplementation, since it raises the supply of fuel to their mitochondria. When the methylation cycle partial block has been lifted, the cells should be able to make enough carnitine for themselves.
Best regards, Rich

Need to take away from food
I and many have found that the carnitine needs to be taken 30 minutes before food to be most effective, like SAM-e and a few others. It was also critical to healing my heart and allowing recovery from congestive heart failure while healing my atrophied muscles as well. It appears to be linked to mitochondria proliferation and neuroblasts forming, and osteoblasts forming and promotion of muscle grown in atrophied muscles. Good luck.