High-Dose Selenium Significantly Improves My Fatigue and Brain Fog

[Aerowallah]

http://www.traceminerals.com/products/energy-performance/40000-volts
https://www.amazon.com/Trace-Minerals-000-Volts-8-Ounce/dp/B000Z98KF8

There is a complete assay on the company site.

Others, esp. those who also do CEs, juice for electrolytes. But this is the only source I know that is so complete. I also tried separate Ca and Mag, K and Na, but that was a drag. When the AF ameliorates I will cut back from a teaspoon 3x per day (about 80 drops per tsp.) to 5 - 10 drops per glass ongoing to saturate my RO water. TM says that is the equivalent of bottled mineral water.

 

[Avengers26]

@Aerowallah What is CEs? I am glad it's helping you. I have been meaning to try to get trace minerals in my body in an easy absorbable form. Will do so in near future.

 

[Aerowallah]

Oh, sorry. Coffee enemas. Every other supplement it seems--even D3 and B12--stirs up metals somehow. I get detox symptoms, CEs take the edge of noticeably. People disagree about whether these further deplete electrolytes. Then someone pointed out they are an issue for AF/CFS generally. So I took them, and my fatigue started to abate...

Be ready to try the D3 plus methylation again soon...

 

[Avengers26]

Other members, too, have mentioned in the past that they found coffee enemas helpful.

 

[topghetto]

Thank you @Aerowallah and I am glad that it is still working wonders for you!

 

[iicybershotii]

Hi All,

I'd like to share my experience with this, as I recently started supplementing with selenium and had insane energy effects from it. I feel like I am taking long-acting methamphetamine (to which I used to be addicted). After a couple times of this I knew something was up so I took to the internet and found this thread.

My medical history is this:
-Happy and normal and age 22 (however I was a recovered addict a few years prior)
-Dec 9th, 2006 intense food poisoning, IBS from this day forward
-March, 2007 diagnosed with Grave's Disease and given RAI therapy
-IBS, CFS, anxiety, depression, etc ever since

So about 1.5 weeks ago I started taking 200mcg of selenium per day recommended by a Naturopathic doctor. About a week went by with no effects and one night I had forgotten to take my dose which I was taking in the morning, so I took it at night before I went to sleep. The next morning I took out my pill container and popped all my morning pills again, including the selenium...

Well this was a day I'd never forget. My heart rate stayed between 100-110 the entire day from about 1pm until 5am. My normal heart rate is in the high 60s all the time.

And I felt ridiculously high on something. My mind was sharp as a tack, I had endless energy, I was very social and I could talk with clarity and for long periods of time. Keep in mind that I can barely sit down for 5-10 minutes normally without getting extremely drowsy.

So now I can take 100mcg in the morning and get the same effect. It's like it built up in my system and is now acheivable with just a very light dose. I wonder how long the effects will last at this dose and if I will have to raise the dose.

I don't particularly like feeling so high, but it is SO nice to just NOT BE TIRED for once!

Anyways, my theory is that it's increasing T4 to T3 conversion, because the feeling I get from the selenium is the same as I get from my T3 only med, which I actually can't tolerate due to how extreme it makes me feel and it wrecks my adrenals which are already pretty low.

I am taking the same form of selenium as mentioned by OP, the brand is Thorne Research.

Other supplements/meds I take:
Levothyroxine
Zyrtec
Vit C
r-ALA
Vit D
Curcumin
Holy Basil
Ashwagandha
Bromelain
Zinc Carnosine
Black Cumin Seed oil

I'm probably going to start taking some Vitamin E now as this thread makes me think it's a good idea to have with selenium on board.

PS: I can take the selenium with food and get the same effects.
PPS: I have gone through trials with brazil nuts, up to 6 per day, with no noticeable effects at all. Perhaps Trader Joes brazil nuts are rather low in selenium?

Best,

Peter

 

[Little Bluestem]

My heart rate stayed between 100-110 the entire day from about 1pm until 5am.

Was this your resting heart rate? If so, I wonder if this was a good thing.

 

[iicybershotii]

Was this your resting heart rate? If so, I wonder if this was a good thing.

Yes this was my resting heart rate. I do NOT believe it was a good thing haha. It never dipped below 95 for like 12 hours! I did not enjoy that part of the experience. However the 100mcg was working fine with positive energy effects and no heart rate problems until this weekend when it just seemed to not do much anymore.

Today I have upped the dose to 200mcg to see if I can get those super-positive energy levels back.

Another thing I've noticed is that at night now I experience a very natural feeling crash of tiredness, and can fall asleep and stay asleep easily. Then I also sleep very deeply and soundly. Last night I slept straight through the night and woke to the sound of my alarm which is unusual for me.

 

[Chieftain]

What do you think about consuming a high dose of Brazil nuts to supplement selenium? Are the worries about high amounts of polyunsaturated fat in Brazil nuts overblown?

 

[Hip]

What do you think about consuming a high dose of Brazil nuts to supplement selenium?

In principle the idea is fine, but the amount of selenium in Brazil nuts varies a great deal, depending a lot on the country of origin.

So with Brazil nuts, it would be hard to know if you are taking too much or too little. For me, 400 mcg is the optimum daily dose; less that that and the benefits seem to disappear; more than that, and I get irritability as a side effect of too much selenium.

 

[iicybershotii]

I wanted to update my status with Se supplementation.

So 100mcg stopped working entirely, and I raised it to 200mcg. This worked for about 1 day and I have been at the 200mcg dose for several days and results have plateaued again. I am going to raise the dose to 300mcg per day and see how that goes.

 

[fairlight]

Hip-thanks for bringing up/sharing that selenium was helping your fatigue.

Dietary Selenium in Adjuvant Therapy of Viral and Bacterial Infections1,2

Holger Steinbrenner,3 Saleh Al-Quraishy,5 Mohamed A Dkhil,5,6 Frank Wunderlich,4 and Helmut Sies3,5*

3Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I and 4Department of Biology, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; 5Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and 6Department of Zoology and Entomology, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt

http://advances.nutrition.org/content/6/1/73.full.pdf

 

[Hip]

Dietary Selenium in Adjuvant Therapy of Viral and Bacterial Infections
http://advances.nutrition.org/content/6/1/73.full.pdf

Thanks for posting that paper. Interesting that it says selenium promotes the Th1 immune response, and that selenium can also be helpful for bacterial infections.

 

[topghetto]

Hi @Hip

Two weeks ago, I bought this bottle of Selenomethionine (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thorne-Research-Selenomethionine-Selenium-Supplement/dp/B00B5N9IDQ) and I just wanted to know whether or not it is yeast-free? Thanks

 

[Hip]

@topghetto You might have to email the manufacturer and ask. Some selenomethionine is yeast-derived, others are made by a different process and are yeast-free. The only reason I suggested buying yeast-free is because I found the yeast-derived selenomethionine induced depression in me, whereas the yeast-free version did not.

The yeast in question is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which does sometimes cause issues as it is an immune stimulant. But if it does not cause you problems, then it's fine to take a yeast-derived version (and the immune stimulating effect may even be beneficial).

 

[topghetto]

@topghetto You might have to email the manufacturer and ask. Some selenomethionine is yeast-derived, others are made by a different process and are yeast-free. The only reason I suggested buying yeast-free is because I found the yeast-derived selenomethionine induced depression in me, whereas the yeast-free version did not.

The yeast in question is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which does sometimes cause issues as it is an immune stimulant. But if it does not cause you problems, then it's fine to take a yeast-derived version (and the immune stimulating effect may even be beneficial).

I have not actually started supplementing them yet because I wanted to first make sure that the supplement is yeast-free. I contacted the manufacturer over two weeks ago and the following is their response:

"
Good Morning,


Selenomthionine is a mineral, mined from the earth. There is no yeast in the product.


I hope this helpful,



Thank You,

Have A Wonderful Day!

Lorri L. Berry"

And a more in-depth response from another of their staff...

"Hello:


Thank you for your email.


The Selenomethionine is synthesized.

Some ingredients used in nutritional supplements are converted and purified from other starting materials. In these cases, we say they are “synthesized.” The starting materials may be simpler molecules such as amino acids or glucose. Once we receive the ingredient, it is inspected for identification to prove that it is what it is supposed to be. It is also tested for any potential contaminants. There is no trace of the original starting materials. The resulting ingredient is molecularly identical to the same ingredient that might have been naturally derived.

If these raw materials are from a potentially allergenic source, we will inform the customer of this, although the material having been refined to its pure substance would not be likely to cause an allergic reaction.

I hope this information is helpful.

Have a great weekend.

Jan".

I'm quite fogged out so, does this mean the product is yeast-free? Thanks @Hip

 

[Hip]

@topghetto to me it sounds like it is yeast-free.

 

[topghetto]

@Hip

Oh, nice. I definitely give Selenomethionine a shot sometime next week then. Thank you

 

[Hip]

did the selenium ever correlate to any dizziness for you? I have taken it randomly in small amounts along with molybdenum in liquid form per Rich V's advice in the past. This year I started taking them both daily, just a few drops, in smoothies and it coincided with lightheaded/nausaea/dizziness increasing and when I stopped taking it the symptoms decreased significantly-seems the selenium from my various trials was the culprit. Had never noticed sensitivity to it in the past until took it regularly, but things change over the years on what I can tolerate randomly too.

I thought I would answer your above question from another thread on this selenium thread:

The only side effect I noticed from selenium when taking doses much higher than 400 mcg daily was some irritability, but with the 400 mcg I am fine. I never noticed any dizziness or lightheadedness.

 

[xrayspex]

I thought I would answer your above question from another thread on this selenium thread:

The only side effect I noticed from selenium when taking doses much higher than 400 mcg daily was some irritability, but with the 400 mcg I am fine. I never noticed any dizziness or lightheadedness.

thanks--yea I jumped in sort of randomly on the other thread lol -----------there is way too much info on here for me to do it justice!