Hip
Senior Member
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@Hip - thanks for your detailed (as always!) reply. to be honest, it's hard for me to absorb all the chemistry. I just go with major concepts or points.
After reading what you posted on central fatigue (which I have to admit I had not heard of before), and how the tryptophan / leucine ratio or tryptophan / BCAA ratio can affect serotonin, this made me curious about a possible connection between the serotonergic system and the fatigue in ME/CFS.
So what you have posted might have wider scope than just the BCAA treatment for PEM (very useful though that is): it points to examining the possibility of serotonergic mechanisms of fatigue in ME/CFS.
I did also try to look up what you quoted on branch chain amino acids down-regulate the conversion of ATP to cyclic AMP, but could not find much info on this.
I have been trying BCAA recently as a result of your threads on the PEM-busting effect of BCAA, and I think BCAA may have reduced the PEM I get the day after socializing, but I will have to try this a few times again to confirm.
By the way, do you find that BCAA helps reduce you ordinary daily ME/CFS fatigue, as well as the worsened fatigue you get through PEM?