Cumin (Cuminum cyminum): Possible PEM Blocker

[Elike]

I just want to put my experience down here, I seem to have blocked PEM over several months with Cumin.
I tried some of the things on the Crash-blocker list. But Cumin seems to work. It makes it easier at least. Of course I can't tell with 100% what's going on but everytime I feel it's coming up from some stupid small overexertion (or bigger like now hospital stay with herniated disc) I start drink cups of Cumin tea over the day and right now I have to say it was worse in the past after something like this and now I am kind of ok, the suffering is bearable

I would love to understand and know more about it ... Brainfog limits my understanding od complex texts... So that's that and I just have to believe.

 

[Kes]

Thanks for sharing @Elike.
Can I just ask how you make the tea or do you buy bags of Cumin tea?

 

[Elike]

Thanks for sharing @Elike.
Can I just ask how you make the tea or do you buy bags of Cumin tea?

I bought 1/2 kg of Cumin seeds and use per cup of tea something between a teaspoon and a spoon of the seeds and let it sit for a good ten minutes before drinking it (without the seeds). Hope this helps

 

[Kes]

Thanks for sharing @Elike that's helpful to know.

 

[Wishful]

I would love to understand and know more about it

I occasionally do a Google search for "cumin" and various medical terms to see whether anyone has discovered what might explain why cumin worked so well for me. Still nothing conclusive. I'm happy to hear that it's working for you. If it worked reliably for more people, maybe the researchers would look into it more.

 

[Strawberry]

Well I’ve been overdoing massively, but cumin is stopping the sick from coming back. It’s been there, right on the edge, for the last two weeks. Taunting me. But then I take my GSE, and cumin, and whip that sick back in its place.


I know I’m still in PEM though, my sleep is terrible, and foot pain. All my signs. Cumin helps though.

 

[GlassCannonLife]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7880363/

Just stumbled onto this.

Potentially something to do with apoe and IL-6 reduction could be part of the mechanism? Maybe has some effects on microglia? And in general "sick feeling" from IL-6 etc. Also have seen before it inhibits cox2 and nf-kb so all of this must play a role (general inflammation reduction)?

Perhaps if some of you are less ill enough to do some reading etc and share what you find we could figure it out slowly.!

 

[Elike]

Well I’ve been overdoing massively, but cumin is stopping the sick from coming back. It’s been there, right on the edge, for the last two weeks. Taunting me. But then I take my GSE, and cumin, and whip that sick back in its place.


I know I’m still in PEM though, my sleep is terrible, and foot pain. All my signs. Cumin helps though.

Great description 🙂
What is GSE though?

 

[Wishful]

Potentially something to do with apoe and IL-6 reduction could be part of the mechanism? Maybe has some effects on microglia?

Maybe. I've encountered a number of studies showing CA's effect on brain cells. None have been a clear explanation for its effect on ME. CA certainly does something for some people, but how is still a mystery. For that matter, it may be working in completely different ways in different people. Why did it have such a dramatic effect for me, yet have only minor benefits for a few other people, and no effect on the majority? Any theory for how it works needs to answer that question.

I keep surfing 'cumin' and various neurological terms, so maybe something useful will show up eventually.

 

[GlassCannonLife]

Maybe. I've encountered a number of studies showing CA's effect on brain cells. None have been a clear explanation for its effect on ME. CA certainly does something for some people, but how is still a mystery. For that matter, it may be working in completely different ways in different people. Why did it have such a dramatic effect for me, yet have only minor benefits for a few other people, and no effect on the majority? Any theory for how it works needs to answer that question.

I keep surfing 'cumin' and various neurological terms, so maybe something useful will show up eventually.

Have we done a poll on who it helped? I wonder how many people actually bothered to try it vs assuming it won't do anything. Could be useful to see

 

[Strawberry]

Great description 🙂
What is GSE though?

grapefruit seed extract. It makes my sore throat go away. It took at least 6 months, but I’m able to overdo massively with gse and cumin with little to no sore throat. Even though I’m still not well off.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

All my signs. Cumin helps though.

fascinating....

when you say..Cumin helps with PEM.....I'm curious...

the normal daily Feel Like Crap Because I have ME......

do you take cumin daily for that?

Or are you taking it after exertion events? And then the PEM is presumably less intense, it sounds like?


If your trying to manage existance to avoid PEM, then if successful (in theory)...are you always taking cumin?

 

[Wishful]

If your trying to manage existance to avoid PEM, then if successful (in theory)...are you always taking cumin?

It's also important to occasionally miss a dose to see if you're still responding to it. Varying the dosage is good too, since the optimum dosage might change over time.

I got lucky with needing it only every 3 days, since that's just infrequent enough to not be a standard routine, and thus I would forget my dose. That did teach me that cumin was effective even taken after the PEM started, and took only a few hours to block the PEM. That probably has meaning, physiologically, ruling out some mechanisms that take longer.

 

[Strawberry]

fascinating....

when you say..Cumin helps with PEM.....I'm curious...

the normal daily Feel Like Crap Because I have ME......

do you take cumin daily for that?

Or are you taking it after exertion events? And then the PEM is presumably less intense, it sounds like?


If your trying to manage existance to avoid PEM, then if successful (in theory)...are you always taking cumin?

I have been taking GSE (grapefruit seed oil) for a year and a half and it’s almost eliminated my PEM ( this PEM: the normal daily Feel Like Crap Because I have ME.......). I take cumin on weekends before doing laundry so I don’t get sick. I still crash, but I don’t get so godawful sick that I don’t want to get out of bed Monday, let alone go to work.

A little bit more explanation. I tried cumin a few years ago. I took like a teaspoon daily for a couple months and it got to where I couldn’t gag it down anymore. It helps, but not enough. I couldn’t take enough to improve. I noticed a big difference 6 months with GSE, and PEM almost totally gone after a year. Now cumin helps. I’m still quite disabled though, it hasn’t done anything for that. But it is wonderful not being godawful sick day in day out.

 

[hapl808]

Which GSE do you use? I used to use it frequently when my main complaint was GI issues, but haven't used it in recent years as fatigue, PEM, muscle weakness, etc became more central components.

 

[linusbert]

for me 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds seams to be a reliable diarrhea inducer

 

[Wishful]

for me 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds seams to be a reliable diarrhea inducer

There are probably very few things that someone, somewhere won't have a bad response to.

Did it help with any ME symptoms? It would be awful to have an effective treatment for one symptom, but which also has a horrible side-effect.

 

[linusbert]

There are probably very few things that someone, somewhere won't have a bad response to.

Did it help with any ME symptoms? It would be awful to have an effective treatment for one symptom, but which also has a horrible side-effect.

i started today. i might try every other or 3rd day. and probably less.
but this will take some time to find out if it helps.
how do you take it? 1 tsp in the mouth, grind the seeds down until they completely solved in saliva and then swallow ? thats how i did it. maybe i just need to gulp them down.

i definitely will try it as a tea. i am as a positive not directly allergic to it!

EDIT: i crashed one day later, still am. so no pem block for me.

 

[Wishful]

I've chewed cumin seeds, but found that ground cumin was more convenient. I didn't notice any difference between the no-name ground cumin and bulk seeds that I ground myself.

I've swallowed the powder immediately, and also held it in my mouth for several minutes before swallowing, with no noticeable difference. The interesting test was holding in my mouth (sublingual absorption) for 5+ minutes, then spitting it out and rinsing (avoiding gut absorption). It was just as effective that way, which seems to indicate that the cuminaldehyde worked directly on my brain cells, rather than affecting gut microbiome or function.

 

[ilivewithcfs]

Cumin is really helping me at the moment. I've been taking it for about 9 days now. 1 level tsp every other day. My PEM isn't completely gone, but still I see improvement. I'm able to do more without getting PEM, and even if I do crash, it's not as bad as before. Overall fatigue and brain fog became less severe.
First 2 dosages eliminated my symptoms completely for about 10 to 12 hours, then the effect became less noticeable.
If it stops working, I plan to try taking it once every three days.
I don't know what will happen next, but I want to thank Wishful anyway, because I've got one more safe and cheap helpful tool in my arsenal.