Drugs linked to mitochondrial toxicity (eg: tetracycline, minocycline, metformin)

Mithriel

Mithriel

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I just read this thread. I take metformin for diabetes and when I first began taking it I felt the best I had done for years. Not only did I manage to cook but I nipped out and painted a table top while the potatoes were boiling! I had often wondered if the "me" I remembered was still inside and I was delighted to discover it was. If I have the energy I am too busy doing things to think about them.

I read something in the literature that made me think my experience made sense, but I can't remember where. It suggested that metformin would be good for ME.

I have been taking it since 2008 and I gradually got worse again - it may have just masked my symptoms but it was great fun for the few months it lasted. My deterioration was due to family issues meaning I had to continually overdo things; life gets in the way for us.

I take sublingual B12, as MS research shows that it is absorbed just as efficiently that way as by injection and no one would give me the injections, so that may have helped.

I just wanted people to know that they can take metformin if diagnosed with diabetes as it is not all bad news. It is a much safer drug than many of the new diabetes ones (one paper said that they were well tolerated and the only side effect was sudden death from heart attacks!) and has been used for many years.

We all react differently.
 
pattismith

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Hip said:
There was recently a post by ME/CFS patient @Vojta who became profoundly (and permanently) worse after taking a long term course minocycline and azithromycin.
Click to expand...

This looks a bit like my own story.

I took a long course of Doxycycline (same antibiotic family as Minocycline) and Azithromycin.

This treatment cleared some of my symptoms (spinal pains), but some got worse (fatigue, brain fog) and some new ones arise: burning in my thights muscles, muscles fasciculations (twitches).
This phenomenon started mostly when I added Doxy to the initial Azithro.

Being so bad, I had to stop this treatment. At the same time I bought a blood lactate tester and observed a rise of my lactates after taking azithro.

My understanding of what happened is that the association of Doxy + Azythro was toxic to my energy pathway (probably mitochondria but I have not any evidence of it, I mean no other than elevated lactates).

It may be that the association of these two antibiotics (same for Mino+Azythro) could increase their individual toxicity, especially for people who have an energy pathway dysfunction, whatever the cause of this dysfunction.

In my case my first hypothesis is a congenital/genetic weakness of my mitochondria + mitochondria toxic exposure at my work.

So I agree that not every body will experience this kind of toxicity but it can be a big problem for those that experiment it.

Like @Diwi9 , I too had long courses of Minocycline when I was a teenager and I remember having already brain fog at that time. Sometimes, toxicity can be difficult to spot...
 
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Chocolove

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@Learner1 Yes, I've tried the royal jelly concentrate equivalent to 2000 mg of fresh, at one a day for about a year now. No ill effects to report. Haven't noticed any obvious reaction that I can trace to this supplement but since genetically it appears I have low B4 issues, this is how I'm trying to compensate.
 
Learner1

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The attached paper is one I've found to be very informative over time, having explored various aspects detail with my doctor.

It's more than just replenishing BH4, its addressing the damage caused by increased peroxynitrites due to its depletion, reducing stress to the mitochondria, restoring mitochondrial membrane potential, etc.

Royal jelly has some wonderful properties, but providing methylation support, increasing antioxidant recycling and glutathione production, increasing superoxide dismutase, mitochondrial membrane constituents, and other mitochondrial nutrients.

A thoughtful, comprehensive program is worthwhile for those of us with genetic predisposition to this situation.
 

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Chocolove

Chocolove

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Learner1 said:
It's more than just replenishing BH4, its addressing the damage caused by increased peroxynitrites due to its depletion, reducing stress to the mitochondria, restoring mitochondrial membrane potential, etc.
Click to expand...
Agreed.
 
dannybex

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Another to add to the list, one that is unfortunately widely prescribed to many ME/CFS patients, myself included...

Good ol' klonopin (clonazepam).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9160168

"We conclude that clonazepam is an effective inhibitor of mitochondrial [Ca2+] efflux in intact cells and also maintains the increase in NADH levels which occurs upon rapid stimulation of cells."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3985971

"The results suggest that clonazepam more specifically inhibits the Na+-induced Ca2+ release process of mitochondria."
 
Learner1

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Chocolove

Chocolove

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5240889/
Med Sci Monit. 2017; 23: 101–106.
Published online 2017 Jan 7. doi: 10.12659/MSM.899478
PMCID: PMC5240889

Antibiotics May Trigger Mitochondrial Dysfunction Inducing Psychiatric Disorders
George B. Stefano,A,D,E,F,G Joshua Samuel,D,E,F and Richard M. KreamD,E,F
Author information ► Article notes ► Copyright and License information ►

Clinical usage of several classes of antibiotics is associated with moderate to severe side effects due to the promotion of mitochondrial dysfunction...

The CNS is extremely dependent on delivery of molecular oxygen for maintaining a required level of metabolic activity, as reflected by the high concentration of neuronal mitochondria. Thus, it is not surprising to find several distinct behavioral abnormalities conforming to established psychiatric criteria that are associated with antibiotic usage in humans...

The mitochondrion is an enslaved bacterium, normally producing significant amounts of ATP in comparison to glycolysis [13]....

Antibiotics that are supposed to target pathogens will also bind to mitochondria with high affinity and cause side effects [17]. An example of this is seen with minocycline. It inhibits ATP synthesis and calcium retention in the mitochondria of brain cells [18]. The commonality of these antibiotic-induced side-effects lead physicians to create a term for this phenomenon called antimicrobial-induced mania, or antibiomania, since it can occur in neural tissues due to higher metabolic rates [19–21]...

We and others propose that mitochondria dysfunction may be part of the core problem for abnormal behaviors induced by antibiotic treatment, e.g., depression, autism, etc. [16,22–27]. Dysfunctional mitochondria have recently become a center of interest in explaining mental disorders [28–33]...

Additional examples of mitochondrial dysfunction, which are antibiotic-induced, are extensive and not limited to psychiatric behavior....

Antibiotic-induced mitochondrial damage can be pronounced on neurons, as noted earlier for behavior, especially given their metabolism, which requires 20% of the oxygen entering the body...
Click to expand...
 
Chocolove

Chocolove

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dannybex said:
Perhaps this is why the majority of ME/CFS patients do so poorly on antidepressants?
Click to expand...

Medication-induced mitochondrial damage and disease. - NCBI Cited by 133 - ‎Related articles
Medications have now emerged as a major cause of mitochondrial damage, which may explain many adverse effects. All classes of psychotropic drugs have been documented to damage mitochondria, as have statin medications, analgesics such as acetaminophen, and many others.

Antipsychotics, antidepressants, ADHD drugs, anti-anxiety medications and mood stabilizers are some of the more commonly used psychotropic drugs.
 
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H

HowToEscape?

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Chocolove said:
This antibiotic will ruin you.
Posted on March 18, 2017
https://mountainsandmustardseedssite.wordpress.com/2017/03/18/this-antibiotic-will-ruin-you/
In re: Fluoroquinolone antibiotics.
Click to expand...

That one actually had links to relevant studies.

Of course myself and most of us here I don’t have the energy to read the studies, i don’t have the scientific background to parse them.

It does seem there is evidence indicating that the flqn class of antibiotics is very high-risk for some people, probably including us.
 
AnkeC

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"Antibiotics that are supposed to target pathogens will also bind to mitochondria with high affinity and cause side effects [17]. An example of this is seen with minocycline. It inhibits ATP synthesis and calcium retention in the mitochondria of brain cells [18]. The commonality of these antibiotic-induced side-effects lead physicians to create a term for this phenomenon called antimicrobial-induced mania, or antibiomania, since it can occur in neural tissues due to higher metabolic rates [19–21]..."


19 years ago, at age 30, I had an infection after a knee injury. I remember being given antibiotics to treat the infection, but it didn't work. Ended up with a staph infection.....had to take extended courses of two other types of antibiotics. I recall the medication making me sicker than I was in the first place, but I am used to reacting to meds so I figured that was just me. Once I got better, I got REALLY better......didnt need sleep, created lots (I'm an artist).....partied lots......drank lots but didnt see any effect from it...... then life got faster and faster and then I crashed. And then I went fast again. Anyway...after an amazing few weeks I took myself to hospital. Where I was diagnosed with mania.......and mania means bipolar disorder. Spent 2 weeks in a psych ward waiting for my brain to slow down. Then several misdiagnoses later.....followed by YEARS of many different psych drugs....... so that at age 42 I find out that what I had was actually antibiotic induced mania....... It's just that I didn't mention the injury and treatment because I didn;t know it was relevant, and no one thought to ask. So yeah....... I am not suprised to see the above. Just hope more doctors know about it now.
 
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