First experience with L-Carnitine Fumarate

[Sherpa]

@Johnmac this post explains how I normalized my MAO A R277R problem and about Lipid Replacement Therapy

 

[bsw]

Got some of this stuff shipped to my house today. I took a whole pill, 855 mg. Definitely noticed an effect, I would put it in the same categories as other things that boost temporarily boost mitochondrial function. It's hard to explain, I guess I would compare it to coffee, except less abrasive, has less of a peak / valley after and feels more natural when you take it.

I will try drastically cutting down my dosage when I take it next. Hopefully the fact that taking a 855mg dosage while sick and only experiencing a minor (subjective) crash afterwards means my body can benefit from lower dosages without having to mess around with any other shit inside my body.

Regardless, the idea of having more energy excites the shit out of me. Will report in soon if things work out well.

 

[Sherpa]

I just went up to 200mg out of 855mg. Love the color brightening effect this supplement has for me! Also more energy. Stacking with CoQ10 and D-Ribose, which is offering good support.

 

[Johnmac]

I crashed very badly with LCF. A few others have too.

Most don't - but just wanted to flag it in case...

Fred's got me titrating up from tiny doses of liquid carnitine now, which is much more comfortable.

 

[dannybex]

@Johnmac wow dude, thats slow and low. I was quite sensitive and got overstimulated by many supplements until I did some lipid replacement therapy (mito membranes were to damaged to be accelerated) and treated my MAO A mutation with riboflavin.

Hey @Sherpa -- I'm curious what type of 'lipid replacement therapy' you did -- more details if possible -- and also how much riboflavin you're taking for the MAO A? I'm ++ on that, and wasn't aware of a B2 connection.

Thanks.

 

[Sherpa]

@dannybex I switched from a low fat diet to a one with a lot of saturated fat (coconut oil, grass fed butter, organic olive oil) and I take NT Factor EnergyLipids powder twice a day. I think it made a difference in my cell health, made me more able to tolerate supplements at higher doses.

Here's my information on treating MAO A

 

[dannybex]

@dannybex I switched from a low fat diet to a one with a lot of saturated fat (coconut oil, grass fed butter, organic olive oil) and I take NT Factor EnergyLipids powder twice a day. I think it made a difference in my cell health, made me more able to tolerate supplements at higher doses.

Were you able to make that switch relatively quickly without any problems? That's one of my major issues -- can't seem to increase fats -- mainly saturated -- without experiencing circulation issues in my legs, mainly manifesting as incredibly uncomfortable RLS..

 

[Sherpa]

@dannybex I went on the Primal Blueprint diet for several months. Luckily, I had few issues adapting to higher fat

 

[dannybex]

@dannybex I went on the Primal Blueprint diet for several months. Luckily, I had few issues adapting to higher fat

Lucky duck.

 

[Sherpa]

I'm up to 350mg LCF, 2x a day. At this dose I can feel it kicking in pretty good - a noticable energy lift.

First day on this dose though I had insomnia until 4:30 aM. All things considered, well worth it.

 

[1Charles]

I have had at best a mixed experience with carnitine although I do suspect that I should be taking it somehow. I have started and stopped both ALCAR and LCF over short periods as they both seemed to cause me to wake from about 4am and to increase myalgia. I finally decided to take 50mg LCF in the morning and stick with it. I lasted about five weeks when I concluded that, yes, it increased myalgia and woke me at 4am. This was getting worse not better although looking at my substantial time series it reduced blood pressure by approaching 5 pts.

Anyone have any suggestions about what is happening?

 

[Gondwanaland]

Anyone have any suggestions about what is happening?

In my experience increased myalgia is low testosterone and usually takes place when i take ONE thing to raise testosterone and overlook all the others

Having only part of the ingredients will only increase the deficiency of the others. Interestingly they didn't put copper in the T wheel, and when I took zinc without copper I went into serious trouble (anemia).
http://suppversity.blogspot.com.br/2010/07/chelated-copper-forgotten-lutenizing.html

 

[1Charles]

In my experience increased myalgia is low testosterone and usually takes place when i take ONE thing to raise testosterone and overlook all the others

Having only part of the ingredients will only increase the deficiency of the others. Interestingly they didn't put copper in the T wheel, and when I took zinc without copper I went into serious trouble (anemia).
http://suppversity.blogspot.com.br/2010/07/chelated-copper-forgotten-lutenizing.html

Thanks, probably I should look at more zinc and copper as they are low normal. I am actually supplementing all the above except the carnitine! My plasma zinc is 12 mmol/L range 9-19 and plasma copper 14 mmol/L range 12-22 with supplementation of 25mg zinc/day and 500mcg copper. Zinc was one of the supplements that I really noticed helped when I started it. The counter to the low testosterone theory is that a couple of years ago my testosterone was 21 nmol/L, range 7-31 so I am not sure why carnitine would drop it within days.

 

[Gondwanaland]

Well after taking 10mg zinc daily for 6 days I had terrible fibromyalgia and on the 12th day I draw blood and had anemia with stellar levels of B12, B9 iron and ferritin! Felt better after taking 8mg Zn + 600mcg Cu + 500mcg Mn.

But my problem is a long term vit K2 deficiency.

 

[Wayne]

I took LCF (Dr's Best) for the first time yesterday and had a pretty wild time of it.

Hi @SwanRonson,

Thanks for your report--I always find these kinds of testimonials interesting and helpful. I was wondering what made you decide to try this supplement. Is it supposed to be helpful for pwME/CFS? Is it supposed to help specifically with PEM? Thanks for any further feedback.

Interestingly, I had a somewhat similar experience as yours since yesterday morning. I've been researching nootropics, and put in an order yesterday for some Aniracetam Powder. Afterwards, I recalled I had ordered a small bottle of l-pyroglutamic acid 2-3 years ago, which is supposed to be a natural amino acid substitute for nootropic drugs. -- I never got around to trying it after first getting it (brain fog). But I remembered it yesterday, broke it open, and somewhat mindlessly decided to take a couple of tablets. I didn't realize until later they were 1000 mg tablets!

I noticed I felt slightly more alert for the rest of the morning, but didn't think too much of it. When I went down for my afternoon nap, I only slept about 20 minutes instead of my usual 1-2 hours. When I awoke, I felt pretty alert, instead of my normally heavily groggy feeling. I didn't immediately connect this with taking the l-pyroglutamic acid.

It wasn't until I went to bed that I realized my mental processes were a bit more active than normal. I ended up not getting a particularly good night's sleep. But this morning, I'm pretty amazed how I'm continuing to feel more alert than normal. I've not yet tried to exert myself physically, but am thinking I can go get a few grocery items. I'm very curious to see how it goes.

I'm getting pretty inspired by some of the testimonials I'm reading online and on PR on various supplements (particularly nootropics) that seem to be able to jump start energy levels and cognitive capabilities. I'm especially grateful for some of whodathunkit's descriptions and inspired by her excellent outcomes. [Thanks @whodathunkit for your reports! ]. If I could achieve similar results, it would dramatically change my life.

When I ordered the Aniracetam powder yesterday, I also ordered some Threanine Powder. One of the many L-Theanine benefits is that it's apparently very helpful in eliminating or modulating the jittery, wired sensations that often come with taking some of the supplements that stimulate brain activity. Perhaps it could be helpful with some of the sensations you experienced with LCF.

Thanks again for your report!

 

[Sherpa]

@Wayne Be careful with Nootropics... I can't make a blanket statement about all of them, but some of them are DRUGS... not nutritional supplements recognized by the body, that have very powerful and potentially mitochondria-damaging effects. I sewed the seeds of my CFS in Ashland, OR... studying at the college, taking 'smart drugs' to help me focus...

What you feel as 'agitation' and overstimulation in the emotional sphere is oftentimes accompanied by membranes ripping open and frying, oxidizing and dying on the cellular sphere.

Now I wouldn't think of taking most nootropics that aren't vitamins or vitamin-like nutrients that are recognized by the body - arguably L-carnitine, CoQ10, etc.

 

[whodathunkit]

Hey @Sherpa...just curious, what were you taking? I share your reservations about some nootropics which is why I haven't gotten more heavily into them, but *man* that was an excellent boost I got from the noopept/sulbutiamine/etc. stack I was taking back at the end of last year. :thumbdown: I haven't gone back to the synthetics/possible pharmas in the stack, though. What we're into here is a marathon, not a sprint, and I've come to far to torpedo my ultimate goals for some transient gains. So tempting, though. When nootropics work well you definitely see what all the fuss is about.

BTW, I have gone back to stacking ALC and citicholine, along with some uridine, ALA and some fairly high-dose thiamine (200-300mg/day) and think I may be seeing some cognitive/alertness benefits there.

 

[Sherpa]

I tried: Ritalin, provigil, adrafranil, oxyracetam, aniracetam, sulbutiamine, l carnitine, alpha GPC, picamilon,

Most damaging was provigil.. My preferred "ADD medicine" - used it for about 6 years and it enabled me to exceed limits and keep frying mitochondria, without crashing.

It destroyed my life.

And to think that all I needed was some B12 and folate....but I found no information on that 10 years ago

 

[whodathunkit]

I tried: Ritalin, provigil, adrafranil, oxyracetam, aniracetam, sulbutiamine,

Yikes. That's quite a list. And you used them constantly for all those years...?

And to think that all I needed was some B12 and folate....but I found no information on that 10 years ago

I know how you feel. I WISH I had had available to me 10 years ago what I know now. Jeez if it had been available 20 or 30 years ago I might have tried to take over the world. LOL

I guess we can't spend time thinking regretfully like that but it's hard not to sometimes.

P.S. I don't know much about the racetams. Are they failed pharmaceuticals, do you know?

 

[Sherpa]

Yikes. That's quite a list. And you used them constantly for all those years...?

P.S. I don't know much about the racetams. Are they failed pharmaceuticals, do you know?

No, I just experimented with each of them for a few months, dabbling and testing... before settling on Provigil as "the holy grail" to a clear thinking, productive life.

I believe the 'racetams are failed pharmaceuticals. I don't know the history, but they never made it to prime time.