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Has anybody experienced breathlessness as a refeeding symptom? Did you find a solution?

Sophiedw

Senior Member
Messages
383
So I've been doing freddds with some success, identifying new symptoms as refeeding stuff and treating them. Yay!

However Ive hit a bit of snag which is a new symptom of breathlessness. I can't work out which deficency is causing it but was thinking potentially vit a.

Anybody had any similar experiences?
 

Chris

Senior Member
Messages
845
Location
Victoria, BC
Just remember that having ME does not mean that you can't have other conditions too--breathlessness can mean various cardiac problems--get it checked out.
 

Sophiedw

Senior Member
Messages
383
Oh you know fred refers to induced deficiencies as a sort of 'refeeding syndrome'. So if I am very low in b12 and take some of that, it starts a bunch of processes which deplete other nutrients so might make me deficient in b2, b1, zinc etc etc. At the moment I'm wondering what deficency could cause a form of air hunger /breathlessness
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
So you are getting breathlessness symptoms from high dose B12, @Sophiedw?

Hypokalemia (low potassium) can cause breathlessness, and high doses of B12 can lead to hypokalemia.

You might consider supplementing with potassium at the same time as taking B12. When I use the b12 oils, which provide a real massive dose of B12, then I get a wave of increased tiredness a few hours later, unless I take potassium. I usually take 250 to 500 mg of potassium.



The reason B12 causes a lowering of potassium is hypothesized by Freddd and Rich Van Konynenburg in these posts here and here. Basically their view is that potassium is used up in the creation of new cells, and B12 stimulates this cell creation.

However, B12 expert Dr Greg Russell-Jones provides a different explanation for why B12 depletes potassium: he thinks the hypokalemia arises from B12's effect on aldosterone, a hormone which controls the blood sodium/potassium balance. See the bottom of this post. High aldosterone leads to loss potassium, because high aldosterone causes potassium to be dumped into the urine.
 

Aerose91

Senior Member
Messages
1,400
Interested in this thread. Does folate play a role here as well or just increasing potassium should do the trick?
 

Aerose91

Senior Member
Messages
1,400
There are so many things it can be. Babesia is classic for air hunger. Mast cell activation as well. Salicylates. How the hell are we supposed to figure out which
 
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Sophiedw

Senior Member
Messages
383
Hi! I thinking it was definitely copper/iron for me at that point. Upped the multimineral and it helped a lot.