High-Dose Selenium Significantly Improves My Fatigue and Brain Fog

[Hip]

Btw this website also says that glutathione is used in Mercury detox and implies that glutathione supplements will help. That is wrong. The body recognises glutathione in the diet as a protein, stomach acid will attack it and break it up and gut enzymes will also attack it.

That is well known, but there are other ways of taking glutathione which gets around this problem, such as transdermally (which I use), or rectally. I buy reduced glutathione in bulk powder form, and then just apply the power to my skin. I know it is absorbed, because I find transdermal glutathione provides me with a mild mood-boosting antidepressant effect. Rich Van Konynenburg talks about the various methods of glutathione administration here.

We also don't know if oral glutathione makes it into cells or does it just hang around in the bloodstream.

In the case of mopping up mercury, the bloodstream is where you'd want the glutathione to be, as this is where the displaced mercury is found.

 

[undcvr]

wow hip how do u measure out the powder in that case ? What is your dosing like ? You just rub it all over your body ?

 

[Hip]

I use a digital scales to measure out the dose the first time, but after that I just do it roughly by eye. You can buy a digital scales that measures down to 1 mg on eBay for only around $15.

I use less than a ¼ of a teaspoon of glutathione powder each time (about 300 to 400 mg), and usually rub the powder on the skin on the top of my thigh area. It rubs in very well, and does not fall off when you stand up, as the powder is very fine. After you rub it in, you can optionally then put just a few drops of water on your thighs to help with the absorption.

I use this glutathione powder from Jo Mar Labs, which I find is good value for money

 

[Soundthealarm21]

I really doubt it but it does cleanse your gut while it is in it, you see your own liver MUST MAKE BILE. It is a big detox step for oil soluble toxins. That and sweating is how the liver removes toxins. Bile supplements help you digest fats going in but not coming out. Once the gall bladder dumps bile into the gut u NEED FIBER to bind to it and keep it in the gut while it waits to pass out. Without fiber it just gets reabsorbed again and the toxins get redistributed. This is a difficult cycle to break but break it you must.

I take butyric acid to help remove fat soluble toxins. The fact that tiny pieces of my stool float on the water tells me it's working (just an assumption). I get dietary fiber through food and drinks such as almond milk, coconut milk, and my vitamin C drink I make. Plus I take bentonite clay and activated charcoal in an effort to get out the toxins before they are reabsorbed.

 

[undcvr]

erm the fact that almond and coconut ends with milk and are liquid suggest to me that they don't have much fiber, but the bentonite and charcoal is great. Another thot is that you would need insoluble gummy fiber not the soluble fiber. The gummy kind of fiber that can bind to bile and hold it in its matrix like psyllium fiber, like about a tbs a day (and more) kind of fiber is the amount i am talking about

 

[undcvr]

Wow I'm gonna have to try that now Hip thanks! Are you on bht btw ?

 

[Hip]

BHT as in butylated hydroxytoluene? No, I don't take that.

 

[undcvr]

yes look it up u might like it

http://www.delano.com/blog/
http://www.delano.com/blog/?p=190

idk how to make a link be represented by just a word

 

[Hip]

I looked into BHT, but the potential cancer concern detailed here put me off.

To add a link to a word or phrase, you first highlight the word or phrase, then click on the link button just above of the text field (the button it looks like a chain link), and it gives you the option to paste in your web link.

 

[Asklipia]

To add a link to a word or phrase, you first highlight the word or phrase, then click on the link button just above of the text field (the button it looks like a chain link), and it gives you the option to paste in your web link.

Thanks!

 

[NilaJones]

Optisel by Douglas Labs and Jarrows' Se is what I use. I do supplement with Zn picolinate about 150 - 300mg daily but very rarely take any copper.
About titrating, that would depend if you consider yourself mercury toxic cos that can cause a host bunch of other problems as the Se trys to move it. Yes start low and see how you feel. With Selenate I feel very safe taking 800 mcg daily not with the other forms though.

I took 100 mg zinc for a few months, without copper, but then I read up on zinc toxicity and got scared. I stopped the zinc and added copper, and that took care of the same symptoms that the zinc had been working on (leg cramps at night).

 

[NilaJones]

I've been trying the 400mg selenium since Saturday, thanks to this thread . I have a suspicion that it makes me more tired, though. The variety I am taking doesn't have any additives that I don't have in other supps. Suggestions?

 

[Hip]

@NilaJones
I would keep going until the 10 day point, and then assess if you are feeling better or not. I found it does take 10 days before the benefits manifest. Of course, if for some reason selenium is making you more tired, it may be that it does not work for you.

 

[Sparrowhawk]

@Hip - its funny that u recommend that sparrowhawk take brazil nuts bc i was going to suggest the opposite since she is not feeling anything from it. Also sparrow what was the form of the Se you were taking ?

I was taking liquid Selenium, when I quit eating the brazil nuts.

 

[NilaJones]

@Hip: It dawned on me to take it at bedtime . That is 2-3 hours after eating, which might count as an empty stomach.

 

[mabelark]

I am about six weeks into 400 mcg selenium / day of using this. I can report feeling less tired and needing less sleep. I've gone from sleeping 9 hours a night to sleeping less than 8. I find it almost impossible to sleep for a long time now whereas before it was easy. Looking at what I've been able to get done recently I would also say that my mental fatigue has improved somewhat.

This leaves me with the negative aspects, namely stomach upset and headaches. While the stomach upset was lessened by spreading out the doses, I'm still having problems with regular headaches in close proximity to taking the capsules. Has anyone else experienced these headaches and found a remedy?

 

[maryb]

@mabelark
even though I test low in selenium I can't tolerate the oral stuff. Makes me feel really ill.
wonder if rubbing it on the skin would work????

 

[Hip]

@mabelark
Good to hear your are benefiting from selenium.

I found the following comment online, which is interesting:

"I get headaches from selenomethionine and yeast-based selenium also. However, I can take methyl-selenocysteine (SeMC, both Life Extension or Jarrow have versions of this) without any problem."

Source: here.

The methylselenocysteine form of selenium seems to be generally available, see here.

Might be worth trying this if you have headaches from the selenomethionine form of selenium.

 

[Wayne]

This leaves me with the negative aspects, namely stomach upset and headaches.

It sounds like you may be taking too much selenium and experiencing selenium toxicity as a result. I just did a quick google search, and found THIS SITE which lists stomach upset as a symptom. You may feel reluctant to reduce your amounts because of the benefits, but it could be that you've restored a selenium deficiency and no longer need as much.

 

[Mya Symons]

Would the benefits from selenomethionine be from thyroid problems, which seem ubiquitous in CFS? And why the natural form gave you depression? Selenomethionine occurs naturally in yeast, so not only is cheaper but is a whole food supplement. However, having read this from you I will be wary of taking it in that form as I already cope with "depression".

This was thinking the same thing I was thinking because of this study which talks about how Selenium stops the body from producing anti-TPO antibodies (one type of thyroid anti-bodies).
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/thy.2007.0040

If a person has Hashimoto's, I guess it would depend upon what thyroid anti-bodies that person is producing.

I feel better when I take L-Selenomethionine too. However, I worry that my thyroid hormone might become too high of a dose if it works too well.