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Howard Bloom talks about recovering from MECFS

Dakota15

Senior Member
Messages
310
Location
Midwest, USA
I see the interview is over 2 hours long, is there a certain timeframe on there where he references his condition / treatment? If you don't know then no worries.
 

cigana

Senior Member
Messages
1,095
Location
UK
I see the interview is over 2 hours long, is there a certain timeframe on there where he references his condition / treatment? If you don't know then no worries.
It's about the first 20 minutes.
 

ebethc

Senior Member
Messages
1,901
has anyone else used oxytocin and recovered well? I don't see it much here on PR, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't worked for anyone...

also, is oxytocin by rx only? how much does it cost?
 

bthompsonjr1993

Senior Member
Messages
176
it's amazing how he was able to create a life that is tailor-made to him... I really respect that... it's all I ever think about, so it's great to see someone succeed
He is living out my dream recovery. Age 75 and still fit as hell, doing what he loves, with a life totally tailored to him like you said
 

Kenshin

Senior Member
Messages
161
According to the NYtimes article he's on 30 pills a day, so it's not just gabapentin and Oxytocin.
Im interested in trying Oxytocin but have no idea what type I'm supposed to take or where to get it.
 
Messages
88
@cigana, thanks for posting this. I'm looking forward to listening to it later. I feel that zinc and vitamin D increase my oxytocin somewhat, but it's difficult to keep a consistently high level. I think there's something else needed for oxytocin production or release that I'm missing. I have my eye on cysteine as it's necessary for the disulfide bonds. I'm stumbling across sulfur (and usually cysteine in particular) a lot lately. Disulfide bonds everywhere, making proteins and peptide hormones functional, cysteine to make glutathione, cysteine for cytochrome... I would love to know if zinc is heavily dependent on sulfur in human metabolism the way iron seems to be. Hmm, who knows? Suppose I should watch the video first, but that will have to wait until after I take my statistics final exam. :p
 
Messages
88
Everyone in my family is very introverted, independent and solitary, including me, but when I take zinc and vitamin D, I have a very noticeable increase in my interest in other people. I seek out human interaction, I have much more interest in the opposite gender, I feel inclined to do my hair and makeup and dress nicely, I wave at children and stop to pet other peoples' dogs. In short, I become a much more personable person. When not on zinc and vit D, I'm 3000% more introverted and avoid people and social interactions. It's a very stark contrast for me.

There is a peptide hormone called vasopressin that is nearly a twin to oxytocin, so I don't know how much of this response is due to oxytocin and how much is due to vasopressin. For example, vasopressin prevents nocturia, allowing people to sleep through the night without needing to empty their bladder. I used to get up 2-6 times per night to go to the bathroom, and now I can finally sleep through the night.

I think it's extremely likely that increasing oxytocin will also increase vasopressin. And perhaps, I'm accidentally improving pituitary function or something?

I don't think oxytocin will be magical by itself, but my approach to conquering this illness has been to seek out nutrient deficiencies and fix them, and there is clearly something oxytocin- or pituitary-related that needs to be fixed for me. (I've had extremely poor appetite and low food intake since I was a toddler; my earliest life memory is telling my mother that I didn't want to eat. So there a lot of things that have helped me that may not be helpful to a better nourished person.)
 

Jackb23

Senior Member
Messages
293
Location
Columbus, Ohio
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28259722/

Oxytocin mitigated the depressive-like behaviors of maternal separation stress through modulating mitochondrial function and neuroinflammation

In addition, our molecular findings revealed that MS is capable of inducing abnormal mitochondrial function and immune-inflammatory response in the hippocampus. Further, we observed that treating stressed animals with OT (intracerebroventricular, i.c.v. injection) attenuated the MS-induced depressive-like behaviors through improving mitochondrial function and decreasing the hippocampal expression of immune-inflammatory genes.
 

cigana

Senior Member
Messages
1,095
Location
UK
Some potential mechanisms in MECFS:

Oxytocin inhibits LPS-induced inflammation in microglial cells in mice

Link: https://jneuroinflammation.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12974-016-0541-7
"the present study demonstrated that oxytocin possesses anti-neuroinflammatory activity"

Oxytocin alleviates the neuroendocrine and cytokine response to bacterial endotoxin in healthy men
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18593851
"Oxytocin might be a candidate for the therapy of inflammatory diseases"

Oxytocin affects nitric oxide and cytokine production by sepsis-sensitized macrophages
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23183119
"Oxytocin......by decreasing the proinflammatory response and oxidative stress"
 
Messages
67
His claims should be taken with a pinch of salt. He's been called unreliable by many.

That said, I'm on intranasal oxytocin spray, along with amitriptyline (both of which he mentions). Couldn't stand gabapentin, but these two drugs (and many others) have helped me.

It's easy enough to get the nasal spray via eBay.

I'm also on double doses of zinc and cysteine (both of which I've tested low for), and was on high dose vitamin D3.
 

Tally

Senior Member
Messages
367
His claims should be taken with a pinch of salt. He's been called unreliable by many.

I don't trust anyone with anecdotal stories, and am waiting for research before deciding what to try, but it's unfair to say he has been called unreliable, because he hasn't. People commented on his overconfident personality, they commented that he is self-centered, and things like that but no one knows if he is reliable or not.

When you say "he has been called unreliable by many" it sounds like you are talking about people who know him and who have experience with him.

We are all outside observers who have no idea which part of what he says is true and which is not.

As I said, I am not going to do what he recommends because I don't trust people to be objective and unbiased, but I don't like this unfounded personal attack.