If Acetyl-L-carnitine worked well for me, would else might work for me ?

[Bansaw]

In terms of brain fog and brain clarity/energy, Aceyl-l-carnitine seemed to work for me a few years ago.
I think my body habituated, so it may have felt like it lost some efficacy(?)

However, I'm in a place now where I'm looking for a boost and am thinking of taking Aceytl-l-carnitine again.

What other supplement might give me a boost in the brain area in the light that Acetyl-l-carnitine worked well for me?

(I tried co-q10 - not much effect)

Edit: Would combining Alpha Lipoic Acid with it increase the effectiveness? I took ALA in the past and it had zero effect on me, but does combining ALA and ALCAR produce something unique ?

 

[linusbert]

in the forum i read something about an antioxidant pentet taken in combination beeing better than if taken alone, beeing:

Glutathione (NAC converts into)
C
E
CoQ10
Alpha Lipoic Acid

https://forums.phoenixrising.me/threads/sod2-a16v-homozygous-mutation-anyone-else.23147/

probably goes good with ALCAR

 

[Alvin2]

I also found a positive effect from acetyl carnitine but it wears off, i have had to escalate the dose., now taking 5 x 750mg tabs a day I'd take more but can't afford it.

 

[Alvin2]

Glutathione (NAC converts into)

I don't think i have tried this.

C

No effect

E

No effect

CoQ10

Some effect, it will randomly give a bit of boost and wears off.
If i stop it for a few months and try again it may or may not work again.

Alpha Lipoic Acid

Have not tried this.

 

[Learner1]

Folks, this is not a take a pill, be cured type of proposition. These biochemicals are used in complex biochemical pathways that use other biochemical pathways to work. If you get an effect by adding just adding one ingredient, you are lucky, however it really means that you had a pathway that was stuck and adding the ingredient got it to be unstuck, but then you likely ran into shortages of other cofactors which is why the great effect petered out

Think of it like making an angel food cake, for which you need 12 eggs. If you e only got 4 eggs, you're either going to have to use less of the other ingredients and make a smaller cake or you use The four eggs along with a normal amount of ingredients and make a lousy cake.
If the acetyl-,l-carnitine worked for you, then. It might be wise to look into which pathway or pathways it is used in and see what's going on. You can do comprehensive nutritional testing. That will tell you if you are missing any of the other ingredients needed to make those pathways work.

As for the antioxidants that were mentioned above, they work in a network and recycle each other. Alpha lipoic acid is special in that it recycles both fat soluble and water soluble antioxidants, vitamin C, recycles glutathione, vitamin E, recycles, C and so on. On. You really need to take a balanced pallete of all of them too get things working. The other thing is managing all the oxidative stress that you have in the first place.

Another thing about vitamin C is its used for collagen production. The viruses many of us deal with tend to deplete collagen causing some of the neck issues that we have read about. The vitamin C is critical for not only helping the immune system and the antioxidants but rebuilding the collagen. Rebuilding collagen is not going to be something you feel instantly, it's a subtle thing over time. Patience, and not expecting supplements to work like aspirin on a headache, is needed.

 

[Alvin2]

Folks, this is not a take a pill, be cured type of proposition. These biochemicals are used in complex biochemical pathways that use other biochemical pathways to work. If you get an effect by adding just adding one ingredient, you are lucky

Without the acetyl carnitine i would not be able to have this conversation with you.
Its no cure but it does help bring me from almost zombie to simple conversation.

 

[Bansaw]

If you get an effect by adding just adding one ingredient, you are lucky, however it really means that you had a pathway that was stuck and adding the ingredient got it to be unstuck, but then you likely ran into shortages of other cofactors which is why the great effect petered out

Thanks, I did investigate Methylation pathways with a Dr in my area a few years ago, and she prescribed me various supps which had a little effect on me. Delving into Methylation proved to be a rabbit-hole puzzle; and a rather expensive one. I stumbled on ALCAR. It had a great effect, then diminished. I wonder if "habituation" played some role in that too, as well as the complexities of supplying complimenting elements(?)
I'm looking at Alpha GPC. BUt I wonder if that does a very similar job to ALCAR, and am I duplicating?
I assume Alpha GPC plays a different role to Alpha lipoic acid.

 

[Learner1]

Habituation is not it. It's likely you ran out of something else as explained above.

Alpha GPC is not at all like ALCAR. It increases acetylcholine. If it helps, Huperzine A might be helpful too. It does the same thing as Mestinon. All of them help POTS which seems to have depletion of acetylcholine.

ALCAR helps with fatty acid oxidation, turning fat into energy, particularly in the brain.

It's far more than methylation pathways...

 

[Learner1]

Without the acetyl carnitine i would not be able to have this conversation with you.
Its no cure but it does help bring me from almost zombie to simple conversation.

I don't doubt it. You probably needed it. But too many folks say "X didn't work for me" after trying it for a few days or even weeks, without realizing it's getting entire biochemistry working which can be more subtle. Sometimes, you add something and get one thing working better, which leads to the next process which can work better or it can run out of something that's needed and then be a problem, and then to the next process, etc. It's having all of these processes working together in sequence that leads to health, not just adding one ingredient. We've been glad to think like this too much by the pharmaceutical industry and the human body is just more complex.

 

[Bansaw]

Alpha GPC is not at all like ALCAR. It increases acetylcholine.

I thought they were very alike. Alpha GPC "increases the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine".
ALCAR "acts in the brain as a metabolic cofactor in the synthesis of acetylcholine".
i.e. they both increase acetylcholine. Thats why I was wondering about duplication. Is my thinking wrong on this?
(I definitely suffer from POTS - I have to get up very slowly to avoid lightheadedness for example).

Thanks for the tip on HuperzineA. It seems to prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine which could be useful.

 

[linusbert]

It's far more than methylation pathways...

can you upload this in sharp readable? very much interested into this.

 

[Learner1]

can you upload this in sharp readable? very much interested into this.

You can purchase the Sigma Aldrich Metabolic Pathways chart. It's fairly inexpensive.

 

[GreenEdge]

Maybe you were deficient in carnitine when you started a keto diet?

I think it's better to get your nutrients from food than from supplements. That way you get a whole matrix of nutrients and if you choose animal based foods those nutrients will already be in the right form and right proportions that humans require.

I'm currently eating carnivore and have recently really increased my fat intake (similar to the original Keto diet used to treat epilepsy) and added a slice of liver daily. I would add brain too if I could get it. These 3 things are true super foods. The fat is full of fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K).

Nutrition wise this is like the traditional Inuit diet. The Inuit are indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions, their diet consisted of blubber and organ meats. The muscle meat was given to their dogs. They had no access to fruits or vegetables.

This has really boosted my blood ketones and combined with Niacin (flush form) a vascular dilator, cleared my brain fog this morning within minutes. The ketones are not just a super fuel, they are anti-inflammatory.

Listen to Ben Bikman explain the effect of ketones on the body.

If you think red meat causes cancer, watch Georgia Ede: Brainwashed. (54min)

If your concerned about saturated fat, watch this video:
Dr. Paul Mason - 'Why your doctor thinks cholesterol is bad - Big Pharma deception' (20min)
The attached document to this post is the one presented at 16:30 in the video.

 

[Learner1]

I think it's better to get your nutrients from food than from supplements. That way you get a whole matrix of nutrients and if you choose animal based foods those nutrients will already be in the right form and right proportions that humans require

Roger Williams, the scientist who discovered many of the B vitamins, found that people need vastly different amounts of different nutrients, so there is not one recipe of nutrients that humans require. He wrote papers and books on the concept of human biochemical individuality.

Our needs very depending on our genetics, infections, activity level, toxicity levels, microbiome, etc.

And, it is virtually impossible to get 100% of the DV of every nutrient in a 2,000 calorie diet. A group of dieticians we're challenged to do it and just couldn't.

A lot of the dogma you have been reading is aimed at "healthy" people, not a bunch of ME/CFS patients who researchers have found to be deficient in several nutrients.

Comprehensive nutrient testing is extremely useful in identifying deficiencies and informing yourself what you need to normalize different biochemical processes.

Inuit are indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions, their diet consisted of blubber and organ meats.

Inuits are generally healthy and not a bunch of ME/CFS patients. And, Inuits without nutritional supplementation tend to be low in folate which is found in plant foods. Folate is a critical nutrient for many important biochemical processes needed for our immune systems to work, to metabolize and detoxify things, catecholamine production, DNA repair, etc.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29981096/

Following food fads can be a recipe for trouble. Inuits we're isolated for many years with a narrower variety of genes than the total hunan population. Unless we are of Inuit heritage, it might be that we are not as well adapted to the Inuit diet. In general across the globe,, people are omnivores.

 

[Bansaw]

Maybe you were deficient in carnitine when you started a keto diet?

I don't know. My doctor prescribed Keto for me to deal with blood sugar issues and she wanted to see if I had more energy on Keto. Keto brought my blood sugar down to normal range (it was pre-diabetic).
But Keto didn't really give me more energy or mental clarity. In fact, I believe it contributed greatly to the insomnia I'm now struggling with.
Maybe my body wasn't metabolizing the fat as well as it should, and maybe ALCAR would help with that. Currently I'm low carb, not Keto.

 

[GreenEdge]

Currently I'm low carb, not Keto.

So currently ALCAR will probably not help you.

 

[Learner1]

So currently ALCAR will probably not help you.

Do you have an explanation for that?

 

[GreenEdge]

Do you have an explanation for that?

ALCAR supports fat metabolism. If you're not keto, you're more likely to store fat than burn it.

Aceyl-l-carnitine is broken down in the blood by plasma esterases to carnitine which is used by the body to transport fatty acids into the mitochondria for breakdown.