Is there BH4 supplement/medicine?

[gefinauser]

Way to go guys, you go @Mimi! Let me know how CLA works!!

Sure, we need to do away with CBS problems etc... but I'm all for trying to help, cofactor, catalyse, ANYTHING for actual BH4 synthesis.

And it seems zinc is one of those guys...
http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P30793
I'm pro
...and magnesium inhibits it. I know people here praise the magnesium - and not just here, it truly is awesome - but magnesium (glycinate) for some reason just fogs me and maybe water retentions for hours to no end, and also leeches lot of calcium from my teeth. It also used to mess up my sleep as well, probably by stimulating adrenal gland, maybe it still does but I haven't dared to mess with my sleep. I just don't get it.

and yes, l-phenylialanine (lol sorry for sp) apparently stops the inhibition of the BH4 enzyme.
http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P30047

Hmm, is calcium involved with BH4?
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/QuickGO/GTerm?id=GO:0035998#term=stats
Nah I'm probably just searching in random, I doubt it is. Sorry for dumb questions.

EDIT lol just realized that maybe all this stuff is already known/linked here, well i did enjoy my few second of glory haha.

 

[malk]

@Mimi
Du schreibst sehr gut Deutsch, Gratulation.
Thanks for your reply and your detailed explanation. Not wasting BH4 due to inflammation would be great, if I would only know where the supposed inflamation comes from.

@all
Many thanks for all your comments. Since BH4 helps me a lot I try to find out, why and how I can boost it. Interestingly since many years I always had a very good brain/mood feeling after Sauna that would fit the linked study (Martin L. Pall). I always wondered why. Unfortunately since some years I develop severe CFS reactions the day after a hot bath, shower or sauna. This became way better after some treatments but now starts to worsen again. I wonder if BH4 triggered by sauna might have triggered detox which may trigger the CFS symptoms.

I am not sure if I have a superoxide problem or more a neurotransmitter & hormon problem. In a saliva test I had very poor results in all neuros&hormones (even way below minimum accepted range). I can say defenitely that may brain becomes better after BH4.

Since Mimi describes immediate results within half an hour I am observing if this is also the case with me. I think I realise a slight improvement after an hour but not so significant. It is more the overall mood when I take it for a while which is noticeable.

What I observed lately: During DMSA regime I always had brain problems during treatment and I noticed improvements in my brain health after treatment (during regime breaks). When I take BH4 while taking DMSA I feel no negative effects any more in my brain, in contrast I feel fairly well.

Maybe my problems are heavy metals an aluminum. They are known to block BH4 (in addition BH4 is required to detox them, so a double whammy). In an DMSA provocation test (urine) and in hair test I have increased levels of mercury, lead and aluminum.

Have you all tried phenylalanine to stimulate BH4?

http://www.rainbow.coop/library/biopterin-levels-schizophrenia-and-schizoaffective-disorder/

Why should someone? BH4 is needed to convert Phenylalanine. If not converted to Tyrosine the Phenylalanine gets very dangerous. http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/phenylketonuria http://www.pkunews.org/research/matalon.htm

 

[Ema]

Why should someone?

Because it stimulates the production of BH4.

 

[malk]

Because it stimulates the production of BH4.

Oh, I read down to the bottom of the page of your link and there it is stated. In case of PKU this seems not to be the case, this is one reason why I would say this statement is not applicable for all. I had no success with Phenylalanie.

 

[nandixon]

I've used 500 mg of phenylalanine for a year or so now, once per day first thing in the morning with caffeine. It seems to help a little bit. I originally started using it because it's supposed to have the ability to offset an increase in serotonin that caffeine can cause. More than 500mg makes me feel worse, though. (I'm homozygous +/+ for the important GCH1 SNPs.)

Btw, in case anyone wants to know what might be the worst thing you can do to damage your BH4 levels is... taking doxycycline.

It's used in labs for studying GCH1 because it abolishes transcription of GCH1 mRNA. Doxycycline can reduce the expression of GCH1 and the production of BH4 by up to 90-95% in human cell lines. (I imagine it's less in vivo.)

See, e.g., GTP Cyclohydrolase I Expression, Protein, and Activity Determine Intracellular Tetrahydrobiopterin Levels, Independent of GTP Cyclohydrolase Feedback Regulatory Protein Expression

 

[aquariusgirl]

Nandixon.....WOW. that's a find!

 

[nandixon]

Nandixon.....WOW. that's a find!

Sorry. Actually, I didn't give a close enough read on how exactly the doxycycline was interfering with the GCH1 expression. The researchers genetically engineered the line they were looking at to have a special "off switch" that could be controlled by the doxycycline. So it's probably not applicable in vivo. I'm going to strike through what I wrote above.

 

[Rms5934]

I have forgotten but I remember it was the one that humans naturally make.

I buy Kuvan from Accredo, one of only two specialty pharmacies that sell it.

How are you able to do that without a diagnosis of PKU? On their referral form they ask for a diagnostic code. I'm going nuts here trying to figure out how to get BH4.

 

[alice111]

Don't kno if someone has already said this but yasko sells bh4 on holistic heal.com that's where I buy mine, so far I have had no problems. Hope that helps!

 

[malk]

Today I competed another round of Detox with DMSA. I took a lot of BH4 with it. And what shall I say, I did not feel any sinde effects, just the contrary, my brain fellt fine even above my average state and my digestion "flows" also better than usually. I can also sense that my hormons are better. This thing is a miracle to me. I say this because I have already tried so many different treatments and supplements and finally I have a hand-full which really work for me. Because it can get very frustrating when some "praised" supplements do not help me at all or I even experiensed major and time-consuming setbacks during trial&error.

Now I have to find out, what is causing my lack of BH4 in order to mitigate that weakness, I do not want to rely on substitution for the rest of my life, because that would be somewhat expensive. Maybe it is mainly triggered by Aluminum and heavy metals

 

[Hip]

Don't kno if someone has already said this but yasko sells bh4 on holistic heal.com that's where I buy mine, so far I have had no problems. Hope that helps!

Could you please provide a link to the page on www.holisticheal.com where they sell BH4, as I could not find it.

 

[aquariusgirl]

Hopewell pharmacy in new jersey was selling it...the ecological formulas sup sold by yasko and elsewhere online is only a low dose...It may be enough though.

 

[alice111]

Could you please provide a link to the page on www.holisticheal.com where they sell BH4, as I could not find it.

you have to call them to order (holistic heal)

 

[drob31]

I wanted to bump this.

Is anyone still using bh4? What's the best source?

Mega dose methylfolate boost it well?

 

[parth88]

I just checked recently with Holistichealth it seems they are out of stock for BH4. I am trying to find a doctor to prescribe me BH4. Have anyone had luck with that?

 

[RosieBee]

Way to go guys, you go @Mimi! Let me know how CLA works!!

Sure, we need to do away with CBS problems etc... but I'm all for trying to help, cofactor, catalyse, ANYTHING for actual BH4 synthesis.

And it seems zinc is one of those guys...
http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P30793
I'm pro
...and magnesium inhibits it. I know people here praise the magnesium - and not just here, it truly is awesome - but magnesium (glycinate) for some reason just fogs me and maybe water retentions for hours to no end, and also leeches lot of calcium from my teeth. It also used to mess up my sleep as well, probably by stimulating adrenal gland, maybe it still does but I haven't dared to mess with my sleep. I just don't get it.

------
Are you saying here that magnesium inhibits BH4 synthesis?

I find that magnesium makes me feel worse and drops my temperatures, so I always have concerns about supplementing it even though it is supposed to be a key mineral to take. I don't do well on methylation supplements and my snps point to BH4 probably being low. It could explain why magnesium does not seem to help me.

 

[malk]

I just checked recently with Holistichealth it seems they are out of stock for BH4.

It seems every supplier (at least in Europe) ran out of stock and there is no soon restocking expected. I am running out of my last batch soon. s**t

 

[gefinauser]

Are you saying here that magnesium inhibits BH4 synthesis?

I find that magnesium makes me feel worse and drops my temperatures, so I always have concerns about supplementing it even though it is supposed to be a key mineral to take. I don't do well on methylation supplements and my snps point to BH4 probably being low. It could explain why magnesium does not seem to help me.

If it drops your temperatures, then that's a big red flag there. It's affecting either you adrenals, thyroid or methylation (or lol, like you said BH4). Again, unknown if it's a short-term temporary drop or if it really just harms you.

Don't quote or count on me on that lol... I don't remember the magnesium inhibiting BH4 - detail. Nobody has mentioned it here, so not sure if it was just a random Uniprot - discovery or misinterpretation...

Anyways. What I am SURE is that IN MY CASE, magnesium causes
increased demineralization of my teeth,
brainfog (different kind... detached, brain coming short - kind of... rather than the usual tired/lethargic and confused - kind)
and water retention.
Taken at night, it always makes me wired-and-tired/racy thoughts -> insomnia for most of night night.

However, fredd said that all these symptoms are methylation start-up symptoms and that it's a critical nutrient for methylation...
Eeeeh. Sounds like one has to gamble that riding it out would result to overall better results long-term.

BUT i've been progressing just fine with just plain methylation support (fredd-style). It could be that i'm leeching magnesium from bones to methylation lol. Demineralization of bones and teeth is my big problem in CFS.

It seems every supplier (at least in Europe) ran out of stock and there is no soon restocking expected. I am running out of my last batch soon. s**t

Crap... getting more and more convinced that BH4 is a sort of a panacea. You might as well call the future methylation protocol "methylation AND Bh4 protocol" lol.

 

[malk]

This is what I got from Schircks. But warning, I did develop toe cramps after a while, so I think you are better off getting Kuvan, if you can wrangle a prescription. Also, BH4 powder is not stable - it degrades with exposure to oxygen or heat so it must be packed cold in vacuum sealed ampules. These can be tricky to open. BH4 powder is not approved for human use, and I've heard of someone not only developing cramps but bleeding from the eyes.

Hallo Mimi,

I am curious. How did you avoid the oxidation of BH4 after opening? I mean one ampule contains way more than a daily dose (as far as I understand). What did you do with the rest? Speculation mode: Could the degeneration be a reason for the side effects? I mean in the body BH4 is degraded to BH2, if the same happens with the powder someone might consume additional BH2 or something else, which is already in abundance in the body and might cause problems.

Re side effects: According to Schircks hompage they sold tablets for humans before Mercks got the patent. So they should at least be able to produce decent BH4. Maybe they state it just for jegal reasons.

Just some thinking

 

[aquariusgirl]

K

To promote recycling and efficient use of BH4, I take L-5MTHF, NADH, P5P (active B6) and take dissolved silica. The silica gets rid of aluminum which blocks BH4 recycling. To further prevent waste, I take antioxidants like vitamin C, glutathione and idebenone. I also take L-carnitine when I remember to take it away from protein. Antioxidants help mop up peroxynitrite radicals so your BH4 doesn't have to. Estradiol and resveratrol stimulate estrogen receptors which increases BH4 synthesis, so I'm in favor of bio-identical HRT for peri and post menopausal women. Natural estrogen is cardioprotective, no doubt because it increases BH4 and therefore nitric oxide. (NO causes vasodilation.)

What form of dissolved silica do you use?