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I've tried all the ideas I know of to methylate and be functional but I'm stuck.
Intro
A few years ago, I began experience bronchitis-like symptoms and the symptoms didn't stop for over a year. I spent a lot of time getting treatment and diagnosis from pulmonary, immune, and allergic doctors with no luck. After 2 years, I was sick with a dozen or more symptoms and could hardly breath despite taking prednisone, theophylline, and 50 doses of albuterol every day.
I moved to an area without allergens, hired a private babysitter so that my kid wouldn't get me sick, and started working from home. I still felt the same, and couldn't escape my symptoms.
That's when I came to understand that I had CFS, and I ordered a 23andme and test. Using selfdecode, geneticgenie and other sites, I learned that I have several mutations for genes related to methylation. Fast forward one year, and I've read dozens of posts on this forum, including much of Freddd and Dr. Rich's protocols as well as Dr. Yasko's work. I've tried several methylation protocols, and I'm still sick. I'm hoping that someone on here recognizes my symptoms and can help me restart my methylation.
What's Wrong With Me?
I experience these symptoms on a regular basis:
My Methylation Hell
I'm a problem solver, so I began trying methylation protocols on myself last year but I haven't had much luck. The one exeption was when I first took choline.
Choline
I tried a choline pill and, within 3 hours, it was like all my symptoms disappeared. I kept taking choline, increasing the dose from 500mg to 3000mg spread throughout the day, and felt amazing. My lungs stopped producing phlegm and I no longer needed the high-dose steroids to be able to breath. My brain felt better and I began feeling like myself for the first time in years. I was smarter, happier, healthier, and had more self control.
Adding Methylfolate
This is where things went wrong. After 3 weeks, I decided that, because I'd done so well on choline, I should get ahead of my MTHFR mutations and take methylfolate. I took a 10mg pill and experienced what I call a "crash" within an hour. I wound up writhing in bed for 1 day from intense pain in my brain and body.
The following day, I took 2.5mg of methylfolate and, though not as bad, crashed. I tried 1mg the next day and crashed again.
Finding the Answers
I stopped methyfolate for a couple weeks but never returned to health. I started to have headaches. My reading led me to think that my body wasn't using the choline I was taking for methylation, and that my brain's levels of acetylcholine were too high. I tried an SSRI for a couple days (I read that serotonin reduces acetylcholine), and the headaches stopped. My phsical symptoms hadn't changes however.
MTHFR Protocol
My reading on this forum and on Dr. Yasko's site led me to try a more robust methylation protocol for MTHFR, including tapering the dose of methylfolate slowly over the course of weeks, culminating in...
800mg potassium
1g magnesium
10mg manganese
20mg methylcobalamin
4800mg fish oil
100 mcg K-2
200mg CoQ10
2g curcumin
2g resveratrol
5mg lithium
10mg D3
200mg zinc
500mg choline
2g C
4 Jarrow B-Right pills
3mg of adenosylcobalamin once/week
I sometimes took:
1g acetyl L-Carnitine
600mg NAC
Glutathione
Tuarine
Selenium
SAMe (would cause the same type of crash as initially taking methylfolate)
Extra B2
Extra Niacin
Glycine
I started with small amounts of methylfolate after reaching 1600mcg from the B-Right pills. I stopped getting bronchitis-like symptoms but that was about the only change on this protocol.
After a month, my total dose of methylfolate was up to 3mg. At that point, I noticed signs of methylation (improvements to my brain and physical function). I kept the dose of methylfolate constant, and felt 50% better for 3 days. Each time I took methylfolate, however, I'd get a runny nose and start to have allergic symptoms. On the third day of feeling improved, I crashed.
I repeated this cycle for several month, trying to find the right combination of support and slowing my dose changes to avoid the "crash." I kept crashing over and over however.
Hail Mary
I stopped taking all supplements related to MTHFR methylation. My idea was that, if I got off MTHFR supplements, my body might begin to methylate with choline using the BHMT pathway. Without methylfolate, methylcobalamin, lithium, adenosylcobalamin, B-Right, etc., I got bad lung inflammation within days. I stuck with the new "choline protocol" for a month but never shook the inflammation.
TMG was the next thing I tried, and I've had a roller coaster of results since taking it. After a week on TMG, I had 2 days of pretty good health, followed by poor health. My improved again for 2 days after 1 week, then went back to being being poor for the past month. This is where I'm at today.
I don't know what's going on. Ideas? You'll be my hero if you can solve this.
Intro
A few years ago, I began experience bronchitis-like symptoms and the symptoms didn't stop for over a year. I spent a lot of time getting treatment and diagnosis from pulmonary, immune, and allergic doctors with no luck. After 2 years, I was sick with a dozen or more symptoms and could hardly breath despite taking prednisone, theophylline, and 50 doses of albuterol every day.
I moved to an area without allergens, hired a private babysitter so that my kid wouldn't get me sick, and started working from home. I still felt the same, and couldn't escape my symptoms.
That's when I came to understand that I had CFS, and I ordered a 23andme and test. Using selfdecode, geneticgenie and other sites, I learned that I have several mutations for genes related to methylation. Fast forward one year, and I've read dozens of posts on this forum, including much of Freddd and Dr. Rich's protocols as well as Dr. Yasko's work. I've tried several methylation protocols, and I'm still sick. I'm hoping that someone on here recognizes my symptoms and can help me restart my methylation.
What's Wrong With Me?
I experience these symptoms on a regular basis:
- Malaise
- Brain fog
- Inability to handle stress
- Blurry vision or difficulty focusing my eyes
- Night blindness
- Mood swings
- Allergies
- Poor sleep
- Chronic lung inflammation and phlegm (bronchitis-like)
- Difficulty breathing
- Weekness in arms
My Methylation Hell
I'm a problem solver, so I began trying methylation protocols on myself last year but I haven't had much luck. The one exeption was when I first took choline.
Choline
I tried a choline pill and, within 3 hours, it was like all my symptoms disappeared. I kept taking choline, increasing the dose from 500mg to 3000mg spread throughout the day, and felt amazing. My lungs stopped producing phlegm and I no longer needed the high-dose steroids to be able to breath. My brain felt better and I began feeling like myself for the first time in years. I was smarter, happier, healthier, and had more self control.
Adding Methylfolate
This is where things went wrong. After 3 weeks, I decided that, because I'd done so well on choline, I should get ahead of my MTHFR mutations and take methylfolate. I took a 10mg pill and experienced what I call a "crash" within an hour. I wound up writhing in bed for 1 day from intense pain in my brain and body.
The following day, I took 2.5mg of methylfolate and, though not as bad, crashed. I tried 1mg the next day and crashed again.
Finding the Answers
I stopped methyfolate for a couple weeks but never returned to health. I started to have headaches. My reading led me to think that my body wasn't using the choline I was taking for methylation, and that my brain's levels of acetylcholine were too high. I tried an SSRI for a couple days (I read that serotonin reduces acetylcholine), and the headaches stopped. My phsical symptoms hadn't changes however.
MTHFR Protocol
My reading on this forum and on Dr. Yasko's site led me to try a more robust methylation protocol for MTHFR, including tapering the dose of methylfolate slowly over the course of weeks, culminating in...
800mg potassium
1g magnesium
10mg manganese
20mg methylcobalamin
4800mg fish oil
100 mcg K-2
200mg CoQ10
2g curcumin
2g resveratrol
5mg lithium
10mg D3
200mg zinc
500mg choline
2g C
4 Jarrow B-Right pills
3mg of adenosylcobalamin once/week
I sometimes took:
1g acetyl L-Carnitine
600mg NAC
Glutathione
Tuarine
Selenium
SAMe (would cause the same type of crash as initially taking methylfolate)
Extra B2
Extra Niacin
Glycine
I started with small amounts of methylfolate after reaching 1600mcg from the B-Right pills. I stopped getting bronchitis-like symptoms but that was about the only change on this protocol.
After a month, my total dose of methylfolate was up to 3mg. At that point, I noticed signs of methylation (improvements to my brain and physical function). I kept the dose of methylfolate constant, and felt 50% better for 3 days. Each time I took methylfolate, however, I'd get a runny nose and start to have allergic symptoms. On the third day of feeling improved, I crashed.
I repeated this cycle for several month, trying to find the right combination of support and slowing my dose changes to avoid the "crash." I kept crashing over and over however.
Hail Mary
I stopped taking all supplements related to MTHFR methylation. My idea was that, if I got off MTHFR supplements, my body might begin to methylate with choline using the BHMT pathway. Without methylfolate, methylcobalamin, lithium, adenosylcobalamin, B-Right, etc., I got bad lung inflammation within days. I stuck with the new "choline protocol" for a month but never shook the inflammation.
TMG was the next thing I tried, and I've had a roller coaster of results since taking it. After a week on TMG, I had 2 days of pretty good health, followed by poor health. My improved again for 2 days after 1 week, then went back to being being poor for the past month. This is where I'm at today.
I don't know what's going on. Ideas? You'll be my hero if you can solve this.
