• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Pulsing Lactoferrin?

douglasmich

Senior Member
Messages
311
Hi.

So i bought lactoferrin to try. I have never taken a pharmaceutical or herbal immunomodulator

I initially got it for my gut which i was hoping would improve. After 3 days not only did my gut improve, all my other problems started going away. My vitality was returning, my energy and Appétite was coming back. My chronic joint issues were fading. I was literally rediscovering my old self. Then it faded away. I tried increasing the dose to 2500mg with no results.

I then discovered lactoferrin was an immunkmodulator and needs to be pulsed.

Does anyone have any experience with lactoferrin, or any advice on pulsing?

This was literally the best I'd felt in years, i really thought i was fully recovering.


Thanks
 

douglasmich

Senior Member
Messages
311
Hi

It wasnt any scientific source, i just read someone here i think say it might have to be, because someone relapsed.

ANyway after 7 days of incredible results (best ive been in years) the effect went away. I tried 3000mg with no response so i quit cold turkey.. that was 2 days ago

i am now going through the biggest crash in months. Full blown flu symptoms, crippling brainfog etc.

Wonder if il get a better baseline once the crash is gone..........
 

douglasmich

Senior Member
Messages
311
Ok guys.

First time i took lactoferrin i tapered up to 2000mg a day and felt the best i had in years. After 7 days the results went away so i quit cold turkey. Next 4 days i had the biggest crash of my life, almost like my immune system had been upregulated or something.

I recovered from the crash and stayed off the lactoferrin. Then i started again on 750mg. After a few days the benefits returned, but not as strong as the last time. I went up to 1000mg then at day 6 i started tapering off. Today im on 250mg and will quit tomorrow.

From tapering off im already started to feel horrific. Severe fatigue, dementia like brainfog, anixiety, depression, dry mouth etc. full blown flu symptoms

From now on, im going to take it 5 days on at 750 then taper off slowly to try to avoid the crash.

Nothing has helped aas much as this supplement,... but coming off it is absolute hell................
 
Messages
7
Hello,

Dr de Meirleir has prescribed me his lactoferrin complex (lactoferrin (480 mg / day) and colostrum (240 mg / day)). Besides, he thinks I've Lyme (positive Arminlabs Ellispot).

I read that several of you took lactoferrin for a long time and have regretted this because it lost some of its positive effects with time. Others had strong symptoms after stopping it, even by taperring it off like @douglasmich.

Would you pulse the use of lactoferrin and / or colostrum so that it does not lose its effects ? How ?Or is this not necessary ?
If it appears necessary, how would you taper it off ?

Thank you for your help!!! (especially @LisaGoddard and @gu3vara if you can answer ;)
 

LisaGoddard

Senior Member
Messages
284
Hello,

Would you pulse the use of lactoferrin and / or colostrum so that it does not lose its effects ? How ?Or is this not necessary ?
If it appears necessary, how would you taper it off ?

Thank you for your help!!! (especially @LisaGoddard and @gu3vara if you can answer ;)

hi pierreo, hope it goes well for you on the lactoferrin and colostrum. I had an amazing experience with them. I definitely would suggest pulsing though if you are on it long term (I mean like years). During first few months of taking them at max dose, I felt great. But I decided to switch to low maintenance dose - although I didn't feel so great on the lower dose, I was still able to function for 4-5 years. Then it gradually stopped working. When I tried increasing the dose, I felt horribly ill. In the end, I couldn't tolerate either the lactoferrin or colostrum - they made me really ill. It may be that initially staying longer on the high dose, and then pulsing would have prevented this.
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
I guess technically I'm pulsing it. I take one pill right before bed, and you're supposed to take twice that dose, twice a day. I was never successful at titrating it up; in my experience, if you do, you experience greater inflammation that becomes an issue in and of itself. However, if I go off of it, I lose a great deal of energy and focus. It's one of those 'silent' effectors that doesn't announce itself loudly, but if I stop taking it I feel hideous!
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
I do see articles that discuss pulsing other NK and macrophage-activating factors though, including an argument for pulsing Rituximab in lupus.
 

Art Vandelay

Senior Member
Messages
470
Location
Australia
I 've read with interest your inputs on lactoferrin on the forum and would be really glad if you could give your opinion on this (i don't want to "spoil" this supplement by not using it properly, all the more since i've started it on tiny dose and it makes some effect)
thank you!!

I guess technically I'm pulsing it. I take one pill right before bed, and you're supposed to take twice that dose, twice a day. I was never successful at titrating it up; in my experience, if you do, you experience greater inflammation that becomes an issue in and of itself. However, if I go off of it, I lose a great deal of energy and focus. It's one of those 'silent' effectors that doesn't announce itself loudly, but if I stop taking it I feel hideous!

I had a similar experience to Jaime in that I could only tolerate a small dose. In fact, I'd only pulse it 2-3 days per week because I found that it induced way too much inflammation if I took any more than that.

A few years ago, I decided to stop taking it to see what would happen. My immune system actually seemed to ramp up when I was not taking it, so I have not used it since.

(Note: one of the factors contributing to my ME/CFS is thought to be a relapsing fever form of borrelia, so my experience may be quite different to others.)

EDIT: I was taking Apolactoferrin which is advertised as "the iron-depleted form of lactoferrin, has unique benefits and may be superior to lactoferrin for supplementation." Whether that's true or not, I can't say. ;)
https://iherb.com/pr/Life-Extension-Lactoferrin-Caps-60-Capsules/47818
 
Last edited:

Santino

Senior Member
Messages
209
Damn...Now that I read this, I regret that I started taking Lactoferrin. I am worried that I dysregulate my body with it. Maybe the body shuts down own production when it is taken and therefore when stopping people experience the rebound... I am on day 2 and for me it causes brainfog and sinus congestion in the first hour but then it seems to start helping with joint pain, brainfog and several other things. That is a weird supplement. I do not want to get dependent of anything though. I wonder if I now should try to carefully come off it before it is too late and some permanent changes happened...:-/
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Damn...Now that I read this, I regret that I started taking Lactoferrin. I am worried that I dysregulate my body with it. Maybe the body shuts down own production when it is taken and therefore when stopping people experience the rebound... I am on day 2 and for me it causes brainfog and sinus congestion in the first hour but then it seems to start helping with joint pain, brainfog and several other things. That is a weird supplement. I do not want to get dependent of anything though. I wonder if I now should try to carefully come off it before it is too late and some permanent changes happened...:-/

Maybe try taking it before bed, where the brainfog isn't going to be a problem and you'll still experience the benefits. It's an immune activator, so it's going to feel not so great if you already have inflammation, but may be helpful in the long run.

As far as "becoming dependent", unless you can't afford the supplement (or fear you may not be able to do so soon) don't worry about that. Just do what makes you feel better!
 

Lolinda

J'aime nager dans le froid style Wim Hof.. 🏊‍♀️🙃
Messages
420
Location
Geneva, Switzerland
I had a very surprising effect from lactoferrin: as little as 15 mg (measured by milligram scale) dissolved in as much as 1L of water stops gum bleeding which I otherwise always have when brushing teeth. I tried on and off for alternating weeks to see if it is really the lactoferrin. It is. I am completely flabbergasted and do not understand how this little can have such an effect??


I was never successful at titrating it up; in my experience, if you do, you experience greater inflammation that becomes an issue in and of itself
One possible reason for this is that lactoferrin disrupts biofilms and then you get bad die-off. While there are serious papers on this, excuse me to post an easy-read podcast:
The tricky thing is, however, to find out if it is biofilms. For myself, I did this: I tried a variety of antibacterial things. Only those effective against biofilms gave me inflammation, always the same type of symptoms (in my case mostly chills, intense as hell). Here is a short and good (but incomplete) list of biofilm disruptors and a few words that biofilms (e.g. in the gut) are largely undiagnosable (that's why I looked at reactions to biofilm-disrupting or non-disrupting supps, which I consider as a test, as good as it gets):
After 3 days not only did my gut improve, all my other problems started going away. My vitality was returning, my energy and Appétite was coming back. My chronic joint issues were fading.
Here some papers that could explain it:
  • as for the gut and appetite, lactoferrin stops leaky gut:
    Protective Effects of Lactoferrin against Intestinal Mucosal Damage Induced by Lipopolysaccharide in Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cells
    https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/yakushi/128/9/128_9_1363/_pdf
    I add that stopping leaky gut stops LPS uptake into blood and this stops inflammation, restores appetite, etc. And if you stop lactoferrin, your system will be more sensitive again to LPS. I do not have, however, any explanation for loss of effectiveness.
  • Lactoferrin suppresses the Epstein-Barr virus-induced inflammatory response by interfering with pattern recognition of TLR2 and TLR9.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25068657
  • It helps to resolve experimentally induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE):
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17113653
But as you describe loss of effectiveness after some days and really bad return of issues afterwards, then a possible guess could be that you may have an ongoing infection and you just suppress your defense and when you stop, your body defends double. I would test for everything on earth to find out against what your body might be defending (bugs, viruses or autoimmunity) because this may inform if you cause harm or benefit, e.g. by tracking titers during lactoferrin treatment.
Btw herpes-8 is helped by lactoferrin:
 
Last edited:
Messages
89
I’m glad I came across this thread, it’s given me lots to think about. I was about to start taking lactoferrin... Now I’m seeing some red flags. Anyone still taking it? I’m interested in your experiences! :)
 

Crux

Senior Member
Messages
1,441
Location
USA
Anyone still taking it? I’m interested in your experiences! :)

I'm still taking it , the apolactoferrin, to bind iron, among other things. Sometimes I brush my teeth with it to remove iron stains. It turns pinkish brown when it becomes loaded with iron. It fizzes a bit on my tongue.

It does help fatigue.
 
Last edited:

Crux

Senior Member
Messages
1,441
Location
USA
Oh yeah,
Lactoferrin really helps my dry eyes to make tears.

I occasionally pulse it for a day or two.
I take it as a part of a regimen, not as a lone supplement.
 
Messages
89
Oh yeah,
Lactoferrin really helps my dry eyes to make tears.

I occasionally pulse it for a day or two.
I take it as a part of a regimen, not as a lone supplement.

Interesting, I have super dry eyes so that would be a nice side benefit. I'm planning to take the apolactoferrin form too.