Hi All,
I’ve been experiencing some pretty steady improvement in my overall health the past 3-4 months and thought I’d post a little about my experiences. What’s notable is that this improvement has taken place in the midst of some very stressful times.
It’s often hard to say what catalysts might be behind any shift in our health circumstances. I do however, have some pretty good ideas about what may be happening, and thought I’d share a few of my thoughts here.
I feel I’ve been pretty consistent at an Activity Level of 2-3 for the past several years, despite finding some pretty significant things that have helped me. I now feel I’m at a pretty consistent Activity Level of 3-4. This feels pretty huge to me, given I’ve had ME/CFS for decades and am now 57 years old.
I’m going to try to break some of this up into sections so it will hopefully be a little easier to read and follow. I also wanted to give this brief introduction and synopsis for those who may not want to read some of the details that follow. On a cautionary note, I should mention that what follows is pretty long.
Best to All, Wayne
………………………………...
SAM-e
Shortly before leaving on an extended mid-west trip last fall (over 2,000 miles from Oregon), I saw a post by Richvank indicating that SAM-e may have the ability to support the methylation cycle for some of us.
I bought a small amount of SAM-e before leaving, and noticed that it did give me a modest boost every time I took it (Jarrow brand, 200 mg). I thought this was a significant development given how depleted I was at the time. I was so depleted, I really didn’t know whether I would be able to finish the trip, and two days into it seriously considered returning to Oregon.
Acyclovir
Fast forward about 4 weeks. I’m now visiting my brother in the woods in Arkansas, wondering how I’m ever going to make it up to Wisconsin to visit my ailing mother in an assisted care facility. It felt like I was stuck in one of my “viral overload” cycles that can be so debilitating.
I then ran into an opportunity to try the anti-viral drug Acyclovir. Realizing that most of us are likely dealing with all kinds of pathogenic overloads, I decided to try it to see what it might do. I was hesitant to do so because my body usually does not react well to prescription medications.
I took one capsule in the evening, and within minutes, noticed a pretty stressful feeling in my body. Shortly after, I began to notice that my mind was really becoming engaged in a much different manner than normal. Both these developments didn’t lend for a great night’s sleep that night.
The next day, I noticed a pretty significant shift in my body. I felt stronger, albeit not a whole lot better in other ways. In the next couple days, I began to feel better in other ways as well.
So, I summoned up my courage, and took another half a capsule. This felt much milder to me, and seemed to be much better integrated by my body. I waited another 2-3 days, and then took another half capsule.
After about a week or so, I decided to try a full capsule again, this time in the morning. This time it went very well, and I was able to exercise off any stressful or overly mind engaging sensations.
What followed was very interesting to me. After taking only a total of three Acyclovir capsules over a 7-10 day period, it felt like I was done with this experiment. It also felt like I had somehow “put out a fire” in my system. Perhaps most notably, the pressure and pain I normally feel in my head became much less noticeable.
My best guess is that I was able to somehow tamp down a viral infection, and though I’m not an expert on the immune system, felt I had tamped down some of the cytokines that are a normal part of immune response. In short, I now felt I was able to make my trip up to Wisconsin.
My dear mother experienced a cerebral hemorrhage the day I arrived in Wisconsin, and translated (passed away) about three weeks later. Thankfully, we were mostly able to keep her comfortable during this time.
I had some very special moments with my Mom during this time, hence the likely reason I felt such an imperative to make this very difficult trip. I will always consider it a blessing that she did not have to endure more years of severe dementia.
I’m mentioning some of this because dealing with much of what happened during this time period was very stressful. I constantly wondered how much more I could take before I would literally collapse. Though I struggled a lot, the collapse never came.
When I was finally ready to leave Wisconsin around the first of the year, I again wondered whether I could make it across country, especially in the midst of a -10 to -20 F deep freeze. Once I started out, I more fully realized how dangerous it was, and started driving like a truck driver to get west and out of the dangerous temperatures as soon as possible.
Long story short, I traveled about 2,000 miles in about 60 hours. I was able to pull this off mainly through quarts of coffee and extra amounts of Cortef. By the time I arrived back in Oregon, I was barely running on fumes.
My first few days back were sort of a haze, but I did manage to start regaining some rhythm in my life. After about a week, I all of a sudden got the strongest urge to go get some SAM-e as soon as possible.
SAM-e ( 2 )
I was able to get it locally the next day, and started taking some right away. The effect of SAM-e this time around was much more pronounced than my first experiment with it 3 months earlier. Within minutes, I began to experience a new kind of energy start to “bubble up” from my “core”. Within half an hour, I could literally feel my muscles becoming much stronger.
In the ensuing days, I started being able to go on fairly length walks (which I had barely been able to do until then). I was totally taken aback by my new found ability to be doing what I was doing. I’ve taken an annual mid-west trip for the past several years, always having to pay dearly (for months) for it once it was over. What I was now experiencing was totally new and totally unexpected.
I might just mention that after experiencing a few days of this “bubbling energy”, it actually began to feel like it was more than my body could handle. So I reduced my SAM-e down to half a tablet ( of 200 mg), and then reduced it further to . I’ve since upped it back up to tablet.
Acyclovir ( 2 )
After a few weeks during which I’ve again gone through some very stressful times as executor of my mother’s will, I again began to lose ground and experience what felt like “viral overload”.
So I took a full capsule of Acyclovir one morning (a few days ago), and it felt like it immediately tamped down my up-regulated immune response. In short, it felt like I was able to again “put out the fire”.
Acyclovir and Atlas Profilax
I had a unique atlas (uppermost cervical vertebra) repositioning done about two years ago which I feel released a tremendous amount of pressure on my cranial nerves. I feel this pressure had been in place since I suffered a severe whiplash injury some 40 years earlier.
After the Atlas Profilax, I felt my cranial nerves would likely be attempting to regenerate themselves for the rest of my life. I feel I’ve made some progress in the past couple years, but I now have a strong feeling that my cranial nerves have been able to regenerate themselves to a greater degree since I experimented with Acyclovir.
The normal pressure and pain I’ve long felt in my head is now much reduced. I think it’s highly likely this is a result of reducing my viral overload and much of the inflammation associated with viral infections. In short, I believe these results have allowed my cranial nerves an opportunity to further regenerate and have done so.
SAM-e ( 3 )
I believe one of the main reasons (if not the only reason) I’ve done so well with the SAM-e is because it is supporting my methylation cycle. I first took some of the supplements that Richvank recommended as part of his simplified protocol a couple years ago.
At that time, I experienced some exacerbation of some detoxifications symptoms (headaches mostly). I also felt some of the “bubbling of energy” that I recently experienced with SAM-e.
Interestingly however, the original supplements I took gradually began to lose their effectiveness in my body. Either that, or my body took them as far as they could go, and was unable to improve further without more support.
It seems now like this SAM-e is giving me some of the support that I needed to take my next step as far as addressing some of methylation deficiencies. Rich, I would be most interested to hear any thoughts you might have on my experience if you run across this thread.
Thanks for reading everybody. It’s been kind of a “windy” post. :Retro wink: Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
All the Best, Wayne
I’ve been experiencing some pretty steady improvement in my overall health the past 3-4 months and thought I’d post a little about my experiences. What’s notable is that this improvement has taken place in the midst of some very stressful times.
It’s often hard to say what catalysts might be behind any shift in our health circumstances. I do however, have some pretty good ideas about what may be happening, and thought I’d share a few of my thoughts here.
I feel I’ve been pretty consistent at an Activity Level of 2-3 for the past several years, despite finding some pretty significant things that have helped me. I now feel I’m at a pretty consistent Activity Level of 3-4. This feels pretty huge to me, given I’ve had ME/CFS for decades and am now 57 years old.
I’m going to try to break some of this up into sections so it will hopefully be a little easier to read and follow. I also wanted to give this brief introduction and synopsis for those who may not want to read some of the details that follow. On a cautionary note, I should mention that what follows is pretty long.
Best to All, Wayne
………………………………...
SAM-e
Shortly before leaving on an extended mid-west trip last fall (over 2,000 miles from Oregon), I saw a post by Richvank indicating that SAM-e may have the ability to support the methylation cycle for some of us.
I bought a small amount of SAM-e before leaving, and noticed that it did give me a modest boost every time I took it (Jarrow brand, 200 mg). I thought this was a significant development given how depleted I was at the time. I was so depleted, I really didn’t know whether I would be able to finish the trip, and two days into it seriously considered returning to Oregon.
Acyclovir
Fast forward about 4 weeks. I’m now visiting my brother in the woods in Arkansas, wondering how I’m ever going to make it up to Wisconsin to visit my ailing mother in an assisted care facility. It felt like I was stuck in one of my “viral overload” cycles that can be so debilitating.
I then ran into an opportunity to try the anti-viral drug Acyclovir. Realizing that most of us are likely dealing with all kinds of pathogenic overloads, I decided to try it to see what it might do. I was hesitant to do so because my body usually does not react well to prescription medications.
I took one capsule in the evening, and within minutes, noticed a pretty stressful feeling in my body. Shortly after, I began to notice that my mind was really becoming engaged in a much different manner than normal. Both these developments didn’t lend for a great night’s sleep that night.
The next day, I noticed a pretty significant shift in my body. I felt stronger, albeit not a whole lot better in other ways. In the next couple days, I began to feel better in other ways as well.
So, I summoned up my courage, and took another half a capsule. This felt much milder to me, and seemed to be much better integrated by my body. I waited another 2-3 days, and then took another half capsule.
After about a week or so, I decided to try a full capsule again, this time in the morning. This time it went very well, and I was able to exercise off any stressful or overly mind engaging sensations.
What followed was very interesting to me. After taking only a total of three Acyclovir capsules over a 7-10 day period, it felt like I was done with this experiment. It also felt like I had somehow “put out a fire” in my system. Perhaps most notably, the pressure and pain I normally feel in my head became much less noticeable.
My best guess is that I was able to somehow tamp down a viral infection, and though I’m not an expert on the immune system, felt I had tamped down some of the cytokines that are a normal part of immune response. In short, I now felt I was able to make my trip up to Wisconsin.
My dear mother experienced a cerebral hemorrhage the day I arrived in Wisconsin, and translated (passed away) about three weeks later. Thankfully, we were mostly able to keep her comfortable during this time.
I had some very special moments with my Mom during this time, hence the likely reason I felt such an imperative to make this very difficult trip. I will always consider it a blessing that she did not have to endure more years of severe dementia.
I’m mentioning some of this because dealing with much of what happened during this time period was very stressful. I constantly wondered how much more I could take before I would literally collapse. Though I struggled a lot, the collapse never came.
When I was finally ready to leave Wisconsin around the first of the year, I again wondered whether I could make it across country, especially in the midst of a -10 to -20 F deep freeze. Once I started out, I more fully realized how dangerous it was, and started driving like a truck driver to get west and out of the dangerous temperatures as soon as possible.
Long story short, I traveled about 2,000 miles in about 60 hours. I was able to pull this off mainly through quarts of coffee and extra amounts of Cortef. By the time I arrived back in Oregon, I was barely running on fumes.
My first few days back were sort of a haze, but I did manage to start regaining some rhythm in my life. After about a week, I all of a sudden got the strongest urge to go get some SAM-e as soon as possible.
SAM-e ( 2 )
I was able to get it locally the next day, and started taking some right away. The effect of SAM-e this time around was much more pronounced than my first experiment with it 3 months earlier. Within minutes, I began to experience a new kind of energy start to “bubble up” from my “core”. Within half an hour, I could literally feel my muscles becoming much stronger.
In the ensuing days, I started being able to go on fairly length walks (which I had barely been able to do until then). I was totally taken aback by my new found ability to be doing what I was doing. I’ve taken an annual mid-west trip for the past several years, always having to pay dearly (for months) for it once it was over. What I was now experiencing was totally new and totally unexpected.
I might just mention that after experiencing a few days of this “bubbling energy”, it actually began to feel like it was more than my body could handle. So I reduced my SAM-e down to half a tablet ( of 200 mg), and then reduced it further to . I’ve since upped it back up to tablet.
Acyclovir ( 2 )
After a few weeks during which I’ve again gone through some very stressful times as executor of my mother’s will, I again began to lose ground and experience what felt like “viral overload”.
So I took a full capsule of Acyclovir one morning (a few days ago), and it felt like it immediately tamped down my up-regulated immune response. In short, it felt like I was able to again “put out the fire”.
Acyclovir and Atlas Profilax
I had a unique atlas (uppermost cervical vertebra) repositioning done about two years ago which I feel released a tremendous amount of pressure on my cranial nerves. I feel this pressure had been in place since I suffered a severe whiplash injury some 40 years earlier.
After the Atlas Profilax, I felt my cranial nerves would likely be attempting to regenerate themselves for the rest of my life. I feel I’ve made some progress in the past couple years, but I now have a strong feeling that my cranial nerves have been able to regenerate themselves to a greater degree since I experimented with Acyclovir.
The normal pressure and pain I’ve long felt in my head is now much reduced. I think it’s highly likely this is a result of reducing my viral overload and much of the inflammation associated with viral infections. In short, I believe these results have allowed my cranial nerves an opportunity to further regenerate and have done so.
SAM-e ( 3 )
I believe one of the main reasons (if not the only reason) I’ve done so well with the SAM-e is because it is supporting my methylation cycle. I first took some of the supplements that Richvank recommended as part of his simplified protocol a couple years ago.
At that time, I experienced some exacerbation of some detoxifications symptoms (headaches mostly). I also felt some of the “bubbling of energy” that I recently experienced with SAM-e.
Interestingly however, the original supplements I took gradually began to lose their effectiveness in my body. Either that, or my body took them as far as they could go, and was unable to improve further without more support.
It seems now like this SAM-e is giving me some of the support that I needed to take my next step as far as addressing some of methylation deficiencies. Rich, I would be most interested to hear any thoughts you might have on my experience if you run across this thread.
Thanks for reading everybody. It’s been kind of a “windy” post. :Retro wink: Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
All the Best, Wayne
, in order to lower my copper. It makes me wonder it taking zinc won't do the same thing to you... ? I don't undertsand why you've been recommended to take BOTH.
