Skyline's Journal: Progress & Experiments

[waiting]

@Skyline, this is not about HRV, but I was wondering if you had heard about this new device on the market called Muse -- it's supposed to contain "clinical grade" EEG...? What do you think?

http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/24/h...he-most-important-wearable-of-2014-exclusive/

 

[Skyline]

Hi @waiting , yes in fact I've already ordered one to test it out - will be in my hands by the end of the week. It does look legit - there is a case study of the benefits also here: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/09/12/muse-interaxon/

If it turns out well - I'll get them on the podcast to talk about it more. As I understand it there will be more apps available over time - the first app Calm, isn't set up the way I would've done it - so I'm hoping it's the case.

 

[Skyline]

I know a lot of people on here are working on methylation - here is the Quantified Body interview I did with Dr. Ben Lynch recently:
http://thequantifiedbody.net/ep-5-optimizing-methylation-dr-ben-lynch/

 

[Skyline]

Latest update - not checking this board at all lately, and as you can imagine an important part of that is that I'm doing way better.

This morning I did a 2 hour hike up to the top of Griffith Park in L.A. without any negatives. A few months back less exertion would give me more symptoms although I'd be able to do it. I'm thinking I'll soon be ready to get back to the gym - however I'm taking steps carefully, tracking data etc to make sure I don't upset anything.

Summarized Test Results Back
- Mitochondrial Health - Myhill's test - a lot of progress, but still a few areas to tackle
- Methylation pathways profile - still the same issues despite supplement supports for over a year - an area to investigate (potentially related to an issue with DNA adducts - as identified by my last Myhill/ Acumen test)

Major Symptoms Currently
- Lack of tolerance to water damaged buildings (i.e. biotoxin illness) - varied symptoms depending on building, some buildings I have to leave outright - although last couple of weeks I seem to be making a lot of progress on this based on something new i'm trying out - will be a month before I know better.
- Frequent urination (this has returned after having subsided, I think i've undone some of the progress I made on the biotoxin protocol due to a lot of building exposures - have to dig further into this one)

 

[dannybex]

I'm curious @Skyline -- what types of mito support were or are you taking? And do you have any NutrEval or similar kreb's cycle test results to show your 'before and afters'? I'm really having a difficult time with this…have lost a lot of muscle (and was skinny to begin with) due to a block at a-ketoglutaric to succinic, and no one has been able to figure it out...

 

[Skyline]

Hey @dannybex , unfortunately I only just saw this... don't step in here so often now.

The stack I use is:
- ATP Fuel
- Oxaloacetate
- PQQ
- Transdermal Magnesium
- Selenium
- Liposomal glutathione (protection)

I've turned the corner on muscle loss and begun to regain it, and my strength. I contained muscle loss via creatine supplementation and still use that. The exercise I do is very very short time / high strength intensive/ neuromuscular focused exercises. I do this to limit metabolic emphasis (i.e. more mitochondrial load), and emphasize neuromuscular side, I'll continue to do it this way throughout my recovery I think. In later phases when inflammation/ causes have been eliminated I'll move to push the metabolic side more.

I haven't done the NutrEval as I've heard different opinions on its accuracy/ stability of results. I will look more into the urine organic acids, and potentially use that to track progress. I've done the myhill mito function test, and that has showed some improvement across the markers over time.

How are your energy levels? Are you taking creatine?

 

[Skyline]

One of the step ups I've made up in recovery lately has been removing mercury amalgams and working on mercury detoxification. I'm still working on it and tracking it. Anecdotally however, I definitely got a step up the actual week after removal of amalgams by a good biological dentist.

Chris Shade is the best source of knowledge on Mercury I've found. I interviewed him recently, and he covers so much stuff - it was a great episode - you can check it out here: Chris Shade - Quantifying Mercury Burden and Detoxifying Mercury.
We got into a lot of practical detail of binding mercury and the different binders, mercury transport via bitters and other methods, biological dentistry and the glutathione system.

 

[dannybex]

Thanks @Skyline for the update. Inspiring to hear you've stopped your muscle loss. I'm taking creatine, but not on a regular basis at all, so will make a point to do that. Do you take these supps three times a day w/meals…or?

Also agree re NutrEval. It's definitely helpful in some ways -- it was the thing that showed my 3-methylhistidine was high (and thus I was using muscle for fuel) -- but said I didn't need ANY amino acids, and/also made some strange vitamin recommendations based on the results.

My 'energy' is terrible, mainly due to the muscle loss, and the resulting pain, especially in my feet. Using a wheelchair 80-85% of the time.

But so far, not giving up.

 

[Skyline]

@dannybex sorry to hear about the wheelchair.

Just take the creatine in morning once per day, 5g.

To be clear, from what I've heard about Nutreval, it won't be a test I'm going to use. Also, the testing companies have standard outputs on those tests assuming it's just nutrient deficiencies. What you really need is a good functional doctor detective to look into the more complicated tests where the origins of imbalances can be many.

The test I hear better results with is the organic acids: https://www.gdx.net/product/metabolic-analysis-test-organic-acids-urine

Have you tried mitochondrial supports for your energy levels? E.g. ATP Fuel? There's some good data behind that from Garth Nicholson.

Never.. never... give up. We simply have no choice. It's really just a puzzle to solve, and we are all unique in this - I absolutely believe everyone has a recovery path, the hard part is being systematic enough to carefully identify exactly what your levers are going to be to get you there.

 

[Skyline]

To add optimistic update points...

I had my TGF Beta 1 come back virtually in normal range in January - it had originally shot up to over 10K which presents an autoimmune risk so I was concerned about it.

And based on Chris Shade's Mercury test, it looks like A) I've made good progress in mercury detoxification and B) my body's excretion capacity for Mercury isn't too depressed.

I have a big meeting with my functional doctor coming up over the next month based on a big stack of test results. Expecting it to clear up my personal puzzle picture somewhat. Clarity = Power. It allows us to focus on the levers that matter for each of us.

 

[Skyline]

The latest splurge has had me come back with 3 significant infections:
1. Lyme Disease
2. Babesiosis
(suspected these since reading Richard Horowitz's book, as did my functional doc based on my symptoms, good to get clarification)
3. Blastocystis hominis

Now tackling these as well as continuing to work on detoxification of heavy metals.

I'm in a much more manageable situation these days, able to balance demands for work etc reasonably as long as I don't push too hard. My sensitivity to buildings has dropped also - I've been going about life pretty normally, even attended a high energy, 12 days long marathons, 3 day Tony Robbins seminar. Was awesome

 

[Skyline]

I doubt I'll post much more here. I'm getting increasingly functional, starting to workout more - and build strength, a lot less sensitive to the environment (just back from a trip to Shanghai) and much less frequent energy issues.

A highly accessible tool that I'd encourage everyone to use is cyclic fasting or cyclic FMD as covered in my podcast. It's free - can be done at your convenience, has very limited downside, and a good amount of research to back it up now. I'll be continuing with it for the foreseeable future.

As a rule of thumb, it's probably safe to say the less someone posts on here - the better they're feeling. I say this, because I remember when I first got hit, that I wondered what happened to some of the posters here that disappear.

When you get better - you get on with your life of course - make up for lost time !

 

[Nlnyc]

A few more upgrades added in the last weeks have me really feeling like I'm set for the home run now.

1. Dr. Klinghardt's work on electromagnetic waves: For the last month I've cut the electricity in the apartment at night to protect sleep. Sounds crazy, but once you get into his work you can see how it could have an impact. And my symptoms and general feeling seem to reflect a step change in 'repair' since I started it.

2. Grounding: Started tracking the charge on my body around the apartment and investigating this area for improving body repair. The last apartment had some particularly bad dirty electricity and in particular in the bedroom. I began grounding at night semi-successfully, still working through the implementation details. The lead I bought stopped grounding me after a couple of nights so I'm going to purchase something better - more robust. The new apartment I'm in measurements are down, with a lot less grounding necessary. AKA less electromagnetic waves. I meditate / walk barefoot to get extra grounding time in also.

3. Moved to a cleaner / lower humidity environment: I moved across Mexico to the other side which is in the 60 to 70% humidity range, less susceptible to mold. I now live facing the beach, in the most pristine clean apartment I've ever seen - the air inside has no scent of anything when you enter. And that has had an immediate impact the last week.

@Skyline How do you track the charge on your body. I have been using grounding sheets and a grounding mat and cannot tell if they are "working".

Thanks
Love your podcasts - on the road to recovery and will post more soon