The Resistant Starch Challenge: Is It The Key We've Been Looking For?

[Sasha]

Congratulations, @Aileen! That must be great to have such a fast improvement in your sleep after such a rough time. Are you waking refreshed? I don't, even with Pregabalin. It's used at a relatively low dose for insomnia (I take 75mg/night).

Interesting that you're taking it so far from bedtime and yet it's having an effect on your sleep much later. Some people on the RS have been saying they get spectacular dreams and I think they're taking it during the day, too.

 

[Ripley]

An immune response is also about reduced glutathione and nitric oxide and many things that both strengthen and minimize this response directed against our own tissues and those directed against pathogens.

If nitric oxide is an important part of the immune response. These papers are going to knock your socks off...

Soil bacteria, nitrite, and the skin

...Mammals likely evolved with AOB [Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria] on their skin, providing their host with nitrite by conversion of ammonia in providing their host with nitrite by conversion of ammonia in sweat with scalp, pubic and underarm hair providing a suitable niche due to enhanced sweat production, increased warmth, increased relative humidity and protection of light (the latter is important as ammonia monooxygenase activity is inhibited by light). Low NO increases androgen levels which increase growth of pubic hair, expanding the AOB niche thereby increasing NO/NOx production and absorption in a feedback loop.

The production of a suitable niche for these bacteria provides a rationale for non-thermal sweating (e.g., under stress) (to supply NO/nitrites, the location of body hair (near lymph nodes), why the skin of the scalp is thin and well vascularized (to enhance NO/nitrite absorption), any why the sweat glands are most abundant on the feet and palms (for antimicrobial effects of acidified nitrite in surfaces in contact with soil).[LINK]

Guess I'll skip that shower.

Is sunlight good for our heart?

“We propose here that many of the beneficial effects of sunlight, particularly those related to cardiovascular health, are mediated by mechanisms that are independent of melatonin, vitamin D, and exposure to UVB alone. Specifically, we suggest that the skin is a significant store of nitric oxide (NO)-related species that can be mobilized by sunlight and delivered to the systemic circulation to exert coronary vasodilator and cardioprotective as well as antihypertensive effects (Figure 1). We further hypothesize that this dermal NO reservoir is a product of local production and dietary supply with nitrate-rich foods.
[...]
A recent human study has demonstrated that UVA irradiation can increase plasma nitrite levels by 40%. This is intriguing considering that in animal models, a similar increase in nitrite is associated with cardioprotection following I/R injury. Dietary nitrate intake (predominantly from green leafy vegetables) may provide an alternative source of nitrite.”[LINK]

Scratch that. Get some sun and then skip that shower.

 

[Aileen]

Congratulations, @Aileen! That must be great to have such a fast improvement in your sleep after such a rough time. Are you waking refreshed? I don't, even with Pregabalin. It's used at a relatively low dose for insomnia (I take 75mg/night).

Interesting that you're taking it so far from bedtime and yet it's having an effect on your sleep much later. Some people on the RS have been saying they get spectacular dreams and I think they're taking it during the day, too.

Well now, aren't you greedy? Expecting sleepy at night and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning! Sorry to say no, at least not yet. It has only been a few days though and I have started on low doses. I don't feel totally like I've been mowed down by a tank, so perhaps that's a good sign. Time will tell. No dreams yet, or else I'm forgetting them before I wake up.

What has me absolutely shocked is that I'm tolerating this stuff at all! I have severe MCS and am down to eating rice chex, green tea, cashews and walnuts. Supplements? Forget it. Lactic acid probiotics (the usual kind) from the health food store? Nope. So this is amazing!!

I'm almost afraid to write this for fear of jinxing myself, but I am wondering if something is slightly improving my sensitivities. Just a couple slight hints here and there. Grass season has started and I am having problems but a couple times I thought I was headed for a raging migraine but got something much less. I think the Aline is responsible for that.

I will be slowly increasing something each week:
Aline - package says 1 capsule daily but a study on this probiotic and cfs patients used 10x that, so I can take 10 per day if necessary. (My wallet is in pain at the thought!!! ). Currently on 2 daily.

Florastor - I think the package says 4 daily. I'm up to 2.

Mutaflor - It says 6 initially, then 4 daily. I'm on 1.

Prebiotic - Swanson's FiberAid AG - Can't remember suggested amount. I'm on 1/4tsp in capsules.

Aren't I good at following the directions?

 

[zzz0r]

Are there people that managed to deal with candida overgrowth by using RS? Did anyone fully recovered? Also are there any people on this thread that were not able to tolerate methylfolate and they managed to take it after they started RS?

The reason I am asking is that methylfolate could actually feed candida so maybe this is the reason that some people can not tolerate that.

 

[Ripley]

Are there people that managed to deal with candida overgrowth by using RS? Did anyone fully recovered? Also are there any people on this thread that were not able to tolerate methylfolate and they managed to take it after they started RS?

The reason I am asking is that methylfolate could actually feed candida so maybe this is the reason that some people can not tolerate that.

That's interesting. That might explain why I did so terribly with methylfolate a year ago.

Yes I took RS to combat candida and I could not tolerate methylfolate. But RS worked well for me. My recommendation is to check out @Gestalt 's excellent post on the subject:

http://www.gestaltreality.com/2013/09/16/how-to-eliminate-candida-biofilms/

The biofilm disruptors that Gestalt mentions seems to be key.

 

[zzz0r]

I contacted the user about that thread but he said that RS worked better for him.

 

[Ripley]

I contacted the user about that thread but he said that RS worked better for him.

Yes. I think we both felt that RS can be an important part of a candida-fighting protocol.

 

[dmholmes]

Are there people that managed to deal with candida overgrowth by using RS?

I believe it actually made mine worse.

 

[Asklipia]

I only bring it up because even someone without ME/CFS can get these kinds of lymphatic congestions!

And I have no idea what I have either. I felt quite healthy before taking chaga, and the chaga made me feel even better (despite giving me a stiff neck).

One of the reasons I'm happy to stop PS is because I wonder if it was over-stimulating the effects of the chaga — I dont' know for sure, but I think my neck got stiffer when PS was taken along-side chaga.

My husband and I are currently still taking RS and a probiotic. He still is doing that on alternate days, I have to wait for about 5 days to a week between dosage because of lymphatic side-effects.
So far so good, over a 3.5 months period now.

However something happened which I want to relate in case it is useful to someone else.
Two weeks ago someone offered me fresh broad beans (vicia faba) from his garden. This is a delicacy that I used to love. I must have eaten at least 5 kilos of fresh broad beans in the course of my life, so I have no allergy to them.
So I made a salad, cooking them only for 3 minutes in boiling water, then taking the skin off and making my salad with a spring onion, fresh radishes, coriander leaves, a small chilli, cumin seeds and a tomato + olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
The next day I had a huge lymphatic reaction, swollen nodes, headache, inability to open the eyes, and a big swollen stiff neck with big pimples coming out under the jaws and on the sides.
It took one week to feel normal again.
The same neighbour brought again fresh broad beans just a week after the first time. So I made a salad again, this time with other ingredients. Same reaction but I evaluate it roughly half as unpleasant. It only took 5 days for me to feel normal again.
I have asked him to provide another lot for the following week. We'll see.

Something extremely strong in these raw broad beans. Which obviously kills something located in the head and neck. Paleophil on another forum noticed that mung bean starch was most helpful with his eyesight. There could be a link there.
The broad beans triggered the neck thing. I had lots of lymphatic problems with taking all the different RS, but nothing so violent in the neck.
Could be that it was the straw that broke the camel's back, or it could be that there is a specificity there, linking one special type of RS to a special area of the body.
The pimples I get along lymphatic lines seem to be getting smaller. I have plenty of energy. AND glimpses of REAL happiness at least once every two days!!!!!! This is a good sign.

Good luck to all.

 

[Ripley]

Something extremely strong in these raw broad beans.

They do appear to have some interesting properties...

Purification and Modes of Antifungal Action by Vicia faba cv. Egypt Trypsin Inhibitor

I bet the metabolites do more than that once bacteria start breaking down the glycoproteins in the beans.

 

[Asklipia]

Thank you @Ripley!
This salad is a traditional recipe, so I felt safe eating the broad beans raw. It is obviously more than just food, also a way to get rid of fungus in the head!
I have put a few beans in the freezer to check if they will still work later when the season is over. Maybe the freezing will affect the structure of the beans, maybe not.
Dried broad beans don't seem to have the same effect. Most probably because they have to be cooked.

I used to eat raw chickpeas too, but those are not available where I live. Raw peas are sweet but there is no traditional recipe that I know of, which makes me suspect that they might not have this interesting antifungal effect.

I may have eaten too big a portion, the taste of this salad is fantastic and addictive. Also I ate some of it the following day too. I emphasize for those who would like to try : Better start with a small serving!!!!

 

[Ripley]

@Asklipia I'm currently experiencing very enhanced mental clarity and a stiff neck from 1 weak cup of chaga tea per day. My stiff neck is mild (only feels stiff when I try to turn it too much), but if I don't consume either some PS or chaga, I get some brain fog. So, I'm sort of stuck in a rut where my neck lymph nodes get congested if I take chaga, but the darn thing comes back if I don't. (PS + chaga seemed to increase the lymph congestion, so I've cut out PS for now and am getting RS3 from food).

I could easily up my chaga dose, but I suspect that would just make my lymph nodes more congested. Hmm...

Feels like candida (or maybe some other infection) had infiltrated my brain and chaga neutralizes it (so long as I keep consuming the chaga). Wouldn't candida in the brain be fungal meningitis? That doesn't sound good if that's what we have — the literature suggests it can be fatal. WTF!

Part of me feels like I woke a sleeping monster, but another part of me wonders if I already have it on the ropes with a weak dose of chaga tea.

btw, if you can't get chaga, Coriolus mushroom (Turkey Tail) is also supposed to be excellent and well tolerated against fungal infections (look it up).

 

[Gestalt]

If nitric oxide is an important part of the immune response. These papers are going to knock your socks off...

I used to regularly take AOR's new Nox supplement that has high dose nitrate's in it. In their supporting research they were talking about how it works synergystically with bacteria.

I took it regularly for about a year, but don't anymore. It seemed to work...but not sure if that was a psycho-somatic effect.

(looks like all the links in the old article are broken...here is more info: http://www.aor.ca/products-page/nox/)

btw, if you can't get chaga, Coriolus mushroom (Turkey Tail) is also supposed to be excellent and well tolerated against fungal infections (look it up).

I'd like to try both these soon...

 

[Gestalt]

I was researching alternatives to pure beta-glucans recently.

There is a product called: Epicor which is made from yeast. It does contain beta-glucans but also numerous other compounds.

In addition then there are two other products which seem to work in a similar fashion. They however they are a lysate of the bacteria Lactobacillus rhamnosus.

• Russian Choice Immune
• Del-Immune V (the supposed improved American version)

@knackers323 seemed to have some success with the Russian one. I bought some tried it, can't really tell if it worked or not...

 

[MeSci]

@Asklipia I'm currently experiencing very enhanced mental clarity and a stiff neck from 1 weak cup of chaga tea per day. My stiff neck is mild (only feels stiff when I try to turn it too much), but if I don't consume either some PS or chaga, I get some brain fog. So, I'm sort of stuck in a rut where my neck lymph nodes get congested if I take chaga, but the darn thing comes back if I don't. (PS + chaga seemed to increase the lymph congestion, so I've cut out PS for now and am getting RS3 from food).

I could easily up my chaga dose, but I suspect that would just make my lymph nodes more congested. Hmm...

Feels like candida (or maybe some other infection) had infiltrated my brain and chaga neutralizes it (so long as I keep consuming the chaga). Wouldn't candida in the brain be fungal meningitis? That doesn't sound good if that's what we have — the literature suggests it can be fatal. WTF!

Part of me feels like I woke a sleeping monster, but another part of me wonders if I already have it on the ropes with a weak dose of chaga tea.

btw, if you can't get chaga, Coriolus mushroom (Turkey Tail) is also supposed to be excellent and well tolerated against fungal infections (look it up).

Hi, @Ripley. Your signature clarifying that you don't have ME/CFS seems to have disappeared. Do you now think that you have?

 

[Asklipia]

@Asklipia
Feels like candida (or maybe some other infection) had infiltrated my brain and chaga neutralizes it (so long as I keep consuming the chaga). Wouldn't candida in the brain be fungal meningitis? That doesn't sound good if that's what we have — the literature suggests it can be fatal. WTF!

Haha! Everything is fatal in the end my friend.
I do think we have a fungal/mycoplastic/mycobacterial infection around the brain and I always have thought that.
I do NOT think this is going to be fatal for me because I am intending to survive. Seriously. That includes not believing entirely what current medicine has to say.
If we manage to stay more or less comfortably alive until we find out what is going on, the world will be ours. An upsetting result for those who have engineered this or are making a pile from this situation. Be they humans or gods.

Thank you very much for bringing RS to this forum, it has helped me immensely and has enabled me to connect my thoughts in an illuminating way. Please do not worry too much. I do not believe that the brain is much more important than the rest. If there is a soul, it most probably is not sitting there.

Even with brain fog, you can have a will of steel and come out of this.
Lots of good wishes!

PS (also for @MeSci ) : I may not be popular stating this, but I do not believe in ME/CFS, that is, I do not believe that some people have it and some people do not have it, or that some people have ME and some people have CFS. So the discussion of whether you personally have it or not is irrelevant. I do believe that EVERYONE will have it in a fairly near future, the others will be dead exhausted, by the "disease" or by their treatments.
By this I mean that in the Pasteur/Bernard debate, I am for Claude Bernard. Until we manage to shift the terrain, we can only be sick.

 

[MeSci]

Haha! Everything is fatal in the end my friend.
I do think we have a fungal/mycoplastic/mycobacterial infection around the brain and I always have thought that.
I do NOT think this is going to be fatal for me because I am intending to survive. Seriously. That includes not believing entirely what current medicine has to say.
If we manage to stay more or less comfortably alive until we find out what is going on, the world will be ours. An upsetting result for those who have engineered this or are making a pile from this situation. Be they humans or gods.

Thank you very much for bringing RS to this forum, it has helped me immensely and has enabled me to connect my thoughts in an illuminating way. Please do not worry too much. I do not believe that the brain is much more important than the rest. If there is a soul, it most probably is not sitting there.

Even with brain fog, you can have a will of steel and come out of this.
Lots of good wishes!

PS (also for @MeSci ) : I may not be popular stating this, but I do not believe in ME/CFS, that is, I do not believe that some people have it and some people do not have it, or that some people have ME and some people have CFS. So the discussion of whether you personally have it or not is irrelevant. I do believe that EVERYONE will have it in a fairly near future, the others will be dead exhausted, by the "disease" or by their treatments.
By this I mean that in the Pasteur/Bernard debate, I am for Claude Bernard. Until we manage to shift the terrain, we can only be sick.

I agree that there has been some very interesting and useful stuff in this thread - a reason why I have been following it. I have learned some useful facts here.

But I do think that ME/CFS is sufficiently well-understood by forum users for us to discern whether or not something is likely to be relevant to us, as long as members are assumed to have ME/CFS. Most of us share distinct symptoms that we can clearly relate to and serve to illustrate the potential applicability of interventions to us. I think that we tend to assume that other forum users have ME/CFS unless they state otherwise. I certainly do.

That's why I consider it important that the few forum users who do not share the characteristics that define our 'syndrome' should make this clear. To say that one does or does not have ME/CFS is a useful shorthand way of saying this. That's why, after first suggesting that such info be put in a signature, I decided to clarify my own situation, which I have done by adding it below my avatar.

 

[Ripley]

Hi, @Ripley. Your signature clarifying that you don't have ME/CFS seems to have disappeared. Do you now think that you have?

No!! I had no idea that it disappeared. I still see it!

 

[Sasha]

No!! I had no idea that it disappeared. I still see it!

I can still see it too.

 

[Sasha]

BTW, the gut microbiome and ME is being discussed today the Invest in ME conference - tweets here:

https://twitter.com/aboutmecfs

and there's a thread on it.