What I'm puzzled about is how can people miss out on that; selenium, iodine, molybdenum and B2 are fairly common supps for 'us' sufferers, you'd think this isn't overlooked.
Note that in earlier posts I talk about the forms of these minerals and how they are taken. This is essential - at least it has been for me--a person with gut issues and an oral infection I've had for as long as I've had Fibro/chronic fatigue. No citric acid (including taking at the same time as Vit C), or taking with lemon juice. In fact, best taken on an empty stomach a.m. and p.m. The forms that work best--or at all--are SELENITE (I took selenATE for years to no avail; this was after I ate 3 Brazil Nuts /day, recommended by Greg back in 2015 or 16); MOLYBDATE (again, make sure if you titrate up drops as I did, that they don't have citric acid as a preservative!); and IODIDE.
This last has been tricky for me because I had been using BodyBio's Potassium Iodide for YEARS, and was taking up to 450 mcg/day. But my TSH was still over 3, and Greg has said it must be somewhere between .5 and 1.5. Adding the correct form of SELENITE made inroads to my thryroid number over a 6 month period last year when the TSH dropped below 2 for the first time in a decade or more. But I still wasn't making enough T4-- Greg says T4 under 7 means you probably need more iodide. So, I switched from bodyBio to Genestra and had much stronger start-up reactions (the Genestra is a natural form of IODIDE made from Kelp). I am still on my way up to 300mcg, after which I will wait another 4 weeks or so and re-do my thyroid tests. With each quarter drop increase, I find my sleep improves a bit and becomes more consolidated, though whether this will last, I have no idea. My view is that all of this, for me, is in service to ultimately activating B2 (which btw, is not so easy to utilize, no matter how much you take!) into FMN and FAD, the levels for which I have been 'HIGH NEED' on NutrEval since the first time I took the test back in 2014. If you cannot activate B2 into FMN and FAD, you are just flushing it down the toilet...
Another thing. Back in December I began to exhibit re-feeding symptoms that only Selenite would quench. Though Greg recommends taking no more than 200mcg of Selenite, I tried raising it with success, or an alleviation of the symptoms, then followed the symptoms till they resolved at 300mcg/day of selenite. I am hoping that with a hair-mineral analysis - which Greg has ideal numbers for apparently--I can then lower the selenite. Concerned over taking too much, I also got on PR and searched the threads and found that there was at least one person--I think it was
@Hip who took higher doses without negative affect.
Have any of you guys who have been exchanging emails with Greg asked him whether he suggests mercury chelation before supplementing with his oils or it's something that can be done at the same time?
@Kathevans did you open a pill of DMSA and mixed it in a liquid and took sips of it at intervals to ingest the desired amount of DMSA?
Greg will never recommend chelation! He does say, however, that if methylation is working you won't have problems with mercury. Well...of course, many of us have basic issues with methylation! If you ask Greg about chelation he will tell you not to waste your money. That said, most of my physiological and mental issues (serious anxiety disorders) have followed issues with my teeth: nitric oxide as a child to cavity filling with amalgam, and later, in my twenties, for wisdom tooth removal, the removal of amalgam at 19 in failing teeth, replaced by crowns.
As much as I believe in Greg and appreciate the work he does and the product he supplies, he can be snarky about things if you mention something he doesn't believe. When I said I was going to go to a biological dentist to have all my amalgam removed and my crowns lifted, he said to save my money. But I am growing old, even as I continue to have these chronic health issues and I don't have the time to wait and see if one thing works before I give up on it and try another. I am amalgam free as of 2018, went through a horrible dump of exhaustion and depression and complete listlessness for 18 months before beginning to emerge. I could not take DMSA because it caused infection fungal/bacterial flare-up, and I had a difficult time increasing ALA until I began to address the thyroid issues--the more Molybdate, Selenite and Iodide I get onboard, the higher I've been able to raise the ALA --now at my 83rd Round, currently at 25mg ALA. So, little by little.
As to opening up pill capsules, I am a complete PRO! Give me a capsule and I can easily divide it into quarters at the very least.
I have struggled too, with burnout--over the constant focus on supps for the past five years. My Excell charts follow my 5 year Odyssey. It's wearying. Currently I feel very unbalanced in my life--the thing that is missing completely, unfortunately, is the thing I love most of all--to write. But I am too tired and lack the focus to do much beyond reading the newspaper, or, if I'm lucky, a poem.
On the up side, as the day progresses, I get grocery shopping done--remotely, of course--I often go for a walk, and I make a nice dinner. I have had my first Covid vaccine--a sore arm for three days was not bad at all--and I am looking forward to warmer weather and putting the picnic table back outside, hanging the hammock between the trees and walking barefoot in the grass. Maybe these will restore my soul.