The daily routine November 2019

Down at the end of this blog entry I wrote: "I should perhaps have begun this blog entry with this recommendation of gelatin. And perhaps written no more..." Consider heading down there now.

This is an attempt to set out a daily or longer pattern of medications and supplements. A snapshot in an evolving process. Most of it to support mitochondrial performance, give my system capacity to find the rails. The Canberra doctor who supported this two decades ago made the observation: "we are not trying to get your system back on the rails. We are not even pointing your system at the rails. We are giving your system the strength to find the rails by itself." There are also substances to deal with pain.

This is in part by theme, but following the clock around. I have recently begun using an app called Dosecast which has enabled me to be much more orderly in taking the right things at the right time. I am using the free version of Dosecast, which is adequate.

0600

Panadol Osteo, slow release 665mg paracetamol [acetaminophen], two tablets three times a day, keeping total under 4gms a day, beyond which there is risk of liver damage. This is just to manage pain. Supplemented by soluble aspirin sipped in the afternoon. At times using oxycodone or clonazepam for breakthrough pain, though preferably getting warm and waiting rather than stronger medications. There is particular risk from my neck if at the wrong angle or cold in the night. Or lower back if I dare to walk far.

Somac, to avoid stomach damage from prednisone, see next.

Prednisone. While taking prednisone is disruptive to all the processes I have tried to follow for mitochondrial performance, I discovered when given a course after a nasal operation in 2013 that running a prednisone course to 30mg took away all the symptoms, all the crappy symptoms of everything and gave me energy to exercise. This has continued to be the case and I have used courses espcially to make travel possible (such as recorded here) ... possible only with a course of prednisone to 25mg. I am currently weaning down from 25mg by steps of 2.5mg a week. Using the Dosecast app this can be done in an orderly manner. But, currently at 15mg/day I seem to be encountering some problems of the fatigue wall and pain requiring oxycodone.

Tertroxin, the active thyroid hormone T3. While this is commonly used in CFS in the US (trade name Cytomel) it has been very difficult to get it prescribed in Australia. I use a 20 microgram tablet every two days, nibbling it bit by bit. To take 10mcg once a day risks interfering with natural production. I also take 50mcg of T4, the storage thyroid hormone, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, so the combination is close to natural thyroid, which is unobtainable.

Nystatin capsule. Because I have needed antibiotics because of tooth nerve infection and because of the long term use of prednisone, I have developed thrush in mouth and a fungal infection under a toenail, so taking this oral antifungal. Capsule form so I can bite it open in the mouth. I am also applying clove oil via cotton bud, under the toenail. Also, to restore gut flora, taking probiotics.

0800

The separation from 0600 is mainly to spread the load.

Vitamin E, 1000iu. You need to find if possible a multi-tocopherol form, if not, a d tocopherol. Most of the beauty products advertised as containing vitamin E contain cheap and useless molecular forms, most comonly a reverse molecule of the a form. See my 'mandala' at the top of the blog. Less frequently I take vitamin A.  Adequate vitamin E sustains vitamin A levels. There is muddled writing about vitamin E. Be aware that so called recommended daily allowances of various things have a flimsy origin in measurement of the diets of people in American cities in the 1950s. Be aware that vitamin E is an anticoagulant and if facing an operation you should pause the vitamin E as also aspirin and NSAIDS.

Prednisone. Prednisone's half life is less than 24 hours. To try to avoid a drought at the end of the night, I am currently taking a bit at 0600 and a bit at 0800. I tried to take the second and smaller portion at midday but as a result could not sleep. You take it in the morning.

Magnesium threonate. Magnesium is very important. It requires a separate essay. The key thing is that without adequate magnesium you cannot manage calcium well. The first question is what form of magnesium is best absorbed. Magnesium chloride and magnesium sulphate [Epsom Salts] are ideal in the bath but if you drink the bath water you may get diarrhoea. The threonate form is only recently available. It is the only form of magnesium that crosses the blood brain barrier. Animal experiments have shown it helps with pain and memory. Positive results are coming in from human clinical trials, just search <clinical trials magnesium threonate>. This is an example. Threonine has positive value too, for example in relation to irritable bowel issues. Magnesium chloride mentioned above appears in pretty (and pretty expensive) spray bottles in health shops, labelled Magnesium Oil. It's not an oil, but a saturated solution that is effective sprayed on hurty bits. But buy a big bag of magnesium chloride online and a one dollar spray bottle and make a very strong solution, in boiling water.

Pregnenolone. 6x50mg capsules once a week. This no longer requires medical prescription in Australia, and imposition in the past by sports drug administrators because pregnenolone is a precursor of DHEA and androgens. Pregnenolone is the precursor of all other steroidal hormones, that is, the hormones made from cholesterol. The healthy brain is 30-40% cholesterol, and a lot of pregnenolone is produced in the brain. OR that is so for young people, production designs with age. My 300mg weekly cycles for a week and supports at the centre of mitochondrial processes.

Most information on pregnenolone is derived from the work of Ray Peat. Unfortunately the search engine at his website (he's even older than I am) isn't working, but wander through his articles or presentations at youtube. 

My impression is that for me the magnesium threonate and pregnenolone make my brain work. After a history including vast periods of brain fog and cognitive difficulty because of pain. These substances, which you have to find online, do no harm.

1000

DHEA 6x. I have recently begun, for the first time, to take some DHEA. Pills and capsules available are at smallest 50mg. Ray's advice is that above 5mg you are likely to produce, via testosterone, an excess of estrogen. So I am taking a homeopathic tablet, to dissolve under the tongue, away from food and drink, at 10am. Homeopathic doses involve extreme dilution of a substance to prompt a system reaction. In the 1990s research reported in the New Scientist (good luck trying to find it now) established that the dilution called for by Hahnemann in 1796 is exactly the moment in which the last molecule of whatever disappears from the solution. Queen and Consort Windsor use it, it must be ok. Anyway, at half the cost of a packet of cigarettes, my index of medical expenditures, it's a harmless experiment.

1300

Solprin, 300mg. Solprin is a soluble aspirin tablet obtainable in Australia, 96 tablets for about AUD3. Struck off in the US, no money in it. In Mexico, Canada and the EU there is dispersible aspirin. I dissolve the tablet in a large glass of water and sip it as a refreshing drink during the afternoon. Before yoou say "but, but..." read this. And search that page for the word 'protective'. I had until recently  had large pain issues, growing worse for which I took ibuprofen then indometacin. Which did something for the pain, some bad for the stomach and sludgy effects too. And in the end the problem seems to have been an invisible decay of a tooth entwining with nerve, not hemicrania.

In the evening

In the evening, more magnesium threonate and 3000iu of vitamin D. Mindful of the cycle of anabolic and catabolic during the day. In catabolism we rip minerals from muscle and bone for work. In the anabolic phase, best overnight, we rest and put those resources back. The crisis of modern life and the perils of modern longevity involve failure in this balance, perhaps the greatest problem being the generation of calcium dust storms interfering with the mitochondrial processes, see the chart at top of blog. The mitochondria thought they'd solved the calcium problem 700 million years ago but... vitamin D and magnesium are critical for parking the calcium.

Variously.

Oxycodone and Clonazepam.  I use these for breakthrough pain. Rarely and with doses widely separated and using the two to avoid using the one repeatedly. Of oxycodone 5mg tablets. Of clonazepam the smallest available, 0.5mg. scored for easy breaking into four. I use half.

Hyoscine. I have a diagnosis of Menieré's Disease. Predominantly this is treated as a peripheral problem, of excess pressure in the cochlear, the wet part of our hearing apparatus. But treatments for it on that basis were not very effective. Then I found this research and clinical team in Germany and Argentina. They observe that:

The reason why the exclusive treatment of the peripheral organ and / or of the vestibular and auditory dysfunction does not lead to the whole and absolute compensation of the affection in many patients, is due to the fact that the prefrontal cerebral dysfunctions which always maintain latent this pathology are not being treated.

Their brain imaging shows evidence of associated problems in Brodman Area 25 in the front of the brain and the parahippocampal gyrus and limbic system further back These are regions involved with mood disorders. So people with Menieré's don't just feel depressed by it all, they also have a direct neurological process going on. Hard to explain such to doctors with little time, who are bound to stick to doctrine imposed by their college. So, armed with information from that team that they used drugs that would lower acetylcholine, I looked and found that I could buy hyoscine over the counter, as a drug for bowel cramps, which works against acetylcholine. So I began using 10mg or 20mg of hyoscine to deal with headaches and dizziness from Menieré's. And it works. There's more to write about this later.

Gelatin. I have for a long time used a little gelatin in cooking, instead of flour etc, for thickening and glaze. But recently began buying in bulk online and now make a jelly [US jello] thus:

• two dessertspoons [US tablespoons] of gelatin
• dissolve in 250ml of boiling water (it may not want to dissolve but will at the next step).
• add 250ml of cranberry juice and stir.
• Refrigerate.

Commercial jellies are mostly sugar. This tasty hyperdose of gelatin (I am eating two bowls as above over two or three days) is the best kind of high protein diet. It differs from the high protein diets you find in magazines and online in that it is derived from whole animals, not muscle meat and proprietary protein formulations as mostly recommended. Here's basic reading. In several weeks I have experienced general health improvement and beginning movement down of my excess weight. The cranberry makes the gelatin palatable but is also good for irritable bladder.

I should perhaps have begun this blog entry with this recommendation of gelatin. And perhaps written no more...

After I began to get results I did some more web searching on gelatin and came upon the writing of Dr Judy Tsafrir, holistic psychiatist in Massachusetts. Reading that blog entry and comments thread led me to resurrect my 1998 papers here.