Understanding how liver function is affected by methylation and toxicity

[A] little background first, I’ve been really ill for around 13 years. After identifying the problem as heavy metal toxicity, I spent a year and a half doing chelation and methylation treatments. My expected recovery did not materialize however – I experience some improvements but became sicker in other ways. I think this is because my liver and kidneys couldn’t cope with the burden placed on them by the onslaught of detoxification. That makes sense if you consider that my toxicity probably developed as a result of a dysfunctional liver in the first place.

Going beyond toxic exposure, it’s genetic flaws – SNPs in these genes that probably made my liver the weak link:

  • PEMT – “studies have recently shown that because of common genetic polymorphisms, choline deficiency is a widespread problem. Men, postmenopausal women, and premenopausal women with PEMT SNPs need to increase choline intake in the diet to offset elevated risk of liver dysfunction.”
  • CYP –  Cytochrome P450 enzymes are present in most tissues of the body, and play important roles in hormone synthesis and breakdown including estrogen and testosterone synthesis and metabolism, cholesterol synthesis, and vitamin D metabolism. Cytochrome P450 enzymes also function to metabolize potentially toxic compounds, including drugs and products of endogenous metabolism such as bilirubin, principally in the liver.
  • AHCY, BHMT, MTHFD1, MTHFR, MTHFS – all of these genes are involved in the process described here for the more famous MTHFR: The MTHFR gene produces the MTHFR enzyme. The MTHFR enzyme works with the folate vitamins (B9, folic acid), breaking it down from 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate to 5-methyltetrahydrofolate which helps convert the amino acid homocysteine down to another essential amino acid, methionine, which is used by your body to make proteins, utilize antioxidants, and to assist your liver to process fats.

It was a weird accident that put me on this trail.

Since I know that I have many genetic methylation defects, I searched for a connection with the liver. At first, I could not find any correlation between methylation and the liver. But a funny thing happened yesterday – I accidentally took my wife’s breakfast supplements which included 25 µg of T3 and 1.6 g of methyl folate. I think this is the first time that I use the F word in front of my kids!!! T3 and folate are both like kryptonite for me.

So I tried to vomit it out but wasn’t very successful. Fortunately, the aftermath really wasn’t anywhere near what I thought it might be – I was extra spaced out and fatigued after a couple hours. But I started researching liver function and folate and guess what? Turns out there is a really strong connection.

Folic acid increases bile flow and bile acid synthesis.

Today, a little more than 24 hours after my unplanned T3 and folate surge, I notice my stool is much darker than usual. So I go look up ‘folate bile flow’ and find this study saying:

Folic acid increases bile flow, bile acid synthesis from cholesterol, and bile acid excretion via feces, thus provoking a decrease in serum and hepatic cholesterol. However none of these actions were observed in supplemented control rats. This, therefore, could be yet another beneficial effect of folic acid on alcoholic patients.

Okay those are alcoholic rats, but still… then there is also this:

The liver contains about 50% of the body stores of folate.

Doesn’t it stand to reason, that if you have a deficiency of folate, you’ve got a liver that may not function properly? I think it also explains why increasing my folate intake, has made me feel so crappy – if my liver starts producing more bile, I’m immediately increasing my detox rate. I think that’s why it makes me feel like I’ve got the flu.

Next I started looking at how liver function and thyroid function might be related.

I knew that methylation support often improves thyroid function rapidly according to Fred. So I knew there was at least a possible indirect connection with my genetic flaws. Guess what? It gets much more interesting…

T3 stimulates liver growth and regeneration!

Sounds like a possible treatment for me. Reminds me that I never did get around to trying T3 at 5 AM as some had recommended.

Recent work investigating the use of tri‐iodothyronine as a hepatic growth factor has shown it to be a primary mitogen for the liver in animal models (i.e. it induces hepatocyte proliferation and increases liver mass when administered at high doses in the absence of hepatic injury).94

So if T3 stimulates liver growth, maybe low thyroid could also cause your liver to slow down its detoxification enough to cause serious health problems. And vice versa? Could a malfunctioning liver could probably give you hypothyroidism? I seem to have all these problems together, so why not.

Here’s why troubleshooting the liver and methylation is so difficult.

You would think that anyone with deficiencies in methylfolate, mb12 and choline would feel great as soon as we supplemented those nutrients. But, many of us feel terrible instead. So the easiest, most logical thing to do is to think that we are allergic to the very things we need to heal. I think there are two reasons why we have bad reactions to the supplements we need:

  • First, if our liver is overloaded with toxins and choked up with toxic liver stones, any increase in function  is going to release toxic garbage  into our intestines through increased bile flow. Some of those toxins are unavoidably absorbed back into the bloodstream sickening us.
  • Second, our bodies are like old rusty, unmaintained cars that will run okay on back roads but would shake apart on the freeway. You don’t drive a car like that 70 miles an hour without expecting trouble. There are hundreds of systems in our bodies that need to be slowly brought back to life in concert. Pushing just one system can overload the rest.

One last possible cause for liver weakness – has fish oil been damaging my liver?

I’ve also been getting some help from liver flush guru, Michael Handels who sent me a link to this article about possible dangers of fish oil:

The most popular way of arguing that fish oil will prevent heart disease is to show that it lowers blood lipids, continuing the old approach of the American Heart Association’s “heart protective diet.” Unfortunately for that argument, it’s now known that the triglycerides in the blood are decreased because of the fish oil’s toxic effects on the liver (Hagve and Christophersen, 1988; Ritskes-Hoitinga, et al., 1998). In experiments with rats, EPA and DHA lowered blood lipids only when given to rats that had been fed, in which case the fats were incorporated into tissues, and suppressed mitochondrial respiration (Osmundsen, et al., 1998).

I was taking fish oil because of it supposed benefits to the mitochondria, but Ray Peat says it’s the opposite:

The acrolein which is released during lipid peroxidation inhibits mitochondrial function by poisoning the crucial respiratory enzyme, cytochrome oxidase, resulting in a decreased ability to produce energy (Picklo and Montine, 2001).

If my fatigue and energy depletion truly stems from a liver that doesn’t supply glycogen, then according to Ray Peat, fish oil may be making my situation much worse:

The reactions of three types of cell–vascular endothelium, nerve cells, and thymus cells–to the PUFA will illustrate some of the important processes involved in their toxicity.

When the body doesn’t have enough glucose, free fatty acids are released from the tissues, and their oxidation blocks the oxidation of glucose even when it becomes available from the breakdown of protein caused by cortisol, which is released during glucose deprivation. Cells of the thymus are sensitive to glucose deprivation, and even in the presence of glucose, cortisol prevents them from using glucose, causing them to take up fatty acids. The thymic cells die easily when exposed either to excess cortisol, or deficient glucose. The polyunsaturated fatty acids linoleate, arachidonate, and eicosapentaenoic, are especially toxic to thymic cells by preventing their inactivation of cortisol, increasing its action.

This is really very technical, and I think you could summarize it by saying that fish oil is toxic to the brain and other organs:

Acrolein, produced from the decomposing “fish oils” in the brain, is probably the most reactive product of lipid peroxidation in the brain, and so would be likely to cause the glycation of lysine in the plaque-forming proteins.

These toxic effects of acrolein in the brain are analogous to the multitude of toxic effects of the omega-3 fatty acids and their breakdown products in all of the other organs and tissues of the body. Cancer cells are unusual in their degree of resistance to the lethal actions of the lipid peroxides, but the inflammatory effects of the highly unsaturated fatty acids are now widely recognized to be essentially involved in the process of cancerization (my newsletters on cancer and leakiness discuss some of the ways the fats are involved in tumor development).

The fats that we synthesize from sugar, or coconut oil, or oleic acid, the omega-9 series, are protective against the inflammatory PUFA, in some cases more effective even than vitamin E.

Here’s what this means for your diet (from Paleo Leap):

A good rule of thumb would be to consume no more than 4% of your calories as Omega-6 fat and around as much Omega-3 fat. Practically, this means cutting off all vegetable oils except coconut oil, olive oil and palm oil, cooking with low PUFA oils and fats like clarified butter, coconut oil and tallow and eating only limited amounts of the nuts that are high in Omega-6 fat.  

Before the liver can heal, the kidneys must be functioning well.

From Michael:

The order of Hulda Clarks protocols are extremely important. I think a lot of people skip ahead and do chelation and liver cleansing first, which is a HUGE mistake. Huge, huge mistake. If the kidneys cannot eliminate the toxins released by these other things, then they just get recirculated and re deposited. It is what I did and I paid a big price for it.

Here is a little evidence for that from Ray Peat:

One of the essential protective functions that decline with aging is the liver’s ability to detoxify chemicals, by combining them with glucuronic acid, making them water soluble so that they can be excreted in the urine.

 

 

 

43 thoughts to “Understanding how liver function is affected by methylation and toxicity”

  1. Very interesting reading. I am trying to get information about a number of health problems that my family and I are suffering from. I have polyps on gallbladder ,fatty liver,multiple nodules on thyroid, fybroids in uterus, IBS and feel very fatigued and can get down easily, suffer from hay fever, cold sores, sore throats. I have seeing a number of medical professionals and I am still trying to find out information to help resolve our medical issues.

  2. Eric, time for a little check in! First… someone wrote above “With MTHFR you can not take Vit K”. Something I found out the hard way… or at least, I can take very little. (but no problem just eating natto fresh, which is overloaded with K!). I don’t know who wrote that, or if it’s true… or why.

    I’m also on the fence with fish oil. I’ve read the same articles you have… more recently ones that suggest to get omega 3’s from plant sources such as algae. Would that be any different? I do feel that the fish oil I’ve been taking is not helping… and may be hurting. (and I’ve been taking cod liver oil for 30 years.) Maybe time to stop? (or switch sources?)

    But what made me think of you is my emerging understanding of the folate issue in my own life, which you have been on to for years. I just have some limited focus here, cannot run off in every direction and with every fad. But I have pondered my extremely high folic acid levels (in annual lab works for years). It never made sense. Why in the world would my folic acid levels be so consistently high? I only get what’s in a multiple… maybe 400 mcg, and that not every day. But then, of course, lightbulb! I have unmetabolized folic acid at enormous levels, permanently rumaging around in my blood stream… because my body can’t get rid of it. I’m not able to metabolize it out of my system… so it’s building up, doing damage.

    There aren’t too many studies on excessive folic acid, but they seem to be emerging now. One that caught my eye shows that folic acid excess diminishes Killer T Cells and other immune function. Of course, “I” have a diminishment of Killer T Cells, and this lab result was used as a diagnostic for possible Lyme. I don’t have Lyme… I have an overdose of folic acid which is hurting my ability to fight infection. DANG!

    Another thing I have known is that folic acid (or folate) mess up copper/zinc metabolism, and block estrogens. More good news. (not). Could my chronic anemia and low copper levels (and unresponsiveness to estrogens) be due to way too much folic acid roaming around?

    Eric, I’m not feeling too positively about switching over to folate (which I already have, actually). I have felt like I’m on LSD when I’ve taken 600 mcg of methylfolate. I’m feeling better about the idea of just letting my body rest for awhile… how about no folate, no folic acid for awhile? Let the levels lower, hopefully. (any way to speed that up?) But what about green vegetables and natural sources of folate? Is that ok? Liver?

    I’m sure none of this is news to you. But maybe you have a shortened primer on MTHFR, or folic acid in general? I’m reluctant to go whole hog in the MTHFR direction, because more than half the population has this and other genetic issues, as you know. But tanking up on folic acid is definitely a problem…

    Lori

    1. Funny, I just started taking cod liver oil! I wish I knew something that could be helpful about the folate but I don’t think I do. A couple tidbits that come to mind – if you are copper deficient, you’re missing an important ingredient in the methylation cycle. It’s possible that blocked methylation can cause the other inputs to pile up. And You may want to read this post which talks about folate feeding Candida. It’s kind of remarkable because the author performed an experiment at home which showed a real connection: http://www.curezone.org/forums/am.asp?i=1689869

  3. Eric,

    Have you ever tried S-aectyl-glutathione? I used it and must have had a lot of toxins, as it made me sick as a dog. Then I slowly began recovering. Now I’m undergoing the same thing following surgery – which anesthesia drugs are pumped in. Also – are you still doing ALA rounds? What’s your take on R-ALA?

    thx

    1. Hey Rose, I have been titrating up S-A-Glut for months and just reached 300 mg last night! I can feel it working every time I increase… I’m very bullish on it. I can’t do ALA yet because it decreases copper excretion. My take on R-ALA is that regular ALA is very powerful, so why mess with something else that could be risky according to Andy. Thanks for writing!

      1. Can I ask what your reactions are? Mine are intensified pain in my neck and elsewhere. Do you use a certain brand? I’ve used Xymogen, and others and wondered if there was a quality difference.

        I’ve tried to stick with the Andy Cutler ALA regimen. I spoke with a woman who used R-ALA and did great on it – it’s supposed to be more bioavailable. I’m trying to cure nerve damage so I was considering it.

        1. The most obvious reaction from Acetyl-glutathione that I get is frontal headache which I associate entirely with detox. Recently I might add poor sleep and muscle tightness along with possibly just feeling crappy. All this fades in a few days. I use http://naturedoc.com which was recommended by another blog reader. Don’t think you’ll find better pricing anywhere…

  4. Enjoy reading your articles. I had similar health problems, many exacerbated by methylation gene mutations and pyrrole disorder.

    I used to consume fish oils too, but now i tend to just rely on sardines 2-3 times weekly in order to get EPA/DHA, vitamin b12, a good boost of vitamin d and other nutrients.

    How’s your health these days ?

    1. Thank you, getting better thanks, but hard to notice because I’m always getting too aggressive with chelation. Lately working on iron and copper…

  5. Elizabeth, oxidative stress can also make fish oil have negative health effects. Thus taste buds evolved quick to sense taste and reject any rancidity in the oil. One wonders if the cardiac health benefits of eating fresh fish come from its total lack of oxidative degradation compared to some poorly produced fish oil supplements.

  6. For those taking higher doses of Vit D, always recomended to take good quality Vit K to regulate action of Vit D. Helps act as a carrier for calcium to prevent arterial calcification. Best natural food source is Natto fermented bean paste. Is a popular Japanese food. Osteoporosis is not a big health problem there at all. Can get economical natto paste in frozen form at many Japanese or Asian food shops.

  7. Hi Eric, interesting reading on the fish oils. Does this include Cod Liver Oil I wonder? Reading various things about vitamin D. I’ve been taking 7000iu of D3 for a long time now but the D3 in supplement form is getting v bad press (Morley Robbins etc – magnesium advocacy group). And so looking for an alternative – the one recommended for D & A supplementation is Cod Liver Oil – (and I’d go unfermented as I have a problem with amines). Any thoughts Eric? What form of vitamin D do you take? I’m VDR Taq +/+ and have had hyperparathyroidism so clearly there’s an issue somewhere but don’t know how to deal with such contradictory information out there. Thanks, E

    1. hi Elizabeth, I’m pretty sure Cod liver oil qualifies as fish oil:) I didn’t know vitamin D was getting bad press. What’s wrong with it? I use Now brand D3 and thrilled to be tolerating it after years of struggle. My vitamin D level was reported at 22 a couple months ago before I started supplementing again. There is so much contradictory information it makes our job very hard!

  8. Hi Eric,

    Thanks for sharing your story. Have you ever checked your liver enzymes to see what was going on with your liver? My enzyme levels are all within reference range, although they are a bit high usually. I was a mild drinker to begin with and I haven’t been drinking at all for past 5 months, which puts less pressure on my liver.

    I think I was fortunate enough to be born with a strong liver. I have bad reaction to milk thistle and liver supporting supplements in general (ie: mugwort). However, I’ve been loading my body with supplements for past two years, and I am beginning to think that all these supplements have damaged my liver and kidney to some extant, even though my blood work shows that I am still doing fine. Have you given thoughts to this? I would appreciate your response.

    1. My liver enzymes have always been normal and from the reading I’ve done, it looks like your liver can be very dysfunctional without showing up on the standard blood tests. Another reason my faith in the average MD is low.

  9. Hi Eric
    Have been reading your posts with interest. My health has been declining since a large amalgam was drilled out unholistically 7 years ago. My immune system crashed and the doctors fed me antibiotics like smarties to rid chest infections and bronchitis caused by the mercury toxicity. I have severe yeast and gut dysbiosis and huge food intolerances and am so weak due to large amounts of yeast. I only found out a month ago that I had mercury poisoning and the penny dropped. Suffer neurologically from all sorts of memory problems. Have had all existing fillings removed safely and have started slowly on ac protocol 5 ml DMSA second round completed. Now my liver isn’t great phase 2 pathways not efficient doctor says I have Gilbert’s syndrome at 45 this is the first I heard of it. My bilirubin is high and I looked jaundice sometimes. I tried one liver flush Andreas moritz method and got no stones out? It made me feel really poorly ? I am so weak due to restricted diet. I am taking all the ac recommended supplements should I do more liver flushes before commencing chelation? I have bought the humaworm colon cleanse to start this month as I know that because of my depleted gut I will have all sorts growing in there. I have Andreas moritz liver and kidney tea to use after. Your thoughts would be extremely helpful x kindest regards Clare

    1. hi Clare, I just read a little about Gilberts syndrome and watched the Moritz video on it. I’m glad to know about it because my wife probably has it. Based on my own experiences, I would postpone chelation. I just finished researching this for myself and decided to use a simpler product (wormwood/walnut hull/clove).

      Your body is probably desperate for an easy win. I’d guess all those antibiotics have probably wreaked havoc on your intestinal tract allowing bad bacteria to proliferate and I think that might be the best place to start. I’d recommend this order: colon cleansing > parasite cleansing > kidney cleansing > liver flushing > chelation. You want your colon to be healthy before you start liver flushing so that toxins have a fast easy route out of your body. Also you want to be absorbing nutrients and minerals optimally.

      As for the colon cleanse, the Humaworm cleanse would probably be hard on your liver. I think you may be best off with a bentonite based product because I think the bentonite will absorb toxins whereas the Mag 07 or Oxy Powder would tend to allow them to be re-absorbed. I didn’t want to use bentonite myself because I’m susceptible to hemorrhoids and was worrying about passing large plaque. Whatever cleanse you use, I would look for the minimal ingredients and skip the herbs as much as possible because you want to be very gentle with your liver.

      Hope this helps!

  10. This post really didn’t make any sense. I’ve done a lot more research and reorganized and rewritten it! I hope this can help others make the connections between their genetic issues and liver function…

    -eric

  11. Fish oil competes for enzymes in the omega 6 pathway and cause a deficiency in GLA and or archidonic acid. These deficiencies can cause lots of crazy symptoms -.insomnia, poor wound healing, fatigue, anxiety, depression, falling hair, food allergies, burning skin, dermatitis and so much more. Have ran into plenty of well intended people who just cant tolerate fish oil or high dose omega 3’s,

    Insulin resistance causes t fatty acid metabolism to upregulate omega 3 metabolism which steals/uses up enzymes from omega 6 pathway.

    Applying GLA (primrose/borage) topically while strickly avoiding all omega 3 can help overcome problems caused by omega 3 excess. Take one to three months to see results and unfortunately sensitivity to omega 3s are still present but not as tipped easily.

  12. Maybe you had a massive shift of mercury into the liver. Have you ever tried Castor Oil? It is a good therapiy option mentioned in the gerson therapy in combination with coffee enemas. A coffee enema by the way is my personal weapon for my daily detox.

    1. That’s interesting Jann, I wonder if castor oil does something similar to a liver flush… you want the first one to vote for coffee enemas, but I am so hypersensitive to caffeine, I’ve been considering it impossible. Warm regards, Eric

      1. I’m also sensitive to coffee. Drinking coffee is totally a NOGO! Enemas work well and have no negative effects. Goes directly to the liver an flushes. Castor Oil rids the liver from Mercury. If you have histamine issues (histamine intolerance) you shouldn’t take it.

      2. Hi Eric, I just wanted to share a liver flush with you that doesn’t use coffee enemas. I found it at globalhealingcenter.com The flush takes 5 days to complete. The kit comes with oxypowder, probiotics & an herbal liver formula. Included in the kit is detailed instructions of what to eat and when to take all of the items. I also purchased Bragg’s apple cider vinegar. On the 4th day you prepare a liver detox soup, at bedtime drink a mixture of olive oil and fresh citrus juice followed by epsom salt and water, and last oxypowder at bedtime. By about 4 a.m. on the 5th day, the “flush” of liver “stones” begins. Mine lasted about 5 hrs. I passed more than 200 stones!! Yes, I did a rough count of each trip to the restroom.:O

        I am so thankful for finding your site!! I am 42 years old and was diagnosed with F.M and C.F.S. My muscle pain began when I was about 16, but as a child I suffered many ear, nose and throat infections AND remember feeling ill EACH time I had fillings put in!! I have a consultation next week to have my amalgams removed by a dentist specializing in safer removal. I will be losing my insurance soon due to divorce so I am forced to have them removed before I can really begin methylation. I have a few questions. I am planning on doing one more liver flush before my dental procedure, do you think this is reasonable? I have printed out your list of supplements, but I am very limited on finances.. can you suggest 5-6 supplements that I absolutely should begin now? And, I just want to confirm that I do not begin chelation until after the amalgam fillings are removed..? How soon do I begin that process? Is it necessary to do genetic testing now? I have an old Hair Elements test(taken back in 2001 that I compared on the Andy Cutler site to see if I had abnormal mineral transport, which I did. This is what gave me the push to remove the fillings which I have always contemplated doing.
        Thank you so much!

        1. Yes I would do one more liver flush if you can. Core supplements would be vitamin C (around 4 g if you can), vitamin E (400 to 800 iu), B complex, zinc (50 mg), molybdenum (250 to 500 µg), and chromium (200 µg with meals). After you have your amalgams removed, I think you should go back to liver flushing for six months or so. Then I would join the frequent dose chelation group on Yahoo:)

  13. Hi Eric

    Im afraid Im not convinced about Ray Peat and his science regarding the dangers of fish oil. If all he said was true the old Eskimo nation and a good part of the Japanese nation who consume high amounts of fish oil,would have noticed the symptoms(especially the Japanese who conduct an awful lt of research on food matters). I think most of his conclusions on fish oil are porobably due to OXIDISED fish oil which of course is very inflammatory.

    1. Either way, I will probably try to get some omega-3 in my diet just to be safe! Might take one or 2 g of fish oil, but definitely won’t go back to the megadoses I was using…

  14. Hi Eric! Thanks for these mind-blowing connections… Just took my daily Omega 3 pill – for the last time? – and read that… How have you been doing since stopping the omega 3? I will try T3 next week, but am already skeptic about it! Can’t afford to loose more hair.

    1. hi Izzy, I was taking 12 g of fish oil a day, so pretty extreme. I believe my sleep improved and bloating went down… Haven’t tried the t3 yet as I have my hands full with other experiments.

    2. Hi Eric,

      Your story is inspirational. I’ve been taking high doses of B12 as per your & Freddd’s protocol. I have dr.-induced nerve damage, that I read the Japanese have found very high doses of mB12 can cure it – 40 mgs.

      I haven’t gone that high yet, but I take a mouthful. I keep them in my mouth for 45 mins or longer. I’ve noticed all of my teeth hurting. Have you – or anyone you know – experienced this? If so, what do you do about it? It’s very painful.

      Also – I can’t find a manufacturer that makes more than 1 mg sublinguals (Enzymatic Therapy). Do you know of any who make higher doses?

      This gets expensive, do you know who sells it the cheapest?

      Last of all – there seem to be multiple factors feeding into this disease. Have you ever considered Lyme as being involved, or treated for it? The more I research, the more I read that people misdiagnosed with cfs/fms have later found to have Lyme Disease. It is an epidemic now I read.

      Thanks in advance for your response.

      1. Sharon, I get a similar discomfort when I use enzymatic therapy brand – I’ve been alternating back and forth between enzymatic therapy and the Jarrow 5000s. Just yesterday decided I’m not going to use enzymatic therapy again. The Jarrow has less artificial sweetener and doesn’t bother my mouth. I also have the feeling it works better than ET contrary to what Fred said.

        I was tested for Lyme and it came out negative…

        1. Hi Eric, I thought for 4 years I didn’t have Lyme, blood results were negatice, and can’t walk much, use a scooter, fatigue, etc. But finally got my test done at IGene X in CA and came up positive. It doesn’t mean you don’t have metal toxicity too, like me, but I’m glad to know because you have to treat the Lyme or you just get sicker and sicker.

          Last month, I had liver and heart problems really severe from doing just a little Lyme killing with Sauna to hasten detoxing metals which come out with the Lyme and so now doing my own research on methalyation problems. I’m so glad to see your info and others are here. Last month I had no idea what had happened, now I can start trying to help my liver which has been weak my whole adult life.

          1. Glad to hear you are getting oriented Gretchen, thanks for writing! Good luck with your treatment and detox:)

  15. Great to hear how you’re coming along. Wanted to let you know I tried low dose DMPS (two rounds so far, 1mg to start) and feel better on round. When you get back to it, you may want to consider that to start, rather than jump right back to ALA. I think you and I had discussed that DMPS clears via kidneys instead of liver which may give you a break and help you clear some of the body burden before going back to ALA.

    Regardless great to see you continuing to fight the good fight!

    1. thanks Stonecutter:)

      the DMPS really messed me up – it has been six months and I’m not back to normal… but we are also individual, I’m glad it’s working for you!

      -Eric

  16. The Liver also is the main area in the body that produces T3 from T4, so having a healthy liver would really help your metabolism!

  17. T3 is a potential inducer of Nrf2 (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/thy.2010.0322?journalCode=thy) and would hence help with gene activation of intracellular antioxidants, phase II enzymes and phase III proteins.

    I wish I could tolerate it! Even 2.5µg doses trigger a massive bout of hair loss for me. My skin gets extremely try, my look just doesn’t turns to a very healthy state. I haven’t found a reason or a solution for my extreme reactions. I am borderline hypothyroid by standard tests and am prescribed the standard T4 treatment.

    All the best for you and your attempts at using it!

    1. thanks for writing Tim – I’ve never succeeded with it either so it’s a very long shot for me too! I think taking iodine may be the most I can do…

Comments are closed.