Research Group for ME/CFS, Chronic Disease, Aging and Cancer

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  • Calluna
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    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #30 on: July 10, 2021, 06:38:05 PM »
Diet could be a/the factor -- I've drifted back to my usual low-ish carb diet, which tends to be lower on the protein and higher on fats and carbs than example. Not super-high on the carbs, I'm still holding at <100g/day. Besides macros, which other parameters are super-important for me to keep an eye on when picking out meals?


Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #31 on: July 10, 2021, 08:56:39 PM »
Diet could be a/the factor -- I've drifted back to my usual low-ish carb diet, which tends to be lower on the protein and higher on fats and carbs than example. Not super-high on the carbs, I'm still holding at <100g/day. Besides macros, which other parameters are super-important for me to keep an eye on when picking out meals?
I would aim for high protein. The funny thing about the term "protein" is that it really doesn't communicate all of the important amino acids. In the dietary guideline, I'd indicated around 1 : 1 : 1 ratios, as net carbs : fat : protein. Really, the protein intake would be as a minimum amount and significantly more can be included. Depending on the metabolic trap(s) in play, some people would be benefit from higher intakes of EAAs (includes BCAAs), tryptophan, lysine, as found in most proteins.

I personally eat around 160-240g of protein most days, although my needs are a little different to others here.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2021, 03:10:19 AM by joshua.leisk »
NB. I am NOT a doctor and all information provided is for educational purposes only.

Please consult your physician before attempting anything you read here.


  • Calluna
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    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #32 on: July 11, 2021, 06:35:51 PM »
Day 19

Regrouping and rearranging today, based on Josh's recommendations and my challenges so far. I've rearranged things so I'm not taking anything before I have food in the morning, so 🤞 no more nausea. I've tried glycine and creatine mixed in with my BCAAs and that's working well, so I'll keep that up instead of encapsulating them. Doses of everything are pretty much back to baseline levels.

Diet will have more protein; I'll add sandwiches on nutritionally-useful bread into the rotation, and get someone in the house to cook some chicken so it's not all fish all the time. That should give me a little more variety, and be a little less effort for me to prepare on bad days (physical or mental).


  • Calluna
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    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #33 on: July 12, 2021, 05:57:51 PM »
Day 20

Not too much to report. Woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep, went back to bed for a few hours a little later in the morning, but wasn't horribly groggy and wiped out afterward like I usually am. I assume this is because I only really made up for lost sleep rather than trying to make up for metabolic death spirals.

It's nice to not have to deal with pre-breakfast pills.


  • Calluna
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    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #34 on: July 13, 2021, 05:37:12 PM »
Day 21

Things which were a bad idea today:
  • the allergy pill (levocetirizine) which seems to have encouraged me to sleep for an extra 8 hours today
  • 300mg NOW a-GPC which seems to have caused a depressive episode within 1h of ingestion; it's wearing off now, but I'm just gonna avoid that one in the future. Interesting topic for later research when the world is not quite so grey any more.


  • Calluna
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    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #35 on: July 15, 2021, 04:06:06 AM »
Day 22

Better than previous, no levocetirizine, no a-GPC 😄 Very nearly went back to bed in the morning, but didn't, and energy and mood improved as the day went on.


  • Calluna
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    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #36 on: July 16, 2021, 03:01:43 AM »
Day 23

Slept extra again, almost 7 hours. Mood issues. I have some hormonal interference going on; hopefully it will pass in the next day or two.


  • Calluna
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    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #37 on: July 16, 2021, 06:12:44 PM »
Day 24

I think some of the funk is passing. Slept an extra four hours today, but I also got less than five hours' sleep last night, so my total need for sleep is getting back to normal levels. Mood could still be better, but has been steadily improving. All of these symptoms have had me operating under my normal functionality level, so maybe I'll start seeing something useful in the next few days.


  • Calluna
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    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #38 on: July 18, 2021, 03:34:53 AM »
Day 25

Bit more energy today, unfortunately offset by external stressors. Had some oat bran in the evening. Gonna try to take it slow this coming week.


  • Calluna
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    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #39 on: July 19, 2021, 05:41:05 AM »
Day 26

I've had a lot of days in the past week where I haven't been able to get back to sleep after awakening around 4 AM (normal rising time for me is about 8 AM). Part of it is needing to get up to use the bathroom in the night (extra fluids due to protocol); part of it is that I'd usually gone back to bed for a few hours the day before; and, I realized, part of it is that my old bed frame isn't the most stable thing around and I feel it every time my husband so much as twitches a toe. I've ordered a new bed frame which is supposed to be "zero motion transfer", and I'm hoping that this will help, because there's a lot of toe twitching going on in the pre-dawn hours that prevents me from relaxing.

Between that and the hormonal fluctuations (still present but diminishing), I've been pretty tired and haven't been able to get a good grasp on what the protocol's been doing for me. It's been hard to eat consistently or take all of the pills, though I do make sure I take all of my reishi. Hoping that this next week will see better sleep, and that it'll improve further once the bed frame gets here.


  • Calluna
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    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #40 on: July 19, 2021, 05:38:56 PM »
Day 27

Was able to sleep through the night, and have had a reasonably good energy day today. Not amazing, but not terrible, and better than this past week. I'm interested to see how I feel tomorrow, if I can sleep through tonight again.


  • Calluna
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    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #41 on: July 21, 2021, 04:41:49 AM »
Day 28

Oof. Not sure whether it was immune response or poor postural decisions or a mix of both, but in the evening I experienced headaches bad enough to make me nauseous. Seemed to stem from neck and shoulder tension, and were ameliorated by constant gentle motion and stretching, enough that I could keep an ibuprofen down to get some sleep. I can't recall having headaches of quite that severity before, nor does 3 hours of gaming generally cause such a reaction. The one thing I did differently, diet-wise, was have my oat bran in the afternoon rather than the evening.

Ah well. The rest of my day had been tolerable, not great, mostly due to mood issues exacerbating low energy.

Going to get all the sleep I can today to make up for yesterday.

Edit: Quoth Josh, in Discord:

Quote
If my urea gets too high, I get something that reminds me of PEM from the old days - that weird flu/heat stroke feeling and headache.. usually accompanied by tense shoulders, neck and irritability.

I can drink a litre of water, pee and shake that off quickly.

Usually takes me dehydration or experiments involving nitrogen retention to trip that.

That... sounds pretty familiar. Quite possible that I wandered into that.
« Last Edit: July 21, 2021, 04:59:08 AM by Calluna »


  • Calluna
  • New Member

    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #42 on: July 21, 2021, 07:14:33 PM »
Day 29

Managed to avoid yesterday's symptoms today. Worn out from last night, but had a slow and nicely not-depressed day.


  • Calluna
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    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #43 on: July 22, 2021, 05:01:53 AM »
Day 30: Morning Special Edition

Hey, an immune reaction more like I expected! I started developing a sore throat late last night. It's still pretty mild this morning but definitely still there. Time to bump up the lion's mane, maybe eat some extra oat bran, and see what happens.

I switched from the NOW beta-glucans to 40g oat bran 1/d five days ago.


  • Calluna
  • New Member

    • 41

    • June 15, 2021, 07:32:59 AM
Re: Calluna's journey
« Reply #44 on: July 22, 2021, 07:01:53 PM »
Day 30

I think the sore throat has deserted me. Another household member also got a mild sore throat, around the same time, which cleared up early in the day like mine... ah well. Perhaps sleep will not desert me; we have assembled the new bed frame.