Need help quick

[sweetkamie20]

I am so glad you wrote this. Thank you

 

[sweetkamie20]

The GABA will be here tomorrow! Soooooo excited! I really think this is going to be a game changer.

 

[sweetkamie20]

I actually bought a good filling machine, 100 pills, but was very disappointed. I need less than 10 seconds per pill, that'd mean the filling machine would need to be quicker than 16 minutes to be worth it, and it took much longer, didn't work well, some of my capsules need to be only half full, and it was just no fun. While filling manually, I prefer binge listening (like phoning with some with a headset on) to binge watching where I would keep looking up - but apart from that similar.
I did increase the amount of supps very slowly and there were times it felt as if I were not tolerating them either.

There are definitely better and worse pill fillers. After getting a good one the thing that ended making it all much much quicker for me was actually the capsule! Some get stuck in the filler, these others actually come out without wrestling with the thing. Of course, the fillers only last so long. I actually don't usually "watch" TV . It's usually a show I am familiar with so I just listen and laugh

I won't lie. When I think about all the possible nuances involved in dosing and pairing and timing and_____________________ I can get overwhelmed and doubt that I'm going about things the right way. I have to remind myself consistency is paramount. Address one variable at a time. Don't reach a hard and fast conclusion based on one experience because any number of things might be at play. I'm hoping to latch onto one thing that is a definite yes and build from there. When you talked about what GABA helped you with, I felt like that could be the baseline I need to work from. Won't know for awhile but I am optimistic

 

[JayCS]

I am so glad you wrote this. Thank you

Not sure which post you are replying to Unfortunately, clicking on the arrow to the top right of a post only brings us there if the post it is replying to is on the same page. Also the alerts don't help with that either.
Two workarounds: "Reply with quote", like you have partly done. Or @username .
Edit: Whoopsy, I've just seen there actually was a username 'username' in 2014 for one day (or moment)!

 

[JayCS]

The GABA will be here tomorrow! Soooooo excited! I really think this is going to be a game changer.

Wow, you're fast! Have you checked the amino acid "questionnaire" (which actually is only a list of symptoms that fit) or are you just gonna take the risk? I think having seizures anyway is a good predisposition. You're not taking anything else that influences serotonin are you?

 

[sweetkamie20]

I just read a book called treating and beating fibro (love it) and they do have a questionnaire that helps differentiate where your problems might be. My problems fall squarely in the GABA and Seratonin sectors. That book was so thorough on the science aspects and everything in between (550 pages- smaller pages) that it sealed the deal for me to try GABA first.

I only take one medication - lamotrigine. I take a variety of supplements, but am on a fast with only med and lithium oretate until tonight thanks to a flare (which I am almost out of). Lately, I have taken a parasympathic homeopathic (seemed to help), alfalfa (can't use it regularly right now but one day I think I will), lithium oretate (haven't seen any bad reactions and eases anxiety). Had to come off a new adrenal support homeopathic (crappy flare side effect) and off serrapeptase. Serrapeptase was great for clarity, etc. but it led me to a seizure and unwanted mood changes . Dang it!

Thankfully, I hardly ever drive and whenever I am tinkering I don't drive but it's stuff like that which makes the stakes so high in choosing. So, yeah, it does feel like taking a stab in the dark, a huge risk. We read and read and read and then stab, and mostly miss lol

 

[sweetkamie20]

Wow, you're fast! Have you checked the amino acid "questionnaire" (which actually is only a list of symptoms that fit) or are you just gonna take the risk? I think having seizures anyway is a good predisposition. You're not taking anything else that influences serotonin are you?

I just read a book called treating and beating fibro (love it) and they do have a questionnaire that helps differentiate where your problems might be. My problems fall squarely in the GABA and Seratonin sectors. That book was so thorough on the science aspects and everything in between (550 pages- smaller pages) that it sealed the deal for me to try GABA first.

I only take one medication - lamotrigine. I take a variety of supplements, but am on a fast with only med and lithium oretate until tonight thanks to a flare (which I am almost out of). Lately, I have taken a parasympathic homeopathic (seemed to help), alfalfa (can't use it regularly right now but one day I think I will), lithium oretate (haven't seen any bad reactions and eases anxiety). Had to come off a new adrenal support homeopathic (crappy flare side effect) and off serrapeptase. Serrapeptase was great for clarity, etc. but it led me to a seizure and unwanted mood changes . Dang it!

Thankfully, I hardly ever drive and whenever I am tinkering I don't drive but it's stuff like that which makes the stakes so high in choosing. So, yeah, it does feel like taking a stab in the dark, a huge risk. We read and read and read and then stab, and mostly miss lol

 

[sweetkamie20]

Forgot to quote with this one lol

 

[JayCS]

treating and beating fibro

Hmm - the title is catchy, yes.... But.... he'd be the first that claims to heal and actually does it.... so...... ??
I'd heard of Rodger Murphree before, he was mentioned as a doc not an author last November (by someone who was on the forum for a few weeks). We actually had a doc on the forum who was publishing a book and made similar claims, however not giving us any real help.
Murphree seems to be a chiropractor. Tempting that he talks about GABA and serotonin as hardly anyone does that.
[Edit: It is tempting to me that he talks about GABA....]
Dunno if I should buy it on the off-chance that there might be something new for me. Buuut seeing his photo on a book-cover of an older edition on ebay made me look on youtube: 125 videos. OK, start with that
And 125 videos for free is quite something different....
Starting with "Here Is The Number One Thing You Must Fix To Beat Fibromyalgia" - Sleep! Great. The guy's a genius. Well, pardon the irony. But I do like that he says sleep meds do not give you restorative sleep. Good start. But he doesn't say why I still can't sleep particularly well, despite having identified and pretty much stopped 30+ insomnia triggers, despite highly dosing passiflora and GABA and not tolerating the ones he recommends in increasingly high doses of 5-HTP and melatonin, He suggests starting with 3mg of melatonin sublingually - that makes me laugh: I went down from 2mg slow release to 5mcg and it still knocked me for six all day, but didn't improve my sleep at all. But he's telling me as if he's sure it'll work for me and everyone. And for people who wake up at night: ahh, GABA... who'd've thought...
OK, so probably been to all of these, done that... and it isn't beaten and isn't fixed. Hmphhh.

Forgot to quote with this one lol

This clever forum software told me to update the page... so I could now see you were answering .... me! ;-)

 

[JayCS]

Murphree seems to be a chiropractor. Tempting that he talks about GABA

Sounds good dunnit? But what the heck did I mean? First time I didn't catch it while editing and half a day later haven't a clue.

 

[sweetkamie20]

Hmm - the title is catchy, yes.... But.... he'd be the first that claims to heal and actually does it.... so...... ??

Ooooh. Yeah, I see how that comes across as curing. I didn't take it like cure fibro. I took it like treat it and beat it's efforts to sabotage our lives. And the book seems to center on that goal. At the end a woman living with FMS shares her testimony and advice. She still uses an electric cart if she has a lot of shopping, she still accepts help, etc. She's just in a lot less pain...and she talks about how your life has to change forever but it can be a lot better...

I read the current/fifth edition. I'm sure he has updated it out of necessity- learning as he goes so he's been wrong before, maybe nearsighted, I'm not sure . But I'm not surprised, nor turned off, because the fact that he updates it likely means he is continuing to learn and more interested in providing quality info than in the inconvenience of updating a boo book perhaps a naive perspective...

I'm like you: if your motive is to help, why are you giving me the impression that all you want is my money? lol. But, reading his book, I didn't get that...I still wish books were closer to free but $15 is expected...

I really like how he discusses the common drugs by name and introduces how they came to market/the conflicts of interest, the dirty things that happened, side effects, etc but that he is not anti-doctor nor anti-med; he's anti-stupid doctor and anti-wrong med/too many meds/only meds approaches.

Overall, I just got what I needed at this point. I don't think any book exists whose info you haven't already acquired it's the lack of info that's led you to become a building-less library yourself! I imagine if we were to have a scribe stand next to you recording everything you've learned it'd take months and a mile long piece of papyrus . I'm not gonna call you my most trusted resource but that doesn't mean you aren't

 

[sweetkamie20]

And 125 videos for free is quite something different....
Starting with "Here Is The Number One Thing You Must Fix To Beat Fibromyalgia" - Sleep! Great. The guy's a genius. Well, pardon the irony. But I do like that he says sleep meds do not give you restorative sleep. Good start. But he doesn't say why I still can't sleep particularly well, despite having identified and pretty much stopped 30+ insomnia triggers, despite highly dosing passiflora and GABA and not tolerating the ones he recommends in increasingly high doses of 5-HTP and melatonin, He suggests starting with 3mg of melatonin sublingually - that makes me laugh: I went down from 2mg slow release to 5mcg and it still knocked me for six all day, but didn't improve my sleep at all. But he's telling me as if he's sure it'll work for me and everyone. And for people who wake up at night: ahh, GABA... who'd've thought...
OK, so probably been to all of these, done that... and it isn't beaten and isn't fixed.

I think this is a good place to clarify my other reply. Your challenges are so nuanced and, as well-read as you are, I suspect you've acquired most of the info being served en masse. I mean, this guy does consults I think, and gets his hands dirty evaluating cases, etc. but that's probably the only way to get anywhere. Oh, if we all knew medical researchers that'd treat us like a study lol...

 

[Auriel]

Hope the GABA helps @sweetkamie20

 

[JayCS]

not gonna call you my most trusted resource

I don't trust myself one step further than I can see myself.... ;-P.
But actually I don't trust anyone much as regards fibro (and MCAS). But same as in the rest of my life, I do act & talk with wary-trusting openness and that's usually rewarded by trust on both sides and I prefer to live freer that way, cushioning risk and disappointment.
So I'm not angry at the docs that harmed me so much. Can't say that I trust any doc, research or book etc. tho, I always measure with my experience and I have tons of that. I had a supp guru, with tons of knowledge experience, and still consult his websites, but my trust diminished when I realized he was an anti-vaxxer in a dangerous way. Slight disappointment, so I spose it was a bit of trust after all.

I was gonna just write "don't trust anyone", then realized i trust my present wife & friends 100%. Family "only partly"....

 

[JayCS]

didn't take it like cure fibro. ... like treat it and beat its efforts to sabotage our lives. And the book seems to center on that ... still uses an electric cart
I read the current/fifth edition. I'm sure he has updated it out of necessity- learning as he goes so he's been wrong before, maybe nearsighted...not sure
help, why are you giving me the impression that all you want is my money?... reading ...I didn't get that...I still wish books were closer to free but $15...
discusses the common drugs by name and introduces how they came to market/the conflicts of interest, the dirty things that happened, side effects, etc but that he is not anti-doctor nor anti-med; he's anti-stupid doctor and anti-wrong med/too many meds/only meds approaches.

Yep, I can go with all of that. !

BOOK: 3 FREE CHAPTERS:
Just having a look for him again, I can see the $15 is the 5th ed. as an ebook. Anywhere else is older and much more expensive for me here (shipping). And we can get one, no: even 3 chapters, if we sacrifice an @ddress. Well, using a throwaway-@ddress won't harm me. Last time I did that for some MCAS-information I didn't get any, just clarity that he needed a lot of my money. So: we get the chapter about what fibro is, the one about meds not being helpful, skipped those, then chapter 10: sleep, same as the "fix sleep"-video, which I think is fair, as sleep is the fundament in his opinion, and in mine too, it was what I tackled first.
Like in the video, 5-HTP is his mainstay (starting at 50mg, going up to 300-400mg), if necessary adding melatonin and lastly magnesium, plus the co-factors B6 (mine has rocketed ).

No magnesium expert:
The magnesium suggestions show he knows a little bit about it, but not enough about sorts and dosages, e.g. he doesn't distinguish what the differences of the sorts are, or the compound vs. the elemental magnesium, and 700mg is far too high for elemental magnesium, far too low for compounds. I've done all the tricks with melatonin to no avail. He says "chelate, citrate, or taurate", but doesn't seem to know that taurate is one of the chelate forms, whilst citrate is an organic form, like malate.

5-HTP expert!:
But I very much appreciate his detail on varying 5-HTP. When I tried it 2 years ago with harmful side effects, I didn't know as much about how much and when to take supps, so his suggestions are actually something I'm gonna use to try once again, as my nights are still rough and wild at the moment in a sense I don't favour.... I think for the 4th time. Just may have to decrease GABA accordingly, which does a lot for relaxation and pains in the daytime, so it may not work for me overall.

No GABA expert:
By the way his website (yourfibrodoctor) shows me that altho he's got knowledge on GABA, he is definitely not an expert: much too careless to recommend to start with 500mg on an empty stomach. Trudy Scott's better for that. Being an amino acid, GABA is an acid, so if we're hyperacidic it can burn our (esophagus and) stomach if we aren't careful. It did mine. So encapsulating and with meals and starting with a small dose can help minimize. Similarly theanine. And since theanine does several things at the same time (increase serotonin and dopamine, which are antagonists) and it is unclear exactly how, it isn't that clear that it relaxes overall - mine seems better in the mornings.

No product expert:
So what about his yourfibrostore = essentialtherastore? Well having a look at his 5-HTP product, I'm disappointed. He says start with 50mg, yet his product has 100mg gel capsules, which you can't open like you could HPMC-capsules. As I'm fairly vegan I wouldn't want gelatin anyway. And they (like almost all his products) contain 3 or more fillers/additives (incl. stearate & stearic acid), also something I avoid unless there really is no filler-free product on the market. 30$ for 90x100mg = 3,33$/g. My HPMC-capsules with only cellulose as filler cost 18€ for 120x50mg = 3€/g and I could now get 100mg HPMC-capsules without stearate-filler also 18€, for 120x100mg = 1,5€/g and again 18€ for 180x200mg = 0,5€g. So his price isn't astronomic, but his product isn't what I call high quality and what I'd expect from an expert. Also generally all his combination products are of course better than nothing for people who can't take the hassle I have of preparing & taking 25-30 supps, 50 capsules per day, but I can adjust each product individually, how much and when, the same as he seems to be recommending in book and videos.... His sleep support, the only one with HPMC-capsule and without any fillers contains 200mg ashwagandha which makes me and my room stink like a horse and causes IBS problems accordingly. His inflammation support contains all the spices that send my hyperacidity sky-high. His new fibro formula contains a bit of 57 supps, "serving size 10 capsules", or "5-10 capsules per day", with "300 capsules", or "30 servings" per 74$-container (i.e. per month), to take with meals. So that'd be wasting anything that should be taken before meals. But things I have problems with in there are vitamin C (I need it buffered), K1 instead of K2, A and D are risky, some people might overreact to niacin, praps malic acid. What is brilliant is that you (or at least I) can see & check exactly what form of each supp is being used, except the new CoQ10 they don't say if it it's ubiquinone or ubiquinol. Interesting here it says 500mg of magnesium chelate being 120% the daily value, contradicting 700mg per day it says in chapter 10 of his book (p. 197). Chelate examples are glycinate, threonate, taureate and lysinate, while he seems to ignore the evidence for malate, instead adding malic acid, which isn't the same as magnesium malate as the compound of magnesium and malic acid...

But that said: 5-HTP, here I come...again ...