Has anyone read the new book? Wondering what it's about.

@CrumblingCookie thanks for sharing your thoughts and findings!

I may have some more thoughts about this, but I am wondering what do you mean by "the glucose entering the brain"? I know that's something Dr. Stephens talk about, but what does that actually mean? Where in the brain? What in the brain is not having enough glucose, and is now getting enough glucose?

@Ecstatic_Hamster said in Glucose loading cures everything?:

What is PM and ME dieting? Thanks

I think you're referring to what I wrote? PM is pro metabolic, and ME is my diagnosis, often called ME/CFS internationally, but it's often just called ME in my country so I forgot to add the /CFS.

@S-Holmes said in Glucose loading cures everything?:

@gentlepotato Yes, temp, pulse, oxygen saturation, BP have all improved on glucose. I think for some of us healing just isn't going to feel great.

Definitely, not necessarily something that feels great, and the tricky thing really is to decipher what is just a part of healing and what are signals from the body that we need to tweak something. We might not even find the answers, but maybe sharing along the way at least will make it easier for those who try this after us.

@Ecstatic_Hamster said in Glucose loading cures everything?:

@gentlepotato so would you say you feel better. Is libido better. Is sleeping better. Is brain fog better. Thank you for your helpful account.

I would say it's intense in a different, hopefully more healing way than before.

I've eaten PM for 3 1/2 years and I would say it's helped a lot of things. All my markers (apart from the fatigue itself) were already so much better; it's night and day. Digestion is the only marker that wasn't consistently better already, and that got a lot better in July, and has stayed better.

I did see some more healing from glucose in July, even more positive changes in circadian rhythm, sleep, brain fog, and that's not as prominent anymore, but I chalk it down to having immun responses nearly back to back for two months. I'm still seeing benefits, and I'm very happy with the results everything considered.

@S-Holmes said in Glucose loading cures everything?:

This sounds so similar to my own experience with glucose. I remember that we both had reactivation of shingles around the same time, and both began taking glucose 3.5 months ago.

How are your temperatures and pulse? Mine are still doing well, consistently, but I've hit another rough patch. I sometimes wonder if I may have low grade fever. My morning temp seems high lately (98.9). I had constant "fever" and night sweats in my early 30's when I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, but after working with a homeopath and getting H202 IV's the fever and night sweats ended. Maybe I'm retracing those symptoms now. Hopefully this too shall pass, like the others.

Is your pulse and temperature doing well even when you're in a rough patch? My pulse has mostly been very stable and good since starting PM. Temperature also got better with, but has continued to be a little low, and it still is.

I stopped having fevers at some point after my ME got triggered, but have had fever/flu like symptoms many times. People can go both ways, but it's not uncommon to have a much lower temperature with ME. (I know of someone who had sepsis without breaking a fever, and likely just survived because they knew to go to the hospital based on other symptoms). I've tended towards too cold, but I'm very close to "normal" now. I'm sort of hoping for a real fever at some point, but if a slower immune response is what my body prefers I trust it knows best.

@Mr-X said in Glucose loading cures everything?:

its absolutely insane that some here take up to 320grams of dextrose per day. And everybody is asking what can I do for my blood sugar crashes
is here somebody who did this protocol for several months and is now completely off glucose? I think after months of glucose loading you will go into hypoglycemic hell and youre in a worser state than before the protocol.

I'm one of the people who have blood sugar crashes, and I only take 144 grams a day. I've had more crashed while taking high doses at a time, rather than 1 tbsp every hour. Going back to 1 tbsp hasn't fully solved it yet though. And I think that's one of the tricky things about glucose, that sometimes and in some forms it lowers BG, but it can also increase BG. People react differently too.

I used a continuous glucose monitor for two weeks, and I would say I am over average good at making sense of patterns, but I was never able to make sense of the patterns of how I was responding to taking glucose, or of blood sugar levels. It's not the first protocol that's tricky to navigate though, so I'm not too worried about it. It doesn't make me think the protocol isn't working.

You asked a while back about outlining symptoms etc, and I didn't have the spoons to respond. I started at the beginning of July, so nearly at 3,5 months. My best metaphor for what is going on is that for years it's felt like I'm in the fight scene in an action movie, only my car won't start. The "bad guys" (fuel demands of all kinds, normal day to day stuff, but also reactivation of viruses etc) is "coming", and my body has not been able to fight any of it off. It's been a constant fight I have not been winning.

Now I'm still in the fight scene, so it's very intense at times, but the car is working. I've still got symptoms, but the body appears to successfully fight pathogens. However I think the glucose might fuel viruses etc as well, so I've got a lot of stuff reactivating.

I have probably had low grade infection many places in the body for years, including my brain. With no immune reaction pathogens probably just bob around and make a little mess all the time. It hasn't had much to fight, it's just taken over. Now the immune system is fighting back, and with more glucose the viruses also have more energy. For example:

First (two months ago) shingles tried to break out in the nerve pathway it has infected before, the pathways that goes to the thumb - I had flu like symptoms for 36 hours, but I didn't have a rash, and then some pain for a few days after. Then a couple of weeks ago I had a similar pain in my head and rash under my eye appeared, which the body fought off quickly. The rash disappeared, but then the pain was back in my thumb, and then the rash reappeared under my eye. Now it's gone down again, but I still have some pain. However none of it has been as painful as when the virus broke out properly, not the rash and not the nerve pain.

The body is still working on fighting off the infection, and I think that also means it is healing stuff in the brain that it hasn't been able to heal before.

I think the immune responses are a very, very good sign, and that it can be considered a win in terms of the the Itaconate shunt hypothesis for ME/CFS (separate from my hypothesis for why glucose may work).

I use other markers to see if it's getting better overall. Many of them are still not super consistent, so I don't feel 100% certain it's working, and I'm very unsure how much better it can make me. But there are enough good signs. Some of the "small" good signs are that my digestion is working consistently better, even with my sleep being very disrupted. Despite being under the weather for two months now my cycle is overall healthier.

@idealabsrat thanks!

@Ecstatic_Hamster How does that theory differ from the Itaconate shunt hypothesis? Seems to be very similar.

@idealabsrat thanks for clarifying! Where do you buy the thiamine powder? Can you recommend a brand?

@marmalade_cat said

I'm wondering how one determines that thiamine is being excreted in urine?

Me too, wasn't able to find anything on this when I searched.

Thanks for all the info, and I'll check out the profile.

@idealabsrat said in Glucose loading cures everything?:

At first I took a couple grams a day, and it took a week before it started to excrete in the urine.

What does that mean? Is that good or bad, and how do you know that's happening?

@idealabsrat That's interstiting - high dose B1 thiamine is one approach in the ME/CFS world. Some people get much better from it, but it's a whole protocol and can be very expensive, and I found the protocol confusing. I think it's based on the idea that there is a low level of pyruvate dehydrogenase, and B1 is needed to create that - but from what I understand the low level of PDH is a former theory to the Itaconate Shunt hypothesis.

What is the thinking behind high B1 thiamine in the approach you mention? Can you share details?