Posts made by S.Holmes

@marmalade_cat said in Glucose loading cures everything?:

@S-Holmes

Thanks for the update @S-Holmes .

I am happy to hear that you are proceeding with the glucose experiment.

Notwithstanding my alarming weight gain, and the lack of symptom resolution at my current dose which already feels like its a lot (70g x 5 times a day) I am also for the moment persevering with this experiment. I must admit it's not easy to stay motivated though.

I have a few follow-up questions if you don't mind:

1. Have you now lost the weight that you initially gained?
2. How would you say the amount of food you currently consuming (non dextrose calories), compares to the pre-dextrose food consumption? I find that if I reduce my food intake, my temperature drops, and I do sometimes feel hungry.
3. I recall you did mention in previous posts, but could you explain more about the symptoms you are recycling?
4. What would you say is the key factor/s that is keeping you motivated to continue?

It is certainly difficult to stay motivated if there doesn't seem to be any improvement. I'm on day 5 of only eating fruit until noon so too soon for any weight loss (and I have no scales for weighing). I'm eating 2 regular meals a day and my temperature is still reaching around 98.6 to 99 by late afternoon.

As for retracing, I've had migraines, bad nausea, bad heartburn, lack of appetite, very painful frozen shoulder (shingles), back pain, leg pain, constipation and more. Symptoms appear and then disappear, usually in less than a week. The last time I had frozen shoulder (15 years ago) it lasted months and I finally had to see a doctor for ultrasound treatments to resolve it. This time was more painful but it only lasted a few days and was resolved with glucose and homeopathic remedies. My motivation is that my depression is much better, and I always give a new experiment time to work. Dr. Stephens says 4 months is usually the minimum amount of time required. I've had CFS/ME for many years so it may take me longer to be 100%.

@happyhanneke said in Glucose loading cures everything?:

@S-Holmes
Thank you. I'm still reading all the experience. It will be an important thread to look up if needed in my opinion.

I wish health and happiness to all friends here. Many of us have been on a long and difficult journey and if glucose is the answer or at least an important part of our healing process I really hope those who need it will find it.

So, after 3 to 4 months of trial and error (and weight gain and/or swelling) here is what I'm doing (for now). 6 Tbsps of glucose 3 times a day. Fruit ONLY for breakfast, a la Fit for Life, plus a caffeine pill (and aspirin if needed). No coffee or other food until noon. No glucose until noon, with lunch. Charcoal caps (10 per dose) Saturday and Sunday, plus cascara sagrada as needed. No eating between meals and last dose of glucose is taken before bed, usually in fat free chocolate milk.

I'm still cycling through and retracing symptoms I haven't had for decades. Dr Stephens says the well fed brain will prioritize healing from most important to least important. And sometimes it will work one area, shift to another, and later work on the first one again.

I'm not yet near the end of the great glucose experiment but staying with the program.

@marmalade_cat Thank you for your post! A lot of good information! I will try to post an update and maybe a little insight soon (fwiw).

It certainly isn't easy, and some of us really do have inflammation to deal with. I do, my husband doesn't. Glucose is so easy for him. It also makes me tired, but Dr Stephens wasn't surprised by that.

I'll keep posting updates. I hope others will too.

Is anyone still following this thread? If not I won't spend more time on it. It seems helpful discussion has dwindled. It's ok. It happens. Just want to make the best use of my time.

I told a friend about Dr Stephens and she has asked him to speak at her health seminar next month. She has a donkey dairy and provides milk to kids with autism. Looking forward to seeing him in person!

@CrumblingCookie Looks good! The nausea seems to be fading away and my appetite has recovered.

Dr Stephens said to take the entire dose within 30 minutes so I try to do that. I still need it diluted to more than 1 oz of liquid per tbsp, but I figure it's best to get it down any way I can than not at all.

My husband is on it too (4 tbsps) and doing well. His mood swings are better controlled. I can tell when he is low on glucose, which is good since unlike myself he really can't, so when I notice that the grumpy, irritable man is back in the room I ask how long since his last dose. His answer is always "it's time for another." Lol

Whew! A couple of emotional days! OMG. I went ahead and increased to 7 Tbsps per bolus today. I needed a little encouragement so had a short appointment with Dr Stephens. I've also been struggling with nausea and gerd. One important thing he mentioned was that as our brain prioritizes healing it seems the GI tract is at the end of the list. But I'm sleeping like a baby with only glucose in a little choc milk at bedtime...no sleep aid required. Pressing on!

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/ozempic-mounjaro-lawsuit-stomach-paralysis

@gentlepotato

I watched that one too and I believe what he meant was it isn't helpful in the context of the brain healing therapy that uses pure glucose (sucrose won't work), but not that sugar is bad in general. I've mentioned Dr Peat to him in our consultations and we've discussed how the prevailing anti-sugar sentiment is a hindrance to healing.

He says that glucose therapy isn't always smooth sailing. I hope my friends here won't give up too soon!

@Jaffe said in Glucose loading cures everything?:

What brand is everyone using?

Finished my Nutricost tub. After reading people’s poor experience with certain brands I’m now questioning my experience. What I thought was sensitivity to glucose may have been a quality control issue? Was never able to go above 3tbsp.

Got very good mental effects from it, but the on/off bloating and nausea limited enjoyment. Experiment is on hold for now.

I guess the name of the game is buy different brands until you find one that agrees with you. Great lol.

I still had bad nausea and the worst heartburn I've ever had (for about a week) on the higher quality brands. I pushed through but it wasn't fun. (Sodium bicarb helped with the heartburn.) They're both MUCH better now so I think it may have been a herx reaction (in my case). I'm at 6 Tbsps per bolus now.

I asked Dr Stephens his thoughts regarding mitochondria in the brain being unable to use glucose. He remains staunchly and confidently unwavering in his position that glucose will heal the brain, and everything else as well. I told him I was going to keep searching for the science to support his therapy and he was fine with that, of course.

@CrumblingCookie TBH, I seem to do better on sodium acetate. It raises Co2 levels which will trigger a release of oxygen (from hemoglobin). So just another way to obtain the same (or similar) outcome. At least as I understand it. And no nausea.

@gentlepotato And the hating on sugar that permeates our culture (especially in alternative health people) certainly won't help us work toward solving this mystery. Dr. Stephens, in spite of the metaphors, may be way ahead of the curve on this. As for me, I know I won't rest until I find a good scientific explanation.

Hydrogen Peroxide: This can be good news to everyone and particularly to those who've been gaining weight with dextrose. Drinking 2ml of 3% H202 (equivalent to about 3 drops of 35% H202) in half a glass of pure water several times a day increased my warmth, made me a little less hungry, made me crave less dextrose (back down to pretty much 80gs at a time) and looks like it's very subtly but steadily reducing my weight. It provides more oxygen to everywhere, but the H202 itself also acts immunostimulatively, tissue pH balancing, peroxidising many toxins and hydrocarbons and it's actually a cofactor in many enzymatic pathways. E.g. the peroxisomes in almost all cells use and produce H202 and they are where fatty acid oxidation for non-glucose energy creation takes place.
I'm greatly interested in how supplemental H202 works for others who do the glucose protocol.
It may fit in well and make for a holistic approach as an integral complement to glucose. And it's just as stupendously basic and essential which makes me like it a lot.
I highly recommend everyone to read the book "The Truth about Hydrogen Peroxide".
The guy who wrote it has put a lot of effort into it with hopes and aspirations no lesser than those of Dr. Stephens.

I so wish I could take hydrogen peroxide. I have 3 bottles of 35% food grade in my fridge, but taking it orally just nauseates me terribly, so using it topically (diluted of course).

I had read that taurine burns through glucose quickly. I don't know if this is good or bad, so I use it sparingly.

Thanks for the good discussion friends. This fellow lab rat appreciates you!

@gentlepotato said in Glucose loading cures everything?:

@S-Holmes

You wrote "I'm hoping he can answer questions about how glucose can be processed by the brain if the krebs cycle is interrupted by the itaconate shunt (if it's even a proven theory)."

My point is that if the Itaconate shunt hypothesis is the explanation the issue was never that the brain cannot process glucose (I'm not sure the brain does); it just didn't have enough ATP for all the jobs it does.

These processes take place in all mitochondria. The brain, being living tissue, has mitochondria. This is why I'm stumped. If this shunt process causes the mitochondria in the body and brain (to varying extents) to use mostly protein to make ATP, then my question to him is how does flooding the brain with glucose change these chemical processes. I don't think he will have the answer, but I will ask him.

@gentlepotato

My sense is Dr. Stephens recognizes that the brain has symptoms, and to explain what he is seeing he has jumped to the conclusion and created a sort of narrative that the brain has a valve that inhibits glucose to enter. Ask him if he can explain that in greater detail, because I don't know what the valve he's talking about it. It sounds more like a metaphor, than biology.

Dr Stephens himself admits that "the valve" isn't a scientific explanation and is still (half jokingly) asking for spinal tap volunteers to help clarify the process.

@gentlepotato I've been reading and watching everything I can find on the itaconate shunt theory. I watched Dr Phair's video again yesterday. He said they haven't figured out why the process continues unabated, and discussed the two types of immune reactions. "Getting stuck" seems a good way to summarize.

We have such similar experiences! I'm up to 7 Tbsps per dose (4 x a day). Symptoms flare and then subside as the next set of symptoms begin, and since my body REALLY talks to me, and the direction of healing (top down, and inside out) is going according to homeopathic philosophy, it seems I am still making progress!

To manage discomforts and aid healing I have gone back on some of Nathan Hatch's gut protocol suggestions. And I have begun taking supplements to lower ammonia (convert it to urea).

I have another follow up appointment with Dr Stephens this afternoon. I'm hoping he can answer questions about how glucose can be processed by the brain if the krebs cycle is interrupted by the itaconate shunt (if it's even a proven theory). Please share more information about that if you find it. The videos I've found are at least 2 years old.

If you want to dig deeper into how to lower ammonia this may be helpful. Using Nathan's suggestions we eradicated our gut issues so we're now back on his protocol (along with glucose therapy.)

(Apologies for language)
https://www.fuckportioncontrol.com/blog/2019/1/21/the-probable-cause-ofnbspautism