Is Neurotransmitter therapy the key to recovery?

Therapeutic Efforts Pharmaceutical
#141

Valtrex is valaciclovir an antiviral used to treat herpes. I’ve had severe herpes 12 years ago and have been on acyclovir since then for prevention. ( Acyclovir is an older, cheaper version of the same drug, with a much shorter half life). I take 200 mg every day. I haven’t seen it have any effect but to prevent herpes, but than again, when I crashed it looks like I didn’t get it as bad as others.

I’m currently on a very strict regime of zero carbs, ketogenic / carnivore diet and take protein shakes as well as a bunch of individual amino acids. I do weight lifting and the result of all this is I’m 98% symptom free. I just have trouble sleeping but I get enough rest to be 100% functioning during the day.

I wonder if the antiviral I’m still taking is contributing ?

#142

Strange that things like this and the prep have helped certain people

#143

Well, acyclovir is very well tolerated and does not have any side effects (for me anyway, and I’ve taken up to 1200 mg a day)

Just out of curiosity, I’ll increase the dose to 400 mg, twice a day (total 800 instead of 200 mg) and see what happens.

#144

joetz,

I am curious to know if you are still around these days. I have had PFS for ten years. I recently looked into neurotransmitters in July of 2020. I did not go to a doctor. Instead I purchased my own urine neurotransmitter test through ZRT lab. The results showed among other things that I was low in urine serotonin. I took the precursors L-Tryptophan and 5-HTP along with cofactor B6 for 64 days. It completely cured my constipation. I retested in December of 2020 and the results showed that I increased my natural serotonin production to the optimal range. Most serotonin is made in the gut where it stimulates gut motility.

For the 64 days I was also taking several other precursors and co factors to adjust several other neurotransmitters and I fell back into severe PFS like insomnia. So like you I have experienced how adjusting natural neurotransmitter production has the ability to substantially impact PFS symptoms for the better and worse. I am taking this theory a step further. I think that certain neurotransmitters react to certain receptors in the brain in a very similar and sometimes exact same way that certain neurosteriods impacted by taking 5AR inhibitors do.

Of course after experiencing this I want to explore this path further like you previously did. However I don’t want to pay a doctor thousands of dollars to continue experimenting down this path. I think this has potential and is clearly under explored but anyone else can make the same mistake you did by paying a doctor thousands of dollars and be forced to give up because you could no longer afford to keep paying for the follow up tests and supplements. And lets be honest any doctor that takes thousands of dollars from people in our position for experimental things like this is a dirt bag. We don’t want to let them take advantage of us.

I am trying to figure out a way to replicate the protocol that that you paid the doctor to do for you. I noticed how you said that you never asked for the test results and the doctor never offered them. Well of course the doctor never offered to give you the paperwork because if you had all your labs you would be able to learn and replicate the protocol without his help. We can buy ZRT labs urine neurotransmitter test for cheeper if we don’t go through a doctor. We can then buy the supplements on our own from bulk supplements for cheep. In other words others can experiment with what you did for much cheeper.

If you could go back to the doctor milking your for all that money and get your medical records and post all those urine neurotransmitter test results here as well as the updated supplement adjustment recommendations that go along with each test I think we could learn the protocol and we could replicate it on our own.

what was the doctors name?
what lab did he send your urine samples to for neurotransmitter testing?
what is your status now?
if you are not recovered why did you not stay on the neurotransmiter path. Based on this thread it sounded like it was the answer for you. It may have just been the matter of continuing to adjust the supplements. Also do you know how this doctor came up with the exact protocol that you described at the beginning of this thread with “the four different types of neurotransmitters”? I ask because maybe the better way to go is to stick with adjusting certain neurotransmitters with certain supplements for a longer period of time. Constantly changing them may be better for the doctor selling you the supplements but may not be the best way to allow for the best chance to see how you respond to each adjustment. It seemed like you were changing supplements every week. That really does not make sense if you think about it. And it’s not like urine neurotransmitter levels are telling you the exact levels in the CNS at that time. So with this being said what was the logic behind changing supplements so frequently?

#145

The problem I was having was that I was going broke. The supplements were very expensive and the doctor kept trying to fine-tune the dose. I had several windows where I felt better for a few hours. And the doctor kept insisting that he was on the verge of figuring the whole thing out. But I just got really frustrated after going repeatedly and paying so much money for bottles and bottles of supplements. To me it felt like he was trying to hit a moving target and the target was moving too fast. This was so many years ago and I really don’t remember a lot of the specifics.

#146

Thanks for responding

It does seem like you were onto something with this doctor but that he cared just as much about making money as he did helping you

I wouldn’t mind looking further into this because I’m currently on the amino acid/neurotransmitter path. I have seen dramatic changes for the better and worse recently from taking amino acids to increase neurotransmitters that I recently had tested.

If you don’t mind my asking. How much did this doctor charge you for each urine neurotransmitter test ? How much did he charge you for the supplements? Do you have any of the bottles still and do they tell you what the ingredients are ?

If I wanted to try contacting him for a consultation would this be ok with you ? I want to pick his brain in order to learn what he knows

We can buy our own urine neurotransmitter test through ZRT lab probably for cheaper then what the doctor sold them to you for

You are also entitled to your medical records from the doctor. It would be interesting to know more about what supplements the doctor was putting you on and what information specifically was the doctor relying on from your test results to articulate his decision making with the frequent changing of the supplements

I think that the neurosteriods impacted by 5AR inhibition react in sillier ways on receptors in the brain that neurotransmitters do. I have been low in blood 3b-diol since 2013. I currently have high urine 3a-diol and allopregnenolone. I think that being left with permanently altered levels of neurosteriods makes it so the body can’t regulate proper levels of neurotransmitters. Maybe if you stuck with the constant adjusting of amino acids you would have eventually got it

Maybe we can continue to run the same or similar experiment with out spending so much money. Maybe we do one urine neurotransmitter test through ZRT lab every three months and buy all our amino acids for cheeper from Bulk supplements and dose them on our own. We could replicate what this doctor charged you a lot for by dosing out our own combo of amino acids using bulk supplement products which are relatively cheap. I’m thinking that amino acids are amino acids. Why do they need to be an expensive “special” bottle of amino acids from this doctor…

I’m assuming all that was in these supplements you paid big money for from the factor consisted of an amino acid blend ?

We should continue down this extremely under explored path. Of those who tried had pretty good results My main point is you stopped because it was too expensive. The same thing would happen to me. That’s why I want to be able to do this exact same thing or something similar for cheeper

How are you doing now ?

#147

I’m functioning well enough to get on with my life. I have issues but nowhere near as bad as things were ten years ago. I quit propecia in 2008 but had symptoms long before I quit. So all together like twenty years of hell

The doctor who specialized in this type of treatment died a few years ago. If you have deep pockets and want to go down this path you can go to the NeuroResearch protocol website and find a doctor who specializes in this type of therapy. There must be someone near you you can make an appointment with.

#148

Good to hear you are doing pretty good now

I don’t have deep pockets but I do want to continue down this path. I have accomplished a lot so far in the short time on this path. I can get my own urine neurotransmitter tests done through ZRT lab. I’m pretty sure it’s the same test your doctor was using for you.

Also it sounds like all this doctor was doing for you was giving you urine neurotransmitter tests and adjusting amino acids accordingly to your latest test. Very few here will spend thousands of dollars to do this. With a little bit more info we could probable replicate it. If we had your test results and supplement adjustments regimen that go along with each new test we could see exactly what your doctor was doing and replicate it

I’m also thinking that it may be better to not take amino acids that come in blends. Instead maybe the safest way to experiment with this is to buy them all individually from bulk supplements like I did a few months ago. I already have most of the amino acids from bulk supplements in individual bags. I took a bunch all at once based on my urine neurotransmitter test results from July 2020. I too several at once for 64 days and had a follow up test in December 2020. I cured my constipation but relapsed into PFS onset level insomnia. So now my plan is to experiment with them individually in order to isolate which amino acid does what.

I’m thinking two weeks on certain ones to increase let’s say serotonin production. Note how this impacts my condition. Then continue with them but add in let’s say aminos to increase dopamine, adrenaline, noradrenaline
and then note what that does.

Knowing exactly what your doctor was doing though would still be very helpful and probable increase the likelihood of getting more people here to experiment with amino acid type protocols

What sides still remain for you ?

#149

You’ve got it all figured out. He was doing things exactly the way you are describing. Write down a plan of how much of what to take based on imbalances of lab results. Then you take the x pills of jar a, y pills from jar b and a pills from jar z. Then you come back in a week, tell him how you are feeling, do the lab again and based on the results he would make adjustments to the protocol. It’s a long and time consuming business and it could take months of labs and office visits to ever mail down.

I am not quite as cynical as you are about the dude making money off of me. He has to pay rent for the office, has to pay his staff, and he has to make a living. I would love it if people would cure us for free but the world doesn’t work that way unfortunately. Doctors look at us the way a used car salesman looks at a lot full of cars. We are just another unit to move in and out and make a buck

Today I still have some anhedonia and low libido and fatigue. But I have learned to live like this and manage at a pretty high level at a decent job. I’ve discovered a lot of food allergies and try to avoid stuff that affects me negatively. Other than that it’s just been living one day at a time trying my best to deal with my situation

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#150

Can I request a bearing? gmail or jakobs phone number? greetings

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#151
#152

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