I have had PFS for 4 years and recently started trying BioGaia probiotic at the recommendation of some others on the forum. I’ve taken it for 3 days so far and what I noticed this morning was a ton of weakness/soreness throughout my upper body in my shoulders, arms, and upper back.
Is this a sign of anything worth noting? Should I be supplementing with something else too?
Which Biogaia product are you taking and what’s your dosage? Protectis? Gastrus? In case of Gastrus, it contains both L. reuteri DSM 17938 and L. reuteri ATCC PTA 6475 strains. The L. Reuteri 6475 gave me histamine intolerance symptoms inclduing nausea; painful joints; rash; tiredness, etc. after continued intake. I think your symptoms may indicate an immune system response triggering inflammation.
The product is L. reuteri Osfortis (ATCC PTA 6475 - 10 billion CFU) with Vitamin D as cholecalciferol (10mcg)
I realized that the product says take 1 pill, twice per day and I boneheadedly been taking 2 pill, once per day.
You mentioning histamine seems very relevant because my allergy symptoms this morning were terrible which are usually only ever mild at most.
Should I drop down to only 1 pill per day?
Yep. Your issues are likely caused by L. ATCC PTA 6475 producing too much histamine and triggering MCAS. Aim for the lowest dose possible (~1/2 pill) every other day or third day and see how it goes. If symptoms persist, try adding Vitamin C or simply drop it until symptoms are gone.
Personally, I’m quite sensitive to histamine producing strains and symptoms are severe. Maybe try Biogaia Gastrus since it only contains 100M CFU L. ATCC PTA 6475 but was still potent in my case.
I also have MCAS issues since getting PSSD. Probiotics make my heart start pounding.
Did you notice any improvements on L. reuteri? Would I know right away?
I recall feeling euphoria with great sense of well-being and better hair and skin on the L. Reuteri DSM. However, I started getting histamine issues when I begun taking the Osfortis version (10B CFU) that I had to stop.
Did you feel it right away? I was hoping it would boost my libido but so far no luck.
This exact same thing happened to me after taking 5-HTP.
IIRC, I begun feeling things within two weeks. The libido part was tricky because I’d best describe those feelings as calm, cozy or cuddly. I think either oxytocin, gaba and/or serotonin were raised. It didn’t make me feel lusty though because I believe that’s mostly tied to increased dopamine and I do know how that feels. That said, being calm without anxiety or depression made it easy to get into a sexy mood. I also felt heavenly good post ejaculations so that post orgasmic depression was also gone.
Unfortunately, the histamine intolerance issues came up when I added the L. Reuteri ATCC PTA strain found in Osfortis later. Gut microbiome is drastically different for everyone especially when dysbiosis is an issue. Probiotics is a hit or miss so you may have to experiment with several species/genus/strains and see how they affect you.
Yes. I too had taken 5-htp in the past and had a feeling resembling that of the probiotic experience. I think probiotic may have raised Serotonin, Oxytocin or Gaba.
Yeah dude. The first day I took 5-HTP, I had extreme hunger (related to serotonin?) I went jogging the next day (took another 5-htp in the morning) then my muscles started hurting. It’s been twitching and has tightness to this day, off and on.
What was your dose @Jhdiaz ? I think mine was 50mg. Heightened Serotonin is known to suppress appetite while Dopamine acts as an appetite stimulant. My guesstimate is that your Serotonin was greatly elevated leading to lower Dopamine, which triggered hunger.
Check this out:
" In some cases, serotonin appears to inhibit dopamine production, which means that low levels of serotonin can lead to an overproduction of dopamine. This may lead to impulsive behavior, due to the role that dopamine plays in reward seeking behavior.
Serotonin inhibits impulsive behavior, while dopamine enhances impulsivity.
Dopamine and serotonin have opposite effects on appetite; whereas serotonin suppresses it, low levels of dopamine can stimulate hunger."
So it’s wise to supplement tyrosine when on 5-htp.
Mine was also 50 MGs. How many MGs did you take and for how long? I took a grand total of 200 MGs over a span of 4 days. I took 50 MGs for four days straight.
My dose varied between 25mg & 50mg a day. Took it for a few weeks. However, I had also taken tyrosine to increase Dopamine. I read somewhere 5-htp:tyrosine ratio should be like 1:10 so 500mg tyrosine for 50mg 5-htp for a balanced effect.
Interesting. Sounds like my problem is dopamine
Balanced serotonin would make you feel social, relaxed, content but without adequate dopamine you still would lack libido and motivation. It’s surprising how gut plays a critical role in this regard.
Solid points and thank you! I may consider eating foods high in Tyrosine. However, back to the authors point, how is probiotics and 5-HtP leading to similar results (Muscle pain, etc…)? Thanks again brother! Yes and the gut has tremendous impacts. I have to pull references but I’ve read that the majority of neurotransmitters are in the gut rather than the brain.
Do you notice any changes in the twitching after doing exercise or using the muscles? - I have similar twitching symptoms which have recently exacerbated
Dude it really depends. It’s hard to pin down when and why it happens. All I know is my muscles twitch and feel tight (on occasions) every day