I know this is a topic that has been covered, but does anyone have any strong opinions on sodium butyrate? In particular might it be safer to take one of the other forms of butyrate?
In any case, I just thought I’d share a very brief experience with sodium butyrate. I have a very bad case of PFS, which includes a second dramatic crash from vitamin D which was much much worse than my initial PFS, which led to things like loss of muscle mass and a total loss of libido.
I’ve been taking a couple extended release capsules of sodium butyrate each day for the last couple of days. I was dealing with insomnia, and it didn’t help me sleep better, which is what I was originally hoping for.
Aside from that, I’ve had a fairly remarkable and noticeable response to them. Out of all the supplements I’ve tried, it feels like its the only one that somehow directly interacts with the mechanism or etiology of my particular case of PFS, at least in a noticeable, possibly positive way. Obviously this is subjective, not to imply I “know” or can even guess what’s going truly on physiologically with my body.
For one thing, ever since I’ve had PFS (and even for a much longer time, I’ve had this ever since I’ve taken Accutane), I’ve felt like my lungs are somehow rigid and my breathing is somehow different than it once was. The few times I’ve taken butyrate, I feel like my lungs, perhaps my diaphragm, start to suddenly relax, as if it’s suddenly normalizing and relaxing something in that area of my body.
This relaxed breathing is the most immediate and noticeable result of the capsules. I’ve felt slightly more normal mentally in other ways as well, including moments last night where my anhedonia seemed to be lessened to a degree.
No noticeable effects on my libido so far, but had a very strong morning erection yesterday, which I normally never do and never once had in the last few years. Not something I care about per se, but obviously a sign it’s doing something to my body.
Now of course, I’ve read that one or two men crashed horribly from this. So it’s known to be a possibly dangerous substance for PFS, that can instigate crashes, and now I’m having second thoughts on taking it. But other users like Moonchild have had positive responses from it.
I’m now considering whether to stop and instead whether calcium/magnesium butyrate might be safer. I know there are no solid answers to be had, but in any case, if I end up with any drastic negative or positive results I’ll be sure to share it, in case it might be useful to anyone else.
It feels like the gut, especially in my case, is involved in this disease, and being a strong responder to butyrate, even during the short time I’ve taken it, seems to confirm this. For the last few months I’ve also been experimenting with a restricted, gluten-free diet and doing things like fasting occasionally to see if I can encourage it to heal.