Posted by Larry Hoover on April 14, 2005, at 9:11:35
In reply to RE: PEA » Larry Hoover, posted by gromit on April 10, 2005, at 1:13:58
> Larry,
>
> Thanks for the explanation of PEA, maybe I'm starting to get a hint of a clue now.I love questions. Don't worry about going over stuff again. That's how learning works. I am a teacher.
> > You sound like me, sort of. Pretty close, anyway. I haven't used meth or pot for years and years, though. Provigil did the same to me. Some days, really potent. Other days, nothing.
>
> It's been 20 years since I've used anything but pot, I quit that around 13 years ago but have backslid several times. I definately get something more out of it than a buzz, I feel almost normal and the "high" is more like a side effect I don't enjoy anymore. I remember you saying that you are fatigued in the daytime but can't sleep, this is exactly what is going on with me too.I'm still struggling to define this syndrome....to conceptualize within my understanding or normal biochemistry.
Whatever is happening, it is normal for us. What I mean is, it is a natural consequence of our prior experiences, the life that we have lived. We are here now, in this way, because.....but I don't know the because.
Gabapentin was prescribed to me for neuropathic pain, and it worked. It worked absolutely well. And right away, too.
Gabapentin has psychoactive effects, such that it is sometimes used in psychiatry. I looked at that, and thought, bonus! I take a neuropathy drug, and I get to do the psych experiment at the same time! It was always on my list of experiments....and now I'm doing it.
It is a bizarre drug. It gives me hope, and yet, it reduces my functionality. It's too soon to say, as I am not yet stable under its influence. But it may be part of my recovery. When I say recovery, I'm talking in terms of major determinants of functionality. I may be able now (or soon, anyway), to return to work. To leave my disability pension behind.
Up until now, I needed that safety net. It was inconceivable for me to exert myself towards work, without that safety net. I find myself not worrying about that net. We shall see.
> > You're going to have to experiment in the realm of stuff that works for anxiety.
>
> Well I don't think of myself as being anxious, in social situations yes but not usually otherwise. Maybe I'm blocking it out somehow, when I do get nervous about something it's guaranteed that I will fail. When I say "wired" for me this is usually a good thing.Anxiety and activation.....try considering them as synomyms, at least with respect to your mental state. How you experience this activation is not really the issue.....it's the effect on your energy budget that matters.
Sometimes my activation is emotionally charged, and I would then characterize it more as an anxious state, but that's a semantic distinction. In the end, the activation level is the issue for me.
> I'm already taking some of the stuff you mentioned, I do read your posts and if you say something is worth trying that's good enough for me. Taurine I haven't tried or Ashwagandha, niacinamide makes me more fatigued, maybe trying it at night with the magnesium would be better.
Try lowering the dose. When I say 500 mg, four times a day, that's the *maximum* safe dose (with respect to liver damage, safety factor included). Try 100 mg, and see how that is. Break your pills.
What got me interested in niacin metabolism led to my trial of Enada NADH, and niacinamide (a precursor of NADH), both essential for mitochondrial formation of ATP, the universal cellular energy source. Mitochondrial dysfunction is proven in chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and in some depressives.
The spring I did that trial, I did not collapse into fatigue after a gruelling work cycle. Moreover, my pollen allergies and resultant asthma almost didn't exist that spring. I have had disabling (not an exaggeration) pollen allergies ever since puberty (thirty odd years now). I have never had a season without absolute need for heavy intervention. Not only prescription antihistamines, but heavy topical steroids..... Not that year.
Other stressors have kept me from developing on that discovery. I still have to figure out some details.....but this pain thing from the arm injury has been totally distracting. Maybe now I can get back to that other process of discovery and integration.
> Something calming might actually be good but I'm already so damned tired I try to avoid anything that makes it worse.
Dose. Timing. There are always variables to consider.
> When you mentioned "brain hum" you really got my attention, I've always had this sound or feeling like I was standing near electrical lines on a humid night. This is pretty much gone now but I didn't attribute it to fish oil, I've been taking 8000-10000 mg of cheap Costco brand for quite a while now.
I actually associate my brain hum with a restoration of functionality. I tend to get it when other measures of recovery are on the upswing. It is an imbalance in restorative processes, but not adverse in and of itself.
For example, if I take selegiline after noon, I will have brain hum at bedtime. Selegiline at 7 a.m. tends to have worn off by then.
If I take B-complex at 4 p.m., I will not sleep due to brain hum. If it take it in the a.m., I'll generally be okay.
It does get complex, but the alternative......being in that bad place......no, I'll take the complex management thing, any day.
> I guess what I meant to ask is what do those drugs do besides mess with dopamine? I have a strange intuitation it has something to do with endorphins but I just can't get my head around this stuff no matter how hard I try. The selegiline/DLPA combo is helping but it's not as effective as I was sure it would be. Still, I'm feeling better than I have for years.Repeat that last sentence, until it is engraved in your perception.
I can't give you a mechanism that leads from selegiline to endorphins, but I believe there is one.
> > Thanks for the concern. Gabapentin has helped dramatically with the nerve pain, although it's making me stupid as hell. Still no surgery date (over 15 months after I broke it).
>
> Well I'm glad you found something to relieve the pain, you sure don't sound stupid but I know what you mean.Stupid as in acting erroneously, as if without thinking, while simultaneously knowing I'm messing up. Simple example...I was cooking yesterday, and went to turn off the stove. My meal was ready. Instead of turning off that burner, I turned on another one. Now two burners are on, and the other one had a plate sitting on it. Just Homer Simpson moments like that. Forgetting how to spell simple words. It's a bizarre drug. I hope I get used to it, i.e. the adverse cognitive elements can be accomodated.
>
> Thanks
> RickAny time. And thanks for the validation.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:452259
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050414/msgs/484073.html