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Brain Sensitivity / Headache without the pain

Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,956
I do think pwME have issues with too much ammonia. Do you know a way to reduce this in the brain?
There are a lot of posts here about ways to try to deal with it, mostly what to take to help clear it out.

I guess it depends on what is causing it.


"Ammonia, also known as NH3, is a waste product that bacteria in your intestines primarily make when digesting protein. Normally, ammonia is processed in your liver, where it’s transformed into another waste product called urea. The urea is then carried to your kidneys, where it’s eliminated in your urine (pee).

If any part of this process, known as the urea cycle, is not working, ammonia builds up in your blood and can pass from your blood into your brain. The level of ammonia in your blood must remain very low. Even slightly elevated levels (hyperammonemia) are toxic to your central nervous system (CNS)."

I can't find what specifically is wrong with the liver when it's not breaking down the ammonia. Liver disease (?), electrolyte imbalance, or decreased blood flow to the liver.

Some sites suggest cutting back on protein in the diet.

It can also be caused by a kidney issue.

And it also can be caused by candida. This article has a couple of interesting things. https://www.brainstormhealth.co.uk/2020/07/the-missing-piece-in-your-anti-candida-protocol/

I just saw something about acetylaldehyde, I think that causes similar symptoms. And then someone posted this list of remedials:
Cheese massively stimulates ADH & ALDH, the enzyme that breaks down alcohol & acetylaldehyde which causes hangovers. Some other things that'll help are saturated fats, b1, b3, taurine, vit E and vit C.
 
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Dysfunkion

Senior Member
Messages
139
This is interesting, this study contains a list of foods that help with processing aldehydes and alcohol.

Influence of food commodities on hangover based on alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase activities


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7473379/

Tomatoes, cucumber, sweet lime, pear, coconut water, orange, starfruit, green and black tea, and cheese!

Seems to be due the polyphenol and mineral content of them, wonder if I had an issue with this which may be why having propolis every morning helps me so much. Wish we could specifically what those components doing this are though because I'm sure the list of helpful foods is much bigger than what we have presented here.
 

Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,956
Seems to be due the polyphenol and mineral content of them, wonder if I had an issue with this which may be why having propolis every morning helps me so much. Wish we could specifically what those components doing this are though because I'm sure the list of helpful foods is much bigger than what we have presented here.
Studies showed no correlation between ADH and ALDH enzyme activities and antioxidant property of the selected food commodities for anti-hangover effect. Further, an anti-hangover (AHO) product was developed using pear (65%), sweet lime (25%) and coconut water (10%) and, validated for in vitro ADH and ALDH enzyme activities. AHO product was found to enhance ADH and ALDH activities by 23.31% and 70.02%, respectively.
 

Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,956
Recently, a variety of anti-hangover (AHO) products have been launched into the market. “PartySmart” is a formulation containing grapes, gooseberry, date palm, Phyllanthus amarus, green chiretta (Andrographis paniculata), and chicory, which is reported to significantly reduce several of the hangover symptoms, and prevent formation of acetaldehyde adducts. As a result, rapid elimination of acetaldehyde from the blood occurs (Ramakrishna et al., 2005)
 

Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,956
Seems to be due the polyphenol and mineral content of them, wonder if I had an issue with this which may be why having propolis every morning helps me so much. Wish we could specifically what those components doing this are though because I'm sure the list of helpful foods is much bigger than what we have presented here.
Maybe this is why propolis helps, as the acetylaldehyde is produced by candida.

An in vitro study with 77 bacterial strains of the Candida genus showed that propolis inhibited the formation of cellular phospholipase, hyphae and germ tubes, important factors for virulence (D'Auria et al., 2003).
 

Dysfunkion

Senior Member
Messages
139
Maybe this is why propolis helps, as the acetylaldehyde is produced by candida.

An in vitro study with 77 bacterial strains of the Candida genus showed that propolis inhibited the formation of cellular phospholipase, hyphae and germ tubes, important factors for virulence (D'Auria et al., 2003).

I know I have candida as I do have the white on my tongue, not sure if that's reduced at all since I started it though since I haven't been paying attention to it. Though I hope it's actually being killed or at least reduced in my body, afraid to stop taking it and regressing. I don't really have a reason to cut it out though, it's actually the cheapest supplement I'm taking right now.
 

Booble

Senior Member
Messages
1,464
Silent migraine is when you have actions in your brain that cause migraine but the wave does not reach the pain receptors. When the wave goes across the optic zone you get those eye auras. They last about 20 minutes which is the time it takes for the wave to cross that zone.
 

Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,956
I know I have candida as I do have the white on my tongue, not sure if that's reduced at all since I started it though since I haven't been paying attention to it. Though I hope it's actually being killed or at least reduced in my body, afraid to stop taking it and regressing. I don't really have a reason to cut it out though, it's actually the cheapest supplement I'm taking right now.
Yeah, don't stop taking it, as the acetaldehyde comes from the candida, so dealing with the candida is the most important thing.
 
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Wayne

Senior Member
Messages
4,310
Location
Ashland, Oregon
I’m experiencing a new symptom and I’m curious if anyone else experiences this and if you’ve found anything that helps.
...It feels as if the brain isn’t protected like normal and is exposed to the world.

Hi @Whit -- Interesting choice of words about your brain feeling "exposed to the world". I've long felt something similar, feeling like my whole neurological system was on the outside of my body as opposed to being encased within my body. This pervasive feeling often made me think about something I once read in some spiritual literature, that one of the functions of the physical body is to protect Soul from the "harsh vibrations" of the physical world. Feels sort of "apt".

It feels like my brain is just raw and doesn't have any protection so nerve signals, neurotransmitters, hormones, and other bodily chemicals just go all over the place where they shouldn't and cause chaos.

Hi @Dysfunkion -- Also interesting choice of words, which I can very much relate to. It's the primary reason I do a variety of energetic and polarity balancing exercises on a daily basis, which I feel helps immensely. If anybody is interested, I recently wrote a fair amount on this which started with THIS POST.

I wish I could figure out something to improve the brain fog PEM crash poisoned neuroinflammation feeling. I think I Google it every single day, thinking I'll find something different. Asking AI about obscure approaches

I'll get to your quest for "obscure approaches" shortly. But along with the above symptoms, I experienced daily headaches for many years, often severe. I also experienced a lot feelings of "fullness", or "head pressure" without the pain. My own guesses for these symptoms were varied, but included:

systemic inflammation in my brain, poor lymphatic and glial drainage from my brain stemming from a head injury as a teenager, close proximity to my mouth, which over the years has had toxic metal fillings and crowns, and some varied oral infections. EMFs were a consideration, along with the health of my digestion and elimination.

Fortunately for me, I eventually discovered a somewhat obscure, but safe, effective and reliable way to overcome most of my symptoms on a daily basis, usually within an hour, namely doing coffee enemas (CEs). It was astonishing to me (and still is) how quickly I can go from feeling miserable and completely discombobulated to actually feeling like a calm (and normal) (and happy) human being.

Over the years I've become quite proficient at doing them, and they are not nearly as difficult to do as most online instructions would have you believe. I've also experimented over the years to see what various supplements or herbs might inprove on my consistent results.

I've discovered that adding about 3-6 grams of sodium ascorbate gives me a nice energy boost. Adding 3-6 drops of methylene blue gives me a nice mental clarity. Adding a 1/4 tsp. of inositol gives me a nice calm feeling. I do my varied energy and polarity balancing techniques while I do a CE, which I believe has a synergistic effect. There's really no limit to things that can be experimented with, such as essential oils, probiotics, amino acids, etc.

For years I thought the main reason I felt better from doing CEs was because of their ability to quickly raise glutathione levels and detoxifiy the body and brain. I believe that to be the case, but may not be the main reason I can feel so much better so quickly. I now believe the ability of enemas to stimulate the vagus nerve may have an even more beneficial effect than the detoxification aspect.

The vagus nerve essentially has branches throughout almost the entire upper body, ending up in the colon. When the colon is stimulated via an enema, it actually stimulates every part of the body. I've heard that people who are prone to heart palpitations should approach enemas cautiously, as the stimulation starting in the colon can affect heart rate and rhythm for some people (the VN runs through the heart).

The vagus nerve is also (as I've heard it described) the "orchestrator of the parasympathetic nervous system", meaning it orchestrates the calming of the body (and mind and psyche?). Calmness is a big thing for me, as I've come to believe it's perhaps one of the biggest factors in our ability to heal. BTW, Albert Einstein also was big on calmness. I'll finish up this post with one of his sayings:

iu
 
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GreenEdge

Senior Member
Messages
610
Location
Brisbane, Australia
The best way I can describe it is a headache/migraine but without the actual pain. You know the feeling when you have a headache and loud music is playing? Like your brain is just really sensitive and can’t tolerate the stimulus and it is physically very uncomfortable? Not in terms of PEM but in terms of an immediate uncomfortable sensation in the brain. It feels like that all the time even without music. It feels as if the brain isn’t protected like normal and is exposed to the world. I have called it dizziness or lightheadedness because it sort of feels like that, but I’m not actually dizzy or lightheaded. It comes and goes in severity but is pretty destructive to my ability to think/process/perform mental tasks when it is severe.
Yes, I've got that now... In my case I think it's from insufficient sleep, cannabis and stimulation (exercise).

Nutrient wise; what a brain needs is ketones or glucose, fatty acids, fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, K and Omega 3's.
 
Messages
93
Location
United Kingdom
My partner describes this as "bad head", which is the best they can do in their very severe state, but we treat it like an intense brain fog, so we'll both refrain from speaking until it passes- I won't ask questions or offer them things to help (as painkillers don't affect it), they need to just rest and not have to think at all. Sometimes a heated mask reduces some sinus pressure which helps, plus tons of water/electrolytes help that dried out "hangover" brain feeling.