Tracking my efforts to beat Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), aka CFIDS, aka CFS

Tracking my efforts to beat Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), aka CFIDS, aka CFS

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Digestive enzymes = crash?

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been dutifully taking various Basic Support supplements from Yasko's protocol, adding a new one each 3 or 4 days.  So far, I've added pyconegol, General Inflammatory RNA support, Adenosyl, and the general multivitamin called Neurological Health Formula.  Everything has been going well...until today.

I added digestive enzymes this morning, taking only 1 pill (2 are recommended).  Within a half hour it was clear that I was spiraling down into a very bad crash with nausea, brain fog, and neuro symptoms in the legs and arms (numbness and incoordination).  The crash has lasted all day and shown no signs of letting up.  In fact, I'm struggling to type this because of the neuro symptoms.

Ordinarily, I would have left work and gone home but I have a deadline this week and simply couldn't miss work today.  Frankly, it was miserable.  Trying to concentrate when my brain is fighting against me is not fun.  Worse is trying to act normal with my cooworkers when they are attempting to discuss complicated topics with me.  I put on my best business face and did the best I could.  I'm not sure if they noticed anything was wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.  At times, it was clear that I wasn't making much sense.  

Hopefully if I stop taking the digestive enzymes, these symptoms will disappear quickly.  But of course, I can never be 100% certain of the cause of any crash.  There's always a few other suspects hanging around, creating doubt.  Could this be delayed effect of the adenosyl, i.e. hypokalemia? Or just a crash from the hectic activity of the last few days?

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone else who had a similar experience with digestive enzymes.  I'm not even sure exactly why Dr. Yasko recommends them, so I'll have to research that issue as well.

Thanks for reading today.  



5 comments:

  1. Patrick-I certainly hope you pull out of this soon. I know all too well about not being able to leave work when you feel like death warmed up. I really don't know how I have made it through some meetings when at my worst. Maybe I can put on a good face in these instances, so far no one has called me out on it. Do many of your co workers know about your health issue? Only a handful of mine do. I just prefer to keep it that way for now. One issue with not having an appearance of being sick is that people always assume you are o.k. Not the case as we know. Have you ever had an MRI done patrick? I am getting one in a couple of weeks at my docs recommendation. With the cognitive/balance issues he felt it was time just to make sure nothing too serious is morphing. Onward.

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    1. Hi Bret. I did pull out of that crash quite quickly, so that makes me think it probably WAS the digestive enzymes. When I crash from overactivity, it tends to last a little longer.

      Most of my coworkers know about my health issue, but I don't think they know how seriously it affects me--that it's a daily struggle. I rarely, if ever, mention my health because I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses. I try to keep it under wraps mostly.

      Funny you mention the MRI because I was going to write about that soon. I would like to have one done just to rule out MS, which has been in the back of my mind because of the numbness. I don't think MS is likely because of the way my ME/CFS came on suddenly, with a virus. From what I understand, MS sort of just slowly develops. But I might see a neurologist about my numbness anyway,

      I wish you the best of luck with your MRI. If you get a chance, I'd like to know if you learned anything helpful. As you said....Onward

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  2. I've tried Digestive Enzymes in the past and had some negative reactions. It was awhile ago, couple of years, so I don't remember much. I think I was trying other new supplements as well at the time so couldn't be too sure how much could be attributed to the Digestive Enzymes.

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    1. Interesting, Greyson. I appreciate you sharing that experience.

      Now I wonder if that was some sort of start-up reaction that would go away after a few days, or if I would always feel that way as long as I kept taking the enzymes. I may have to experiment with that eventually, but I'm not looking forward to it!

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  3. I ran out of enzyme/probiotics for about two weeks and forgot to refill... I had some really good days, the day I bought some again and took them id say the following day I had a pretty bad flare up... light headed, blocked nose, tight throat, bloating, dry skin, lips especially... those are the main symptoms. I am actually going to continue for another week... stop for 2 weeks and try it again to see if thats the specific cause.

    Patrick if you don't mind could you email me at matic.alexo@gmail.com , I would like to discuss certain things with you if you don't mind.

    ciao!

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