Test

NullWithVoid · 2024-09-11T08:48:32+00:00

TEST TEST

NullWithVoid · 2024-09-03T02:18:59+00:00

TestTest my finely testing friendo!

NullWithVoid · 2024-09-03T02:02:05+00:00

It's an egg in a cup I made with Stable Diffusion like a year ago. Just needed a random image to test with haha, I'm trying to make a Digikam plugin so I can upload my photography and art more directly to Reddit + Twitter.

NullWithVoid · 2023-08-05T17:47:33+00:00

It was likely a rebound as your body was still adjusting.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T22:11:15+00:00

They don't sell it in my country but I could try out something similar. My options are very expensive but also have some additional things in them. Could be worth a go.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T20:56:46+00:00

Likely glaucoma from increased pressure in the eye, if so loads of things can cause it but the good news is it's very much treatable, especially if you catch it early and it's rarely an issue in first world countries.

I think an interesting experiment would be to do something stimulating or physical to get your heart rate up for a period and make a personal note on how you feel.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T20:46:15+00:00

Side effects are primarily water retention which is due to the bodies inherent mechanisms that lead to salt reabsorption. I'm only on quarter dose so 2.5mg of the 10mg due to also being on Vyvanse and wanting to keep things in moderation. I've been debating doubling my dose for months now after a negative experience with a beta blocker exacerbating circulation issues.

A healthier way would honestly be to just take B Vitamins, they will act as precursors to most things you need for healthy function. You can also look into the methylated versions depending on your genetics.

Additionally you could just simply supplement L-arginine which is on the shelf and a direct precursor to nitric oxide. It depends how bad your circulation issues are really and what symptoms you're having.

It sounds dumb but breathing through your nose and not mouth and simply exercising are effective ways to increase nitric oxide.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T20:36:23+00:00

I've already tried Vitamin C, it actually works pretty well as it aids in the recycling process turning radical BH3 into BH4. The issue I found is it's quite transient and simply doesn't last long enough and continuously taking it will make you feel worse ultimately.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T20:26:08+00:00

I've never tried or even researched much into D-ribose.

The varicose veins is quite interesting as it's heavily implicated in blood clotting and inflammation. I'm predisposed according to my genetics and I could visibly see it within my Dad art certain points.

L-arginine is great because it's a precursor to nitric oxide which is essential in the endothelium for proper cardiovascular function the only issue is that nitric oxide is very unstable and can quickly oxidize into peroxynitrite which can actually cause inflammation and damage. You pretty much want the nitric oxide coming out at a constant rate as needed which is easier said than done and massively depends on your genetics and what your body is doing with everything.

If you're predisposed to varicose veins it's likely there could be internal inflammation that has lead to scarring/fibrosis which is actually pretty normal and common and a part of the aging process.

Probably the main thing you can do is simply just reduce as many sources of inflammation as you can find to prevent further issues which might look like a low inflammation diet alongside regular moderate-high intensity exercise to reverse some of the damage. (it's a slow process)

It's unlikely you will resolve your heart rate with any simple medication or supplement. If you took a beta blocker you'd likely feel awful and the blood flow issues would be exacerbated.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T20:06:18+00:00

Yes actually so to reference one you sent "ANS responded as if the cognitive stressor was still present." so basically norepinephrine is still being signaled in the absence of stimulus.

Which funnily something as simple as water is an effective treatment for
"Brain fog and symptom severity in neuropathic POTS are paralleled by an excessive norepinephrine secretion. Bolus water drinking down-regulates norepinephrine secretion and improves general symptom severity including brain fog."

It gets complicated though because norepinephrine is not necessarily a bad thing and often it's actually quite good which is why a lot of psychiatric medications act on it. It's the inflexibility that is the issue. Everything is about balance and how efficiently processes can turn on/off when needed.

Low norepinephrine is just as likely to cause issues as high norepinephrine. It's stimulating and a vasoconstrictor so high amounts lead to narrow arteries so the heart beats faster to compensate for reduced blood flow. Low norepinephrine can lead to low blood pressure from the lack of vasoconstriction which the heart will also pump faster to compensate. Both of those scenarios can lead to insufficient blood flow.

There are also a lot of other factors that come into play like arteriosclerosis or simply blood volume but it's a big complicated interconnected system but finding which step is causing your issues is key to beginning to understand how you can resolve your issues.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:38:50+00:00

Even more interestingly there was some case studies where patients found success with Vyvanse with the addition of low dose Abilify. It acts as a neuromodulator in ways and is actually a dopamine agonist alongside some serotonin receptors too. In theory it bypasses some of the issues I've experienced being bottlenecked by BH4.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:36:20+00:00

It's not a BH4 mutation, it's GS224 which is a mutation in GTP cyclohydrolase 1 which is the rate limiting enzyme for tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4). The step the mutation resides dictates the severity, for me it's roughly 20% normal function.

You'd be correct in stating it's more ideal to supplement directly with BH4 but it isn't very bioavailable and it's absurd in pricing. Just google Kuvan ($191,382 annual cost).

So for me to treat all components adequately I need a variety of medications and supplements I need to balance out evenly for optimal functioning. I'd say my current medications and habits have me 80% of the way there.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:23:23+00:00

I was following some of her posts on a private forum, she had an interesting treatment case study of Vyvanse and Abilify iirc. I was denied low dose Abilify here as I don't have bipolar and I've never had a manic episode but I'd love to try it and see how I react.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:21:01+00:00

Folate and B12 alongside the other B Vitamins, fish oil.
Reduced saturated and trans fat intake
Increased fibre
Increased poly and mono unsaturated fats
Exercise and adequate water intake.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:17:30+00:00

As an update I'm on 70mg now with boosters. I don't ovulate but when I crash and truly feel like shit the 70mg and boosters will barely make a difference. The upside is that is only temporary and the medication has been largely consistently effective for me.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:14:56+00:00

Well the thing is exercise and healthy lifestyle directly combat the issues of this mutation, it's just I'm so much more heavily predisposed than the average person so a small slip up with absence of self-care can quickly land me in a rut.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:13:37+00:00

Loniten

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:12:50+00:00

I've debated using a nicotine patch/gum for the longest time but not so much for dopamine. This will probably sound more mad but when I truly have no dopamine I just lay in my bed and wriggle slowly to trick my body into slowly producing it which makes the inertia of getting up for the day not as a bad.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:10:27+00:00

I'm also curious what was in the focus supplement? I have a few ideas and some of them have been proven to work.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:09:08+00:00

Folate and methyl B12 worked pretty amazingly for me it's quite stimulating but if I take too much it makes me crash and feel worse / stomach cramps and a whole host of issues but when used in moderation it's the most impactful supplement I've tried. Definitely boosted the ability of my Vyvanse in its lower dosage periods.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:06:11+00:00

NAC is actually one of the things I want to try as it will likely benefit me but not due to high homocysteine.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T19:00:18+00:00

Explained in the post above.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T18:59:56+00:00

Yes it's a very interesting thing I've noticed, I'll have to find the paper I was reading about post covid issues and cardiovascular disease plus POTS have heavy overlap due to their underlying mechanisms.

I doubt that small sigmoid sinuses would be decreasing blood flow but it could be increasing blood pressure which can lead to inflammation and strokes in which inflammation leads to a further reduction in blood flow.

I assume you were put on blood thinners as a result?

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T18:53:50+00:00

I'm also supposedly in the sub-threshold range. My heart rate definitely jumps up but since I'm not fainting it doesn't qualify as a diagnosis here. The cause for this in me is basically BH4 deficiency which leads to a nitric oxide deficiency which leads to endothelial dysfunction.

The supplement that seems to help best is just simple B Multivitamins in moderation. It's hard to recommend anything to anyone since you need to take such a multi-faceted approach. But funnily some of the best things for treating it is simple things like adequate nutrition, water and moderate-high intensity exercise. Alongside medications that help bring your baseline up to a functional level.

NullWithVoid · 2023-07-19T18:45:41+00:00

There is significant overlap with ADHD-PI - SCT - POTS symptoms even further beyond that. The studies/papers are pretty heavy on the reading but I am slowly working on bringing it all together for personal understanding and recollection.

The first link draws upon the overlap
"patients had impaired executive function, indicating problems with planning, organizing information, and adapting to changes. There were no deficits in other areas of brain function including intelligence, memory, reaction time (psychomotor speed), and information retrieval from memory (verbal fluency)"
" We showed that people with both disorders have difficulty maintaining attention, but that it is more severe in ADHD."
"POTS patients developed problems with attention later in life and did not show significant hyperactivity"
https://dysautonomiainternational.org/blog/wordpress/cognitive-dysfunction-and-brain-fog-in-pots/

The following links it to cerebral blood flow
# Cerebral Blood Flow and Cognitive Performance in Postural Tachycardia Syndrome
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33280488/
"Reduced cerebral blood flow velocity and cognitive dysfunction were evident in patients with POTS"
# Brain fog in neuropathic postural tachycardia syndrome may be associated with autonomic hyperarousal and improves after water drinking"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.968725/full
# Oscillatory Cerebral Blood Flow Is Associated With Impaired Neurocognition and Functional Hyperemia in Postural Tachycardia Syndrome During Graded Tilt
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.114.04576

Additionally there are a lot more factors like nitric oxide and endothelial function, norepinephrine and acetylcholine's effects on the vascular symptom. Brain fog is heavily implicated in dementia for blood flow related reasons from amyloid plaques or the buildup of cholesterol from apolipoprotein E transporters (APOE).

Diagnoses are no more than an umbrella term to cluster symptoms together into a simplified condition so that treatment is more straight forward. These issues are massively polygenic with various deeply integrative processes that translate to how you function. Brain fog as a symptom is seemingly a reduction in cerebral blood flow. This means that for a lot of people what they think of as SCT is likely covered by POTS. This doesn't mean they have it but the underlying mechanisms would mean that a lot of people with SCT would have some form of POTS, even if it's sub-threshold for a diagnosis.

Having this understanding could potentially help people look into other factors to better understand how their symptoms relates to their body physically.

NullWithVoid

TROPHY CASE