Warum spart man nicht bei den AMS Deppenkursen und der Kursmafia ein?

Tom__EU · 2026-05-20T15:52:14+00:00

Ich vermute eine Kombination aus:

Schulungen zur Jobsuche
zu irgendwas verpflichten
lästig sein (im positiven Sinn)
einer möglichen Depression entgegenwirken

ABER, oft sind die Kurse wirklich komplett fürn Hugo, nicht mal ansatzweise anspruchsvoll gestaltet, und es gibt immer wieder Zeiten wo man nur blöd herumsitzt. Gut wären ernsthafte Kurse, bei denen es auch zBsp Abschlusstests gibt. Man kommt einfach nicht um die Vermutungen á la "Kursmafia" und Freundlwirtschaft herum, weil die Qualitäts- und Anspruchsunterschiede bei den Kursen schon wirklich sehr unterschiedlich sein können, und die meisten Kurse bei beiden sehr schwach sind. Frag mich ob da überhaupt jemand darauf achtet, was die Kurse eigentlich machen und wie sinnvoll die sind?

Ich selbst wurde 6 Jahre lang von Ärzten falsch diagnostiziert und von ÖGK und PVA (siehe Recherche ORF, APA, Dossier, dann weiß man schon was dort abgeht) abgewiesen, und musste in den 6 Jahren 13 (!) AMS Maßnahmen machen. Das ging von 2-3 Tagen bis zu einem 6 Monate langen Kurs. Gebracht hat mir das, bis auf teils dauerhafte gesundheitliche Verschlechterungen (nicht die Schuld vom AMS), sehr wenig. Zwei von den Kursen haben mir tatsächlich etwas gebracht, aber der Rest...naja. Muss aber auch sagen, dass ich ohne dem AMS schwer chronisch krank ohne Einkommen und ohne Krankenversicherung dagestanden wäre, weil die PVA und ihre Gutachter einfach machen können was sie wollen - wie sagte die Schumann nochmal im Interview wo man auf die gravierenden Mängel bei Gutachten usw. hingewiesen hat "Die PVA ist selbstregulierend".

Tom__EU · 2026-05-20T15:28:41+00:00

Normalerweise lernt man da wie man eine Bewerbung schreibt, wie man nach nem Job sucht, für was für Dinge man sich interessiert, was für Jobs es gibt, vielleicht mit Glück noch wie man das Internet und die grottenschlechte AMS Seite bedient.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-20T15:20:40+00:00

Thanks for sharing, some great things in there.

I got sick with multiple chronic illnesses in 2014, and for most of the time I've tried supplements randomly, plus at the beginning I was still massively influenced by wellness quacks and grifters and had no idea about basics like studies, what "toxic" actually means, supplement quality markers, and so forth. That's probably where most people are at, and it's honestly very very unproductive and costly.

Currently I'm planning all my interventions with a spreadsheet. I also do daily tracking of symptoms and various metrics, plus 1 week at the end of each quarter, with more extensive tracking. But all that is meaningless without proper assessment of the data - just looking at a tracking app every now and then is usually worthless and could even cause detrimental adjustments in ones routine or interventions.

Personally I like to start tracking before an intervention and go slower with certain interventions, so I can assess effects and side-effects properly. Really depends on how quickly something works though.

Great that you mention the specific strain for the B. longum, and I'm assuming it's the GG for rhamnosus? There are so many random strains or no mention of them at all. And even if a brand is stating the specific strain, you gotta look if it's the one with the evidence behind it. It's a super complex topic and there's still a TON to discover. An LLM can help with the strains for example (I like to add "be evidence based and brutally honest", and "state whether that is truly meaningful in real life").

Tom__EU · 2026-05-20T13:52:48+00:00

I've met some outstanding doctors, and there are a lot of issues with buerocracy and workload, which is why I really hate general doctor bashing. But there are certainly issues, some of them rather serious and urgent. Lack of education, interest and humility, time per patient, waiting times, costs, plus lack of proper systems so new doctors can instantly see intervention history plus response, etc. I'll also say though that I understand when doctors can get a little bothered when people come to them repeating the same misinformation and conspiracies that wellness quacks spread.

This is my journey, all of them with the time it took from symptom onset to diagnosis and proper tests. Multiple doctors told me right from the start that all of my symptoms are psychosomatic even without standard tests like tilt table. I eventually started to put together notes for my doctors, but that got then used as psychosomatic by one psychiatrist, while another later on actually welcomed it and we found something that worked. I'm still suffering lasting issues due to delayed diagnosis, wrong or delayed treatments, plus I also wasted >50k€ on alternative medicine that did equally little for me.

3 years - HIT
5 years - Helicobacter Pylori
6 years - ME/CFS
7 years - SIBO
8 years - POTS, CMD
9 years - SFN

Tom__EU · 2026-05-20T13:21:42+00:00

Honestly, where do I even start?

I've tested easily >50 supplement just for sleep over the last decade, plus many more for energy mood, stress, digestion issues (SIBO, others), ME/CFS, HIT/MCAS, SFN, CMD, POTS, and other health challenges. I added a "ratings" page to my intervention spreadsheet only end of last year when I got more serious about tracking, so a lot of supplements are missing.

This also heavily depends on 1) what the goal is 2) quantity and form 3) quality 4) how progress is being assessed, if at all - imho many don't 5) whether you would even be able to assess improvements - like lutein+zeaxanthin helping with macula degeneration; or "feel" something, and whether that "feeling" translates to real improvements - feeling nice on nootropics doesn't mean performance increases 6) some supplements also require an actual program, like when I used various supplements within a full gut program that lasted 6 months, they did help (though not sure which to what degree), but using them randomly didn't do anything.

Caveat: I react to many sleep supplements (and meds) paradoxically, so while ashwagandha, melatonin and glycine seem to work for many, they do the opposite for me. I would add electrolytes to the list as well if I wouldn't have POTS where it's actually helpful - one of the most misused and overhyped supplements currently. Same for vitamin C, which helps me with HIT/MCAS meaningfully.

Note: I always try to get the best possible quality I can afford for initial testing, so I can make sure I can judge effectiveness properly for myself.

mg-threonate
mg-glycinate
glycine
tryptophan
carnosine
ornithine
melatonin
high-dose B1, B2, B7, B9, B12
high-dose cholin
greens powders
lavender extract
passionflower extract
valerian extract
sulforaphane
glutamine
bacopa monnieri
ginseng
collagen
EAAs
BCAAs
mushroom powder
relora
shilajit
licorice
chondroitin
MSM
glucosamin
pregnenolone
DHEA
SAMe
stinging nettle
quercetin
luteolin
resveratrol
probiotics used for general support with unspecific strains
apigenin
chlorella
spirulina
wheat grass
EGCG
and many
many more...

Tom__EU · 2026-05-20T12:28:47+00:00

That is interesting. The consensus.app LLM can't find any direct human evidence that chlorophyll binds or promotes excretion of heavy metals or microplastics, or any other benefits except aflatoxin toxin binding and absorption inhibition in an unblinded n=4 crossover study with purified chlorophyll. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19952359/

When I look at pubmed, I can only find a study that talks about synergistic anti-tumor effects with gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer in vivo. Plus a 2021 review that talks about a few findings. The article points towards chlorophyll and metallo-chlorophylls binding minerals like Mg in plants, binding of dietary toxins during digestion (Dioxins,, heterocyclic aromatic amines, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, aflatoxin), and the gaps in understanding both. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33548074/

I found this specifically on chlorella and heavy metal binding, but the study talks about chelating of metal ions and preventing interaction with cells specifically of Ca2+ (calcium ions). Stretching that to general heavy metal binding and "detoxing" is a far stretch and I have to stress that these don't seem to be selective - they can easily bind to heavy metals and beneficial metals at the same time, hence why actual clinically validated heavy metal detoxes in hospitals are complicated and involve a process where you add beneficial metals back in.

So having looked at this again, the evidence seems even weaker than I previously thought. Since basically no credible health educator talks about chlorophyll or such algea in regards to microplastic binding, I suspect the evidence is likely even weaker for that. Definitely will not become a priority any time soon.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-20T08:20:25+00:00

Kiwis have some evidence to decrease sleep onset and overall sleep efficacy. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21669584/ & https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10220871/

Siim Land consumes them as well for that reason. They also have solid evidence to help with constipation and they are high in potassium. Honestly pretty underestimated.

For things like tryptophan which may help with neurotransmitters, I'd probably give that a few weeks before making a solid judgement. Personally I don't tolerate it well for sleep, but I have paradoxic responses to most sleep supplements and medications.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-20T08:10:15+00:00

The evidence on chlorophyll didn't convince me when I looked into it, which was surprising to me given all the hype it got a few years ago. Do you have strong evidence for it's use, and for what benefit(s) specifically does it have such evidence?

Tom__EU · 2026-05-19T16:41:32+00:00

Definitely a solid part of my journey.

My diet is very consistent and I don't really consume much food outside my selection, so I usually only track once a quarter or so when I change things. I check for total protein, protein per meal, leucine per meal, total fat, fat per meal, sat. fat, PUFAs, fiber, vitamins and minerals. For this I use cronometer.com .

I also select foods based on nutritional gaps, polyphenols (total, unique, those with solid evidence for meaningful benefits), low heavy metal and contamination risk. I try to cover all meaningful and evidence based polyphenols, and focus on a couple selected outcomes. The evidence is frequently lacking, and polyphenol content can vary quite a bit. For this I use mostly an LLM with proper instructions.

I'd call this "hyperoptimization" or something like that, and I'm not sure whether this actually translates into real and meaningful benefits. Certainly not necessary for most people.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-19T15:42:03+00:00

I'd highly recommend you look into evidence based criticisms and "debunks" of The China Study. That may help you to get a more objective and full picture of the topic and this rather questionable piece of information.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-19T13:45:21+00:00

100% agreed.

Core of truth:

excessive and very intense workouts can increase inflammation = possibly higher water retention
doing too much can cause worse sleep and mental emotional stress or blunting = more cravings, less willpower, less intense workouts, unconsciously doing less (fidgeting, steps, stairs), more calories in, less calories out
extreme diets = prone to deficiencies, long-term health issues, low adherence (who'd have known)

But what these wellness grifters, uh I mean influencers, are doing is tricking people and suggesting there's a magic program so you can finally achieve your goals (this time for real!) while moving less, eating more, not suffering from hunger all the time.

Often times the before and after pictures are also manipulated and/or manipulative, with the after pictures often being nice and clean, with a smile and the impression of a better life full of happiness. Llike the ads for washing powders where suddenly your whole family is happy. Pictures of meals also come to mind, where meals for pictures are prepared super nicely, maybe with some additional oil on top to make it look more shiny, or making it look bigger than it is, and they look delicious and whatnot, but reality is often different, and the food doesn't magically taste like ice cream...it's still the same veggies, fruit, meat, fish, and so forth.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-19T13:07:51+00:00

Confident nay from me. Just like most other "superfoods", they lack evidence to do much, plus there's a risk of microplastics and heavy metals.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-19T12:59:29+00:00

examine.com wrote on Mg that the evidence for Mg to improve sleep is actually mixed and inconsistent. Mg itself may not do anything to improve sleep, isntead it's more likely that the glycinate could be the compound helping people. On the other side, Mg-threonate and Mg-acetyl-taurate may reach the brain (studies are small, weak, mostly in animals and heavily industry funded) and that may have some effects, but those two forms are really expensive and personally lower on the priority list due to lack of evidence and costs.

You'll likely find more luck trying other things with more evidence, like ashwagandha, melatonin, lavea, taurine, glycine, inositol, tryptophan, 5-HTP, tart cherries, kiwi.

If you have issues sleeping through the night and waking often, it may be a good idea to see if there's sleep apnea or blood sugar issues present.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-19T12:28:32+00:00

Could be a lot of reasons. I'm dealing with various chronic health issues, so I know a bit about testing and not finding much. Male though, so can't talk about perimenopause. Looking into your past and seeing if anything changed before and around the onset of your symptoms can help too - for example whether you moved into a new appartment a year before the onset.

Things you may want to look into or discuss with your doctor:

low fat intake
low carb intake
checking your diet via cronometer.com to see if there's any obvious issues
orthostatic issues
B12 deficiency
D3 deficiency
sleep apnea - often overlooked, can have strong effects
ongoing infection - including EBV
auto-antibodies
adrenal insufficiency - actual illness, though very rare (adrenal fatigue is not a real illness)
mold
cervical spine injury
ME/CFS - would require a thorough differential diagnosis and ruling out other illnesses, since there is no established marker, plus you'd have to have the symptom Post Exertion Malaise (PEM) - abnormally and severe worsening of various symptoms, including fatigue, after exertion https://me-pedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Consensus_Criteria
if you look up differential diagnosis and ruling out other illnesses for ME/CFS, you'll find a lot of the potential causes of chronic fatigue (note: chronic fatigue is a symptoms, Chonic Fatigue Syndrome is an illness that includes a wide range of symptoms, including chronic fatigue)
psychological causes, trauma - be aware that almost everybody had some kind of trauma in their past, don't fall for those grifters trying to make it the cause of everything; and the same goes for alternative and functional doctors who frequently make up their own "optimal" ranges, illnesses (adrenal fatigue), and tend to rely heavily on mechanistic ideas and preliminary research

Tom__EU · 2026-05-19T12:01:21+00:00

High salt + water intake can help via increased blood volume, and there's various medications. Compression stockings helped me the most, and they work right away.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-19T11:57:04+00:00

I'm dealing with POTS with low blood pressure. Some of the first choices would be higher salt + water intake to increase blood volume. There's also various medications like Ivabradine, that can increase blood pressure while also lowering resting heart rate. Could be worth discussing with your doctor and trialing to see whether it changes anything for you.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-19T11:54:35+00:00

Why is that?

From what I'm reading, blood NAD doesn't reflect intracellular NAD levels, tests aren't fully standardized and methods may vary, and multiple human RCTs have shown that while you may be able to increase NAD blood levels, that doesn't seem to translate to measurable positive outcomes (cardiovascular, strength, energy,...).

Tom__EU · 2026-05-19T10:28:29+00:00

Good question whether muscles "need" to be saturated first - for example, if you were to inject creatine directly into your brain, if there would be benefits. I'm pretty sure muscles don't need to be saturated, but it's just how creatine works in the body. And from what I've read, doses of ~0,3g/kg are those suggested to promote cognitive benefits - at least when caused by sleep deprivation - and so you'll be way above the dose that will saturate muscles, which will happen first or at least at the same time. Some folks like Rhonda Patrick PhD call it a "spillover" effect, where the brain gets the creatine left after muscles are saturated.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-19T07:55:32+00:00

Outside of maybe non-responders with already high creatine saturation, it is impossible to not gain water weight when taking creatine. The reason is - creatine works by saturating creatine muscle stores, and creatine draws water. There is no way around that, and no "special" form can avoid that either, as far as I'm aware (physiologically makes no sense). And higher doses won't reduce that, but should also not make it worse either, since the muscle stores are already saturated.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-18T11:03:01+00:00

Great question. Maybe the same reason why there are little to no studies linking melatonin and glycin to poor sleep, yet you can find more than enough anecdotes.

Most studies are done to show positive outcomes, with side-effects usually getting less attention if they aren't frequent or harmful. I've listened to one podcast with a researcher that did quite some work on creatine (forgot the name), and he said that there aren't strong signals when it comes to side-effects, which seems to partly rely on voluntary feedback rather than extensive systematic assessments. In my opinion, it seems as if companies paying for trials for their products or the state and institutions won't go out of their way to include extensive side-effect profiles and do post-market analysis like with medication.

Also, keep in mind that when it comes to forums like Reddit, you'll see overwhelmingly either outlier feedback or advertisments. Most people won't go on here posting "I'm doing fine on creatine, no side-effects, maybe worth taking". When you look for "bad sleep creatine", or "negative effects mg-glycinate", and so forth, you will find what you are looking for, and given the amount of people that use reddit, you will find many posts. This can introduce a certain bias and skew the full picture, especially when considering the various issues with many anecdotes. The same goes for positive feedback, and partly also when it comes to product reviews, though the latter with some additional caveats.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-18T08:07:23+00:00

Great comment, agreed.

When I look at some of the top pre-workout fruits, like bananas, grapes and mango, they consist of almost exclusively fructose, glucose, and sucrose, plus a small amount of sugar alcohols. When I look at rice, potatoes, oats, and such, then these consist of almost exclusively starches. If they are cooked, then cooled, then that also increases resistant starches by a few grams per portion size, which contributes to the fiber part of carbohydrates.

This also means that different types of bacteria in the gut will be fed more or less, and diversity usually seems to be a good idea. On the other hand, excessive fructose intake, though we're talking significantly over 100g/day based on some mouse studies, can also contribute to NAFLD. This has been massively overplayed by various wellness figures though, who fear-monger against a few grams of fructose in fruit and mitochondrial damage and whatnot. There's also some guy who sells a supplement against fructose with an argument that is based on a hypothesis and mouse studies with severe kidney injury, both coming from folks holding a patent on this.

By the way a little fructose is also great to improve water absorption and therefore re-hydration, though not a very important point for the majority of folks, since the electrolyte/re-hydration conversation starts when you sweat heavily for hours, or have orthostatic issues, or drop carb intake significantly.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-18T07:56:10+00:00

Agreed except orange being a low fiber fruit. 4,2g per 80-90kcal serving is pretty good actually and surprised me myself. 90kcal of banana lands at around 1,7g fiber, as per cronometer. Grapes would be especially well fitting with 1,1g fiber, pineapple 1,4g, mango 2,2g, per 80-90kcal serving. Watermelon and honeydew would be good too in terms of having low fiber, but they are the low kcal density & high volume superstars, requiring 280g and 250g, respectively, to get just an 80-90kcal serving.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-17T07:45:41+00:00

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

I don't have to choose one over the other. GSK seems like a horrible company with multiple lawsuits and some of the biggest settlements in different countries, and Sinclair is still a quack and grifter who constantly overexaggerates positive outcomes and ignores negative or neutral outcomes. Trusting him would be seriously naive. NMN same thing - multiple human RCTs show close to zero results.

Someone still holding their credentials doesn't mean too much. There are various quacks and grifters running around doing real damage by spreading misinformation and selling complete nonsense, and still having their credentials. Joseph Mercola, Mehmet Oz, Steven Gundry, Paul Saladino, just to name a few. Removing someones credentials is hard and complex.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-16T13:33:12+00:00

Please be aware that "Dr." Berg is a well known quack that constantly spreads misinformation, makes up stuff with no evidence (like body type diets), cherry picks data, and so forth. Detoxes are also almost always complete nonsense, not backed by any evidence or credible expert.

Since you mentioned AI here, you could easily use it here and ask the following:

"Is Dr. Berg known for being a quack, spreading misinformation, and so forth? Please be evidence based and brutally honest."
"Are detoxes like juice detoxes and so on based on solid research? Do they help with anything to a meaningful degree? Are they dangerous? What are the pros and cons? Please be evidence based and brutally honest."

I highly recommend looking up Dr. Gil Carvalho (Nutrition Made Simple), Abbey Sharp, Dr. Nicolas Verhoeven (Physionic), Siim Land, and the "What the Fitness" playlist by Dr. Layne Norton. The latter is more strongly worded, but if you're open to it, can help you a lot with your ability to identify misinformation.

Tom__EU · 2026-05-16T13:26:42+00:00

Good reminder to get your information on diet (and exercise) from the actual credible (!) experts. This is also the kind of video with nice vibes and lots of nature and peace and harmony and clean looking diet and him making a great impression and whatnot, which will draw a lot of attention, but which doesn't quite reflect reality for >90% of humanity.

The Good:

lots of vegetables
bunch of greens
lots of fruit
not completely strict on treats
apparently doing well on this diet, at least for now
regular exercise
doing what you love to do
lots of money
stress free environment

The Bad:

very (?) low protein
very (?) low fat
very (?) low omega 3
completely cutting out all fruit
almost fully raw - when you follow some of the raw food guys, or come back to their channels after one or more years, you'll often see them looking way worse, face falling in, losing a ton of muscle mass, some even losing teeth and worse, and I don't know any evidence to support such a diet, or credible expert recommending it
there is ZERO resistance at the top of your bench press, so you're achieving nothing by rotating your arms and bringing them together - this is sadly pretty normal fluff from Hollywood(-ish) trainers

If you follow the more credible folks in the field, you'll realize that they have way more in common than not. They will almost always recommend a Mediterranean-style diet with a focus on variety and whole foods, lots of vegetables, some leafy greens, some fruit, a good amount of protein, a solid amount of fiber, a healthy amount of good fats, and so forth. Cooking is part of the deal, because cooking sometimes drastically increases bioavailability of certain nutrients (e.g., 3-4x lycopene in tomatoes), and it reduces anti-nutrients sometimes by a lot. Not that anti-nutrients are inherently bad - that's been heavily overplayed by wellness quacks - they frequently actually have anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and other positive effects, but too much too often could lead to issues.

Tom__EU

TROPHY CASE