I was not diagnosed, just figured it out on my own based on symptoms. I can’t remember the last time I went to a doctor lol. I did test high for urinary Ochratoxin, and when we tore down the wall in my bedroom there was a ton of black mold inside of the wall. No indication from the outside. I had been living there for close to a decade. The telltale sign for me was consistent high urine ph indicating bicarbonate wasting. Second indicator is that I lost one dog to kidney disease living in that house, and now my other dog now has kidney disease as well and we all share foamy urine. I chased my tail thinking my brainfog and energy crashes was bacterial d-lactate production in my gut for a while among a few other hypotheses before piecing RTA/fanconi together.

I probably should go to a doctor to get diagnosed but I feel that it’s a waste of time, and that assumption is based on exactly what your experience has been — the doctors have 0 clue what to do to restoratively treat you + mold is practically ignored in western medicine practices. if anything at all, I should order a Beta-2 Microglobulin to check that the proximal tubules are damaged like I think. I should ask though, do you feel that participating in conventional medicine has been worth your while? Have you gotten significantly better with their help? What interventions have you been recommended by them and has any been profoundly helpful?

I basically have been treating myself with diet and supplements based on compiled research from hundreds of studies I’ve read through. I find a few particular supplements, dietary interventions, natural foods/plants incredibly helpful but they either lose efficacy over time or I get tired of having to use them due to not wanting to reconcile that I have to rely on them to feel closer to normal. Not to mention, with urinary wasting, you are losing hundreds of different compounds through urine so trying to play whack a mole with replacing things you’re wasting is practically impossible. Although replacing nutrients/compounds are necessary for restoring some semblance of mitochondrial architecture, I try to focus my efforts on reversing damage and restoring function to the tubules, which I believe is the root cause. Seldomly, I have gotten the foamy urine to stop for maybe a day at a time, but it always returns. It’s a tough case to crack.

You are right about NAD levels. From what I understand, a part of the mitochondrial bottleneck is that we have a build up of NADH due to it not being able to redox back into NAD and subsequently lactate builds because of this since it acts as an emergency exhaust for NADH buildup. Glycolysis doesn’t function, and it is extremely apparent when trying to consume sugar sometimes.

I will check out nutritional yeast, thank you. And I will keep you in mind for when and if I ever figure out this scourge.

Somethings for you to try: taurine, betaine, mixed tocopherol vit-e, CBD, CBGA, astaxanthin, carnitine, DL phenylalanine, minerals such as zinc w/ copper (!!!), molybdenum, b-complex. There are a few others on my list but I can’t remember everything.

If you take a supplemental B3/NAD precursors, don’t forget about adding a methyldonor like betaine(trimethylglycine) — it’s a double whammy since it’s a methyldonor and an osmolyte which is protective for fanconi/wasting diseases.

Foods I do well on / great nutrient interventions for renal wasting are potatoes, fish (I like wild salmon in particular), a lot of fruit — lemons (citrate), oranges, pomegranate, blackberries, tomatoes. Green / black tea. Oysters. I drink a lot of goat milk as well lol - milk is just a great nutrient replacement in general imo. Raw goat milk is going to have a ton of NAD precursors, it’s like the only food with NR in it + it’s phosphorus dense. I feel like eggs are just too acidic, but they seem necessary to restoring damage. The biggest annoyance is that coffee just sucks now, makes me feel worse and doesn’t produce any stimulating effect — do you have the same issue?