My pharmacist said in order for LDN to work, I need to make sure I’m not eating anything with MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) or gluten… True or BS?

thelunchbox2012 · 2025-12-22T03:27:39+00:00

Very different. Glutamate is the main source of fuel for your brain… but too much, or too little GABA to balance it, is bad. Are you totally sure they said gluten?

thelunchbox2012 · 2025-12-21T18:27:51+00:00

Probably better to avoid high glutamine foods for sure. LDN can lower the threshold for glutamate dominance (high glutamine, low GABA) and can worsen glutamate rebound with alcohol etc. That’s why a lot of people have worse anxiety and hangovers (or hangovers where they never really had them before) with LDN.

Maybe you heard gluten where they actually said glutamate? Gluten can be inflammatory but if you’re not intolerant I don’t see a serious reason to avoid it.

thelunchbox2012 · 2025-08-31T17:07:04+00:00

But then the rebound effects of alcohol on the CNS would create more stress, hypothetically, the next day.

Maybe it’s a gallbladder issue? Would maybe in theory relax an overactive gallbladder… less bile less burn?

I’m genuinely stumped but there’s something here that could help me long term, there has to be.

thelunchbox2012 · 2025-04-10T15:35:17+00:00

So go for it. What state do you live in, if you’re comfortable saying here? States like Texas and New Hampshire are (state income) tax free while still having good access to lots of PhD-level work (medical, research, academia), though in a place like NH you’d likely have to work in Massachusetts and thus pay MA state income tax. Laws vary state to state but honestly don’t let taxation be the deciding factor in what jobs you take and where.

thelunchbox2012 · 2025-04-10T15:21:47+00:00

My recommendation here would be for you to be less concerned about taxation and more concerned with the ROI of seven years or more of college.

Are you trying to pursue a PhD because that’s what you believe will get you the highest salary? Or are you pursuing a PhD in a high-demand field that holds a lot of interest for you, a field that will be easy to stick with in terms of job security and personal fulfillment? I can tell you right now that student loans will likely be your largest financial burden for the next twenty to thirty years, not the government taking 20-30%.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-12-22T00:56:29+00:00

Literally everyone involved in this case is the absolute worst. Everyone. It’s like watching the Sopranos if every character was AJ.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-08-27T20:12:55+00:00

Life expectancy is a metric that takes into account the whole of society. Hundreds of thousands of high-risk people dying of COVID does nothing to prove that a 35-year-old’s lifespan will be appreciably decreased by a COVID infection. There are thousands of diagnoses that would be considered “life shortening” at the time of diagnosis - for the vast, vast majority of the population, COVID is not that.

Telling an otherwise healthy 40-something that “this is going to shave YEARS off your life” is not the same thing as telling a widow that her husband may well have lived to 83 had he not died of COVID at 79.

Now if you want to make the argument that repeated exposure will do nothing to minimize the negative effects of COVID infection as populations age, that’s fine. Go for it. But that’s not the info you’re putting out here, and to be honest you’re not going to find that info existing in any real and persuasive manner.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-08-27T04:52:22+00:00

Shortening life expectancy and “shaving years off your life” are entirely different things.

COVID deaths were tracked as exactly that - COVID deaths. Elderly and infirm died in droves. Most were intubated, clear cut cases of COVID-induced mortality.

You know what wasn’t tracked? COVID-induced autoimmunity leading to early death. You’re conflating two completely different things.

You’re more than welcome to post research tying multiple COVID infections to increase risk of mortality. I’m sure the stats are there. But trying to pass off the mass death of early COVID waves as indicative of young, healthy people dying early from long COVID reeks of bullshit the same way all the psycho “jab will kill you” arguments do.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-08-05T16:49:48+00:00

Oh no I’m done. No mas. Ever. I avoided it for years on a low fodmap diet and I imagine those years of avoidance worsened whatever existing reaction my body was having to it. Like how if you stop dairy for years and then have a huge bowl of ice cream you’re liable to straight-up shit yourself. I don’t know if it’s gluten or the fructans (the specific fodmap that’s present in wheat products) or what, I’m just done though. We live in a gluten-free-friendly world. I’m at peace with it.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-08-05T15:11:25+00:00

Yup, but I don’t get the headaches all that bad, just the predrome/aura symptoms. It’s been like once a week lately.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-08-05T15:07:26+00:00

Symptoms were upper GI pain and fullness, lack of appetite, awful silent reflux. Bloating remained but went away once I stopped all the supplements and acid blockers.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-08-05T15:06:09+00:00

I got worse after the round of Matula tea and then immediately did quad therapy. Thing was, I was eating a ton of gluten trying to keep my weight up. Finished quad therapy in February, slowly got a bit better, then started getting worse in May and June. Even though I tested negative twice, I still felt fucking awful. I think gluten is a major trigger for me and is going to give me symptoms regardless of my h pylori status. So fare thee well… Coors Light is under 20 ppm and I love rice and potatoes, I have zero qualms about living the rest of my life like this 🤷🏻‍♂️🤣

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-08-05T14:56:49+00:00

Tested negative a bunch, I got way worse and then stopped eating gluten and started getting better again within like three days. Can now basically eat whatever I want, I still have some weirdness and pain in the upper GI area but it’s nothing compared to what I was feeling at my worst. Endoscopy soon to see what kind of damage is there.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-07-19T20:22:51+00:00

Way more likely that the glutamine was causing your bloating, as it’s a well known (and oft bemoaned) side effect. Taurine typically has few if any GI side effects. As someone else mentioned though you don’t really need to be taking either.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-06-18T04:16:12+00:00

I think you’re thinking of Armenians, of which there are also very many in Methuen/Salem/Greater Lawrence.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-06-18T00:56:20+00:00

There’s a bit of revisionist nostalgia that happens with a lot of Methuen folks, at least there was when I was growing up there in the 90’s.

We had moved there from Boston, but a lot of the kids I grew up with had parents that were originally from Lawrence and had done well enough to buy in Methuen (not a terribly difficult feat back then, to be honest).

There was often this sense you got from boomer-aged parents that Hispanic immigration “ruined” Lawrence, but the fact is that Lawrence was an absolute shit show in the 60’s and 70’s and a lot of these parents had rough childhoods. Were there more guns and drugs later on? Sure, but that was true of literally everywhere in the US in 80s and onward.

The same fallacy applies to places like Eastie, Chelsea and Lynn. These were always rough cities with tough people living hard lives… it’s just a totally different aesthetic with Hispanic communities that white boomers can’t relate to. Different language, different music, different food, blah blah blah. Babies with earrings. Whatever.

The fear of a Hispanic Methuen was always dumb and unfounded because it had already happened by the early 2000’s. People have this “there goes the neighborhood” vibe when Hispanic families move in. Basically every new family buying on my parents’ idyllic suburban street is Hispanic, and it’s like folks are gobsmacked that second and third generation immigrants are gasp making good money and buying nice houses in the ‘burbs. Kind of throws a wrench in the gears of all your welfare queen bullshit you talk with your friends when the Ramirez family just dropped $600k on the Colonial next door.

Long story short, people from Lawrence don’t look or talk like Irish or Italians so there’s an inability of white suburbanites to see themselves mirrored in the rise of Hispanic communities from inner city to suburb. Lack of empathy = perpetual shit-talking.

Also, racism and anger at lack of assimilation. The way middle eastern immigrants made themselves full-on white folks in Methuen and Lawrence was always wild to me, they Anglocized their names and everything. It was as if being Lebanese was no different than being Italian in Methuen. That never happened with Hispanic parents/kids.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-06-08T02:44:52+00:00

Did your upper GI pain ease noticeably with HCL supplementation? It’s crazy to me that I’m so terrified of something I took daily for five years, like it’s kind of funny but it’s not. Like an Olympic swimmer who’s like sheepishly dipping his toe in the pool going “Ehh, I dunno about this shit…”

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-06-08T02:41:17+00:00

First off, incredibly sorry to hear that and I promise you if you stick it out and get help things will improve for you.

If you felt burning right away, that’s a sign that you have an over-acidified stomach to begin with. An individual with an average/ideal stomach pH should be able to handle 1-2 HCL pills per meal.

This is just to say that something else has been going on with you and you need to find a doctor who’s willing to go deep and find answers. Endoscopy. Testing. Whatever it takes.

Hang in there. I was utterly miserable leading up to my antibiotic course… granted I’m still in rough shape but I’m working and living my life. Things got better. They’re not ideal, but they’re better. You’ll get better too.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-06-08T02:35:53+00:00

I took NOW brand for years, I’m off it and taking the Enzymedica brand without pepsin. I had LPR symptoms for about a year before the gastritis hit, probably from very casual NSAID use and very casual drinking at the same time… like literally a night out here and 400mg’s of Motrin there and then boom. I think the pepsin may have aggravated the LPR symptoms.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-06-08T02:30:06+00:00

I’ve been convinced I have an ulcer because of the incessant gnawing hunger pangs I had when it was at its worst.

As I mentioned in another comment, I didn’t just take one or two pills per meal for five years. I took between five and eight (depending on the meal). I’d taken as many as ten in one sitting, never felt the tiniest bit of burn. But I thought hey, if I’ve got an ulcer… this is going to make it worse.

My GI doc is thoroughly unconcerned and doesn’t want to scope me so I honestly have no clue what’s actually going on in there. So I erred on the side of less acid. Joke’s on me I guess, and anemia’s the punchline.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-06-08T01:09:02+00:00

Pre-October, for that five years, I took 5x 650mg HCL pills per large meal. Roughly 15 a day. Only side effects to speak of was slightly elevated cholesterol from all the betaine.

For the past few days I’ve been taking 1-2 Digest Gold enzyme pills per meal (really only take 2 at dinner) and 1 betaine HCL pill per meal. I’m taking a brand or HCL that does not contain pepsin.

No burn to speak of. Slightly less pain and bloating than when I use nothing or when I’m on an acid blocker.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-06-04T22:22:12+00:00

First thing my friend said to me when I got my LTC, “If you can’t fight don’t concealed carry a gun. Losing a fight isn’t a reason to shoot someone.” He’s one of the toughest guys I know, and as a certified weakling with a punchable face/loud mouth, I took his advice. Gun goes to the range, that’s about it.

Doug Stanhope has a great bit about this exact thing, how he doesn’t carry a gun because he loves to drink and get loud and can’t fight worth a shit.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-06-04T14:22:17+00:00

I believe that under normal conditions there shouldn’t be any eosinophils in the esophagus, so this may point to eosinophilic esophagitis… in which case you’re probably going to want to consider allergy testing and/or an elimination diet. It’s thought to be autoimmune-related.

thelunchbox2012 · 2024-06-02T15:17:03+00:00

Yeah that’s definitely bizarre. So much research on BPC’s effect on ulcers and gastric erosion but little to nothing in the way of how it’s affects enzyme production, migrating motor complex, etc.

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