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What Is Scoliosis?

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scoliosis and impaired oxidative metabolism

As everyone knows, the spinal column is made up of a series of bones known as vertebrae. Like bricks in a column, they collectively support the entire body in an upright position. Their anatomy is very complex because, collectively, they have to allow for the spinal column to bend in every direction without parting company with each other. Sometimes a child develops a permanent bend in the spinal column known as scoliosis. It usually develops relatively slowly and is usually watched by anxious parents as it becomes more severe. Anyone reading this who has had experience of it will know that the treatment is very advanced surgery in which the spinal column is straightened and supported with steel rods. This post is to try to explain why scoliosis happens and how it may possibly be prevented.

Brain Symmetry

Most people know that the left half of the body is controlled by the right side of the brain and vice versa. The reason for this asymmetry is unknown. However, asymmetry appears to be pretty important with many aspects of brain function. For example, I collected 17 patients, in each of whom their respective blood pressure was totally different in the two arms. The difference was so great that I imagined such an individual, when visiting a physician, would leave the office with a blood pressure pill if the pressure had been measured in the arm on the higher side, and without it if it had been taken in the arm on the low side. As most people know, the blood pressure is taken almost invariably in only one arm. The blood pressures in my 17 patients were compared with healthy controls. Although the pressures of controls varied only slightly in the two arms, the difference was extremely obvious when compared with the patients.

The asymmetry in the patients was greatly exaggerated, whereas in the controls it was minimal. This asymmetry is capable of increasing in direct relationship to loss of efficient metabolism in the control mechanisms in the brain. The loss of efficiency may be due to genetic effect or long-term malnutrition. These 17 patients had many symptoms, indicating that their autonomic nervous system was compromised because of poor oxidative metabolism. The symptoms responded to treatment with nutritional elements.

Dysautonomia

We have two nervous systems, known respectively as the voluntary and autonomic. The voluntary system enables us to use free will, whereas the autonomic is automatic and organizes brain/body functions that we cannot control voluntarily. The prefix dys means abnormal, so dysautonomia refers to abnormal function of that system. This can be due to genetic influence or from metabolic changes related to poor diet. One of the abnormalities that can occur is that the normal mild asymmetry in autonomic control can become exaggerated, giving more power to one side of the body than the other. Under normal healthy conditions, this asymmetry is much less marked. In fact, it is well known that all of us have some degree of asymmetry. One foot may be slightly bigger than the other or one eye may be a little bit more closed than the other. The autonomic nervous system is deployed to every part of the body and is the messenger system by which the brain controls all the organs that together, create body functions.

What Has This To Do With Scoliosis?

The spinal column is lined by very strong ligaments and muscles. It is these muscles that enable us to bend in every direction. However, those muscles are kept in what is called constant tone. Notice the hardness of the muscles in the low back. They feel to the touch like steel almost. This is because they are kept in tone as a permanent support. This tone is maintained through the autonomic nervous system by constant signals from the brainstem to the muscles surrounding the spinal column. The voluntary system can overcome the autonomic signals to enable us to bend as we wish. Asymmetric signaling to the muscles on either side of the spinal column occurs in health but may be only slight. If however, control mechanisms in the lower part of the brain are metabolically inefficient, asymmetric signaling evidently increases.   If the tonic signals have exaggerated asymmetry, the tone of the muscles on one side of the spinal column will have stronger signals than on the other side. This explains why the scoliosis occurs gradually, but we have to realize that the real cause of the disease is because of the exaggerated asymmetry in the autonomic nervous system. In other words, scoliosis can be a disease of the autonomic nervous system as well as from genetic changes in the vertebral column.

An experimental treatment for scoliosis was reported some years ago in which electrodes were attached to the weaker muscles on the convex side of the scoliosis and tonic electrical signals attempted to straighten the spinal column. I do not know what happened to that experiment, but it seems to me that scoliosis should be treated by preventive treatment of the dysautonomia. The patients with the asymmetric blood pressures all had evidence of dysfunctional oxidative metabolism in the lower part of the brain, an effect that can be produced by thiamine deficiency. All of them were treated by nutritional therapeutic measures with variable degrees of success. Quite a few of them, but not all, had thiamine deficiency as the underlying cause. It was concluded therefore that it was oxidative dysfunction, for any cause, in the brain that was the underlying cause of the exaggerated asymmetry, whether this was genetic or nutritional in origin. They responded to a number of intravenous infusions of water-soluble vitamins, all of which contained thiamine. The control mechanisms of the autonomic nervous system in the lower part of the brain are particularly prone to develop thiamine deficiency. Therefore this is an important cause of inefficient oxidative brain metabolism.

Prevention

As far as I know, prevention of scoliosis has never been attempted and what follows is therefore a hypothesis based on some evidence. It may well be that nutrition of the mother in pregnancy can induce faulty metabolism in the fetus that may deploy its effect in many different ways. We now know that thiamine deficiency is common in pregnancy and most of its complications can be prevented by taking a modest dose of thiamine, starting even before pregnancy. Since the major effect of thiamine deficiency is dysautonomia, perhaps the exaggeration of asymmetry can be prevented. The new science of epigenetics enables some modification of genetic defects. A mouse model has shown that the combination of a genetic risk factor with short-term gestational hypoxia (oxygen deficit) significantly increases the gene penetrance and severity of vertebral defects. There is no harm in a supplement of thiamine during pregnancy. Whether it would be capable of preventing scoliosis would depend on its disappearance from the medical literature and would be a long-term goal.

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More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

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This article was published originally on August 28, 2017. 

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I’ll Sleep When I Am Dead: Connections Between Diet, Sleep, and Health

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poor sleep

My journey into discovering what it means to be well began over 60 years ago, when Coca Cola’s popularity burst on the scene back in the late 60’s early 70’s, when a McDonald’s big Mac could be purchased for 49 cents, and Wonder Bread’s claim to fame was “Helps build strong bodies 12 ways.” Instead of eating a nutritious lunch, we were snookered into believing that bologna, whose first name was Oscar and was sandwiched between two slices of white bread, a Tab soda, and a bag of Charles chips was considered a healthy meal. It was anything but healthy and it left us feeling empty, with grumbling stomachs and an unsteady blood sugar level. I lived on these types of foods for decades as my health declined. I did not learn until I was 44 years old that my poor food choices were not only affecting my health but my capacity to sleep. I never slept. When I cleaned up my diet, sleep improved. Unfortunately, the improvements were short-lived because my thyroid became overactive with onset of Graves’ disease. This too, I largely resolved with diet, supplements, and alternative therapies, as conventional medicine seemed to make me worse and all that was offered were drugs and/or surgery. Although I am not yet recovered, I am much better than I was. This is my story.

Early Childhood: Skinny, Unattractive, and Sickly

As a child, I was very thin and clumsy. Nowadays, I probably would have been considered anorexic. I did not have an appetite due to the postnasal drip running down the back of my throat like a sieve. All I could eat on our weekly trip to McDonald’s was half of a regular size hamburger with no condiments. I remember picking through my food with my fork to dig a hole, hoping somehow the food would fall into the hole and disappear, or wishing the dog was inside so that I could hand off my vegetables to him.

The food I consumed came from what is considered a SAD diet (Standard American diet). It originated from the fast-food industry, had no nutritional value whatsoever, and laid a poor foundation for what I believe was my general unwellness. I was never well as child or young adult. As a result of my poor eating habits, allergies, buck teeth, breathing problems, and fitful sleep were my constant companions. I was labeled skinny, unattractive, and sickly. The Weston A. Price Foundation would have had a field day reviewing my overall health relationships. From inadequate nutrition to underdeveloped and overcrowded dental health which then led to poor physical health. I looked like a raccoon with dark circles under my eyes. I was a mess – (spoken with a thick southern accent.)

My mother did her best by encouraging me, providing what she considered to be a balanced diet, general health, and sleep basics, but over time, my body developed poorly, and I suffered miserable allergies to everything. Allergy shots were the recommendation for all of my environmental conflicts. I was left battered and bruised and they did not even work. Eventually, to combat the allergies, they removed my tonsils. This is a barbaric answer to solving a health issue, just remove the organ. I found out much later that the tonsils are an important part of our immune system.

Young Adulthood: Bone Demineralization and Costochondritis

I managed to make it through high school unscathed except for mononucleosis and skin irritations that could be traced back to a poor diet. College brought about new challenges when it came time to eat. This was solved by the plethora of quick meals that provided little to no vitamins or minerals, and of course, my sleep habits continued to decline.

At age 27, I was diagnosed with costochondritis. This was brought about by a rigorous exercise routine at the gym, in the name of getting healthy. “Let’s Get Physical” was the song that sent everyone running to the clubs to get fit and trim, but my lack of essential nutrients caused extreme damage to my ribs. Looking back, I find it hard to believe that I had two relatively healthy children, but then, they received most of the nutrients that were being ingested and I was left with zero. I was eating healthy salads, but I had no clue that my bones were breaking down.

By the time I reached age 39, I could now add osteopenia, depression, sleep deprivation and menopause to my list of infirmities. Nine medications and 75 pounds later, I would also be able to add obesity to my list. It was almost as if this deterioration had catapulted me into a rapid aging process. This makes sense, as Matthew Walker sleep expert, author, and professor at UC Berkley says, ‘the shorter your sleep, the shorter your life’.

Connecting Poor Diet to Poor Sleep and Everything Else In Between

While I was struggling with my own health issues, my son developed his own. At age 12, he confessed to me and my husband that he wasn’t sure he wanted to live anymore. Around the same time, my mother died. This was enough to send anyone over the edge, but my son needed me, so it was time to put my big girl panties on and get answers to why this was happening. I began connecting the dots. We both had depression, allergies or asthma, symptoms of ADD and the “piece-de-resistance” we didn’t sleep! Upon further investigation, I learned that we were both anxious all the time. Could the poor diet and sleep deprivation be behind our illnesses? Turns out they were.

From that point forward, I cleaned up our diet. My husband came home one day to find me chucking all the processed food into the garbage. We began drinking water instead of soda or other flavored drinks and I began to research sleep, nutrition, and energy medicine. This was now my passion. I was determined to not only repair the damage I had caused with the decades long poor diet, but to give my son the gift of healing and create a reason for him to live.

Polypharmacy Induced Vertigo: Enough is Enough

In 2003, I would unlearn everything I thought I knew about wellness. It began with trip to the ER to investigate vertigo. I was sent home with no information as to why I had vertigo other then they could do an MRI if needed. Could the very medications I was taking (9 prescriptions) be behind this malady? My nurse practitioner helped me to slowly detox from the medication I was taking for depression, and this is when I began seeing a nutritionist and using something called magnet therapy. I had read a study on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) that showed promise as a novel antidepressant treatment. It was in 1831 that Michael Faraday discovered that electrical currents can be converted into magnetic fields and vice versa. How fortuitous I was introduced to a company that was utilizing magnets as wellness tools.

The nutritionist performed what is called microscopy. His assessment was dead on. He said, ‘I bet you’re tired all the time’. He also asked if I was on a statin, to which I replied ‘yes, but that I was trying to find a better alternative’. He suggested a liver/gallbladder cleanse and whole food supplements that would support these organs. If it were not for his intervention, I doubt that I would have my gallbladder today. I’m honored and humbled to have known Ted Aloisio and learn about how “Blood Never Lies” his book and his teachings that forever changed the quality of my life.

Thyroid Storm

Another pivotal time for me was September 2017. I wound up in the emergency room. My heart felt like it was about to be launched like a projectile right out of my chest. It was skipping beats too. I had lost a lot of weight with my new focus on nutrition. I thought I was just shedding the old me that was full of emotional discord, bad nutritional habits, and unearthing the real me that was hiding inside. I was in denial. In reality, I had not been feeling well for over a year. My sleep was horrible. I was lucky if I got 5 hours a night and there was a lump on my neck which scared the living hell out of me.

Here, I was a teacher of wellness, and yet was the poster child for being unhealthy. Surprise, surprise you have a problem with your thyroid Ms. Hazelgrove. The official diagnosis was thyrotoxicosis with nodule. My heart was reacting to a hyperactive thyroid, which was being fueled by an autoimmune condition called Graves’ disease. I was immediately put on propranolol for my heart. I asked if it was going to interfere with my sleep and was told that it would not. He lied. I was already having issues the very first night with melatonin production due to the influence of this particular beta-blocker. Beta blockers reduce melatonin release.

I was getting only 2 hours of sleep, so I started Hemp oil two days later. I was not about to go back into the depths of depression because of sleep deprivation. My visit to my primary physician 21 days later was short and sweet. After reviewing my blood lab results and the ultrasound, he had his office manager call me to tell me I was toxic and needed to find an endocrinologists immediately. My T3 was 13, which was extremely high. I agreed to go on methimazole in the meantime so I could look at options, but according to the endocrinologist, I had only the one option. “What am I going to do now?’ I thought to myself. My head was spinning. I knew I had to get away and think. ‘Can’t I just heal it by eating better, sleeping more, and eliminating stress?’

I am truly blessed to have such amazing friends and one in particular had offered to let me stay at her cottage for a weekend. This was about a month into my engorged thyroid, which was now causing me dreadful bouts of diarrhea. I had to wear a diaper on my trip down there, as my bowels were now in charge of my life. I got there and unpacked. This was not an easy task because my body was running “Mach 2 with my Hair on Fire.” Since the thyroid controls metabolism and mine was hyperactive, it felt like I was exercising 24/7. Maintaining energy was a continuous struggle, like a rollercoaster going up and down multiple times a day. I was in the fight or flight mode continuously and my body was in a constant state of catabolism, in order to fuel the persistently heightened metabolism.

Limited Options from Conventional Medicine

My visits with the endocrinologists started out cordial but didn’t end well. I stayed on methimazole for three months, to see if the numbers could be brought down – which they did eventually lower, but the liver enzymes went up and the level 10 pain was unbearable. The only option I was given was nuclear medicine, which meant using radioactive iodine to destroy my thyroid and test the nodule to see if it was cancer. I was told a needle biopsy would not be accurate. I didn’t like the side effects of radioactive iodine and the fact that it increased my chances of breast cancer, which was already an inherited trait in my family. The endocrinologist didn’t want to perform any tests or protocol to see if the nodule was cancerous until these numbers were in a more manageable range and scheduled a second appointment for 5 months later – 5 months!

This was not acceptable to me and so in the meantime, I began researching, and implementing other strategies. I had a friend who owned a wellness center, and I began using sound and infrared sauna therapy. I met with a colleague who recommended a liver cleanse and supplements to help with the healing process. When I had my lab tests done in January, all the numbers looked good, but the liver enzymes were still elevated. I remember the doctor telling me that I shouldn’t stay on the methimazole very long. When I questioned if the medicine had caused the increase in the liver enzymes, she became defensive and said that she didn’t think it was the medicine. Somehow, it was my fault that I didn’t want her to perform a test using radioactive iodine to see if I had cancer, which could inevitably cause cancer down the road.

When I saw her again in February, she asked about the methimazole. I told her that because my liver enzymes were high and so, I had stopped taking it and started taking Iodoral, a high potassium-based iodine supplement. There is much research on this form of treatment. She was not happy. She said that if the nodule was cancer, then it could have now spread to my liver and that could be the reason for the high liver enzymes. She continued to deny that the liver enzymes were elevated because of the methimazole. It was at this point, I mentioned that the nodule had receded. Her response was that nodules just doesn’t disappear. She then grabbed my throat with such force that it hurt. Needless to say, she was fired.

In March, I began seeing a practitioner that specialized in thyroid issues. He recommended running blood tests to see if there were any other autoimmune issues. Sure enough, I also had the Epstein-Barr Virus. I visited another practitioner that did thermographic imaging. The tests did not show any inflammation in the breasts or the thyroid area. March, I went back to my PCP and my blood tests looked good but continued with the propranolol because my heart rate was still elevated. It was also recommended that I keep a close watch on my eyes, so my eye doctor was enlisted to get his perspective on the pressure and strain the Graves’ disease can have on the eyes. In July, I went back to the PCP. He said that I shouldn’t do so much research into nutrition, that knowledge can be dangerous and referenced the Garden of Eden.

Discovering Energy Work

While all of this was going on, I finished my certification for the Emotion Code Technique (link to a reference The Emotion Code | Energy Healing Method | Discover Healing). In August, I started to learn how to meditate and in September started breast milk protocol (Milk Therapy: Unexpected Uses for Human Breast Milk (nih.gov)) to see if I could address a mitochondrial energy reboot and the autoimmune issue. I was gifted about a month’s supply of frozen milk from someone who owned an organic farm. Since breast milk has stem cells and T cells, maybe it could help increase neutrophils and help reverse the autoimmune disease. I read a blog by the medical medium that had talked about pregnancy and thyroid issues. It begged the question, what if my last pregnancy could have been the final straw to being so nutritiously energetically depleted that there was now collateral damage. Interestingly enough, my mom wasn’t able to breast feed me. So maybe this was another missing piece to my poor health.

January 2019, I had to go back on propranolol. I continued with sound and infrared sauna therapy each week. I am forever grateful to my friend who offered this treatment. Some weeks were just hard to rally around with energy to do even the simplest of tasks. Mind you I’m still running my Wellness teaching and coaching business but on a much smaller scale. February through April I concentrated on being a grandmother, you never know how much time we have with family. Easter Sunday, I met with a practitioner to experienced Pranic healing for the first time. This was definitely the icing on the cake as far as energy work is concerned. I went home feeling better that I had felt in years, but this too was short lived. In June, I was able to get away to the beach, which always rejuvenated me. Meditation continued to also give me some peace in between the thyroid revolution I was enduring, and it gave me a chance to learn different approaches to this incredible way to connect to our inner spirit. In September, I began to learn how to incorporate medicinal cooking and more about Ayurveda herbs. In November, my friend closed her wellness center and I had to teach my class at the University of Richmond from a chair again. My daughter came through with some more of her frozen breast milk, which seemed to help somewhat, but again, I would plateau.

Searching For Healing Amid a Pandemic

The pandemic brought us all a year we will never forget. It started with a high note but then April we would all experience dare I say it the new normal. The best thing I can say about 2020 is I continued to search for healing. I figured I had tried all I could to modulate the physical, so now I would elevate the spiritual side of me. We are after all spirit mind and body why not explore how this can facilitate and streamline the healing process? I began to learn all I could about Pranic healing. Each day I would incorporate my spiritual practice of meditation and cleansing of dirty energy. This worked well with my emotion code technique of taking out the trash of old emotional baggage that doesn’t serve us and can even cause illness. I was still teaching my class and now doing online podcast educating others how to create wellness. I began doing a lot of blogging about my journey of healing encouraging others and planting seeds of hope. Being at home gave me the opportunity to also do research and take classes to learn what I could about healing the whole self; a time windfall that otherwise wouldn’t have presented itself if it weren’t for the pandemic.

Discovering Thiamine

In April of this year, the eye doctor noticed an increase in eye pressure, which he wasn’t sure if it was due to the Graves or if it could be glaucoma. When I went back in July and it was still there, I was referred to an eye specialist to investigate further.  I am now seeing more cross-eyed, and it appeared to be worsening. In October, I learned about thiamine – vitamin B1 and began taking 500-1,000 mg a day. Wow, immediately my neck felt cooler, and the headaches I had been suffering from subsided. When I saw the doctor again in November and questioned whether or not the eye problems could be related to a thiamine deficiency, he got agitated and said he was not a nutritionist. He wanted to know if I had been tested to see if I was deficient in the first place. I guess physical improvement is not a sign of progress or healing.

It was around the same time that I also learned about pyrroloquinoline quinone and added that to what I was already taking. This is what I am currently taking: Kenzen Mega Daily 4® , Kenzen Omegagreen  plus DHA®, Kenzen Immunity® (14 medicinal mushrooms), Jade GreenZymes® (Gluten Free barely grass which has SOD/Superoxide dismutase an antioxidant), Kenzen Vital Balance shake®,(® from Nikken), Lithium, Iordoral, Bilberry, Ginkgo Biloba, Resveratrol, L Carnitine, N Acetylcysteine, Siberian ginseng, Boswellia – Frankincense, Vitamin B1, Cal-mag-zinc, D3 & K2, Ubiquinol + Pyrroloquinoline quinone, Astragalus tincture, oil of oregano, tincture, Bugleweed tincture, Sarsaparilla tincture, Artichoke tincture and cod liver oil. I drink a tea everyday with elderberry, Chamomile, fennel, hibiscus, and green tea because of ECGC (epigallocatechin gallate); which inhibits cellular oxidation and prevents free radical damage to cells.

While I am not fully recovered, I am doing much better, in part because of dietary changes that have allowed me to sleep longer, and more soundly which has enabled me to achieve a parasympathetic or healing response. I am hopeful that 2022 will bring to light some interesting answers. I have an appointment with a doctor of Chinese Medicine soon and looking forward to improved health. Stay tuned to find out what happens next on my journey navigating the road less traveled.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

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High Dose Thiamine and Parkinson’s Disease

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Parkinson's disease thiamine

An Italian physician by the name of Dr. Antonio Costantini has reported the use of megadose thiamine for the successful treatment of Parkinson’s disease and several other diseases. This post is organized from “Frequently asked questions about high-dose thiamine (HDT) therapy” on the now closed Facebook group Parkinson’s and Thiamine HCL.

Dosing Thiamine

A standard dose of thiamine to start the treatment protocol does not exist. The dose that he and his group have been using is 4 g/day as tablets by mouth or 2 injections of 100 mg each, twice a week. Because he has had several years of experience, the right dose has always been tailored to the specific characteristics of the patient. On the basis of their observations the right dose is the one that suppresses the majority of the non-motor symptoms and at least 50% of the motor symptoms, without causing over-dosage symptoms. This is an important point because the dose of thiamine can be too little or too big, making me think of the ancient Chinese whose philosophy was expressed as Yin and Yang for too little or too much. The right dose is found when the disturbed balance is suppressed and the patient regains normal balance. On the basis of their experience, if symptoms are exaggerated at the beginning of treatment, it may mean that the dose of thiamine is already too high for the needs of the specific patient. One of the questions that was asked was whether thiamine could be administered in association with any of the existing therapies for Parkinson’s disease. The answer was that it is compatible with any drug on the market.

Course of Improvement

The oral therapy produces an appreciable improvement within a few days, but the patient may not realize it. Within 30 days in most of the cases, an appreciable improvement of the symptoms is detected by the patient as well. Further improvement is observed within the following 2-3 months. The effectiveness of one intramuscular injection of 100 mg is nothing short of impressive in all cases they have observed. It determines an almost sudden improvement, clearly appreciable by the doctor as well as by the patient. The tremor, one of the major symptoms in this disease, is strikingly reduced.

Obviously, one of the questions was whether there were any side effects from high dose oral thiamine.  The answer was that the only known side effect associated with this therapy was from over-dosage.  When the dose of thiamine is higher than the needs of the patient, there is worsening of the symptoms of the disease and reduction of the dose usually results in improvement. If high oral doses of thiamine are taken later in the day (evening or night) there may be difficulties in falling asleep. If taken in the morning or early afternoon, patients reported an improvement in their sleep. Patients reached the peak of improvement within 3-6 months and no further improvement was observed past that.

Thiamine is highly effective with all the symptoms, both motor and non-motor. It is best to start with low-doses, increasing gradually until the symptoms improve satisfactorily. More than 2,500 patients have been treated. All responded favorably, regardless of severity. Many have been following the clinic protocol for 3-5 years and progression of the disease appears to have been halted. This is truly an amazing story. How many more patients could be helped if their doctors would put aside their skepticism and humbly try to learn more about the use of high-dose thiamine?

Only one patient was unable to tolerate the high dose. Each time she tried, it caused vomiting. Finally, they state that they prefer to see how the high-dose thiamine performs before adding any more dietary supplements.

It is pretty clear that neurologists need to study this pioneering program for Parkinson’s disease. These results have been published in peer reviewed medical journals. Dr. Costantini unfortunately succumbed to Covid-19 but I have no doubt that his colleagues will continue to explore this remarkable innovation  Of course, using a vitamin in large doses turns it into a drug, an entirely new concept in medical treatment and it is natural that skepticism will have to be overcome. However, the results are so dramatic that they cannot be ignored.

Mechanisms of High Dose Thiamine Therapy

Although we know a lot about the activity of thiamine in the body, there are aspects about it that are still shrouded in mystery. We have known for a long time that it is a cofactor for many enzymes that function to produce energy. There is little doubt that Parkinson’s disease, like many other human diseases, is an energy-deficiency condition, so the use of thiamine in its treatment would make sense. However, much more information is required concerning its non-enzymatic functions. To become active in the body, thiamine has to have two molecules of phosphate added to it to act as a cofactor. Its non-enzymatic form includes thiamine triphosphate about which we know surprisingly little, in spite of the fact that it was discovered 70 years ago. This treatment of a severe crippling disease forecasts the arrival of Orthomolecular Medicine as the orthodox form of therapy.

Final thoughts

The use of a vitamin in megadoses to treat disease is brand new. It seems that enough clinical evidence of its benign, non-toxic effect has been reported by this Italian group to “set the world of medicine on fire”. The concept of using a molecule, essential to life, in large doses as a drug will undoubtedly require further confirmation, but it would be absurd to ignore these results. The “exactly right dose” seems to confirm the long held philosophy that “the truth lies between two extremes”.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter. 

Image by Annick Vanblaere from Pixabay.

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COVID Notes: “I Don’t See A Role For Mitochondria.” Say What?

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A persistent notion in medicine is that the only time mitochondria precipitate, or in any way influence illness, is when mDNA mutations are involved and/or with frank starvation. Absent those two events, the magical mitochondria will keep chugging along and there is no need to consider their impact on health or disease. This belief emanates partly from another all-too-persistent notion that holds tightly to a compartmentalized model of organismal function, suggesting that each bodily system and thus each disease process is unique and distinctly separate from everything else, and partly from the way most folks are taught about mitochondria – by rote memorization of the Krebs cycle. As a result and except in specific circumstances, most physicians and many researchers see no role for mitochondria in health or disease.

This is true with COVID as well. Even though COVID presents disparately across patient populations, is clearly not limited by body compartment or system, and not only does not fit within any diagnostic model to date but shatters everything we think we know about illness, folks are reticent, nay adamant, that mitochondria are not involved. COVID is not a mitochondrial illness, they proclaim. To that end, on a somewhat regular basis, I see posts, threads, and comments about just how unimportant mitochondria are to COVID and really, to health in general.

Stressed Mitochondria, Inflammation, and COVID

Some months ago, a gentleman argued that the chronic inflammation caused by COVID was related solely to altered immune function similar to that seen in conditions like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. He went on to say that he did not see any role for mitochondria in this. Similarly, another gentleman was equally adamant that there was no known relationship between “mitochondrial health impacting which immune response or pathway will be activated.” He argued further that my suggestion of stressed mitochondria triggering the inflammatory responses seen in COVID-related blood pressure drops and cytokine storms was not possible per the tenets of modern immunology. It was foolhardy for me to consider otherwise.

Beyond the obvious faceplant response – ‘as if the immune system could function without the help of the mitochondria; as if anything could function without the mitochondria’ – there is an ample amount of research linking mitochondrial function to immune function predating COVID and a burgeoning body of research linking mitochondrial response to COVID severity. Indeed, some of the more recent research suggests that not only does SARS- COV2, the viral protein associated with COVID directly influence mitochondrial function like many other viruses do, but also that it is only the host variables e.g. mitochondrial fitness that determine how far the virus is allowed to progress. Mitochondria, it appears, are the determining factor of illness severity, something I have been saying since the beginning of this pandemic.

When this particular series of ‘COVID does not involve the mitochondria’ comments came up, I was speaking about the hijacking of the mTOR pathway by other viruses and speculating as to whether COVID might do the same. The mTOR pathway includes a set of enzymes that regulate cell and mitochondrial metabolism via multiple mechanisms. Though mTOR are not mitochondrial proteins, as they are located in the cytosol adjacent to another set of organelles called lysosomes, they provide critical signaling to mitochondria involving energy metabolism and stress response. In fact, mTOR coordinate mitochondrial energy consumption and production. They initiate these nutrient signals by binding or unbinding themselves to the lysosomes. Among those signals that mTOR respond to is protein or amino acid status. Low protein effectively inhibits mTOR enzymes. Absent outright starvation, which is entirely possible in critical illness, protein metabolism is dependent upon mitochondrial function. Specifically, protein catabolism and synthesis both require energy or ATP, which in turn requires an array of micronutrient co-factors to power mitochondrial enzymes, the machinery involved in these processes.

Returning to the claim that the COVID cytokine response was akin to the autoimmune diseases like arthritis or lupus, that claim is absolutely correct. The response is akin to one of an autoimmune disease process, but what most fail to recognize is that autoimmune disease process is itself tied to the mitochondria, through multiple channels, including mTOR. Since these conversations arose from a post on viral hijacking of mTOR and the inflammatory patterns observed with autoimmunity, let us dig into those relationships.

Th-17 Cells, mTOR and the Mitochondria

Common to both the severe and long COVID and autoimmune illness, are hyperactive pro-inflammatory Th17 cells with underactive anti-inflammatory Treg cells. Th17 modulation is tied to mitochondrial fitness. The Th17 response is thiamine dependent. Thiamine is the rate limiting co-factor to key enzymes involved in mitochondrial energy production, including those at the entry points for the glucose, fatty acid, and amino acid pathways and other enzymes within the TCA/Krebs cycle. Thiamine deficiency derails mitochondrial energy production, shifting it from oxidative phosphorylation and towards aerobic and eventually, anaerobic glycolysis. Even aerobic glycolysis, however, is thiamine dependent. These shifts in energy production are mitochondrial danger signals to the immune cells, including Th17 proinflammatory response. The mTOR proteins, are also involved. When oxidative phosphorylation, glutamine metabolism, and fatty acid synthesis, all which are thiamine dependent, are lagging and energy wanes (e.g. with insufficient  thiamine or other mitochondrial nutrients), mTORs energy metabolism becomes anaerobic  and pro-inflammatory – e.g. Th17s upregulate and the anti-inflammatory Treg cells downregulate.

Renowned mitochondrial researcher Robert Naviaux would tell us that in both autoimmunity, and in COVID, particularly Long COVID, the mitochondria are stuck in battleship mode; that they lack the energy not only to complete the tasks at hand, but to create more energy. Dr. Lonsdale would tell us that this is because the mitochondria lack the sufficient nutrients to convert food into energy, especially thiamine. From our book, notice how many times thiamine, vitamin B1, is required. Notice also, how many other micronutrients are required to convert food substrates, glucose, proteins, and fatty acids into ATP.

Mitochondrial nutrients
From: Thiamine Deficiency Disease, Dysautonomia, and High Calorie Malnutrition.

Now consider the high calorie, low nutrient composition of the modern American diet, the metabolic dysfunction associated with the severity and chronicity of COVID, and the range of inflammatory disorders afflicting many of the patients who develop severe and/or long COVID. These are connections that must be recognized.

We know that absent sufficient mitochondrial nutrients, energy wanes. When energy wanes, inflammatory cascades remain unchecked; among them, hyperactive pro-inflammatory Th17 and underactive anti-inflammatory Treg cells. We have to consider also that although pharmaceutical interventions may abrogate that inflammation superficially and temporarily, they do nothing resolve the underlying issue, which is micronutrient deficiency. Since most, if not all, medications damage mitochondria by one mechanism or another, their use, while necessary in some instances, ultimately imperil mitochondrial capacity and exacerbate any underlying energy deficiency as well. So, when we look at folks most at risk for the more severe cases of COVID and/or those who develop symptoms consistent with Long COVID, it is important address the inflammatory response caused by the lack of sufficient energy.

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An Open Letter Regarding Thiamine and COVID

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open letter thiamine and covid

Prior to the US election, in October of 2020, I found that the Biden campaign was interested in emailing me. I decided to try and get this letter setting out my concerns about COVID to Mr. Biden. I have no idea if he saw it or not. It is being published here as an open letter to whomever might consider implementing thiamine therapy in the prevention and treatment of COVID and other disease processes. It has been edited to fit the format of the website.

Dear Mr. Biden,

Greetings from Canberra Australia. I am writing to you because I believe I have something important to say about the pandemic, but find myself in somewhat of a dilemma. It may sound hard to believe but I think you may be the only person who can help.

I want to begin by telling you about Dr. Derrick Lonsdale. He is 96 years old, born in 1924. He began his medical career in England in 1948 and after emigrating to the U.S. spent 20 years practicing as a pediatrician at the Cleveland Clinic, which you visited recently. After leaving there he practiced privately, retiring at the age of 88 in 2013. He has written over 100 published papers. To this day he writes articles and helps people with their health problems through a website called Hormones Matter run by his colleague Dr. Chandler Marrs.

As a result of his experiences at Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Lonsdale became particularly interested in the subject of thiamine deficiency. As you may know, in the same way that vitamin C deficiency is linked to the disease scurvy and vitamin D deficiency is associated with rickets, thiamine, or vitamin B1, deficiency is responsible for the wasting disease beriberi. The common understanding is that this is a disease of the past and of a third world beset by malnutrition, which has been eliminated in the West by fortifying processed food such as flour with thiamine. As such it has seemingly passed out of the collective memory of modern medicine. Dr. Lonsdale on the other hand made the biochemical study of thiamine deficiency his life’s work.

Understanding Thiamine in the Context of Mitochondria

Each of the trillions of cells that make up the body contain mitochondria – self-contained electrochemical machines which take in fuel and oxygen supplied by the blood and use them to generate an electric charge – effectively a battery. This charge is used to supply energy in a chemical form usable by the cell to allow it to function. The other end-products are water and carbon dioxide – this is respiration at the cellular level. The process involves a series of chemical reactions, each reaction requiring the presence of an enzyme specific to that reaction, provided by the mitochondrion. Each enzyme also requires one or more cofactors to be present for the associated reaction to proceed efficiently. These enzyme cofactors are supplied via the blood and are none other than the vitamins and minerals we are all familiar with, particularly the B vitamins – thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, B12 and others, and minerals like magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese and iron. If anything interferes with this chemical “symphony”, such as a deficiency of one or more of these cofactors, energy production will be impaired and the cell will not be able to function as it should.

Thiamine has been found to have a particularly important role to play. It acts as a cofactor in five of these enzyme moderated reactions, one of which occurs right at the beginning of the whole process, converting the supplied fuel (glucose) into a form usable in subsequent steps. In one of Dr. Lonsdale’s analogies, thiamine is like the spark plugs in an internal combustion engine (the mitochondrion), igniting the fuel/air mixture, turning the released energy into, in this case,  mechanical rather than chemical energy, which is used to propel the car (the cell) forward. If the spark plugs are not working properly (if thiamine is deficient), the car will run poorly, if at all.

It is not hard to see the implications of this. At the level of a human being, thiamine deficiency results in beriberi (meaning “weakness”, or “I can’t”). The cells of the body are unable to provide the energy the body needs to function. If the deficiency is not corrected death may follow. At the cellular level, if a virus or bacterium attacks, or if certain cells start to misbehave, the body has cellular defenses to deal with the situation. But if the cells lack energy, these defenses are likely to fail and the body will be overwhelmed. Drs. Lonsdale and Marrs concern themselves with ensuring the mitochondria are in the best shape possible, identifying anything which affects their performance, such as drugs and other chemicals which might cause deficiencies, or genetic defects, and trying to correct such problems generally by means of nutrition, thus maximizing the body’s natural defenses.

This is where the trouble begins. According to Dr. Lonsdale, ever since Louis Pasteur’s discoveries about microorganisms, the paradigm under which medicine has operated is “kill the enemy”, in other words find ways to kill the bacteria and viruses and wayward cells which threaten us with disease, generally using drugs. The idea of helping to strengthen the natural defenses of the body is dismissed out of hand, on the assumption that the issue of nutrient deficiency belongs to the distant past. As the future commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United States, if one of your military heads came to you and said that you only need offensive weapons and there is no need to worry about the state of your defensive capability, I’m sure that you would send them on their way. Yet that accurately depicts current medical practice. Dr. Lonsdale has for many years tried to persuade his colleagues that thiamine deficiency in particular is a very real problem of the present and the future, particularly in Western societies, for reasons I will go into, and that much of the disease we see is in fact due to it. For his trouble, he has been resolutely ignored, deemed irrelevant and consigned to history by all but a few. All, that is, except perhaps for the many people he has helped. As he tells it, every time he cured someone orthodox medicine had declared incurable, it was put down to “spontaneous remission”.

How I Found Thiamine

I became interested in this subject because of what happened to my elderly mother, now 90. Early in 2019 she came down with a nasty virus. Prior to that she’d had some health problems but was in pretty good shape overall. She recovered but never really got over it. Her longstanding breathing problems became worse. She started to have digestion problems and was back in hospital a few months later with pancreatitis. Back home, every morning after breakfast she had to sit for a few hours because she felt too weak to do anything. On one occasion she had an attack of vertigo, fell and couldn’t get up again. She was seeing several doctors and they were examining her and doing blood tests and trying different drugs on her but I felt they weren’t really helping her much. I resolved to try and work out what was going on. It wasn’t long before I came across Dr. Lonsdale and the subject of thiamine deficiency. What I learnt was that an event that was stressful to the body such as an infection could trigger a state of thiamine deficiency, and that the elderly were particularly vulnerable. I began to think that this was what happened to my mother.

I also had one or two health issues. In 2010, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had it removed. I had occasional heart palpitation episodes, and remembered hearing that the answer for this was vitamin B1. I also have restless legs syndrome. As a result of this new interest in health, I learned about low-carb diets. Around March 2020 I started on a “healthy keto and intermittent fasting” diet and started taking thiamine regularly, along with magnesium, another essential cofactor which is needed for thiamine to work, and encouraged my mother, and my family, to take it. Purely coincidentally, this was also when the COVID crisis was ramping up.

As I learned more, I began to suspect that there was a connection between thiamine deficiency and COVID and that taking thiamine and magnesium might be protective against it. By this time the world was in lockdown, and I thought this would defeat the virus, so there was no need to say anything. By mid-August it was clear that things were spiraling out of control. Around this time, I realized that Drs. Lonsdale and Marrs were very well aware of what was happening and had done what they could to make it known to the world, but it had fallen on deaf ears. I decided I had to try and do something. Having had very little to do with social media, I started using Twitter to try and tell as many people and organizations as I could about the connection between COVID and thiamine deficiency, and have continued doing so to the present, learning more in the process. Everything I have learnt has only strengthened my conviction. Like them, I have had absolutely no response from anyone in a position to be able to do anything and as far as I can tell I have had absolutely no impact and am not going to. I don’t feel like I can just leave it, so that is why I have now turned to you.

Thiamine and Dysautonomia

In 2017, Drs. Lonsdale and Marrs published a book entitled “Thiamine Deficiency Disease, Dysautonomia, and High Calorie Malnutrition”, which more or less represents Dr. Lonsdale’s life’s work. The premise of the book is that thiamine deficiency, beriberi, affects the autonomic nervous system, leading to dysautonomia. The autonomic nervous system controls all of the functions that the body carries out automatically without conscious thought, such as breathing, cardiac function, digestion, sleeping, reacting to stimuli and so on. Basically, this system goes out of whack, resulting in all sorts of strange and seemingly unrelated symptoms particularly affecting the brain, heart, nervous system and digestion. “High calorie malnutrition”, the end result of the typical western diet, is largely responsible.

Beriberi is normally associated with just straight malnutrition or lack of food, and conjures up images of emaciated people. Using the above term Drs. Lonsdale and Marrs are making the point that a diet high in “empty” calories, especially from sugar, but low in micronutrients, predisposes one to the disease, because the available thiamine required to process the fuel is overwhelmed by the amount of fuel being supplied. In terms of the car analogy, the engine is flooded. So the obese could have beriberi. Anyone else nutritionally challenged, such as diabetics, could have it. Basically anyone, young or not, whether they look ill or not, could have it if their nutritional status is compromised. Dr. Lonsdale has for many years been trying to warn us that the Western world is primed for an epidemic of beriberi, waiting for something to come along that would trigger it.

Thiamine, COVID, and an Epidemic of Beriberi

About two weeks after I began tweeting about thiamine, I learned about COVID long-haulers for the first time. These are the people who get over the initial infection, only to find that they continue to have problems for many months afterwards. By now there are perhaps hundreds of thousands in this category. Having learned about the many and varied symptoms of dysautonomia associated with thiamine deficiency, I was stunned to realize that the symptoms of long-haulers, described in an endless succession of media reports as the bizarre and mysterious symptoms of COVID, are exactly the same as those of mild thiamine deficiency. Despite my numerous efforts to point this out, such reports continue to appear to this day. Of course when I checked back with what Dr. Marrs had been saying on Twitter, I found she was already pointing all this out months earlier.

To me the implications of this are enormous. It suggests that the world has completely misunderstood the nature of the pandemic and as a result of this wrong understanding the wrong decisions are being made. While undoubtedly highly contagious, I believe COVID is not the highly novel, pathogenic and virulent virus we are led to believe. Rather it is similar to, but somewhat more severe than, what we have experienced previously, the effect of which has been to unleash an epidemic of, not the version we know from history, but a modern-day equivalent form of beriberi, attributable to our generally poor nutritional status and any other environmental contributors to poor mitochondrial function.

As one example of the decisions being made, one could consider what has been happening in intensive care units around the world. Perhaps the most characteristic aspect of COVID is loss of pulmonary function, known as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). While I am no expert, it seems an assumption being made is that to overcome this just requires an increased supply of oxygen by means of a ventilator. Earlier I described respiration as it takes place at the cellular level. In terms of normal combustion everyone knows one needs three things: fuel, oxygen, and a source of ignition. It’s the same at the cellular level – it’s not enough to have glucose and oxygen, you need thiamine to act as the spark plug, followed by the chain of reactions that take place inside the mitochondrion. Perhaps thiamine deficiency, and therefore failure to initiate this reaction chain, rather than lack of oxygen, is what’s really going on. While I could find numerous general references to the use of thiamine in clinical care, when I looked at ICU protocols specifically for COVID promulgated by organizations such as WHO and CDC and in Australia, I did not find any reference to using thiamine.

There are other observations one can make. One of the seemingly mysterious features of the pandemic is that many people who get infected are completely asymptomatic. I interpret this as meaning these people have good nutritional status, and mitochondria that are working efficiently, and their cellular defenses are consequently able to deal with the virus. Also, people with a lower socioeconomic background seem to be more severely affected. This is understandable as they might only have access to cheaper, less nutritious food and are therefore more likely to be in a state of incipient thiamine deficiency when they encounter the virus. And of course, as Boris Johnson learned and as many doctors are starting to understand, a poor diet, despite access to plenty of food, leading to obesity, makes one vulnerable, the answer being to improve the diet, which doctor Lonsdale tells us should be a low carbohydrate, “real food” diet, which even now is not what nutrition guidelines recommend.

Consider Thiamine

This brings me to the main purpose of this letter. In the absence of, or in addition to, a vaccine, I believe that an emergency program of mass daily supplementation with thiamine and magnesium, and a longer term aim of improved diet, could help to protect the U.S. and indeed the world population, from the virus. One might put it as a policy goal of ensuring thiamine sufficiency in the general population. This could provide an alternative to the devastating human and economic consequences of the actions currently being taken or contemplated, whether lockdowns, border closures, or so-called “herd immunity” options. I imagine this would be a very large undertaking, more than just education as this would probably result in all existing supplies vanishing, but presumably much less than the expected vaccination program, given that both micronutrients are well-known, cheap and non-toxic. Of course, all this would need to be verified before taking action. If one can measure the level of intracellular thiamine sufficiency or deficiency in the body it should be straightforward to test hypotheses, e.g. that long-haulers are in a state of deficiency, that those who were asymptomatic have a good level of sufficiency, and so on. One difficulty with this is apparently that because of the lack of interest in this subject there is currently almost no laboratory where such measurements can be made.

The Stress of Illness

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I realized Dr. Lonsdale actually made this suggestion himself. In an article published on March 20, 2020 on the Hormones Matter website, entitled “What Can Selye Tell Us About COVID-19? Survival Requires Energy”, he said:

We believe that we have shown evidence that thiamine and magnesium supplementation are inherently necessary in a population in which nutrition is imperfect. … Moreover, if we consider the requisite ‘energy’ required to stave off any illness, might we also consider bolstering the nutrient stores e.g. host defense in at-risk populations, as a way to reduce the risk and severity of the illness? Doing so may help ensure the adequacy of energy in meeting the unseen enemy.

You will recall that this was right at the beginning of the period when deaths started to ramp up in the U.S. One wonders how different things might have been if he had been listened to.

The biggest challenge, however, could lie elsewhere. This pandemic has brought us to an extraordinary place. Suppose that Dr. Lonsdale is right. This gives rise to an incredible dichotomy. On one side there is 96 year old Dr. Lonsdale, who has few resources and at his age may not be in a position to advocate for himself, but who with a vast amount of experience behind him has a simple idea that explains an awful lot, including many diseases which medical orthodoxy cannot explain or treat, which therefore get labelled psychosomatic. He has a proposal which is easily testable, could easily be trialled, is simple and relatively cheap to implement, and could have enormous health and economic benefits. Without going into details, it could potentially lead to generally improved mental health, reduced levels of crime and reduced vulnerability to virtually all forms of disease, including viral threats that we have yet to encounter, with consequently greatly reduced health costs and productivity benefits for all economies. This would usher in a science based health renaissance, the likes of which has never been seen before.

On the other side is the entire medical establishment with its vast resources, having an entrenched position, which is unable to, indeed cannot afford to, so much as entertain the possibility that Dr. Lonsdale could be correct. You also have the pharmaceutical industry pouring billions into drug development and searching for a vaccine. A vaccine may well be found, which might head off this crisis of credibility. Or it may not. Or the virus may mutate regularly, rendering a vaccine next to impossible as with cold viruses. One thing to note is that, if the pandemic at its core is the result of a nutrient deficiency, then no drug or combination of drugs that does not correct the deficiency can possibly overcome it. On top of that, you have the food industry with its vested interests in keeping the world hooked on its cheaply made, highly addictive products based on sugar and processed carbohydrates, which Dr. Lonsdale tells us lies at the core of the problem. The pandemic is forcing us to face the inconvenient truth that this entire edifice may be unsustainable.

I’m sure you can appreciate why I think you may be the only person who might have a chance of getting us from where we are to where we could be. I’m sure you would have people to advise you on health matters. If Dr. Lonsdale is right, and you ask them for advice on this, it seems likely they will just dismiss the entire notion out of hand. If we are to avoid unthinkable levels of human and economic loss, you may have to shake the foundations of the medical establishment to its very core, to get it to accept that we need defense as well as offense in order to successfully do battle with the invisible enemy.

In the end, it may simply be a matter of going back to where it all began – back to Hippocrates, who, as Dr. Lonsdale likes to remind us, said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

A Few Final Observations

I hope you get to meet Dr. Lonsdale. I strongly suspect the fact that he is still active at such an advanced age is not an accident. I imagine he has been taking his own advice. I would not be at all surprised to learn that he has lived most of his life without any significant disease. I would very much like to see him get the recognition he deserves before he dies.

If I’m right about thiamine deficiency leading to weakness in the response of cellular defenses, this could have an impact on the effectiveness of any vaccine that may be developed, since it has to piggyback on the existing cellular mechanisms. It may turn out that the underlying problem of thiamine deficiency has to be recognized and addressed even if a vaccine is produced.

I am very much a layman, so am not someone from whom to seek advice. If I hear that you are interested in pursuing this I will let Dr. Marrs know. She would be the best person to contact in the first instance.

Lastly, it seems to me that, if dealt with wisely, this has the potential to demolish the foundations of the incredible tower of disinformation that besets the American people and bring it crashing to the ground, perhaps ushering in a new, sorely lacking respect for science. Exactly how and when that might be brought about I have no idea. I’ll leave that up to you.

Good luck in your new adventure.

Robert Olney

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter. 

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Dr. Lonsdale thoughts on COVID-19COVID-19 and Thiamine: An Interview With Dr. Derrick Lonsdale

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COVID Notes: Considering Drug Induced Mitochondrial Damage

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COVID notes drug induced mitochondrial damage

Much has been written about the associations between COVID severity, chronicity, and pre-existing conditions. Top among those conditions include cardiovascular disease and diabetes, likely type 2, but both are lumped together. What has not been discussed is why this would be the case. On a basic level, fighting two illnesses takes more energy than fighting one. This is obvious. What is not obvious is that many modern illnesses, especially cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, begin in the mitochondria as a consequence of diet and lifestyle. Statistically, 80% of cardiovascular disease and 78-83% of type 2 diabetes can be traced back to longstanding dietary, lifestyle and environmental issues* that effectively diminish mitochondrial energetic capabilities and disrupt metabolic flexibility; and the remainder that did not originate from diet and lifestyle are certainly affected by these variables.

To function effectively and to convert the foods we eat into energy or ATP, the mitochondria require sufficient vitamins and minerals, 22 of them, in fact. Western diets, while high in calories, are woefully low in these micronutrients, even when fortified, creating what we refer to as high calorie malnutrition. Against this dietary backdrop, reduced ATP then leads to a constant, low level molecular hypoxia. This is not a hypoxia of obstruction or exertion, but more fundamental. For without proper nutrients, mitochondria can neither utilize oxygen effectively to create ATP, nor do they have sufficient ATP to traffic the O2 into the hemoglobin where it can be pumped into circulation to feed tissues and organs. It is a subtle desaturation, at least initially, but one that initiates all sorts of compensatory reactions to mitigate risk; reactions that are necessary and lifesaving in the short term but become increasingly harmful as time passes.

With insufficient ATP, inflammatory and immune reactions become disrupted and even seemingly chaotic; hormone and electrolyte regulation becomes imbalanced and organ and brain function diminishes. We get disrupted autonomic function (dysautonomia), which cycles back and further disrupts everything else. Depression, anxiety and other mental health issues are also common. This underlying mitochondrial distress is part of the reason why patients with comorbid conditions are at increased risk of not only developing but succumbing to COVID, or really, any virulent pathogen. Their mitochondria are already taxed. They are already carrying low-level hypoxia and, in a very real way, they simply do not have the energy to mount or manage a successful defense.

Now, to add insult to already injured mitochondria, we prescribe medications to manage these conditions rather than correct the root cause, which remember is mitochondrial distress. These medications, while they effectively provide the semblance of health, likely cause more damage to an already damaged system. That is, we get more normal labs, or in the case of antidepressants or anxiolytics, we may feel better, but they do nothing to correct the problem. They only exacerbate it further.

An Unappreciated Factor in COVID Severity and Chronicity

A little appreciated fact in medicine, all pharmaceuticals damage mitochondrial function by some mechanism or another. I have published extensively on this topic here on HM and in our book. Sometimes they deplete critical micronutrients and other times they directly distress, damage and/or deform the mitochondrial membrane by forcibly overriding the regulation of key enzymes involved in ATP production. This, of course, is often compounded by poor nutrition and nearly continuous exposures to chemical toxicants in the environment. It is a perfect cycle of destruction. Poor nutrition causes poorly functioning mitochondria, which decreases ATP while increasing cell level hypoxia, which then initiates inflammation and alters immune reactivity, and rather than correct this, we prescribe medications to override what are necessary reactions to poor nutrition and environmental exposures. These medications then elicit additional damage, further decreasing mitochondrial efficiency and ATP, which necessitates extra nutrients to maintain ATP and stave off more damage.

When we consider the association between COVID severity and comorbid health issues, it must be against the backdrop of nutrition and pharmaceutically and environmentally induced mitochondrial damage. The only variables we can control directly are nutrition and pharmaceutical exposures. We can add more nutrition and we can apply medications more cautiously, but more often than not, we choose to do neither. We ignore nutrient status and stack medications on top of each other endlessly, all the while wondering why the patient’s health continues to decline.

Common Drugs Block Vitamins B1, B9, B12, and CoQ10

To illustrate the state of drug-induced mitochondrial hypoxia that plague so many of the patients threatened by COVID, let us look one common medication that as of 2017, 78 million Americans were taking: metformin. Metformin damages the mitochondria by multiple mechanisms that ultimately lead to reduced ATP, entrenched molecular hypoxia, inflammatory cascades and altered immune reactivity. This, of course, is in addition to the neurological sequelae.

Perhaps the most critical nutrient for in mitochondrial health is thiamine. Thiamine, is blocked by metformin. Metformin blocks vitamin B1 – thiamine – uptake  by multiple mechanisms. When metformin is present, a set of transporters that normally bring thiamine into the cell to perform its task as a cofactor in the machinery that converts carbs to ATP, brings metformin into the cell instead, replacing thiamine altogether. The transporters involved are the SLC22A1, also called the organic cation transporter 1, [OAT1] and the SLC19A3. Metformin also blocks the lactate pathway and acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (an enzyme necessary to process fatty acids into fuels). Thiamine is critical for mitochondrial function and its position as gateway substrate into the each the of the pathways leading to the electron transport chain, means that insufficient or deficient thiamine limits ATP production, induces cell level hypoxia and all of the inflammatory cascades that go with this process.

Metformin also depletes vitamins B12 and B9, which are responsible for hundreds of enzymatic reactions and particularly important in central nervous system function including myelination (how many cases of diabetic neuropathy or multiple sclerosis are really vitamin b12 deficiency?) One study found almost 30% of Metformin users were vitamin B12 deficient. For the US alone, that’s 26 million people who could be vitamin B12 deficient and likely do not know that they are deficient. What happens when one is B12 deficient? Inflammation increases, along with homocysteine concentrations, which is a very strong and independent risk factor for heart disease (the very same disease metformin is promoted to prevent).  What else happens when B12 is deficient? Poor iron management, better known as pernicious anemia.

Metformin tanks CoEnzyme Q10 which effectively cripples mitochondrial ATP production even further, by as much as 48% in muscles. Imagine having to function in such a reduced capacity. Now imagine having to fight a deadly virus or recover from one. Finally, if the reductions in nutrients and ATP weren’t sufficiently troubling, metformin also interferes with the body’s innate toxicant metabolism pathways, the P450 enzymes, rendering those who use this drug less capable of effectively metabolizing a whole host of other medications and environmental toxicants.

This is one medication. Very few adults who go down this pathway are prescribed just one medication. With metformin, one is likely also to have a statin, perhaps a blood pressure medicine, and if the patient is a women, some form of birth control or hormone replacement. Many are also on antidepressants or anxiolytics. Statins, for example, severely deplete CoQ10, further crippling the electron transport chain. Synthetic hormones deplete a whole host of nutrients (thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, folate, vitamin B12, ascorbic  acid, and zinc) while damaging mitochondria via multiple mechanisms.

Long COVID and Medication

Just as the use of medications leading up to and during the illness impact the functioning of one’s mitochondria, the use of medications across time, as one recovers from the infection, will negatively impact mitochondrial capacity as well. This, of course, is in addition to the demand COVID itself places on mitochondrial energy capacity. Data suggests that at least 10% and upwards of 80% of COVID survivors have lingering symptoms. Among the most common are fatigue, brain fog, muscle pain and weakness, and breathing difficulties along with an array of dysautonomias.  These are classical indicators of ailing mitochondria and yet common treatment protocols involve more of the same medications and none of the nutrients needed to support them. As we go forward and recover from the COVID pandemic, I think it is incumbent upon us to look at mitochondrial health more closely.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter. 

*Environmental issues should be considered as the totality of chemical exposures from environmental, agricultural, industrial, and pharmaceutical sources. Environmental exposures damage mitochondria and should not be excluded as contributing factors to illness.

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Functional Dysautonomia - Raynaud's

I first noticed symptoms of what I believe to be functional dysautonomia that affects my peripheral circulation in the winter when I was 12 years old. Though they have never completely derailed my life, like the symptoms of so many others, they are a constant presence. I am now 21 and the symptoms have more or less stayed the same since that winter.

Peripheral circulation issues from functional dysautonomia.
Circulation and color change in my hands when cold.

These symptoms mainly impact the peripheral circulation on my hands, feet, and face. They are triggered, or worsen, when exposed to heat, cold, stress, or alcohol. Most of the time my hands and feet will have a slightly cyanotic tinge, are cold, and (feet especially) will sweat. When it is very cold they will turn to a bluish color. While standing still or when my hands are by my side they will get blood pooling in a bluish / purplish mottling color. In addition, my capillary refill time is very slow, especially on my feet, sometimes in excess of 12 seconds.

Functional dysautonomia peripheral circulation
Blood pooling and color change in my feet when hot.

 

When it is warm my hands and feet will become red and hot, with blood pooling in them when placed below the heart, if I raise them they will return to a normal color. Also, when hot I will get prickly / itchy sensations on the back of my arms and on my back. My cheeks, in addition, are often quite red, even in a cool room, and get more so when I am hot or stressed. My brother also has these similar circulation issues.

Apart from these physical symptoms I noticed, I have dealt with fairly bad anxiety since I was young, especially around school and sports. It has gotten much better in the last year or so after I noticed it and worked through it. Through recognizing it, I realized how much of the time I was in a tense sympathetic state. Another random symptom I have had since I was young is eye floaters. I am not sure if the two are related. Other than those symptoms, I feel as though I am healthy. I am able to stay active and am studying in college.

It’s More Than Raynaud’s Syndrome

Every time I attempt to get these symptoms checked doctors say they can find nothing wrong with me and that it is either Raynaud’s or “just how it is”. Though, from my own research, it appears to me that is not the case. The only other examples of symptoms I can find like mine are pictures of POTS patients with dependent acrocyanosis / blood pooling in their arms and legs and a case study of Dr. Lonsdale’s of a girl with juvenile arthritis. I find my own symptoms confusing mainly due to the lack of other symptoms.

Perhaps Thiamine Will Help

After taking time reading through this site and looking through Dr. Lonsdale’s work, I started taking 50mg of Allithiamine and 125mg of magnesium daily, about a month ago. During this first week of taking it I noticed a twitching in my stomach, general stomach pain, and I would sneeze a ton. After a week, I bumped it up to 100mg of Allithiamine and 250mg of magnesium, during this period I noticed very intense dreaming, which was constant throughout the night, and an upset stomach. After a few days of this, I dropped magnesium down to 125mg and kept thiamine at 150mg. I am now at 200 mg of Allithiamine and 125mg of magnesium a day. It has been four weeks since starting Allithiamine and I have not experienced further strange symptoms, however, I have not noticed any of my main symptoms, the issues with peripheral circulation, reduce.

I am just curious if I am on the right path and if anyone would be willing to offer some guidance.

Thankful for This Community

I am so appreciative of this community. I cannot describe how grateful I am to have this paradigm for thinking about health at such an early age.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this, Dr. Lonsdale for all of his work, and Dr. Marrs for her work and encouraging me to post this.

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More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

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Recovering From Suspected Thiamine Deficiency

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recovering from thiamine deficiency

On and off over the last several years, I have had peripheral neuropathy along with a number of other strange symptoms like air hunger, light and sound sensitivity, and balance and gait issues that I believe are related to an undiagnosed thiamine deficiency.

Peripheral Neuropathy, Air Hunger, Dizziness, Altered Vision and Other Symptoms

I have always taken pretty good care of myself as well as taking supplements. I should note, that for the year prior to my health decline, I was drinking a lot of coffee, approximately 40-60 ounces per day. I have since learned that coffee diminishes thiamine. When I began to develop the neuropathy, I didn’t really know what it was. The strange sensations would come and go, but it became more and more intense in my legs and feet. Last summer, I also started to feel similar vibrations in my rib cage. It was extremely uncomfortable.

In addition to the neuropathy, I would wake up sometimes during the night gasping for air. Toward the end of last summer, I could really feel my energy slowly waning and in November of 2019, I had the flu. After I recovered from the flu, I still felt exhausted and weak. I went back to the doctor in December, 2019 and was found hypothyroid and put on Levothyroxine. I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Anyway, I did not feel much better and I went back in January, 2020. I had a chest x-ray which showed lung inflammation and was told it could be COPD or asthma. I was asked if I had been smoking and I said it had been 35 years since I’ve smoked. (I am now 61.)  At this point, I had some serious nervous system disorder signs, which I now think were the signs of both dry and wet Beriberi.

My symptoms had progressed to the point that I was extremely sensitive to light and sound and had extreme lightheadedness/dizziness. My vision plane was tilted to maybe like a 30 degree angle. My gait was weird at times and my balance was terrible. I received a general blood test and was also tested for Lyme disease, Lupus, RA and other autoimmune diseases, with normal results. They also tested my adrenal and parathyroid hormones and that came back normal. My body overall had this continuous buzzing type of sensation. I am normally social but felt so bad that I wanted to withdraw from people.

Was It Thiamine?

I found Drs. Lonsdale and Marrs information about thiamine and started on Allithiamine in mid-March 2020 and continued to see the chiropractor. I started with one, 50mg capsule per day and now am up to three 50 mg capsules a day. I plan on increasing to four capsules per day soon. The dizziness, balance problems, visual disturbances, light and sound sensitivity issues, and gait issues are pretty much gone.

What has worsened is that I have a hiatal hernia that never really bothered me that has begun to bother me a lot over the last 4-6 weeks. When I am having a flare-up, I am short of breath and my abdomen feels extremely tight between my ribs. This happens every few days. I feel that I have been healing but the abdominal discomfort and the effect it is having on my breathing is extremely uncomfortable at times. I am wondering if it is normal for one set of symptoms to resolve and a new set to arise. It is clear that the thiamine is helping with a number of my symptoms, the dizziness, balance and gait and the light and sound sensitivity have all improved, but the hernia and the pressure it causes on my breathing, has worsened. Will Allithiamine possibly help heal my lungs of the damage caused by smoking all those years ago? Will it help with the breathing and hiatal hernia or am I missing something?

I would love to hear your comments about all of this. I am deeply grateful for all of the work and research your site has done shedding light on the importance of thiamine.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter. 

Image by Anja?#helpinghands #solidarity#stays healthy? from Pixabay

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