![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by pixiemagic on February 17, 2012, at 0:09:06
Anyone had any luck with chlorophyll supplements like wheatgrass or spirulina? I've heard great things about them & I know a lot of celebrities swear by wheatgrass. I'm just wondering if it's just a bunch of hype & all in their head or what. I'm mainly interested because I'm looking for something that will increase my energy. I eat a decent diet, but I'm sure there's always room for improvement, so if I can get more nutrients somehow, then great.
Posted by Tomatheus on February 17, 2012, at 11:43:36
In reply to Chlorophyll (Wheatgrass + Spirulina), posted by pixiemagic on February 17, 2012, at 0:09:06
pixiemagic,
I've taken spirulina for my anergic/vegetative depression, and when I did, I noticed a reduction in the severity of all of my depressive symptoms that only lasted about a day. In other words, I built up a tolerance to the stuff really quickly. I can't say that you or anyone else will have the same response to spirulina that I did because responses to supplements can vary, but I must say that my response to the supplement was short lived.
I haven't tried wheatgrass, but I just wanted to chime in and share my spirulina response with you.
Tomatheus
Posted by g_g_g_unit on February 18, 2012, at 5:34:33
In reply to Re: Chlorophyll (Wheatgrass + Spirulina), posted by Tomatheus on February 17, 2012, at 11:43:36
Have you ever tried Uridine, Tomatheus?
> pixiemagic,
>
> I've taken spirulina for my anergic/vegetative depression, and when I did, I noticed a reduction in the severity of all of my depressive symptoms that only lasted about a day. In other words, I built up a tolerance to the stuff really quickly. I can't say that you or anyone else will have the same response to spirulina that I did because responses to supplements can vary, but I must say that my response to the supplement was short lived.
>
> I haven't tried wheatgrass, but I just wanted to chime in and share my spirulina response with you.
>
> Tomatheus
Posted by Tomatheus on February 18, 2012, at 10:39:50
In reply to Re: Chlorophyll (Wheatgrass + Spirulina) » Tomatheus, posted by g_g_g_unit on February 18, 2012, at 5:34:33
g_g_g_unit,
No, I haven't tried uridine. I might consider trying it at some point, but right now the main symptoms that I'm trying to combat are avolition, difficulty concentrating, and hypersomnia (and I'm having some success at combating those symptoms on my current combo), and I'm not sure how effective uridine would be at combating those particular symptoms. Do you have any experience with uridine?
Tomatheus
Posted by torrid2 on February 18, 2012, at 10:47:36
In reply to Chlorophyll (Wheatgrass + Spirulina), posted by pixiemagic on February 17, 2012, at 0:09:06
haven't tried wheatgrass but did try spirulina. I didn't notice any thing from spirulina but it was years ago and I was in desperate shape then. I think that it would be worth giving it another try. Things that I've read good things about that I have had no luck with that I question if it's worth another go around are omeaga 3's, probiotics and spirulina. The spiiulina I tryed was in bulk from whole foods, don't know if that matters, don't think it does cause that stuff surrives heat, cold and age.
Posted by Pixiemagic on February 18, 2012, at 11:33:38
In reply to Re: Chlorophyll (Wheatgrass + Spirulina) » pixiemagic, posted by torrid2 on February 18, 2012, at 10:47:36
Thanks guys. Tom- I've been thinking that Hypersonnia might be my problem too! My friend was recently diagnosed & she & I share a lot of the same symptoms. What current combo are you on now that is working for you?
Posted by Tomatheus on February 18, 2012, at 13:12:29
In reply to Re: Chlorophyll (Wheatgrass + Spirulina), posted by Pixiemagic on February 18, 2012, at 11:33:38
> Thanks guys. Tom- I've been thinking that Hypersonnia might be my problem too! My friend was recently diagnosed & she & I share a lot of the same symptoms. What current combo are you on now that is working for you?
Here is a list of the medications and supplements that I currently take:
Abilify, 5 mg
Hydergine, 2.25 mg
folic acid, 800 mcg
coenzyme q10, 60 mg
Korean ginseng, 535 mg
DHA, 100 mg
liquid SAM-e, 10.8 mg
ginkgo biloba, 15 mgI actually just started taking the ginkgo biloba yesterday, so even though I like the way that it's been affecting me so far, I can't say for sure that I'm going to keep benefiting from it in the long run. I'm on a very low dose of the ginkgo at the moment, so the benefits that I've been noticing from the herb since I started it yesterday have been rather subtle. For example, I had been sleeping around 11 hours a night before I started the ginkgo, and last night, I slept for about 9.5 hours. So, I'm noticing some improvement so far with the ginkgo, but as far as my hypersomnia is concerned, I'm still not at the point that I'd like to be at, which would be getting only eight hours of sleep a night. I would say that the ginkgo is probably helping me more with my difficulty concentrating and avolition more than it's helping me with my hypersomnia, but again, with me being at a very low dose of ginkgo, the effects have been rather subtle so far.
The liquid SAM-e is something that I've been taking for more than a month, and the main symptom that it seems to be helping with is my difficulty concentrating. I used to respond reasonably well to enteric-coated SAM-e tablets -- it actually put a dent in my anergic/vegetative depression before I took aminoguanidine and started experiencing my psychotic symptoms -- but now when I take the tablets I don't seem to notice anything from them. So, for my original symptoms, which were lack of energy, psychomotor retardation, hypersomnia, anhedonia, some difficulty concentrating, and circadian-rhythm abnormalities, SAM-e seemed to have the most consistent effect of any treatment that I tried. I should note that I took SAM-e with tranylcypromine (generic Parnate) when I was first taking the supplement, and though taking the two together might have been beneficial in my case, it's not something that I would recommend because SAM-e is contraindicated with MAOIs.
The coenzyme q10, Korean ginseng, and the DHA that I'm taking (along with the Abilify and Hydergine) all seem to put a slight dent in my anergic/vegetative depression, although my anergic/vegetative depression isn't nearly as severe as it used to be as it was before I took aminoguanidine. As strange as it may seem, one of the "side effects" of the damage that the aminoguanidine seemed to do (damage which manifested itself as difficulty concentrating, other cognitive impairments, and psychosis) is that my anergic/vegetative depression is not nearly as intense as it used to be. So, combating my anergic/vegetative depression isn't nearly the struggle that it used to be before I took aminoguanidine, and that may be part of the reason why I'm responding to the supplements that I'm taking now. I know that DHA and Korean ginseng did practically nothing for my anergic/vegetative depression before I took aminoguanidine, but now they seem to do a little something.
That basically sums up my comments on the various supplements and medications that I'm taking for my anergic/vegetative depression and the aminoguanidine-induced cognitive impairment and psychosis that emerged for me some five years ago. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about anything that I wrote. I would say that if your depressive symptoms are similar to mine (especially as they were before I took aminoguanidine) that I would look into trying SAM-e if you haven't already. I found SAM-e to be more effective than any other supplement for my anergic/vegetative depression, although for some reason (which may have something to do with the damage that aminoguanidine might have done) I only respond to the liquid version of the supplement now. Anyway, I wish you luck with your supplement trials, and again, if you have any more questions for me, feel free to ask.
Tom(atheus)
Posted by torrid2 on February 18, 2012, at 13:34:57
In reply to Re: Chlorophyll (Wheatgrass + Spirulina) » Pixiemagic, posted by Tomatheus on February 18, 2012, at 13:12:29
SAMe poops out in like 4-6 weeks, do you skip days of the SAMe? SAMe isn't stable so I don''t understand liquid delivery, I'm currious about this.
I got got a kick in my lazy *ss with a B12 shot and a refill of concerta yesterday, have you tryed B12 injections? There's something about Folic acid and B12 needing each other alone with B6 and other cofactors.
What about magnesium and the traca minerals?
If SAMe works have you tryed other things that lower homocstine I think B12 and B9 together do something in respect.
Posted by Tomatheus on February 18, 2012, at 14:30:20
In reply to Re: Chlorophyll (Wheatgrass + Spirulina) » Tomatheus, posted by torrid2 on February 18, 2012, at 13:34:57
Torrid2,
See below for my responses to your post...
> SAMe poops out in like 4-6 weeks, do you skip days of the SAMe? SAMe isn't stable so I don''t understand liquid delivery, I'm currious about this.
When I took SAM-e initially (in the enteric-coated tablets with the tranylcypromine I was taking), I noticed benefits for about three months. I might have continued to respond to the supplement indefinitely, but my trial with it was cut short because that's when I took aminoguanidine and developed my psychosis and cognitive impairment. I was hospitalized a few days after the onset of my psychosis, so there was no way I could have kept taking the SAM-e.
I've always taken SAM-e every day when I've taken it. So far, I haven't noticed any "poop out" with the liquid version that I'm taking, and it didn't "poop out" when I was taking the tablets initially. As I explained above, I couldn't keep taking the tablets because I was involuntarily hospitalized.
The liquid SAM-e that I take is said to have a higher absorption rate than the tablet version of SAM-e. Basically, 72 mg of liquid SAM-e is equivalent to 400 mg of SAM-e in tablet form, according to the manufacturer of the liquid product. So, the 10.8 mg of the liquid SAM-e that I take would be equivalent to 60 mg of SAM-e in tablet form. Here's a link to the manufacturer's Web site that explains what I just wrote:
http://www.luminahealth.com/products/SAM-e.htm
For what it's worth, some of those who've reviewed the liquid SAM-e on iherb.com have said that the liquid version isn't as effective as the tablet version. So, if the reviews on iherb are any indicator, responses to the two versions of SAM-e may vary.
> I got got a kick in my lazy *ss with a B12 shot and a refill of concerta yesterday, have you tryed B12 injections? There's something about Folic acid and B12 needing each other alone with B6 and other cofactors.
No, I haven't tried B12 injections. I have, however, tried regular B12 tablets and sublingual "methyl" B12 lozenges, and I didn't notice any response to either.
> What about magnesium and the traca minerals?
I've only taken magnesium oxide. It seemed to help with my lithium-induced agitation when I used to take it, but never seemed to do anything for my anergic/vegetative depression. I do think that some of the other versions of magnesium might be worth looking into.
> If SAMe works have you tryed other things that lower homocstine I think B12 and B9 together do something in respect.
I have. As I said above, regular B12 tablets and sublingual "methyl" B12 lozenges never seemed to have an effect on my anergic/vegetative depression. I'm currently taking folic acid, but I'm weighing discontinuing it because I don't think that that particular supplement is exerting much, if any effect.
Tomatheus
Posted by g_g_g_unit on March 5, 2012, at 4:34:15
In reply to Re: Chlorophyll (Wheatgrass + Spirulina) » g_g_g_unit, posted by Tomatheus on February 18, 2012, at 10:39:50
I don't have any experience, no. I was looking into it for cognitive-enhancement.
> g_g_g_unit,
>
> No, I haven't tried uridine. I might consider trying it at some point, but right now the main symptoms that I'm trying to combat are avolition, difficulty concentrating, and hypersomnia (and I'm having some success at combating those symptoms on my current combo), and I'm not sure how effective uridine would be at combating those particular symptoms. Do you have any experience with uridine?
>
> Tomatheus
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Alternative | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.