Choline, weight gain and Alzheimer's hippocampal damage; myasthenia gravis & oxidative stress; brief sulfide comment.
And shiitake mushrooms are a good source of choline, but egg yolk has more. Emergency preparedness popquiz via Dr. Wallman on Twxtter.
Choline deficiency has been linked to weight gain and damage of the hippocampus suggesting a role in Alzheimer's risk. The Effects of Dietary Choline Deficiency on Neurologic and System-Wide Health, Jan 17, 2023, (NeuroscienceNews.com) Egg yolk is an excellent source of choline. Meat, poultry, broccoli and beans are also sources. Vegan diets may be low as animal foods are a better source. Shiitake mushrooms are a good source if you eat a generous serving.
Myasthenia gravis organization with more information about the rare eye and weakness condition: (myastheniagravis.org/what-makes-mg-worse/) The common factor in the list of things that make symptoms of myasthenia gravis worse seems to be increased oxidative stress from various sources.
Their list rearranged and grouped:
Physical stress: Fatigue, insufficient sleep; Overexertion, repetitive motion; Illness; Pain; Low potassium levels or low thyroid levels; Sunlight or bright lights (affects eyes); Extreme temperatures (hot or cold weather, hot showers or baths, sunbathing, saunas, hot tubs); Hot foods or beverages (affects mouth and throat); Humidity.
Emotional stress: Stress, anxiety; Sudden fear, extreme anger;
Depression.
Chemical stress: Some medications, including beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, and some antibiotics; Quinine or tonic water; Some chemicals, including some household cleaners, insecticides and pet flea sprays;
Exposure to chemical lawn treatments.
Alcoholic beverages - causes Retinoid Toxicity in some tissues and low levels of inactive vitamin A in the eyes.
“Commonly-used medications like ciprofloxacin or certain other antibiotics, beta-blockers like propranolol, calcium channel blockers, Botox, muscle relaxants, lithium, magnesium, verapamil and more, can worsen the symptoms of myasthenia gravis. Some medications should be avoided altogether (unless there is no alternative). This includes medications that have a “black box warning” that specifically advise against use by individuals who have myasthenia gravis (e.g., ciprofloxacin).” **Click through for links to detailed lists. (myastheniagravis.org/what-makes-mg-worse/)
Magnesium as a treatment that makes it worse might mean medically given intravenous magnesium. I don’t know. Yes - per one of the lists with more info:
“Magnesium. Use of intravenous magnesium should be avoided in myasthenic patients unless a blood test shows there are significantly low magnesium levels. Similarly, use of magnesium containing drugs for constipation should be avoided in myasthenic patients who also have abnormal kidney function. The amount of magnesium in a multi-vitamin or over-the-counter medication generally does not worsen myasthenia.” - Drugs to Avoid pdf, myastheniagravis.org
Note that magnesium deficiency will cause low potassium and calcium levels in the blood as a compensatory mechanism.
And yes, oxidative stress is a systemic problem in MG. It leads to protein changes that can affect function. “These results demonstrate systemic oxidative stress in MG, suggesting therapeutic use of antioxidants.” (Adamczyk-Sowa, et la., 2017)
Links via Pat on telegram, thanks! I added more links on the topic in the Reference List but am not going into more detail in this post. Take home points: Reduce oxidative stress to reduce protein modifications that add to myasthenia gravis symptoms. Artemisinin or sweet wormwood extract may be helpful for autoimmune conditions. I have found it helpful since CoV/LongCoVid season started. (Efferth and Oesch, 2021)
**Comment on Substack by Vonu about hydrogen sulfide being dangerous in excess - 21 hrs ago, “H2S is a pretty dangerous way to get one's sulfur, being a common cause of oilfield causalities.” - Vonu.
Yes, thanks. The body makes some hydrogen sulfide and it seems to have some roles to play in health when in the right miniscule signaling amounts. I need to spend more time studying sulfur metabolism and was not recommending taking hydrogen sulfide or diallyl disulfide in the last post. It was noting that sulfur metabolism has a role to play in gut health - but the pathways have to be working instead of overloaded with excess. Diallyl sulfide is found in garlic. (pubchem) Diallyl disulfide is also found in garlic. (Song, et al., 2021) Maybe I just need to use less. I was using generous amounts of garlic and onions, other sulfur veggies, and taking methionine, taurine, and NAC - all sulfur amino acids, and using MSM as a supplement and taking Epsom salt baths. My total load added up.
Spice combo graphic for no particular reason:
Emergency Preparedness popquiz by Dr. John Wallman on TwXtter.
Learn what you can forage for leafy greens, root vegetables or edible mushrooms. Or start a garden or add sawdust spore to make mushroom logs.
Sprout seeds for increased nutrient content and fresh veggies. The root of mung beans is good, when used before the leaves sprout.
Indoor grow lights can work for leafy greens but generally won’t be bright enough for larger vegetables. Learn more and see what you find out.
*My other answers are at the end of the post.
It is shiitake season. If you have shade and high humidity, then it can be a good crop. Up front work sporing the logs lasts about two to three years — if critters didn't eat the spore filling the first year
One whole cup of shiitake mushrooms for 116 mg, (healthline.com), would be a lot to eat of them in one sitting, and really just a lot, a big mushroom or two.
Addition - cook shiitake mushrooms thoroughly as raw or undercooked can cause a very itch rash. A graphic image looks like high levels of histamine plus scratching but the text suggests a linear pattern is seen in shiitake dermatitis. It is a short term reaction. Topical glucocorticoids and oral antihistamines were prescribed for symptom relief. See: Shiitake Dermatitis, Eglė Janušonytė, M.D. and Jöri Pünchera, M.D., Oct. 12, 2023, (nejm.com).
One egg yolk provides 140 mg of choline (none in the whites). (WebMD)
My other answers to the emergency preparedness question by Dr. Wallman:
“What are you doing to prepare alternatives for each of these systems should they become corrupted/cut off over the next year?
1) Water 2) Heat 3) Meat 4) Vegetables 5) Phone / communication 6) Information (internet) 7) Health care 8) Shelter 9) Transportation” - (x.com/DoctorWallman)
activated charcoal filter in case of contaminated tap water
better weather proofing in case of power outages, backup generator, gas cans, camp stove and propane, a space heater. Want to get a chimney sweep.
dry beans, canned foods
some dried and canned foods
need an emergency radio
need to backup my laptop on external hard drive, store that in EMP proof container
dried pomegranate peel & other things
parent's home, caregiver for mom
diesel car, & backup can of diesel, more EMP proof.
Regenerative farming or regenerative agriculture are search phrases to use for methods that help rebuild the soil, unlike modern methods. It is more like traditional methods that use cover crops and rotation of use - crop, grazing, or laying fallow - a three year cycle. Fallow means leaving a field untilled and ungrazed for a season to provide rest for the soil. (nrdc.org)
Disclaimer: This information is being provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health guidance.
Reference List
(Adamczyk-Sowa, et la., 2017) Adamczyk-Sowa M, Bieszczad-Bedrejczuk E, Galiniak S, Rozmiłowska I, Czyżewski D, Bartosz G, Sadowska-Bartosz I. Oxidative modifications of blood serum proteins in myasthenia gravis. J Neuroimmunol. 2017 Apr 15;305:145-153. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2017.01.019. Epub 2017 Feb 7. PMID: 28284335. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28284335/
(Efferth and Oesch, 2021) Efferth, T., Oesch, F., The immunosuppressive activity of artemisinin-type drugs towards inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Med Res Rev. 2021 Nov;41(6):3023-3061. doi: 10.1002/med.21842. Epub 2021 Jul 21. PMID: 34288018. DOI: 10.1002/med.2184 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/med.21842?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=organic
Junjappa, P.R., Patil, P., Bhattarai, K.R., Kim. H.-R., Chae, H.-J., IRE1α Implications in Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Mediated Development and Pathogenesis of Autoimmune Diseases, Frontiers in Immunology, 9, 2018, DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2018.01289, ISSN=1664-3224 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2018.01289/full
Payet, C.A., You, A., Fayet, O.-M., Dragin, N., Berrih-Aknin, S., Le Panse R., Myasthenia Gravis: An Acquired Interferonopathy?, Cells, 2022, 11(7), 1218; https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/11/7/1218
Rivas-Arancibia S, Hernández-Orozco E, Rodríguez-Martínez E, Valdés-Fuentes M, Cornejo-Trejo V, Pérez-Pacheco N, Dorado-Martínez C, Zequeida-Carmona D, Espinosa-Caleti I. Ozone Pollution, Oxidative Stress, Regulatory T Cells and Antioxidants. Antioxidants. 2022; 11(8):1553. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox11081553 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/11/8/1553
Thye AY, Law JW, Tan LT, Thurairajasingam S, Chan KG, Letchumanan V, Lee LH. Exploring the Gut Microbiome in Myasthenia Gravis. Nutrients. 2022 Apr 14;14(8):1647. doi: 10.3390/nu14081647. PMID: 35458209; PMCID: PMC9027283. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9027283/
Off topic Mrs. Jennifer https://apple.news/AeKrAXVgzRTeR23V_qkg7yw
Don’t forget Lecithin plus Vitamin B5 as a source of acetylcholine for hippocampus growth and resist dementia.