Lowering Serum CO2

[yerrag]

How do you lower serum CO2 levels?

I've read haidut's posts on acetazolamide and thiamine, which inhibits carbonic anhydrase, keeping CO2 from being converted to bicarbonate.

But what if I want to lower serum CO2 levels? Any ideas?

I don't want to entertain metabolizing fat over sugar. And I don't want to down-regulate my metabolism by using less efficient metabolic pathways such as glycolysis , aerobic or anaerobic.

I want to lower serum CO2 levels so that oxygen wouldn't be as readily released by hemoglobin. This way, lower serum CO2 could lead to less oxygen being released to the issues.

I feel that this is an alternative to my body having to constrict my blood vessels, in order to throttle oxygen usage by the tissues. This is leading to increased blood pressure, which is the result of the constriction.

The reason my body is throttling oxygen usage is because , to my understanding, it wants to create hypoxic conditions that favor the production of uric acid, which the body deems necessary to counter oxidation from my lead toxicity.

 

[yerrag]

I'm not sure if there is an answer to my question, but still it's too early for me to tell.

What about running this by you to see if this makes any sense?

Two months ago, I happened to skip lunch. I had breakfast, then brought with me a pint of vitamin c water (ascorbic acid dissolved in water) and drank from the pint container from time to time through lunch. At around 3 pm I came home and I took my blood pressure. I not only had unusually lower blood pressure than I used to have, and my pulse rate was high. I can only surmise that the lunch fast and the vitamin c seemed to have perked up my metabolism. My guess here is that the vitamin c somehow helped me use my glycogen stores well, or that I was actually metabolizing the ascorbic acid, being that fructose and ascorbic acid are analogs, and that it probably made my metabolism very efficient. This would account for the higher heart rate. As for the lower blood pressure, vitamin c was squeezing every last ounce of energy from the limited sugar (I was fasting) or the ascorbic acid I was drinking, and oxygen (the oxygen-rich hemoglobin in my blood wasn't being delivered to my tissues maximally as the body is somehow constricting my blood vessels to limit oxygenation) I have. I was thus able to reach a high heart rate without increasing my tissues' demand for oxygen.

So, I'll skip lunch and drink ascorbic acid solution in its place, and I'll see if I can replicate the experience I had. I could do this for a week to minimize any random variability.

I don't think I'm lowering my serum CO2 at all here though.

Your thoughts?

 

[success23]

I think carbonic ahydrase is made mainly from zinc. So supplement and your body will balance itself.
Also ACE inhibitors increase the effectivness of CO2 therpaies.

 

[Dr. C]

I would NOT suggest to do this, but simple hyperventilation will surely bring down your serum CO2. This will rise both your blood pressure and your intracranial pressure. When doing this regulary you will change your CO2 setpoint and become a chronic hyperventilator.

If you want to bring down uric acid, you better just cut out any fructose or sugar (dare to say this on this forum, but it's the truth)

Ascorbic acid is not real Vitamin C (the bioactive form is ascorbat).

Regarding your lead toxicity, why don't you use chelator therapy or at least a sauna?

 

[yerrag]

Also ACE inhibitors increase the effectivness of CO2 therpaies.

I'll have to read up on ACE inhibitors. I know it's used to lower blood pressure, so it must be that it lowers serum CO2 then to lessen tissue oxygenation? Lowering tissue oxygenation brings some tissues closer to hypoxic conditions without having to constrict blood vessels. With less contriction of blood vessels, blood pressure would decrease.

would NOT suggest to do this, but simple hyperventilation will surely bring down your serum CO2. This will rise both your blood pressure and your intracranial pressure. When doing this regulary you will change your CO2 setpoint and become a chronic hyperventilator.

You're speaking to a general context though. I find that when I practice Buteyko and increase my control pause as a result, my blood pressure goes up from an already high level. My kidneys have lead toxicity, which produces ROS. ROS would cause tissue destruction, and uric acid neutralizes the effect of ROS. To keep uric acid coming, hypoxic conditions are needed in those tissues. Increasing tissue oxygenation from increased serum CO2 goes in the direction of less hypoxia, and in order to move back in the direction of hypoxia, the arterioles in the kidneys constrict, to regain the ability to produce uric acid in sufficient quantity. This causes my blood pressure to increase.

I don't know how I managed, but even at very high hypertension levels, I have never experienced any episode of migraine or headache. The only time my head hurt was when I had a brain concussion from a car accident.

If you want to bring down uric acid, you better just cut out any fructose or sugar (dare to say this on this forum, but it's the truth)

But I don't want to bring down uric acid. It's actually saving my kidneys from being destroyed by ROS from lead toxicity. Fructose helps in that regard and I don't want to reduce fructose consumption. I haven't experienced any bad effects from increased uric acid. It must be that my blood/ecf pH is in balance that it doesn't cause uric acid to crystallize and cause gout. I also have a normal 37C body temperature and that also helps uric acid from crystallizing. Uric acid has been protecting me, and I haven't experienced any ill side-effects from it. It is part of the body's primary antioxidant system.

Ascorbic acid is not real Vitamin C (the bioactive form is ascorbat).

It is synthetically produced, but doesn't differ in molecular structure from the vitamin C you get from nature. In therapeutic levels of usage (as in megadosing) natural vitamin C isn't practical.

Regarding your lead toxicity, why don't you use chelator therapy or at least a sauna?

Ascorbic acid and magnesium therapy has been the only effective solution for me. I have tried other methods and they haven't worked. I've gone through many years with other methods, and my blood pressure has increased steadily to a peak of 240/140. With the current therapy, it has been going down and as of late it has hit a wall at 170/110. Just a few days ago, I've scaled that wall. But it was with help from my biological dentists. I had one pocket of periodontal bacteria removed, along with a tooth, and I'm seeing further lowering of my blood pressure.

Sauna alone doesn't help, but with the primary therapy of magnesium and ascorbic acid, it helps to excrete lead through the skin pores.

 

[Dr. C]

With a blood pressure this high, I see you in acute risk!

Uric acid is a well known risk factor for arteriosclerosis as well as hypertension. This is why I would lower it.

Regarding the 'current therapy', I guess renal arteria stenosis and phaeochromovytoma have been ruled out. If you don't respond to blood pressure medication, have you discussed renal denervation with a specialist?

Don't get me wrong, I love functional medicine and always want to treat the cause, not the symptom. But if your symptoms persist although I tried to solve the cause, I strongly suggest to control them more aggressivly.

Regarding the cause:

What kind of lead therapy did you try? In your case I would suggest bi-weekly infusions with EDTA over about 5 hours accompanied by daily oral DMSP until your urine levels of lead are down. I am pretty sure this would solve your lead problem withhin weeks.

 

[yerrag]

With a blood pressure this high, I see you in acute risk!

Uric acid is a well known risk factor for arteriosclerosis as well as hypertension. This is why I would lower it.

Regarding the 'current therapy', I guess renal arteria stenosis and phaeochromovytoma have been ruled out. If you don't respond to blood pressure medication, have you discussed renal denervation with a specialist?

Don't get me wrong, I love functional medicine and always want to treat the cause, not the symptom. But if your symptoms persist although I tried to solve the cause, I strongly suggest to control them more aggressivly.

Regarding the cause:

What kind of lead therapy did you try? In your case I would suggest bi-weekly infusions with EDTA over about 5 hours accompanied by daily oral DMSP until your urine levels of lead are down. I am pretty sure this would solve your lead problem withhin weeks.

The last time a nurse at a hospital tested me, she wanted to rush me to the ER when she saw my bp at 180/120. She also felt I was in grave danger. I could be wrong, but thus far I'm holding well. I tested my urine albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR) last year, and I was at CKD stage 1. But I believe it had more to do with the lead toxicity in my kidneys than it has to do with my hypertensive state. After therapy with magnesium and ascorbic acid, my ACR has improved and has managed to slip back into normal range. My serum LDH also improved from being slightly out of range into being back within range. Over time, with continued therapy, I hope to improve further on those markers.

I tend to view high uric acid more positively. It certainly indicates something is wrong, but high uric acid in itself is not a bad thing. A friend of mine with breast cancer would confirm that she has zero level of uric acid. People with gout (a case of crystallized uric acid)are said to be free of cancer. But I've seen my uric acid levels go down as my condition improves. I'm glad for it. As uric acid levels go down, I would see it as my body needing less of it due to the gradual elimination of lead from my kidneys.

I haven't tried out any blood pressure medication. I don't want to start relying on them. If I had relied on them, I would then have to be using them for a good 13 years by now. As it is, I'm actually doing well. If I didn't tell you of my hypertensive condition, you wouldn't think I was anything other than a very healthy individual. Haven't had flu nor fever for 18 years, no allergies. I'm not overweight. And have energy throughout the day. I'm not at peak though. My heart rate could stand to be faster by 15-20 bpm (85 bpm being ideal), my hair could be thicker, and my libido can be better as well. But I believe my body is conferring on me its protective inhibition. It's downregulating my metabolism as increasing it would be stressful and not conducive to my health.

I'm not actually interested in any external intervention as my body is holding well with the circumstances presented to it. Renal denervation to counter the body's innate wisdom is something I would be more likely to regret doing. There are less invasive ways, and I prefer the big picture of not throwing caution to the wind. I want to be fighting and kicking till the end, and not dealing with complications from a botched procedure, or from a successful procedure that wasn't really needed in the first place.

I've had a series of IV chelation to remove mercury. It did successfully remove mercury, but lead is embedded in the kidneys and it's a tougher problem. After that, I've tried oral chelation using a product called HMD using cilantro as its chelating agent. It was a waste of time and effort. Then tried using PectaClear, an alginate-based solution. Also a waste. I'm just glad something as basic and inexpensive and as gentle and non-invasive as magnesium and ascorbic acid is working well.

It is a long journey. There are moments when I have to chill when I'm at wit's end. Something comes along eventually. This forum is the one resource that's helped me. It is a bazaar of ideas. There's a lot of noise amid the chatter, but I have to stay focused to find the pearls of wisdom that abound.