Alcohol's effect on Thiamine (B1)

mostlylurking

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If alcohol prevents proper absorption of Thiamine (B1) - then how long does that effect last?
I don't think it will just go away if you stop drinking. I think you need to be proactive and take thiamine (and magnesium) to recover thiamine function.

I've been studying thiamine for the past few weeks because I developed a thiamine deficiency, probably brought on by an antibiotic, Bactrim, taken last July. The deficiency/blockage of thiamine function didn't resolve itself on its own, even though I had been taking 100mg of thiamine daily for 6 years. I have had to supplement with a fairly high dose of thiamine for several weeks to regain my balance of health. I don't know if the large doses of thiamine HCL (taken with magnesium) will eventually normalize my thiamine function so that I can lower the dose back to 100mg/day or not.

I have been taking the larger (and larger) thiamine doses for about a month now. I think I am almost recovered. But the inflammation is still lurking and pops up around 10:00AM so I take some aspirin too, usually three times a day.

Although I did try taking TTFD thiamine (one 50mg dose), the headache it caused told me it wasn't a good thing for me to do so I stuck with thiamine HCL. Other people may tolerate TTFD thiamine just fine, but I could not.

Here is a very good video about thiamine:
 
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I don't think it will just go away if you stop drinking. I think you need to be proactive and take thiamine (and magnesium) to recover thiamine function.

I've been studying thiamine for the past few weeks because I developed a thiamine deficiency, probably brought on by an antibiotic, Bactrim, taken last July. The deficiency/blockage of thiamine function didn't resolve itself on its own, even though I had been taking 100mg of thiamine daily for 6 years. I have had to supplement with a fairly high dose of thiamine for several weeks to regain my balance of health. I don't know if the large doses of thiamine HCL (taken with magnesium) will eventually normalize my thiamine function so that I can lower the dose back to 100mg/day or not.

I have been taking the larger (and larger) thiamine doses for about a month now. I think I am almost recovered. But the inflammation is still lurking and pops up around 10:00AM so I take some aspirin too, usually three times a day.

Although I did try taking TTFD thiamine (one 50mg dose), the headache it caused told me it wasn't a good thing for me to do so I stuck with thiamine HCL. Other people may tolerate TTFD thiamine just fine, but I could not.

Here is a very good video about thiamine:


I'm thinking you're right about having to be pro-actively taking it regardless.

I've spent a lot of time reviewing B1 deficiency and I'm a likely candidate due to a variety of factors between partying with my friends over the years, Epstein Barr Virus, and a really bad infection I had in my mouth back in 2005 - which I believe went systemic. I used a lot of antibiotics for it, but it seems like once the infection went away the other weird array of broad symptoms started. Can't forget the copious amounts of stressors in my life.
 

mostlylurking

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Yep. I've got a big list of health events in my life which lets me know I have probably been borderline thiamine deficient most of my life. The list: joint inflammation in high school, narcolepsy in college, Epstein Barr, Dursban poisoning when nobody else there got sick, recurrence of Epstein Barr, heavy metal poisoning, rheumatoid arthritis, now bad reaction to antibiotics. Now I see the pattern; it all points to thiamine deficiency.

I always blamed it on my hypothyroidism, but this time my thyroid test results showed my T3 level way high and I felt like I couldn't move I felt so hypothyroid. So I took 1/8 teas of thiamine powder (= 250mg) and bam! my temperature went up from 98 to 99 degrees and my inflammation disappeared, all in about 45 minutes. It was quite an eye opener. I was in some serious trouble and I've been able to turn it around with more thiamine hcl (and more magnesium).
 

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mostlylurking

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I'm thinking you're right about having to be pro-actively taking it regardless.

I've spent a lot of time reviewing B1 deficiency and I'm a likely candidate due to a variety of factors between partying with my friends over the years, Epstein Barr Virus, and a really bad infection I had in my mouth back in 2005 - which I believe went systemic. I used a lot of antibiotics for it, but it seems like once the infection went away the other weird array of broad symptoms started. Can't forget the copious amounts of stressors in my life.
Yep. I've got a big list of health events in my life which lets me know I have probably been borderline thiamine deficient most of my life. The list: joint inflammation in high school, narcolepsy in college, Epstein Barr, Dursban poisoning when nobody else there got sick, multiple chemical sensitivities, recurrence of Epstein Barr, heavy metal poisoning, rheumatoid arthritis, now bad reaction to antibiotics. Now I see the pattern; it all points to thiamine deficiency.

I always blamed it on my hypothyroidism, but this time my thyroid test results showed my T3 level way high and I felt like I couldn't move I felt so hypothyroid. So I took 1/8 teas of thiamine powder (= 250mg) and bam! my temperature went up from 98 to 99 degrees and my inflammation disappeared, all in about 45 minutes. It was quite an eye opener. I was in some serious trouble and I've been able to turn it around with more thiamine hcl (and more magnesium).
 

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I'm thinking you're right about having to be pro-actively taking it regardless.

I've spent a lot of time reviewing B1 deficiency and I'm a likely candidate due to a variety of factors between partying with my friends over the years, Epstein Barr Virus, and a really bad infection I had in my mouth back in 2005 - which I believe went systemic. I used a lot of antibiotics for it, but it seems like once the infection went away the other weird array of broad symptoms started. Can't forget the copious amounts of stressors in my life.
Yeah that video @mostlylurking posted was really good. I had Epstein Barr which led to chronic fatigue syndrome myself and never want to relive that again.
 

Blossom

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Yep. I've got a big list of health events in my life which lets me know I have probably been borderline thiamine deficient most of my life. The list: joint inflammation in high school, narcolepsy in college, Epstein Barr, Dursban poisoning when nobody else there got sick, recurrence of Epstein Barr, heavy metal poisoning, rheumatoid arthritis, now bad reaction to antibiotics. Now I see the pattern; it all points to thiamine deficiency.

I always blamed it on my hypothyroidism, but this time my thyroid test results showed my T3 level way high and I felt like I couldn't move I felt so hypothyroid. So I took 1/8 teas of thiamine powder (= 250mg) and bam! my temperature went up from 98 to 99 degrees and my inflammation disappeared, all in about 45 minutes. It was quite an eye opener. I was in some serious trouble and I've been able to turn it around with more thiamine hcl (and more magnesium).
Fantastic!
 
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JDreamer

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Yep. I've got a big list of health events in my life which lets me know I have probably been borderline thiamine deficient most of my life. The list: joint inflammation in high school, narcolepsy in college, Epstein Barr, Dursban poisoning when nobody else there got sick, recurrence of Epstein Barr, heavy metal poisoning, rheumatoid arthritis, now bad reaction to antibiotics. Now I see the pattern; it all points to thiamine deficiency.

I always blamed it on my hypothyroidism, but this time my thyroid test results showed my T3 level way high and I felt like I couldn't move I felt so hypothyroid. So I took 1/8 teas of thiamine powder (= 250mg) and bam! my temperature went up from 98 to 99 degrees and my inflammation disappeared, all in about 45 minutes. It was quite an eye opener. I was in some serious trouble and I've been able to turn it around with more thiamine hcl (and more magnesium).

Good to hear.

My temps suck (upon rising it's always between 94.7 and 96). I always have cold feet. TSH has always been between 2.5 and 3.6.
 
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Yeah that video @mostlylurking posted was really good. I had Epstein Barr which led to chronic fatigue syndrome myself and never want to relive that again.

It's a shame how mainstream medicine dismisses it though. I had a really bad bout of mono for 6 months, but docs have never paid it any mind since - even when EBV turned up on the blood tests years later. It's pretty obvious to me it can be re-triggered or cause systemic effects because it gets into tissues (like the thyroid for example).
 

Blossom

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It's a shame how mainstream medicine dismisses it though. I had a really bad bout of mono for 6 months, but docs have never paid it any mind since - even when EBV turned up on the blood tests years later. It's pretty obvious to me it can be re-triggered or cause systemic effects because it gets into tissues (like the thyroid for example).
Yes, they were absolutely worthless & actually harmed me more than helped.
 

mostlylurking

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Good to hear.

My temps suck (upon rising it's always between 94.7 and 96). I always have cold feet. TSH has always been between 2.5 and 3.6.
Sounds like hypothyroidism with a dash of thiamine deficiency thrown in. Finding a good endocrinologist is really hard. I found this website a few months ago: Find a Thyroid Doctor . That TSH is pretty high.
 

Frankdee20

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Thiamine loss is likely responsible for the dementia and karsakoff caused by alcohol
 
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Sounds like hypothyroidism with a dash of thiamine deficiency thrown in. Finding a good endocrinologist is really hard. I found this website a few months ago: Find a Thyroid Doctor . That TSH is pretty high.

I'll have to take a look at.

Physically I don't meet the "stereotype" of a hypo sufferer (male, mostly in shape), which is commonly why I met such resistance with all the GP's I went to see prior to 2010 (before giving up on seeing docs altogether).
 

mostlylurking

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I'll have to take a look at.

Physically I don't meet the "stereotype" of a hypo sufferer (male, mostly in shape), which is commonly why I met such resistance with all the GP's I went to see prior to 2010 (before giving up on seeing docs altogether).
Read up on hypothyroidism and learn about making a record of your temperature and pulse. Ray Peat on thyroid is here: Programmable Search Engine Danny Roddy's info on it is here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/14839477

The symptoms are caused by faulty oxidative metabolism, which can be caused by hypothyroidism and also by thiamine. Ray Peat didn't get on a thyroid supplement until mid life (40's?) and says he grew several inches from it. He was smallish and couldn't put on weight; he says the thyroid supplement helped him a lot.

Don't let them stereotype you. Go in armed with knowledge and temperature and pulse records.
 

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