Sugar and severe memory impairment (please help)

[youngsinatra]

300mg or so total choline from a supplement like citicholine for example (I think its about 40% if I recall correctly) would be a good start. You should also regularly consume muscle meats as they are the next best source for choline.

Citicholine contains 18% choline of total weight. Alpha-GPC contains 40% choline of total weight.

IIRC 2 x 1000mg per day is a typically dosing schedule used in patients with cognitive impairment.

 

[redsun]

Citicholine contains 18% choline of total weight. Alpha-GPC contains 40% choline of total weight.

IIRC 2 x 1000mg per day is a typically dosing schedule used in patients with cognitive impairment.

Thanks clearly I mixed up the two.

 

[HealthisWealth]

Sugar increase the need for choline. If you eat a ton of sugar, this could be your problem. If your choline is getting depleted, this easily explains the long term memory impairments as choline is a major determinant in acetylcholine synthesis. Acetylcholine is the most important neurotransmitter when it comes to functioning long-term memory.

Also it amazes me how commonly so many forum users just megadose B1. Yes you need B1 to make acetylcholine, but B5 and in general all the B vitamins are necessary to optimize acetyl-CoA production. I would recommendly cutting back sugar dramatically and adding significant amount of choline from eggs and meat in the diet. You should also supplement B-vitamins but you should see serious improvement just from more choline rich foods.

If you can and are willing, animal brains are packed with choline and I think it will improve cognition in older folk overall and, not just long-term memory. I am not saying you may not be developing a disease as mentioned by others above, but considering the fact that you notice the problem from sugar specifically and the link between sugar and choline, I think this is the most likely cause.

iLL try this

 

[danishstargazer]

sound like a b12 thing to me. could be a malabsorption thing if are eating gluten. while i don't really believe in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's - when my sister ( who had power of attorney ) decided to imprison my mother in a nursing home - they did not allow sugar in there ( they fed her sweet and low in her tea ) and fed all the residents tons of gluten. it was the saddest thing to watch. i dont think it is starch that is the problem, i think it is gluten. there is no way sugar alone should be affecting your memory.

 

[scrubolio]

I'm also trying to assist someone with the same "onset" of alzheimers/dementia. I think endotoxin is a huge issue and think its worth considering especially if sugar is causing you to feel lethargic or have memory lapses.

Try taking one of the "better" antibiotics to clear some of the bacteria out.

See paper titled: Minocycline: far beyond an antibiotic

Abstract​

Minocycline is a second-generation, semi-synthetic tetracycline that has been in therapeutic use for over 30 years because of its antibiotic properties against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. It is mainly used in the treatment of acne vulgaris and some sexually transmitted diseases. Recently, it has been reported that tetracyclines can exert a variety of biological actions that are independent of their anti-microbial activity, including anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic activities, and inhibition of proteolysis, angiogenesis and tumour metastasis. These findings specifically concern to minocycline as it has recently been found to have multiple non-antibiotic biological effects that are beneficial in experimental models of various diseases with an inflammatory basis, including dermatitis, periodontitis, atherosclerosis and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. Of note, minocycline has also emerged as the most effective tetracycline derivative at providing neuroprotection. This effect has been confirmed in experimental models of ischaemia, traumatic brain injury and neuropathic pain, and of several neurodegenerative conditions including Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury. Moreover, other pre-clinical studies have shown its ability to inhibit malignant cell growth and activation and replication of human immunodeficiency virus, and to prevent bone resorption. Considering the above-mentioned findings, this review will cover the most important topics in the pharmacology of minocycline to date, supporting its evaluation as a new therapeutic approach for many of the diseases described herein.

 

[mostlylurking]

My temperature has averaged 96.7 and my pulse 72 for many years. My free t3 and free t4 are low normal. To that end, I have been undergoing t3 mono-therapy for about 2 months now. At 50mcg (8 divided doses) My temp is unchanged and my pulse now averages 79.

I know that it is very popular with Ray Peat and this forum to split thyroid supplement doses as you describe here. Ray suggested to me about a year ago, that I try it in order to avoid my afternoon crash. At that time, I was taking 180mg (=3 grains) of Acella brand natural desiccated thyroid. So I tried splitting the dose, saving 1/3 of it for the afternoon. The results were that I had a very bad no good morning that I could not overcome until I took the rest of my daily dose, around 10:00 AM. I tried this more than once; the results were always the same. I learned that, at least in my case, I have to have the whole dose first thing in the morning, separated from all things calcium by at least an hour. Please note that my med has both t3 and t4 in it, and my liver is functioning so it can convert t4 to t3.

I've recently figured out that if I drink a 32 ounce glass of water along with 6-10 ounces of orange juice I recover from the afternoon crash. I think that my afternoon crash is related to becoming dehydrated with an overlay of low blood sugar. I realize that drinking lots of water is not a Peaty thing to do. But dehydration is a real thing and being able to pee is helpful to flush out toxins.

It's important to listen to your body. It is also helpful to get thyroid panel blood tests every 6-8 weeks while you slowly stair-step the thyroid medication dose up until your optimal dose is found. Working with a good endocrinologist is very helpful. When I tried taking a tiny bit of t3 on my own (before finding my endo) I gave myself heart palpitations which isn't a whole lot of fun.

You might find the Broda Barnes book on hypothyroidism helpful: [V587.Ebook] PDF Download Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness, by Broda Barnes If this download doesn't work for some reason, there are multiple sources online for this book as a free download.

 

[Jon2547]

Do you use WiFi? The reason I am asking is because if I use WiFi or even talk on a cell phone for a minute, my cognition is severely blunted for the next 18 hours give or take.

Also, have you considered taking ketone esters or even BHB? I have had struggles with my thinking and recall and although I'm adapting to using carbs better now, the BHB can be a good stand-in.

If the brain has an carb intolerance, the clarity just won't be there.

 

[sebastian_r]

As soon as I eat sugar my mental performance goes bad as well.

Quantifiable and objectively in chess rating and performance in other hard cognitive tasks.

Starch however is fine, even in large quantities.

Getting roughly 50% calories from butter right now.

20-30% protein from meat/cheese.

20-30% carbs from starch.

Starch only once per day. This works for me.

 

[mostlylurking]

Glucose deprivation in the brain sets stage for Alzheimer's disease, Temple study shows

One of the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease is a decline in glucose levels in the brain. It appears in the early stages of mild cognitive impairment -- before symptoms of memory problems begin to surface. Whether it's a cause or consequence of neurological dysfunction has been unclear, but...

www.eurekalert.org

Why Does The Brain Need Thiamine? | NeuroTray

In this post we are going to answer the question ‘’Why does the brain need thiamine?’’ We will explain what thiamine is, how the body metabolizes it and its

neurotray.com

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) and dementia

The earliest and perhaps best example of an interaction between nutrition and dementia is related to thiamine (vitamin B1). Throughout the last century, research showed that thiamine deficiency is associated with neurological problems, including cognitive ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I agree that Alzheimer's is associated with a glucose problem in the brain. I think that the glucose problem is caused by thiamine deficiency.

 

[Apple]

@mostlylurking
Why so much stress on thiamine deficiency ?
It requiress up to 14 days to deplete your stores of thiamine.
Unless your diet consists of only rice , white sugar , cheese , chicken there is no way you deplete yourself of thiamine. :)

Thiamin is found naturally in meats, fish, and whole grains. It is also added to breads, cereals.

• Fortified breakfast cereals
• Pork
• Fish
• Beans, lentils
• Green peas
• Enriched cereals, breads, noodles, rice
• brown rice, grits and whole wheat bread
• Sunflower seeds
• Yogurt
• Orange and tomato juices.
• 250 ml of milk provides 11% and 15% of RDA for men and women
• 150g of potato supplies up to 10 per cent of the recommended daily intake (RDI) of thiamin.
• green tea, yerba mate
• Brewers yeast

Cheese, chicken, and apples contain no thiamin. It may explain why some people turn into a baldy :)

 

[jet9]

As soon as I eat sugar my mental performance goes bad as well.

Quantifiable and objectively in chess rating and performance in other hard cognitive tasks.

Starch however is fine, even in large quantities.

Getting roughly 50% calories from butter right now.

20-30% protein from meat/cheese.

20-30% carbs from starch.

Starch only once per day. This works for me.

Does fruit have same bad effect? If yes I think it’s cause all fat (butter, meat) makes your body bad in utilizing sugar (liver, etc).

On my paleo days (meat, seafood, marrows bones) I could eat starch only (but only in evening, otherwise I would crash at about 3-4pm) but fruit will always make me depressed, brain foggy, poor memory, etc. So I assumed fruit is devil. When I greatly decreased fats I found that fruits are in fact brain boosting. (especially working with numbers)

 

[Nik665]

I'm a 50 year old male. Normal weight. 15 year low carb refugee that's been doing the milk, OJ, select fruit, liver, gelatin, egg yolk thing for about 6 months. I have noticed in the past that when I consume anything with sugar, including fruit, juice or granular (I've even tried glucose powder) that I experience pretty severe memory impairment. About 6 months ago I decided to bite the bullet and completely abandon low carb / carnivore with the hope that my memory would eventually improve, however it is definitely not improving.

Specifically what I'm experiencing is that my memory of the events from a couple days ago begin to fade. At 2 days I can still recall things if I am prompted with a note that I left myself. By 2 weeks those memories feel like they were a year ago. Once a month has gone by I may be completely unable to recall the events. I'm not talking about random events here. I'm talking about projects that I spent 10, 20, 30 or 40 hours on, being completely erased from my memory. I have a much better memory of things that happened 3 years ago than of things that happened 3 months ago.

There is definitely some connection to the amount of sugar in my diet as I can immediately worsen my memory of a given day by simply by having maybe 10 or 15 tablespoons of granular sugar (not all at once) or half a watermelon in a day.

This has been going on, on and off for 15 years (consistent with my sugar intake level fluctuations) but is definitely worsening now. I've seen 8 doctors including 2 neurologists (1 of which was a memory specialist) and none have any idea what is going on. I've had MRIs and quarts of blood labs. Everything looks normal.

Realizing this symptomatically looks very similar to a thiamine (b1) deficiency I've been supplementing b1 heavily for about 2 years with no improvement. I've tried TTFD, thiamine HCL, thiamine pyrophosphate, benfotamine, sulbutiamine in EVERY reasonable quantity and dosing schedule.

I'd just go back to low carb except these higher carb levels have improved my energy sufficiently that I no longer loath life.

I'm currently trialing a zero sugar experiment where I get all my carbs from white rice. It's been a week now, but it's a little difficult to quickly tell if things are improving as my symptoms are very much a lagging indicator.

Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated.

@haidut I know you frequently have brilliant insight into bizarre things so I would certainly love to hear any (obviously not medical advice) thoughts you might have.

i think you made yourself very insulin resistant on your low carb stint. b3 and methylene blue could help reverse this slowly maybe

 

[Nik665]

Yes. Great quesiton. BG is 85 to 95 upon waking (fasted). It spikes to between 120 and 150 after a meal depending on the carb load, but drops back down to 100 or below within 2 hours. I have literally tested it over 1,000 times in the last year.

i suggest the glucose tolerance test instead. three-four blood draws and lots of glucose drink at laboratory

 

[joaquin]

I think my thiamine problem began a couple of years after I started drinking coffee daily. I believe that daily coffee, for some of us, can lower thiamine.. I am considering giving it up for good very soon.