Hey, guys.
Hope I'm posting this in the correct category. I'm wondering how many of us POIS sufferers have the MTHFR mutation? I've had an interesting month leading up to this curiosity.
My experience started with heavy-dosing Probiotics. I had an O within about 3 weeks of taking them daily, and noticed that my symptoms were not as bad. I still got some of the mental fog (have to pay somehow!) but I had no muscle aches, which was nice.
Phase 1:
However, about 2-3 hours later I experienced diarrhea on a...large scale to say the least. My stool was extremely loose. It was obvious this was gut-related, and having an O signaled my digestive system to abort and relieve itself.
Phase 2:
My memory is not perfect as this was a couple weeks ago, but I want to say that about 4-6 hours after that, I was crippled with a body wide itch. It was unbearable. After the initial itch started, I had to deal with it for at least another 2-4 hours. Every area of my skin was inflamed. Scratching any part provided relief, but also exacerbated the itchiness. I seriously would not wish this on my biggest enemy. It was crippling. That said, I am thankful. Had I not experienced this itching, I wouldn't have dedicated the day to researching why.
From the research I conducted, it seems that a couple of strains used in Probiotics can cause histamine to be made or released. One of these strains is L.Reuteri, among 2-3 others I can't recall at the moment.
My theory is: After essentially mega-dosing Probiotics (about 45 million), my system cranked up either histamine production or release ten-fold. This resulted in my gut getting extremely irritated with my bowel symptoms. The effects lingered on with having to deal with body wide itchiness all day.
That's component 1. Component 2 is as follows. I also have to apologize because I'm writing this post from memory and may be missing key details:
A few days ago, I stupidly took a 500mg capsule of Niacin instead of Vitamin D. They look exactly the same and did not read the label. This was a blessing in disguise. After taking the Niacin, I immediately felt the reaction in my belly. It felt warm, and my head started to tighten from the flush. I'm not new to the reaction, as some days I've taken 1g of Niacin to test out its effectiveness against POIS.
After the flush ends, I was left with the same body itch that I had weeks before. Crippling itch with no relief. After researching a bit more, I come to find that Niacin causes histamine production to rise (or release.) Additionally, Niacin reduces methylation which can result in lowered neurotransmitters (dopa, sero,). The key takeway is that my reaction to the Niacin could be histamine related.
In short, I suspect that my POIS symptoms are related to excess histamine being either produced or released during an O. By trying to supplement and (fix) the reaction through B vitamins, Folic acid, etc, I am throwing myself into a cycle of either under-methylation or over-methylation.
I have completed a genetic test with 23andme and am waiting for results. To close this stream of thought..has anyone here have the MTHFR mutation, or have had similar experiences with Niacin?
Unfortunately, a lot of the research and sites surrounding MTHFR seem like BS and don't offer solid science...the most reputable post I've found is this:
https://www.dietvsdisease.org/mthfr-mutation-symptoms-and-diet/One last note, many of us take B vitamins to help with POIS symptoms...the MTHFR mutation results in B vitamin deficiencies like Folic acid and B12.
I'm hoping this stirs up discussion regarding this mutation to see if there's a correlation. I'll keep researching and post when I can form coherent sentences!
