More about my CPS1 mutation, resulting in a limited capacity to eliminate ammonia:
Certain amino acids help, in the right dosage, to eliminate ammonia ( because, if too much, it defeats the purpose, as amino acids contain ammonia in their structure, hence their name, so too much will worsen the problem).
Those which help me the most, so far, are L-carnitine, and L-ornithine, both being known to help lower ammonia and used in patients with urea cycle disorders ( like me, even if I am not a severe case, being a heterozygote for CPS1, thus having only one defective gene but also one normal CPS1 gene). L-citrulline is the most used by doctors, and it was effective for me, but unfortunately, it has a major side effect for me. L-citrulline is part of the urea cycle, so it gets the cycle moving, but in so doing, a lot of it is transformed into L-arginine, which is also part of the urea cycle. Alas, L-arginine is a top nutrient for HSV-1, a herpes virus that causes cold sores and canker sores. I always had canker sores, but when taking L-citrulline for a month, the number of canker sores I had went through the roof. So, I changed my protocol for a new one in which there is no L-citrulline.
L-aspartate is, too, part of the urea cycle, also called the ornithine cycle, so a supplement of it helps eliminate more ammonia, which is the goal of the urea cycle. There is even a supplement called L-ornithine L-aspartate (LOLA) which combines both amino acids and is taken to eliminate ammonia. I may try it when my current stock of L-ornithine will have to be renewed.
I also use Ceylan cinnamon, because it is metabolized in the liver into a a substance similar to sodium benzoate, an ammonia scavenger. Regular cinnamon cannot be used, because it has too much coumarin in it, and in great amounts, coumarin is toxic for the liver. Ceylan organic cinnamon has only traces of coumarin, so it is safe to take up to 2,5 grams a day.
Exercise does increase ammonia in the blood, and more in mine than in the majority of people, because of my limited capacity to eliminate it. So, in addition to my supplement helping to eliminate more ammonia, I try to take glucose sources at intervals during sport, limiting the use of BCAA (branched-chain amino acids) as an alternate muscle fuel, which causes ammonia to rise. I have always noted that my long recovery problems would manifest more if I did sport for more than 45 minutes, and this is usually the time it takes to deplete the glycogen reserve in the muscles. Past that, more amino acids are used to fuel the muscles, so more ammonia is produced when they are metabolized.
As I said earlier, I do not know for now if ammonia has a direct link with my POIS, but I do know that my POIS attacks are worse if I am in a recovery period from sport ( and that I have ammonia already taxing my brain).
