So I took NADH and piracetam yesterday. I had an O last night and then another. Just curious. Almost no POIS. I woke up this morning and had more ideas about this theory and why it might fit. So I'm laying these out as a kind of questions and answers section.
It is
just a hypothesis but one I'm becoming increasingly excited about as you can see.
What is this acetaldehyde stuff?Acetaldehyde (systematically ethanal) is an organic chemical compound with the formula CH3 CHO, sometimes abbreviated by chemists as MeCHO (Me = methyl). It is one of the most important aldehydes, occurring widely in nature and being produced on a large scale industrially. Acetaldehyde occurs naturally in coffee, bread, and ripe fruit, and is produced by plants as part of their normal metabolism. It is also produced by oxidation of ethylene and is popularly believed to be a cause of hangovers from alcohol consumption Pathways of exposure include air, water, land or groundwater as well as drink and smoke.
So this stuff is everywhere, how could it be harmful?Most of us are familiar with other aldehydes but we don't recognise them as such. Think "Formaldehyde" and you'll realise that you're already aware of a toxic yet relatively common substance.
Acetaldehyde is toxic when applied externally for prolonged periods, an irritant, and a probable carcinogen. It is an air pollutant resulting from combustion, such as automotive exhaust and tobacco smoke. It is also created by thermal degradation of polymers in the plastics processing industry. Acetaldehyde naturally breaks down in the human body but has been shown to excrete in urine of rats
Acetaldehyde is an irritant of the skin, eyes, mucous membranes, throat and respiratory tract. Symptoms of exposure to this compound include nausea, vomiting, headache. These symptoms may not happen immediately. It has a general narcotic action and large doses can even cause death by respiratory paralysis. It may also cause drowsiness, delirium, hallucinations and loss of intelligence. Exposure may also cause severe damage to the mouth, throat and stomach; accumulation of fluid in the lungs, chronic respiratory disease, kidney and liver damage, throat irritation, dizziness, reddening and swelling of the skin.
Surely our bodies can deal with this? Otherwise we'd be sick all the timeYes, the quote did say it breaks down in the human body but the degree of efficiency of this breakdown is the key point. Also objectively 1) We are sick all the time and 2) due to a several possible genetic defects of the gene that breaks down acetaldehyde in the body, there is an increasing amount of people who cannot efficiently break it down.
I'm intolerant to alcohol and have POIS, does this offer an explanation as to why?Yes. Consuming alcohol increases the amount of acetaldehyde that the body has to clear.
I'm not intolerant to alcoholPerhaps but you have POIS symptoms and you don't know where they came from! Acetaldehyde buildup contributes to hangovers. POIS would in affect be like another hangover but caused by a latent acetaldehyde disposal problem in your body that is exacerbated when you release lots of neurotransmitters at once. This happens when we're stressed and when we have an O.
I have allergies, does this explain that?Yes. One of the noticed symptoms of acetaldehyde poisoning is a compromised immune system. The body will actually to attack its own cells that acetaldehyde binds to. This is a problem as it's everywhere so it may give rise to fatigue like symptoms and allergies throughout the body.
I get POIS symptoms when I exercise, does this explain that?YES. Exercising increases the load of acetaldehyde as it's produced as a byproduct of energy consumption in cells.
There is another group of people who get bad symptoms when they exercise and they have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The 2 things may be related.
To reduce your acetaldehyde load during exercise you should try to get Medium Chain Triglycerides instead of sugars. Coconut oil is a good example but there are others. I've been putting coconut oil in my whey (B_Daniel is probably fed up of me telling him about coconut oil)
and it definitely increases stamina.
Why does niacin work?Simply, Niacin and Niacinamide are used to make NAD which is a coenzyme used by the body to turn acetaldehyde's into non-toxic substances.
These are combined with acetaldehyde dehydrogenase to make acetaldehyde into safe acetic acid (vinegar). Some researchers have shown that supplementary niacinamide (or precursors) or indeed its related metabolised enzyme (NADH) can improve the efficiency of acetaldehyde clearance in people who have a genetic problem producing "correct" acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (the enzyme that breaks the nasty stuff down)
Why might niacin not be working for me?You may not be taking enough. If POIS is related to aldehyde poisoning then it is an ongoing problem that is only exacerbated by the chemical cascade following an O. The problem would always exist and you'd need to take niacin or niacinamide every single day. Quantities of at least 200mg / day of niacin depending on age and the severity of POIS, at least until symptoms improve. Niacinamide may be a better option as it can be bought in time release form.
What else might be useful to help treat thisVitamin C and methionine taken every day with the niacinamide. Coconut oil or exercise supplements which are low in sugar and high in MCT's.
If you had lots of money or severe impatience you could try the most efficient forms of niacin and methionine for turning these toxins into safe compounds. These are SAM-e and NADH. However, even if they were 100% effective it would take some time to start feeling really good.
But B vitamins make me sickNo they don't. B vitamins are necessary BUT if you have acetaldehyde poisoning then some b vitamins will actually make you sicker until enough of the acetaldehyde is cleared from your body. In particularly B1 would be a disaster. You might feel initially better as it will combine with acetaldehyde and reduce the acetaldehyde load but it produces another toxic substance. The same for Betacarotene See
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11468125Vitamin A is also off the list. Treatment using anti-acne medication which contains vitamin A derivatives would be terrible for acetaldehyde poisoning.
B-complexes may work for some people but only if they got enough supplementary niacin and methionine first to reduce the acetaldehyde load.
By the way, this is a known phenomenon. People sometimes recommend taking a b vitamin tablet after a hangover but what you need are b6, b3 and b12. Taking thiamin and betacarotene to cure a hangover just makes it worse!
So there's stuff I should avoid alsoYes, betacarotene and vegetables that contain it. Thiamin in b supplements. Smoking cigarettes. Smoking marajuana which has even more of the nasty stuff and drinking alcohol. Avoid getting lots of sugar. Also, make sure you don't have a yeast infection as this could be producing alcohol inside your body. Some new office environments are full of it and there's little that can be done about that except trying to get outside into the hopefully less polluted air for a walk every now and again. There's no way not to be exposed to acetaldehyde so all you can do is responsibly reduce the amount of acetaldehyde you're contributing with lifestyle decisions.
You've said this is genetic but POIS just happened to me. I wasn't born with itYes but defects in acetaldehyde dehydrogenase are recessive AND the amount of external acetaldehyde we're exposed to on a daily basis has increased MASSIVELY in the past 50 years. It's in so many different things (including modern office furniture) and all on the assumption that people can break it down easily into a harmless substance. There is no point getting paranoid about this. It's entirely possible that, if this is the problem, we could clear it effectively using niacinamide and methionine.
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AcetaldehydeAlthough a relatively weak sensory irritant, acetaldehyde is a common contaminant in workplace, indoor, and ambient environments. It is also a potential carcinogen. Moreover, we spend more than 90% of our time in indoor environments, hence increasing any exposure and consequently the risk to human health.[22]
In a study in France the mean indoor concentration of acetaldehydes measured in 16 homes was approximately seven times higher than the outside acetaldehyde concentration. The living room had a mean of 18.1?17.5 μg m−3 and the bedroom was 18.2?16.9 μg m−3, whereas the outdoor air had a mean concentration of 2.3?2.6 μg m−3.
It has been concluded that VOCs such as benzene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, toluene and xylenes have to be considered as priority pollutants with respect to their health effects. It has been pointed that in renovated or completely new buildings, the VOCs concentration levels are often several orders of magnitude higher. The main sources of acetaldehydes in homes include building materials, laminate, linoleum, wooden varnished, and cork/pine flooring. It is also found in plastic water-based and matt emulsion paints, in wood ceilings, and wooden, particle-board, plywood, pine wood, and chipboard furniture.[23]
I have some symptoms of pellagra, does this explain that?Yes, because the body uses b3 in the detoxifying reaction with acetaldehyde dehydrogenase in greater amounts to achieve the same or less effect. You'd need supplementary b3.
This is different to the kurtosis method, why should I believe you?All these ingredients were in the kurtosis method together with herbs that have a neuroprotective effect. However, I was also taking piracetam for my eye wobble / nystagmus. In tests on rats, piracetam reduces the effects of acetaldehyde on brain cells. The racetams seem to be able to help brain cells live longer and function better while under significant acetaldehyde load. In someone without acetaldehyde poisoning, this improves the effectiveness of their dopaminergic system as it can fire faster and better under the buildup of toxic DOPAL produced by "thinking"
So the racetams actually help protect brain cells from damage by acetaldehyde and,hence, have been prescribed to alcoholics to help them recover their mental faculties. Incidentally, nystagmus shows up in alcoholics. The ophthalmologist was surprised I had it despite not drinking anything or taking any dopaminergic drugs. This should have been a clue to me.
This piracetam stuff sounds good, where can I get some?Piracetam was the first nootropic yet it is remarkably safe. This is not my opinion, there is literally decades of research to back this up. Once it went out of patent it was widely available on the Internet and was fabricated by companies ranging from very reputable health food organisations with their own testing and manufacturing facilities to guys in basement labs. Despite the variety of production methods, there is not a single case of someone dying by taking piracetam. It is particularly useful in preventing or delaying the death of neurons due to external toxins, including alcohol and acetaldehyde. Many many white mice and rats have been killed to prove this is the case and there have been human studies also. There are more powerful derivatives of piracetam out there.
However, this stuff makes people smarter. Not massively smarter but it does improve memory and enhances creativity. So, it has effectively become a controlled substance. Some colleges have banned it and describe it as academic doping.
Think about it.
A safe substance that makes people smarter and more creative with no damaging side effects (modest level of blood thinning) and governments are going out of their way to ban it? Yet you can get drunk and damage your brain in almost every country in the world. OK, that's my political speech done with. I'm leaving politics now ! I'm just trying to raise awareness of one of the dumbest decisions the FDA has ever made and all the dumb politicians and lobbyists in the way. In no way can Piracetam be compared to Marajuana but you get headlines like this..
http://phys.org/news173560595.htmlThis stuff is so cheap and safe, it should be available to everyone in which case it would help people remain smarter for longer.
OK done with politics moving on
If you want some you have to be prescribed it by a medical doctor. Up until recently I had to buy it online from a company that officially wasn't producing the stuff. Now I have a prescription and can pay more than 3 times the amount for stuff that is exactly the same (I had it analysed in a lab).
However, even if you can't get piracetam, you can definitely get extra b3 and methionine and you could definitely try not drinking for a week or so. The racetams are good but the energy boost from NADH was astonishing yesterday and seems just as wild today.
