Biopterin Pathway
I realized it has been a while since I've blogged. Got caught up in the lack of schedule over the last month. Things are fully back to normal for us Friday, as we go back to our homeschool co-op. It is a God-sent for us, as it gives the kids a different offering of classes from what we do at home, and it also gives them a social outlet too. For me, it has given me a change to get back to teaching, as I teach Algebra 1, 2 and Chemistry.
So, what have we been up to? John and I were off to the western coast of Florida for the last 10 days. We were hoping to reboot him a bit in his healing. I've come to the realization that the more time he spends in the sunshine, the better. We discovered kayaking through mangrove tunnels - what a blast that is. There used to be a freshwater lake off the coast of Lido Key. Residents there had realized that this lake was a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The Army Corps of Engineers came in and dredged these tunnels to link the freshwater lake with the intercostal waterway, which is salt water. The salt killed off the mosquito larvae, and stopped the residents issues. Beyond the mangroves, John and I were able to spot manatees. These gentle creatures are the endangered "sea cow." Our guide told us of a manatee that will approach a kayak and rub his body along the bottom of the kayak. We did not see this guy, but rather a mama manatee that was hanging out in a canal. The water was fairly cold, so the bulk of the manatees head for a warm water source by an electrical plan up near Apollo Beach. John got lucky and pointed out a seahorse in the water, which the guide told us was a pretty rare occurrence. Leave it to my kid who has spent his life looking for money on the ground to see the seahorse :-) Lastly, we encountered cormorants. What interesting birds! Lido Key area is the only area that cormorants have adapted their fishing habits due to tourists. They swim under the shadow of the kayak and wait for paddling to kick up fish. It's really fun to watch them fish.
Besides the kayak adventure, how did John do? Well... he said he felt less itchy in Florida. He slept really well. His energy seemed up and down dependent on how hard we were attacking his mycoplasma. But he came home with color in his face, and happiness. Rejuvenated for sure.
After Florida, we spent the holidays home, and then took off for Minnesota to spend time with family there. Again, away from home, John felt less itchy. His sleep has been worse since we left Florida. I don't really understand why because we've not changed much. Patrick also hasn't been sleeping well. We're talking awake until 3:00am, sleeping until 9:30am... and then dozing on and off all day if we let him. It's really a problem, but we don't know what's behind Patrick. So for the rest of the post, I'm focussing on Patrick.
I study Dr. Ben Lynch out of Washington state. He's a naturopathic doctor. ND's have many years of education under their belts to be qualified to carry those initials after their name. Because their focus is on nutrition and supplementation instead of prescriptions - so some in Western medicine call NDs "quacks." My opinion is, if Western medicine is so superior, why are we all getting more unhealthy? If Western medicine is superior, why are naturopaths demeaned by the name calling instead of the Western med supporters showing documentations over why their methods are better. I digress.
Dr. Lynch has a lot of videos on his FB page regarding genetics, and what happens when good genetics go bad. When I work out at home, I watch and re-watch these videos trying to pick up as much information as I can. One thing I'm focussing on is the Biopterin Pathway. This pathway generally deals with your neurotransmitters like serotonin, melatonin, and dopamine. These neurotransmitters are chemicals in the brain that communicate information through the body. They pass messages through your nerve cells, controlling everything from the beat of your heart to the digestion of your food. Messed up neurotransmitters can cause depression, anxiety, binge eating specifically carbohydrates, insomnia, addiction, and agitation.
Patrick's main issue right now is the insomnia. He also feels stress and anxiety over a coach who shouts, threatens and swears a lot. He is binging carbs most of the time, and really has an affinity for chocolate (which can deplete cortisol.. which needs to be balanced for alertness during waking hours and drowsiness during sleeping hours).
My true belief right now is that Patrick would benefit from SAM-e until we can work on other things like limiting his stress (post hockey season). But how will I know I'm on the right track? An organic acids test . Turns out, this was recommended by Dr. H at Patrick's appointment 2 weeks ago. Results are in this week I hope. I'm expecting high quinolinic acid.. which would happen if his tryptophan was "stolen" by the IDO-1 pathway on the left of the pathway chart above. And what do you know... the IDO-1 pathway requires iron to operate - of which Patrick is usually deficient. Is this what's going on? We'll know more this week. I'd be surprised if it was anything else though, as my gut instincts are usually pretty solid for someone with no medical background. In the meantime, we started SAM-e today. Notice on the biopterin pathway how many places SAM-e is required to make something happen the way it should. I count 7 reactions it's needed for, and I don't see anything else on the flow chart that is needed more than SAM-e.
Stay tuned!
So, what have we been up to? John and I were off to the western coast of Florida for the last 10 days. We were hoping to reboot him a bit in his healing. I've come to the realization that the more time he spends in the sunshine, the better. We discovered kayaking through mangrove tunnels - what a blast that is. There used to be a freshwater lake off the coast of Lido Key. Residents there had realized that this lake was a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The Army Corps of Engineers came in and dredged these tunnels to link the freshwater lake with the intercostal waterway, which is salt water. The salt killed off the mosquito larvae, and stopped the residents issues. Beyond the mangroves, John and I were able to spot manatees. These gentle creatures are the endangered "sea cow." Our guide told us of a manatee that will approach a kayak and rub his body along the bottom of the kayak. We did not see this guy, but rather a mama manatee that was hanging out in a canal. The water was fairly cold, so the bulk of the manatees head for a warm water source by an electrical plan up near Apollo Beach. John got lucky and pointed out a seahorse in the water, which the guide told us was a pretty rare occurrence. Leave it to my kid who has spent his life looking for money on the ground to see the seahorse :-) Lastly, we encountered cormorants. What interesting birds! Lido Key area is the only area that cormorants have adapted their fishing habits due to tourists. They swim under the shadow of the kayak and wait for paddling to kick up fish. It's really fun to watch them fish.
Besides the kayak adventure, how did John do? Well... he said he felt less itchy in Florida. He slept really well. His energy seemed up and down dependent on how hard we were attacking his mycoplasma. But he came home with color in his face, and happiness. Rejuvenated for sure.
After Florida, we spent the holidays home, and then took off for Minnesota to spend time with family there. Again, away from home, John felt less itchy. His sleep has been worse since we left Florida. I don't really understand why because we've not changed much. Patrick also hasn't been sleeping well. We're talking awake until 3:00am, sleeping until 9:30am... and then dozing on and off all day if we let him. It's really a problem, but we don't know what's behind Patrick. So for the rest of the post, I'm focussing on Patrick.
I study Dr. Ben Lynch out of Washington state. He's a naturopathic doctor. ND's have many years of education under their belts to be qualified to carry those initials after their name. Because their focus is on nutrition and supplementation instead of prescriptions - so some in Western medicine call NDs "quacks." My opinion is, if Western medicine is so superior, why are we all getting more unhealthy? If Western medicine is superior, why are naturopaths demeaned by the name calling instead of the Western med supporters showing documentations over why their methods are better. I digress.
Dr. Lynch has a lot of videos on his FB page regarding genetics, and what happens when good genetics go bad. When I work out at home, I watch and re-watch these videos trying to pick up as much information as I can. One thing I'm focussing on is the Biopterin Pathway. This pathway generally deals with your neurotransmitters like serotonin, melatonin, and dopamine. These neurotransmitters are chemicals in the brain that communicate information through the body. They pass messages through your nerve cells, controlling everything from the beat of your heart to the digestion of your food. Messed up neurotransmitters can cause depression, anxiety, binge eating specifically carbohydrates, insomnia, addiction, and agitation.
Patrick's main issue right now is the insomnia. He also feels stress and anxiety over a coach who shouts, threatens and swears a lot. He is binging carbs most of the time, and really has an affinity for chocolate (which can deplete cortisol.. which needs to be balanced for alertness during waking hours and drowsiness during sleeping hours).
My true belief right now is that Patrick would benefit from SAM-e until we can work on other things like limiting his stress (post hockey season). But how will I know I'm on the right track? An organic acids test . Turns out, this was recommended by Dr. H at Patrick's appointment 2 weeks ago. Results are in this week I hope. I'm expecting high quinolinic acid.. which would happen if his tryptophan was "stolen" by the IDO-1 pathway on the left of the pathway chart above. And what do you know... the IDO-1 pathway requires iron to operate - of which Patrick is usually deficient. Is this what's going on? We'll know more this week. I'd be surprised if it was anything else though, as my gut instincts are usually pretty solid for someone with no medical background. In the meantime, we started SAM-e today. Notice on the biopterin pathway how many places SAM-e is required to make something happen the way it should. I count 7 reactions it's needed for, and I don't see anything else on the flow chart that is needed more than SAM-e.
Stay tuned!
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