In order for the body to operate, it must synthesize chemical energy for it's various organs, cells and processes. There are approximately 30 different kinds of energy that are synthesized. If one or more of these become impaired, one feels tired. If one has impaired energy synthesis, they often need lots of sleep (e.g. 8 to 11hrs/day) to create the energy, and if they don't get that sleep (e.g. they go to 5hrs/day), they are energy depleted during the day and feel like toast. If you find that how you feel during the day is worse if you get less sleep, this may be due to depleted energy. The Citric Acid Cycle (Krebs Cycle) synthesizes 5% of your biochemical energy, and the rest is manufactured in this thing called the electron transport chain (ETC).
Things That Can Disrupt Energy Synthesis
There are a number of enzymes that are used to make energy that can become deactivated and therefore result in fatigue. Things that can deactivate these enzymes include H2S (hydrogen sulfide synthesized during fermentation in small intestine by harmful bacteria and yeast), methanethiol (CH3SH), cyanide, heavy metals such as lead/mercury, and many poisons that inhibit electron transport chain enzymes (e.g. carbon monoxide).
Are You Most Tired After Meals ?
If you are most tired after meals, you can use a blood measurement kit (press here for details) to see if this is due to low blood sugar levels (which can cause fatigue). If this is not the case (i.e. blood sugar levels are high after meals, when you are most fatigued), then a very interesting question you should ask is:
What is happening chemically after taking food that causes fatigue?
There is a myth that after meals the blood is going to the stomach to digest food and one therefore feels tired. Forget that. Also, if your sugar level is high after meals when fatigue is high, forget "I have a sugar problem", because you don't. Below are several things that can deplete energy after food:
A) Bad bacteria or fungi in gut are making toxins (e.g. H2S, S03, ammonia, alcohol) by fermenting the food you just ate, and these toxins are disrupting your energy synthesis (for details, click here). Bacteria and Fungi ferment sugar, therefore to test this, try eating NO sugar (no fruit, no juice, no soda, nothing with sugar) and no fast carbohydrates (no bread, no pasta) for 3days, journal how you feel, and see if you feel better. If you do feel better, you may have put your finger on the problem. During the test period it is ok to eat vegetables, goat yogurt, regular yogurt, Kefir milk, rice, rice cakes, water, soy milk, and tofu. For more information on gut pathologies, please click here and here. If you don't want to do this test for 3days, then try it for 1day, or even 1 meal. For example, if you always feel more tired after lunch, try eating rice cakes (e.g. 15g carbo + 1g protein + 0g sugar per cake) and water for lunch tomorrow and then see how you feel in the afternoon. If you think you feel better, it is recommended that you do more testing in this area.
TESTING FOODS AGAINST FATIGUE LEVELS IS EXTERMELY USEFUL.
B) One may have depleted protection enzymes that filter out preservatives that receives with food; and therefore the preservatives become toxic to one's body. For an example of this, please click here. To test for this, try eating organic and no-preservative foods for 3days and see if you feel better.
C) It is possible that some part of the liver phase 1 filtration system is impaired, and the food places chemicals in the body that need to be filtered out, yet are not being filtered out, and therefore they become toxic. One way of testing this is to stop taking drugs that inhibit liver phase 1 filtration (e.g. allergy meds, anti-fungal meds, Tylenol) for 3days and see how one feels. It is also possible that the impairments are not associated with meds, and this is difficult to measure. The Great Smokies Liver Detox test, for example, tells one about how the liver is doing in general, yet does not measure each of the 450 filtration processes within liver phase 1.
Testing Citric Acid Cycle Energy Synthesis
The Citric Acid Cycle involves converting several nutrients such as palmitate (fat), pyryvate (carbohydrate), and alanine/aspartate (protein) into several energy sources called GTP, NADH and FADH2 + CO2. The GTP from the Kreb's cycle is used to help the electron transport chain (ETC) produce more ATP energy. If one of the items used to make energy is low, the energy level produced will be low. There is a test called Organic Acids Analysis that looks at the GTP/NADH generation, and the levels of the ingredients that are used to make this type of energy. If one sees a low citric acid intermediate (a chemical used to make this type of energy), they can supplement it, and track down the cause of the low level. Elevated pyruvate and elevated lactate on this test are indicative of heavy metal molecules binding to enzymes and disrupting the energy generation process. It is suggested that one with CFS take this test.
Testing Electron Transport Chain Energy Synthesis
The Kreb's test only looks at 5% of the energy generation and medical testing labs have yet to offer tests that measure the 95% electron transport chain energy (ETC); however, the technology to do this does exists and is practiced in research labs with a spectrometer and ATP reagent chemicals. We are suggesting a research study to develop a low cost test to measure ETC energy; for details click here. If you want to test your ETC energy, you would need to work with a biology research lab with a UV/visual spectrometer (these cost $4K to $20K). This test can be most helpful, since they can look at your ETC when you are less fatigued, and when you are most fatigued (e.g. after meals) and track down the specific energy system in the body that is going down. When that is understood, one can try to track down the root cause (e.g. H2S toxins from gut) and/or accommodate with diet and supplement.
Vitamins Can Help
If one has depleted energy, they may have depleted minerals and vitamins; and supplements can therefore be helpful. A good vitamin is the TwinLab Inc "DualTabs" Bi-Layer Tablets with Sustained Release. The time release property on these is nice since you get the affects over a 12Hr period, and one can then take them at 12Hr intervals, at meals, and be well taken care of. Also, this horse pill contains much of what one needs, and therefore one does not need to pop many pills.
To see the Organic Acids Analysis test result from our example case, pre and post treatment, click here. Notice that Aspartic Acid and VMA were close to 0 pre-treatment. Low Aspartic acid adversely affected the production of ATP energy. And low VMA (a by-product of Noradrenaline) indicated low Noradrenaline. Supplementing Aspartic Acid and some other items helped the fatigue considerably. Note that the 1999 post-treatment test shows all levels as being normal. To learn more about this test, please click here.
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