Glutathione does it help and which one?

Hello everybody,

I have had a few people recommend Glutathione to me and I am wondering whether to risk trying it. I have had ME for 26 years and am now housebound and just continuing to deteriorate, I have tried so many things over the years and nothing has helped and a lot has made me more ill. I am loathe to try any more supplements as I have cupboards full of stuff that I couldn't tolerate and so had to stop. I can't try a whole bunch of things at the same time as I need to know which ones are problematic as they often cause gastritis, I also have to build up slowly. SO is it worth me trying Glutathione, and if so which one is best? The other one I have been wondering about is iodine but I am wary of that too as if ever my thyroid has shown a problem over the years it has tended to be overactive.

Thanks for any advice.
Michelle

 

Rich Van Konynenburg did not recommend Glutathione supplements because his research showed that they didn't work for people with ME/CFS.

 

Any updates on this? I've noticed posts where people are saying non-denatured whey protein is helpful and a quick google suggests that this is one of the things that may raise Glutathione levels.

I'm considering trying it, but the most 'effective' form seems to be liposomal and a bottle of softgels is nearly £50, so a bit of an expense if it does nothing, or makes me worse.

 

Whatever your decision, just a heads-up: The pills smell something awful. For what it's worth, they did not help me, but that could be a function of not being on them long enough. Cannot say for sure. And they are expensive.

I have to grapple with this logic too much - if your body is depleted of something it needs, do we really have the mechanism all the time to replace that, especially if it is our brain? Maybe we do, but I have such little faith in medical claims anymore.

It cannot help that it smells terrible.

 

My understanding, from a quick google, is that Glutathione is digested if taken in pill form, almost none of it survives this. The Liposomal form is supposed to be protected against this, so more should get into the bloodstream, which is why it's so damned expensive, they feel they can charge more.

The alternative is to eat foods, and precursors, that will survive digestion as intact components that the body can use, simply, to make Glutathione.

I haven't dug down into the science yet, I have no real reason to doubt it's importance, but things like;

from

https://drhyman.com/blog/2010/05/19/glutathione-the-mother-of-all-antioxidants/

really make me smell the snakeoil.

So it's importance seems valid, but the solutions offered, seem a little suspect, especially when they cost more per week than my shopping.

 

You would need to be sure of impacts upstream and downstream of this, especially if your liver phase 1 and 2 are unbalanced.

 

I am sure, that i don't have a clue as to either.
The only thing I am aware of is that my liver is 'sluggish', in that it takes a long time to turn medication that's converted into an active form in the liver, into something useful, and equally takes a long time to clear stuff up, where it's involved in that.

 

have you had your homocysteine tested - this can give a hint for a clue re need for glutathione status?

 

No I haven't. I have no idea if my GP has at any point, it seems unlikely.

At the beginning of last year I had a full thyroid panel done, amongst the results were normal active B12 (94 pmol/L), normal serum folate (6.9 ug/L), normal CRP-HS (3.4 mg/L), high ferritin (1015 ug/L) and low D3 (which should now be normal as I've been taking at least 3000IU every day since then). My thyroid results were all 'in range'.

Because of the high ferritin result I tried several times to get a full iron panel done, but after 3 attempts, where they lost or otherwise mislaid the blood samples, only finding them weeks later when they were no longer of any use, I gave up.

One of them, the last one, sent special delivery and signed for the next morning, caused them to send me an email, 6 months later, saying that the sample wasn't useable, would I like another test kit. I ignored them. It's a major thing, either going to the hospital, for 7.30am, to get in the queue for a blood draw, so it can be sent that morning. Or to spend over an hour trying to get enough blood out of my fingers, without massaging it out, coz that apparently damages it, after staying up all night, not eating, and then again having to go and stand in a queue to post it. For them to repeatedly lose it. I have ME, I can't be doing with all that, and paying for it, for some numbers just to try and convince my GP that some testing might be in order.

This is the only private testing i have had, and my GP is pretty useless for any non NICE approved tests.

 

We argued a case as we have a history of heart conditions in family and some potentially dodgy genes that feed into homocysteine status if expressed ( MTHFR/MTR/MTRR). We had to take blood to lab ourselves to get it there within half hour of being drawn.
We also had the ATP profiles test done , which apart from ATP status ( now debunked) also tested for glutathione status, NAD , various SODases, and Carnitine, many of which were low.

 

Off topic for glutathione, just responding to @Wonko's post.

There could be connection between the two @Wonko. In my experience, in haemochromatosis patients doctors start to worry about liver damage at ferritin levels above 1000.

How infuriating they keep mucking up your blood tests! But if I were you I'd consider trying again because if your ferritin is permanently high you could be causing yourself increasing and permanent damage without treatment. Of course it's also possible the ferritin was just temporarily elevated due to some infection or other passing cause and is nothing to worry about but best to know for sure one way or the other.

Have you had your genome done? That would tell you if you have any of the risk factor mutations for haemochromatosis (though it's possible to get iron overload from other causes, too). If you have any of the risk mutations that surely should convince your GP to do an iron panel for you.

 

My liver has always been sluggish, at least as far as I know. I am aware that ferritin levels above 1000 can be a concern but I looked into it, saw the diagnostic path that a UK GP would follow, and came to the conclusion that she would simply ascribe it to my being overweight, my slightly raised blood pressure, and my diabetes. Hence why I tried to get an iron panel done myself to show her. It's only slightly into the 'danger' area and I've seen how she ignores any test results like that with other things.

I also found that if it was a serious risk it's likely that the ferritin level would be at least 10, and probably 100 times that. So little immediate danger. There appears to be 2 main genetic variants that can cause high ferritin levels, it's possible I have the lesser version.

As I have never taken iron supplements I responded by removing things from my diet, mainly green veg, things that have, or are alleged to have, high iron levels, at least mainly. This may currently be causing another issue but....

I have had no genetic testing as last time I looked it was fairly useless for anything to do with issues pwME may have. I took advice, on here or the other place and was advised that unless I could manage the more comprehensive testing then things like 123andme etc were a waste of money. So I didn't bother.

 

Aah the joys of unhelpful doctors...not!

I've messaged you (I think, not quite sure how to work this) so as not to derail this tread too much.

 

I don't know how they affect anything else but I think artichoke and milk thistle are good for the liver. I drink artichoke tea occasionally - possibly not to everyone's taste but I like it.

 

Glutathione does nothing for me in any form, but NAC especially (a precursor) has been helpful in reducing neuroinflammation and brainfog. Will be trying precursors ALA and milk thistle as well eventually, as I have seen multiple people on here say they find them helpful.