Extended Fasting

[Weng888]

I am interested to know if anyone here has tried extended fasting. And if you do, how long did you fast and how did you feel after that?

[mitochondria]

Hi Weng888 Weng,

According to Dr Matthew CL Phillips who conducted world's first randomized control trial of keto vs standard diet in Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and now doing the combined fasting/keto trial in Glioblastoma (worst form of brain cancer) - 4 to 5 day fasting works for most people.

Yes, I have tried 5 day fasts. I use black coffee or tea. I drink quarter teaspoon Himalayan salt (sea salt may work equally good) mixed in warm water three to four times per day on fasting days - otherwise I get headaches or muscle cramps.

I see that you are not on medication so you will be good. For those on dopaminergic medication like me, meds may need to be reduced third day forward - dopaminergic meds (I am on mucuna) get absorbed very quickly during fasting and may result in unpleasant stiffness/dyskinesias.

Link to Dr Matt's fasting publication:

mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/10/2501

Link to Dr Matt's website (has links to his clinical trials, podcasts, therapy plan with keto recipes) :

metabolicneurologist.com/

Wish you the best.

[hmm777]

For several years I did a 7-day water fast approximately quarterly, generally following the instructions in Jason Fung's Complete Guide to Fasting. Although the experience was intimidating at first, the fasts were surprisingly easy, especially after the first couple of days. I continued to take my (generic) Sinemet and Sinemet CR throughout. The first time I did it I was still practicing as an attorney and worked my regular schedule; i.e., the fast was not so disruptive that I could not concentrate or work long hours, etc.

I would say the experience was worthwhile in many ways (and amazingly effective if you want to lose fat without losing muscle mass), and while it did not increase my PD symptoms it was not a miracle treatment for them either. To me, the most interesting effect was the sense of "rest" it provided for my digestive system. Hard to describe, but after the initial feelings of hunger passed (this happened quite quickly) I got the most delightful feeling of lightness in my gut, as if my intestines appreciated the break from endlessly processing food. The gradual reintroduction of food at the end of the fast was truly a life-changing experience. The first bite of food after a week of only water, well, it cannot be adequately described and must be experienced.

I also had some weakness and fatigue, but this was minor. I really don't need or want to lose any more weight at this point, otherwise I'd keep doing them, although after 6 or 7 you sort of get the point and don't need to do it again.

In sum, I can recommend extended fasting, at least once anyway, just for the experience and especially if you want to lose weight while retaining muscle mass; but I don't claim that it provided any exceptional relief from PD symptoms. Your mileage may vary, of course. And please don't try it if you have health issues that might militate against it. Such issues and many other cautions are well described in Fung's book and elsewhere, and I urge you to study up before you leap into an extended fast. I consulted with my MDS before trying it as well and recommend that you do the same.

[Steegen in reply to hmm777]

Thanks for the detailed report on your experiences with fasting. I also enjoyed reading your experiences with TRT in another post.

I've read a lot about fasting and a question I've yet to find an answer to, is if it's possible to do fasting on TRT for me / HRT for women. My gut tells me ideally one would be off the hormones for the 5-7 days, since they may interfere with the process and maybe even cause problems like hypoglycemia. I guess taking a break from HRT for a week, once or twice a year, probably isn't going to be too much of an issue.

If you were to ever revisit fasting again, do you think you'd take a break from TRT whilst doing it or continue on? Did you MDS ever mention anything about this?

Cheers

[hmm777]

Thanks, Steegen, I'm glad those posts were helpful. I took the opposite approach with respect to fasting and TRT -- that is, I thought it was a bad idea to disrupt two systems at once (metabolism and endocrine), so I continued TRT as normal while fasting. I don't pretend to have analyzed it more than that, but the fasts went great.