Thiamine

[Sylvia22]

I have been reading about thiamine supplements for Hashimotos. Is anyone taking this and what difference did it make please. I read that it helps with fatigue. Your comments would be much appreciated.

[Heloise]

Hi Sylvia, Was it from Izabella Wentz you read about thiamine? She said it was a tremendous help for her brain fog and took 600 mgs. per day. The B vitamins are very, very important and B5 in larger doses are useful for us as well but always take a good B complex along with the additional doses.

[Sylvia22 in reply to Heloise]

Thank you I sometimes take the B complex.

[researcherUK]

Thiamine helps with energy and in the production of stomach acid as well as the digestion of carbohydrates.

I take between 200mg and 300mg daily, including what is already part of a b-complex.

Some studies have also found that patients with Alzheimer's had very low thiamine levels.

As Heloise mentioned Izabella Wentz took 600 mg per day to help restore her energy levels. She used Benfotiamine, which a form of fat-soluble synthetic thiamine that has gained attention recently mainly for those with diabetes. This can be found naturally in edible alliums: garlic, onions, leeks, shallots, and green onions.

I personally prefer and use "Thiamine Hydrochloride" which is easily transformed in the body into the active form, thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP). I also consume lots of alliums.

TPP is an essential coenzyme for many enzymatic activities involving fatty acid, amino acid, and carbohydrate metabolism.

[Sylvia22 in reply to researcherUK]

Thanks. Other thing is did you have any adverse symptoms when you started taking it. I am quite sensitive to lots of things

[researcherUK in reply to Sylvia22]

Personally, I didn't have any adverse reactions with thiamine hydrochloride. I have a very sensitive system, too. Start with 100 mg and try Vitamin B1 by Biocare.

My body, however, didn't like Benfotiamine, and besides, as explained above, I prefer Thiamine Hypochloride and an added bonus it is far cheaper than benfotiamine.

Furthermore, benfotiamine can cause severe adverse reactions in sensitive individuals.

news-medical.net/news/2008/...

[minxabroad in reply to researcherUK]

Hi, When you say it helps with the production of stomach acid do you mean that it increases it? I ask because I have GERD (GURD depending on where you are from) and I wonder if taking a thiamine supplement would aggravate the issue?

[researcherUK in reply to minxabroad]

There are different parameters involved in the production of stomach acid. One of them is Thiamine. Zinc and Iodine are critical for the production of HCL along with B1 and B6. The minerals zinc and iodine are the raw materials and the B1 and B6 are the catalysts.

I am assuming that your GERD is functional ie related to the opening of the ring of muscle between the esophagus and stomach. This can be confirmed by an endoscopy.

Without an investigation and very often GP mistake the acid reflux as high stomach acid whereas it could be due to low stomach acid. Have you been taking any Proton Pump Inhibitor such as omeprazole?

[minxabroad in reply to researcherUK]

They did prescribe me Omeprazole but due to my concern about it prohibiting the uptake of certain vitamins and minerals I only take about 2 per week.

[researcherUK in reply to minxabroad]

Very wise!

[Lindsayf in reply to researcherUK]

Can you recommend a good brand please?

[researcherUK in reply to Lindsayf]

Biocare Vitamin B1 100mg

[Treepie1]

Did they not advertise it as in kitekat

[Sylvia22 in reply to Treepie1]

I don't think so The articles I read were just saying Thiaminu

[dang]

Thiamine as you likely know is vitamin B1. It would be good to get this tested since if you are deficient it’s quite serious, it’s also incredibly rare to be deficient in b1 in the western world but it can happen (I speak from experience as I was deficient). If you take thiamine I would highly recommend benfothiamine, it’s much better absorbed. I had to take it in the past and still do from time to time (to keep my levels up) it is incredibly helpful. And the benfo type helped solve my deficiency incredibly fast whereas the regular thiamine I took before didn’t do anything.

One last note if you eat a lot of white rice it reduces b1, thiamine deficiency is much higher in the east where people tend to eat a lot more rice and less meat. If you are deficient this is a good thing to know, don’t overdo the white rice (black rice is supposed to be ok).

Cheers!

Dan

[Sylvia22 in reply to dang]

Thank you so much this is helpful. Havn't had my levels checked for thiamine but as I get so tired and I have read it helps with that thought it might be good.

[dang in reply to Sylvia22]

Here’s the thing, if you’re tired there could be SOOOo many reasons for it, likely it’s not thiamine. If your thiamine levels are already good then by all means supplementation won’t help you at all. Before supplementing anything you should get a full blood panel done at your doctor, ask for all b’s (most importantly b12) and iron, as those are usually the first culprits, but don’t forget that thyroid levels should also be optimal. There is no point in wasting your time shooting in the dark, with blood results you’ll know what’s low and you start by supplementing those things, mostly likely you’ll find that helps, and if it doesn’t you should investigate further. But it’s always important to not supplement before you get tested, for example taking b12 can mask an iron deficiency and supplementing can throw off your results a lot, leaving doctors to doubt you and not treat you properly.

If your b1 is low and doctors catch it they’re much more likely to take you seriously.

And I should also mention it’s ALWAYS better to get any vitamins you may be lacking from food rather than supplements, supplements should be the last ditch attempt rather than the first step. Not to mention that so many supplements contain all sorts of crap and impurities as they aren’t regulated, the goal should be to take the least amount of supplements needed rather than diving right into the supplements game and hoping for the best, you can actually make yourself sicker.

[Heloise in reply to dang]

dang, it's almost assured that we hypos are deficient in all b vitamins for many different reasons. Inflammation causes reduced stomach acid which shows up as reflux because of it's attempt to make more acid. With leaky gut which autoimmune patients almost certainly have it's difficult to get nutrients and then certain bacteria are needed to digest b vitamins which again is a problem since hypothyroid patients may have too much of the wrong bacteria. You are right about finding good supplements and I believe in doing whatever you can to get nutrients from food and prefer working on all the digestive measures from acid to enzymes.

Dr. Tom O'Bryan told us his father had a sudden heart attack and died for no heart related reason or risk they could find. It was determined later that he was so deficient in B vitamins and without them his heart went into spasms. It just adds another layer to what we face when not in good digestive health.

[dang in reply to Heloise]

You are absolutely correct that this is the case with many hypos and specifically with ones who have antibodies.

This is easily confirmed however with a blood test, as it was in my case, and then doctors have proper records and can follow up in the future with more tests. If we start to supplement without knowing our base levels I don’t believe we’re doing ourselves any favours since doctors will likely not follow up with us and we’ve decided to just guess with our health. It’s always best to test first, if Sylvia is deficient it will show on a test, and after being re-tested she could gauge how well the supplement is working.

[Sylvia22 in reply to dang]

Thank you

[Sylvia22 in reply to dang]

Thank you so much

[dang in reply to Sylvia22]

You’re welcome! 😊

[researcherUK in reply to Sylvia22]

Here is a link about Thiamine and Hashimoto's ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/243...

In addition, Izabella Wentz explained that with Hashimoto's B1 or Thiamine is depleted. So, assuming your diet is loaded with B1 and you are also absorbing it. The inflammation and the continuous fight deplete your body from several integral vitamins and minerals

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

You may have other causes for your fatigue which ought to be investigated in conjunction.