I had seen that before, but have learnt more about lithium since. For mental health I would tend to agree with Peter attia. That it is difficult to tell with low dose. I have tried 7mg per. Week which was too low for my target 50 micro molar in serum. 35mg was too high and I am awaiting a test result on 15mg. When I first.took lithium I felt a shift.
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Lithium is fascinating. I think I heard the professor mention that he uses 15 mg per day. Better better check that up.
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I take 1 mg lithium daily and I can see an effect at that level. Or it could be the 2.6 g of NAC. They both improve mood. Lithium also has a lifespan enhancement bonus.
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I take 5 mg lithium every other day. So approx 2,5 mg per day.
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Maybe some counseling would be helpful too. Anger can be really self destructive. Sometimes it is driven by other emotions, shame, impotence, helplessness, guilt, envy… maybe it is not genetics per se but part of inherited or personal (complex) trauma.
PA is in psychotherapy as well.
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Be aware that low-dose lithium, IMO <20mg/day, will take 2 months or longer to have a noticeable effect.
I really did notice that driving my car was more enjoyable and other drivers were not pi**ing me off as much.
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I’m a believer. I felt it after about 1 week. It wasn’t much but I felt my edginess was less sharp. I felt it took less effort to remain calm in stressful situations. It became easier to have that space between stimulus and reaction that is so important but hard to have. I don’t care if it has longevity benefits but I hope it does.
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Bud, melatonin 3-4gr per day. I tried 1 gram and it wreaked havoc in me, lol. I think it is dangerous if you ask me. It is better to find other ways for help with sleep.
Since there could very well be a psychological component to long COVID, lithium might help.
Melatonin is a molecule that is produced cyclicly by the body. Hence exactly when you take it and the quantity are important. @Joseph_Lavalle was referring to milligrams. I am assuming you also mean milligrams. However, I find Melatonin helpful in lots of ways.
I am sure, however, that if I got the timing wrong it would not be so useful.
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@kansel I wouldn’t take anything that was obviously harmful or that even just made me feel ”sick” unless I was 100% (or more!) certain it was the right move. I don’t know of any data indicating melatonin is harmful. Our bodies make it. The amount I take daily over the last 30 years has varied between 1-10x what a human pineal gland makes. It helps me manage sleep onset. Melatonin is also a powerful antioxidant that others here can speak to. And it’s worth mentioning that melatonin in the USA is an OTC supplement, so there is always a risk of contamination.
Still pretty much the same
novos
donotage sirt 6
lipo nmn/apigenin for nad+ (risky stuff)
vitamins a/d/k2/magnesium/b6/b12/zinc/copper/ probably some other vitamins but not a drop synthetic
beef liver
psyllium husk
melatonin 10g
krill oil
ginger with high gingerol/ceylon cinnamon/oregnao oil/garlic
some more im not thinking
my prescription meds as follows
rapamycin 10 weekly
jardiance 25
acarbose 50
simvastatin 20/ezetimibe 10 (trying to get fluvastatin which may enhance sirt 6, but novos has recommended simvastatin in the past for longevity but I dont know if they still do
Problem is I think the prescription combo is making me sick a little, hitting my immune system a bit. I’m a traveler, and before the prescription combo my immune system was strong with the other supplements, but I’ve now been getting sick several times with the prescription combo - food poisoning and colds during the 4 months I’ve been on. I’ve read statins can act as immunosuppressants? and I take a heavy dose to get my ldl low. I guess I will continue taking the regimen, as life extension matters more
-edit and apparently some statins and drugs like rapamycin can interact, I’m wondering if im going about it right if its making me more sickness prone. maybe change the statin?
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It is anecdotal from my experience. I know and have read about it before. I used it sparingly before, but somewhere somehow I ran into some crazy doctor dude suggesting to take 20mg and above regularly. so I took the plunge and started with 5mg before bed one night, holly molly i woke up every 45-60 minutes, in a totally different state of being lol, didn’t feel it was me whatsoever, (had no pain though) i was totally of in a very weird way. My head felt as if it was 50kg all day long the next day, some weird shit i tell you.
So maybe its just one of those things that it is not made for me lol. I wonder if you could share any benefits, you might feel you get from regular use of it (other than supposed helping with sleep, which for some people might work).
thanks,
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Thats because of the ultradian cycle. If it runs out before the end of the ultradian cycle you get into the sympathetic nervous state.
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It’s all about the sleep for me. I have heard about the supposed longevity benefits of melatonin for years. As an antioxidant it made some sense but I didn’t put any value on that in my calculations. I don’t deny it but can’t support it either.
Regarding sleep. It’s one of my favorite topics because it is my Achilles heel. I can kick ass on everything related to diet, exercise, and discipline managing body composition. I am that weird old dude at the gym who looks great in a tank top but has grey hair. But bad sleep will kill me if I can’t figure it out.
The melatonin is a crutch that I have been using forever to avoid learning how to sleep well. It’s like taking a bunch of vitamins because I have to eat at McDonalds.
And it’s catching up to me. The melatonin isn’t enough anymore. I’ve added other things. I may have even stumbled on a good solution recently (LDN) as I have slept through the night without a bathroom visit 4 nights in a row now.
But I have to learn how to sleep. And I need to learn how to manage my stress better. I don’t need advice because I’ve gotten a ton of advice. I just need to put on my “get this done” suit and make it work. I have done so many times and I can do it again. I just need to be psychologically ready. I’m not ready just yet but I’m working toward it. This post is a part of that effort.
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Thanks for the detailed explanation. Though you clearly are “fed up” with advice regarding stress, I will delve a bit into it anyway lol. It is beyond me (for some reason) when I hear people talking about stress, what the hell is that, what does it mean, how can one be stressed? As a man there have been times where I was so mad that I could have easily killed a whole army (if someone did me wrong) but that is not stress, that is extreme anger, which i never get any negative health effects from it. In a very weird way, I think it has kept my body stronger/in better shape (as I have been in a situation for few years). I have also had financial, family, job problems, as many do but never effected me in a way that I’d say I’m stressed. To that my unsolicited, and even unwanted advice would be: try and get mad at the situation as opposed to getting stressed. I think we are wired in a way that we are much more capable, and proactive when we get mad than when we get stressed.,
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Thanks. I understand what you are saying. To clarify my situation, I am not saying I have too much stress (exercise, work, life) …. my life is pretty good. I have insufficient skills at managing stress so there is an imbalance. Of course it’s related to sleep as “residual stress” (stress minus recovery from stress) affects sleep, and sleep affects stress and recovery from stress.
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Its taken me a good few years to be able to get relatively good sleep. I use a fitbit to track sleep. That is not ideal and has issues such as missing short periods of sleep. However, I now can sleep sufficiently so that I am not tired during the day (most days). This was not the case for perhaps 20 years beforehand.
Learning how melatonin works for sleep has been part of this, but as a byproduct you get the anti-oxidant aspects of melatonin and associated mitochondrial enhancement.
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Many people, especially smart, active, and motivated, IMO, have a hard time shutting down their brains when it comes time to go to sleep. They lay down to sleep, but their mind keeps thinking about things other than sleep. They just have a hard time shutting down the brain for sleep.
I realize by this time you have tried many things, but here are some personally proven supplements that you might consider other than melatonin, which does not really shut down the brain.
Before bedtime, in order of the ones I have found to be most effective:
L-Serine 4-5 grams
Gaba 500mg
L-tryptophan 2-3 grams.
Trazadone 50 - 100 mg.
Gaba and Trazadone work within 30 minutes.
Gaba, L-Serine, and L-Tryptophan are all anti-stress calming supplements.
Personally, I don’t like the after-effects of LDN. It causes me some daytime drowsiness and seems to be a psychological downer for me.
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Thanks for the tips. I added Serine recently on your advice; maybe it’s helping with my sleep already. GABA impairs my breathing (a weird but known side effect). The others I’ll add to my list of future experiments.
My real goal is to not need drugs or supplements for sleep. But my plan is to get back to sleeping well one way or another, then get my recovery status improved, and then work on sleep behaviors from a position of health.
I’m pretty good already with: consistent sleep schedule, dimming lights at sundown, cool sleep environment, no food after dinner, noise control, bright light at wakeup, caffeine/ stimulant regulation, exercise before sleep, meditation for calming.
I need to work on: electronics (phone, TV) before sleep, wind down routine (physical and mental), no dinner (my best sleep is with no dinner), sunrise & sunset sunshine. I’m not ready.
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