Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash Updated 2/2020
Simple and cheap relief from ME/Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia is possible with Thiamine (Vitamin B1). The prestigious British Medical Journal (now the BMJ) seems to think so and published the findings.
So, I feel this is worth exploring and trying if you are a sufferer!
National Fibromyalgia Association founder Karen Lee Richards had fibromyalgia for almost 25 years before she stumbled on a simple and cheap remedy that worked for her.
A 2014 BJM fibromyalgia study caught her attention: “High-dose thiamine improves the symptoms of fibromyalgia.” It was a tiny study conducted by a group of Italian researchers. In fact, the study was so small – only three patients – that she normally wouldn’t have given it any thought.
But the dramatic improvement in fatigue and pain levels experienced by all three participants got her interest.
In a properly-done scientific study, the outcome sometimes outweighs the numbers.
Here are the results for each patient following 20 days of high-dose thiamine therapy:
- Patient 1: 71.3% reduction in fatigue; 80% reduction in pain.
- Patient 2: 37% reduction in fatigue; 50% reduction in pain.
- Patient 3: 60.7% reduction in fatigue; 60% reduction in pain.
The study summary stated, “…after the therapy with high doses (600-1500 mg.) of thiamine, there was an appreciable improvement of the symptoms in all the fibromyalgia patients.”
Those dealing with fibromyalgia and nerve pain reported significant decrease in pain levels.
Personal Trial With High Dose Thiamine
After some research on her own, Karen Lee Richards (NFA founder) followed up on the small study with her own personal trial.
I Feel So Good!
In her blog post, this 20 year plus fibromyalgia patient reported that by the seventh day of her high-dose B-1 trial she had so much energy that she “almost bounced from one activity to another and kept thinking, “I feel so good! What can I do next?”
Pain reductions were modest, but her energy level was better than it had been in decades.
What We Know About Thiamine
We now know thiamine, in conjunction with magnesium, helps extract energy and metabolize nutrients from food. It turns the extracted nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the fuel used by your cell’s power generators – the mitochondria.
Researchers are just beginning to understand that symptoms of fibromyalgia (and other conditions such as ME, CFS) could be the clinical manifestation of a thiamine deficiency due to a dysfunction of the active transport of thiamine from the blood to the mitochondria or to enzymatic abnormalities.
In addition, The British Medical Journal published a number of studies suggesting that the fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis and the symptoms of fibromyalgia could be related to a thiamine deficiency. It is interesting that none of those in these studies showed a deficiency in their lab tests.
Several other studies now report thiamine (B1) supplementation boosts attention, focus and motivation. Also reduction in brain fog and increased mental clarity with less anxiety.
Thiamine supplementation can help nearly every active adult. One study showed that it enhanced feelings of clear-headedness in those taking tests by boosting acetylcholine, glutamate and GABA in the brain. It can provide increased brain energy by fueling cell mitochondria with ATP.
Because thiamine and other B vitamins are naturally energy-boosting, you will often find B Vitamin Complex supplements labeled as “energy boosting” products.
Thiamine is an essential nutrient, meaning our bodies do not make it.
And those taking diuretics need thiamine even more – not less! Heart Disease is Linked to Thiamine Deficiency
Nutritional Brain Bomb: Thiamine Deficiency
Safety and Contraindications
Even at high doses, there’s not much concern over consuming too much at one time because it’s a water-soluble vitamin and believed that only a small percentage of a high dose is actually absorbed by the body. (source)
Side effects are rare but can include stomach upset. If you are taking Digoxin, diuretics or Dilantin you should consult your doctor before supplementing with thiamine. (source)
To find out if supplementation will help for you, consider doing a 15-20 day trial. And in way of disclaimer, I am not recommending this…talk with your own doctor!
Important For Absorption
Over the past year and a half of experimenting, Karen Richards learned two important things about taking high-dose thiamine, She noted:
- Thiamine with magnesium are team players. When the brand of vitamin B-1/thiamine I was taking sold out, I switched to a different brand. Although I was still taking 1500 mg/day, I didn’t have nearly as much energy as I had been experiencing. It was then I noticed that the original brand of B-1 I took also contained 100 mg of magnesium. After a little more research, I learned that magnesium is necessary in order for our bodies to utilize thiamine properly. Even though I was taking another supplement that contained magnesium, the thiamine seemed to work better when the magnesium was included with it.
- Thankfully, Source Naturals now offers its own brand of vitamin B-1 that also contains 100 mg of magnesium, so I know I can get what I need.
- High-dose thiamine works better when taken in one dose. I had been taking the vitamin B-1/thiamine all in one dose, but someone who commented on my first article suggested that it might be better to divide the doses because the body can only use so much B-1 at a time. That made sense so I tried taking three separate 500 mg doses – morning, afternoon and evening – for a few weeks, but it just wasn’t as effective that way and my energy level dropped. When I went back to taking the full 1500 mg dose at once, my energy came right back up.
“I can honestly say that my energy level now is much, much better than it has ever been since I developed fibromyalgia 25 years ago.” ~Karen Lee Richards
Study Dosages You Can Replicate
Once you have done your own research and are convinced thiamine would be relatively safe for you to try, you can follow the basic protocol used in the fibromyalgia study above. Those patients started at 600 mg/day and increased the dosage by 300 mg every three days until they reached a therapeutic dose. (It can take up to 48 hours to experience the effects from an increased dose of thiamine.)
The therapeutic doses of thiamine ranged from 600 mg to 1800 mg per day. One patient reported improvement at 600 mg. The doses for the other two patients were increased by 300 mg every three days. Neither reported any improvement until they reached a dosage of 1500 mg. The final therapeutic dose for both was 1800 mg. None of the patients in this study experienced any side effects. The authors did note, however, that in some studies using high-dose thiamine for other illnesses, a few patients experienced side effects like tachycardia and insomnia. Additional and larger studies are needed to confirm these results.
The only 500 mg. thiamine supplement I know is here. You would need to add an absorbable form of magnesium like this one (1 tsp.) at the same time for it to be absorbed.
Source Naturals offers its own brand of vitamin B-1 that is 500 mg. plus 100 mg. of magnesium.
Tannins In Coffee and Tea Inhibit Thiamine
One reason for low absorbability are tannins, so you may want to stay well away from coffee/tea drinking.
Acidic substances in coffee and tea called tannins can react with thiamine to form an oxidized, inactive product potentially leading to a deficiency. This is believed to only occur when someone drinks a very large amount of caffeine (including decaffeinated coffee). (source)
Other anti-thiamine factors include molds that break thiamine down in the blood. If you eat certain raw, fresh-water fish, and raw shellfish you are at a greater risk of thiamine deficiency. It is also inactivated by cooking food. Depletion can occur within 14 days.
6 Top Food Sources
The richest food sources include (source):
- various beans
- sunflower seeds
- macadamia nuts
- seaweed (or spirulina powder)
- ‘nutritional yeast’, a seasoning commonly used by vegetarians that naturally tastes similarly to cheese.
Visit Dr. Izabella Wentz for a more in depth understanding.
Karla Cox
Hello, Jacqueline, After my tall, slim 30 year old daughter suffered a stroke, both myself and husband were tested for Factor V Leiden. She now takes blood thinners daily for FVL, which my husband does carry.
My blood tests came back with me having NOT FVL but instead, showed MTHFR as Compound heterozygous with one copy of c677t and one copy of a1298c not present on the same chromosome. My instructions were to take B12 and Folate everyday. My own research moved me towards the methylated forms. You shared the back of a supplement in your article…can you pass along the brand? I also have Hypothyroid and am pretty tired so much of the time. I would like to try the Thiamine, especially if I can get it all in one dose with the methylfolate and b12!
One more question, I was diagnosed with breast cancer 5 years ago and am doing great. I would love to take some Turmeric for the many advertised benefits, but have read that it might not be good for anyone with a history of breast cancer…I believe it has something to do with phytoestrogens. Do you have any thoughts on that? Thank you so very much.
Jacqueline
Yes, Karla,
I will do that research hopefully this afternoon for you! The link to the product I am taking now is http://amzn.to/2y2l9BX
You may also want to read this short post https://deeprootsathome.com/poor-methylation-mthfr/ for laymen I wrote on MTHFR. In it there are 2 other supplements of the same order that you can compare. I personally am changing from the one I took to the one in the Thiamine post b/c of the addition of thaimine and the other B vitamins and vitamin C which work in conjunction. I’ll leave another comment when I know anything on turmeric/br cancer connection. In the meantime, I’ll be praying for you, friend! J
Karla Cox
Hi Jacqueline,
Thank you for your reply, I appreciate the information and your interest! This comment is from Webmd…
https://www.m.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-662/turmeric
Hormone-sensitive condition such as breast cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, endometriosis, or uterine fibroids: Turmeric contains a chemical called curcumin, which might act like the hormone estrogen. In theory, turmeric might make hormone-sensitive conditions worse. However, some research shows that turmeric reduces the effects of estrogen in some hormone-sensitive cancer cells. Therefore, turmeric might have beneficial effects on hormone-sensitive conditions. Until more is known, use cautiously if you have a condition that might be made worse by exposure to hormones.
Jacqueline
Karla, I am sorry to be so long getting back to you! We’ve had honey to extract and guests!
Yes, here is the product for which I showed the ingredient list. It is what I use now: http://amzn.to/2xqdBp1
Hopefully, it will catch all the needed factors for the MTHFR defects and the others.
On the question about turmeric and hormone-sensitive conditions, a careful reading of this research would lead me to use turmeric as one of an arsenal of alternative treatments: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3706856/
In particular read the 4 “effect of curcumin in…” sections.
Next, I cut and pasted the text below from this site for you: https://www.turmericforhealth.com/turmeric-benefits/turmeric-benefits-for-breast-cancer BTW, this is a very credible site and they reference many solid studies! See their study references at the end of the post.
Turmeric & Breast Cancer
A) Curcumin helps in preventing the occurrence of breast cancer
B) Turmeric helps in healing breast cancer
1. Curcumin from turmeric controls division of cancer cells
2. Curcumin induces programmed cell death in cancer cells
3. Curcumin regulates the signaling pathways in cancer cells
4. Curcumin disrupts the cell division process in cancer cells
5. Curcumin inhibits metastasis in advanced breast cancers
6. Slowing down its spread to other organs such as lungs
C) Turmeric helps in easing the symptoms of breast cancer
D) Curcumin exerts chemopreventive actions on the breast cells against recurrence of cancer after therapy (chemotherapy/surgery)
For me, I would tend to go with turmeric, first, b/c it is not man-made or synthetic, and second, b/c it has been studied extensively and has very little to no side effects and untold benefits. If I had to choose the most powerful herb it is hands-down, turmeric! My hunch is that in its wholefood state it will not be estrogenic in actual real life and actually may have beneficial effects on hormone-sensitive conditions as WebMd said. You might also check this out on WebMd: https://deeprootsathome.com/webmd-not-trusted-health-information/
I would always lean towards a God-given (organic source, of course) food and not something man-made and potentially contaminated.
I am praying for you as you seek wisdom and counsel. May the Lord of the all give you all you need for this journey, Karla! God bless you!
Jacqueline
Karla Cox
My deepest thanks, Jacqueline! I will be looking at the information you sent, and appreciate so much, your time and energy! God bless you during this coming harvest season! Enjoy that honey!
Jacqueline
Haha! If you were close, I’d give you a sample for your table 😀
Blessings!
Donna @ Modern on Monticello
You seemed to have done your research preparing for this post. I don’t suffer from any of these conditions but I do have close friends who do. I will certainly recommend your post to them. Thanks for sharing at #HomeMattersParty
Jacqueline
Thanks, Donna!
I hope it brings many some relief!
Amber Harrop
Fascinating reading Jacqueline I wonder if B1 also helps with depression?
Jacqueline
I do know from nutrition classes in nursing school that all the B vitamins together can lighten the load with depression. It makes so much sense when you understand the functions that they are required to perform in all the body systems.
As we know, your brain loves energy, as do the rest of your nerves. And good old vitamin B1 is a cofactor to a zillion energetic reactions. If you burn glucose, you desperately need your thiamine. To quote my old Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 14th Edition (page 2455):
Thiamine is a cofactor of several enzymes, including transketolase, pyruvate dehydrogenase, and alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. Thiamine deficiency produces a diffuse decrease in cerebral glucose utilization and results in mitochondrial damage… electron microscopy shows disintegrating mitochondria, chromatin clumping, and swelling of degenerating neurons…consistent with excitotoxicity.
Yikes!
Claudia
Hello, thank you for this article. I’ve been trying to do some research about Thiamine because I have chronic fatigue and other health issues. What I read a few times is that the B vitamines compete with each other so you have to take all together. I would love to hear your thoughts about this? Thank you in advance
Jacqueline
Hi, Claudia!
I have heard a few say that about Bs competing with each other, but I believe (at this time in my understanding), that as long as your methylation pathway is filled and not blocked with folic acid, for example, that the system can works as it is supposed to.
Have you heard about TRS for chronic fatigue? CFS is tied to vaccines (read this: https://deeprootsathome.com/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-whats-behind-it-why-its-vital-you-know/ )
TRS does not heal or cure anything, but it is a detox that removes toxins/metals so that the body can then heal itself as it is designed to do. Please read this: https://deeprootsathome.com/heavy-metals-need-to-go-they-are-food-for-viruses-bacteria-fungi/
TRS can remove the root cause of your chronic fatigue. You would need to detox for a minimum of 6-8 months.
I do coaching with every order through my link: https://inspiredhealthtrs.cosevatrs.com/ and I would love to work with you for greater health!
Let me know if you have any questions at all!
Blessings,
Jacqueline
PS: I would love to build up an army of “saints” who are willing to pray as we are told in 2 Chronicles 7:14. We can be called “The Awareful Prayerful!” I am more and more censored, so I’m inviting you to join me as I attempt to communicate more freely on email. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to my emails here and share it with friends who may want to be engaged: https://deeprootsathome.com/connect
Claudia
Thank you kindly for your reply. I’m a little overwhelmed by all the information that is out there on health, sometimes it’s hard to figure out what is right for me. My chronic fatigue is because I have a certain health condition. I do not know what it is called in English, I’m not American and English is not my native language. But thank you very much for trying to help. I will try to re read all the information you shared in the article and the links you gave.
Jacqueline
Hi, again, Claudia! Have you heard of TRS or read Avalyn’s Story? https://deeprootsathome.com/avalyns-story-how-trs-a-safe-heavy-metal-detox-can-help-you-and-your-child/
This will explain how TRS can help with things like Lymes, fibromyalgia, thyroid, regressive autism, mold, seizure disorder, bedwetting and stuttering in children and other autoimmune diseases from underlying toxins and metals: https://deeprootsathome.com/heavy-metals-need-to-go-they-are-food-for-viruses-bacteria-fungi/
TRS does not heal or cure anything, but it clears the body of toxins/metals and such so the body can heal and rebalance itself as God designed it to do!
We see really great gains with CFS around 6 months, and relief from the terrible pain often starting sooner than that. It is a journey, but a very healing one when detoxing deeply over time! I would love to be a part of your healing journey as I do coaching and correspond with you during that time as needed. I do not just sell it and run!
I do not know where you live, but we ship TRS worldwide, and the farthest has been Tripoli, then Madagascar, then UAE. I do coaching via email or FB message with every order through my link ❤ https://inspiredhealthtrs.cosevatrs.com/
Caveat: some knock off bottles are sold on Amazon and Ebay, so be aware of that.
Let me know if you want to check out cost to ship to your location, and I can help you!
HOW LONG SHOULD A PERSON USE TRS?
It is suggested to use TRS for a minimum of 6 months or the 6 bottles’ equivalent of TRS to see significant improvements.
Some families see results very quickly in weeks. Many report that the biggest gains show up after the 6 months mark.
As symptoms alleviate, some families choose to reduce to a lower daily usage rate to protect themselves from environmental toxins or wean off altogether if they are certain that they have no chronic sources of heavy metals and toxin exposure.
Blessings, grace and peace,
Keep the Son in your eyes!
Jacqueline