Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) Patient Views

How long have you been taking the ALA, and how much improvement can you attribute to it?

Alpha lipoic acid seems to help me recover better from activity. I think it reduces the extent of my PEM if I overexerted and remembered to take my ALA the same day of the overexertion. I do try to take it everyday, but brain fog can make it difficult. I need to take it with food, or I get nauseated with heartburn.

I’ve been taking Alpha Lipoic Acid for about a year. I wish I had a good way to measure how much it has helped, I know it hasn’t hurt. I can tell you that the last time I ran out, I decided to not take it for a few weeks to see if I could go without it. During that time I would wake up with Hypoxic Headaches and that does not happen to me while I am taking it.

My neurologist just told me to try alpha lipoic acid. Was that one of the ones you tried?

Alpha Lipoic Acid 600mg (99% R ALA) I take 2 capsules a day Ubiquinol CoQ10

I am 25 plus years with ME and fibromyalgia and I have been taking these together for 2 years and I can’t tell you how much these have helped me. I took them originally after I was reading a thread on Large fibre sensory neuropathy, because I also have that and this guy was swearing by them, so I thought I have tried everything else, why not and I could tell a difference within about 10 days, I had more energy and my nerve pain almost disappeared I would not do without these and my Ashwanganda, research Ashwanganda though because there are many that are no good, waste of money.

D-Ribose seems to reduce the intensity of PEM symptoms (if I take it before activity)

Alpha Lipoic Acid reduces my neuropathy

Everything else I’ve tried doesn’t seem to do much for me.

If you had electric pain, that's called neuropathy. Alpha Lipoic acid is good for that. Today I sometimes have restless legs but it's rare. About every 2 weeks, more frequent if I over do it, I have a sore throat and floppy/heavy arms and feel weak, high Hr, and realize it's my body telling me to slow down or I'll get worse.

Alpha-lipoic acid was the only thing that helped this for me. I still get internal vibrations but the muscle twitching is way less.

Hi a fellow forum member - It's been a while since I borrowed the Cutler protocol, but if I recall correctly, ALA doesn't bind mercury as strongly as DMSA. That's why he suggest taking them together, and taking DMSA every four hours around the clock. I did 7 rounds of the Cutler protocol this spring, and added ALA on the last two rounds. My experience was that ALA greatly increased my symptoms temporarily, to the point where I was nearly as sick as I was in the first two rounds. If ALA moves mercury in the brain, as Cutler contends, that would probably explain it. Given the strength of the reaction, I'm glad I was taking DMSA around the clock, along with s-acetyl glutathione, coffee enemas, charcoal, diatomaceous earth, Pectasol, NDF+, Liver Life, and so forth. Even so, the mercury kicked my butt right until the final day of detox. Regarding your last two questions, I didn't know about the Yahoo forum, but I'm glad there is one. For safety information, I recommend Chris Shade's in-depth presentations. His work is very thorough. another forum participant

I know I asked but I can’t remember, have you tried Alpha Lipoic Acid?