Hi.

I have high triglycerides (which I'm almost certain has an effect over my CH), so I'm not too happy about the extra sugar intake using regular energy drinks. Diet energy drinks, on the other hand, use sweeteners of which some are basically alcoholic compounds, which I suspect may make them more problematic for us.

Any comments? Ideas?

I have the sensitivity to alcohol on cycle, but using the sugar free red bull to aid my oxygen in aborting never seemed to present a trigger problem. Another one of those frustrating "your mileage may vary-learn through sometimes painful experimentation" deals.  :-/

Joe

But Joe, when is cycle you would naturally recognize only immediate triggers - not the ones triggering hits after they are slowly ingested and broke down. If a sugar-alcohol or glycerin (often used in D3 drops) is ingested and metabolized over a few hours, how would you know if it did or did not effect your next hit? (intensity, duration, etc.).

Damn......that is a tough one...... :-/

Joe

Only way to try to answer it is to keep a diary of your CHs and also record when you used energy drinks. Then once you've a reasonable amout of data, see if you can spot a pattern.

All that sugar may or may not be triggering your clusters, but regardless--all that High Fructose Corn syrup can not be good for your body in general.

I like Hi-ball.  Lots of caffeine, no BS.

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Ricardo

I know everyone has talked about the Taurine in the energy drinks being something that was wanted. I see Hi Ball doesn't have any.

For you is it strictly the caffeine that you think is helping or some other ingredient in there?

Chris

The abortive effect of energy drinks can't be due to the caffeine alone. Otherwise, a regular cup of coffee would have had the same effect - and most of us know for a fact that it's different.

Taurine is one explanation. There are taurine receptors in the hypothalamus, which may be the reason. Also, a sparkling beverage is absorbed much quicker. And it may even have something to do with the B6 vitamin which is included in most energy drinks.

Personally, I have the feeling that a the way a sparkling beverage of any kind tickles the mouth and throat creates a distracting effect on pain mechanism, and when combined with the effect of caffeine and/or taurine on the parasympathetic NS is disrupts the attacks course.

This might explain why chugging the energy drinks works far better than drinking it slowly - the stronger the distraction the better the effect.

I put 500 mg taurine into my coffee each morning (and would up that if I was shadowing or getting hit). The capsules are a lot cheaper than the beverages, and buying powder in bulk is even less expensive.

No sugar, no artificial sweetners, a bit of milk thank you. 

I use energy drinks that have only sugar, since I know that most artificial sweetners trigger a migraine, so I can't believe it would do any less during cycle.

Luckily they don't use that much corn syrup in beverages here. So it is all sugar Coca-Cola and Battery for my choice of "drinks".

I slam one back when I have to take a nasal spray, it helps with the side effects and aborts the attack much, much faster. The odd thing is, I usually get very sleepy after I do that.. Even if it is during daytime and after a decent night's sleep.

I've been using 5-hour Energy drinks with good results. There is no sugar or alcohol in this stuff. It is sweetened with sucralose [brand name Splenda). It has taurine and caffeine. A 2 oz. shot of 5-Hour at the first sign of an attack or a shadow will kill it in about 6-7 minutes. It has no affect on energy (kind of a rip-off there) or the ability to go back to sleep.

Shooky,

BobG makes a good point...  If you want something to taste sweet, but want to avoid sugar, (sucrose), Splenda is a good choice and the lesser of the two evils.

If you want to see how bad sugar really is, spend some time watching the video at the following link...  It will change your mind about sugar... and make you want to avoid it even more...

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As far as the triglycerides go... stay away from sugar and refined carbohydrates...  Natural fruit sugar (fructose) from fresh fruit is ok.  You can also buy small packets of fructose, but use it in small quantities and only by itself... Never with sucrose or glucose and for sure never with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

The anti-inflammatory regimen is a great way to lower triglycerides, but you may need to double or triple the Omega-3 fish oil and add some CholestOff, a natural plant sterol.  You can get it at Costco, WallyWorld and most supermarkets.

I took part in an RTC at NIH and one of the protocol med's, sirolimus, (rapamycin), has a known side effect of elevating cholesterol and triglycerides... 

A week after starting the sirolimus, my cholesterol and triglycerides had shot up like a rocket... well over their normal reference ranges...  My doctors gave me two options, statins or a change in diet to avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates plus lots of Omega-3 Fish Oil.

I chose the latter, added CholestOff and had both my cholesterol and triglycerides back well within the normal reference range in a little less than a month... and I was still taking the sirolimus.

Pick up some extra virgin coconut oil and use it for cooking.  You can also find it at Costco...  Coconut oil contains medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) or medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). MCTs are smaller and more easily digested by your body, so they do not get stored as fat.

See:

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I've been cooking with coconut oil for almost a year and love it.  It stays solid below 76º F and so far hasn't turned rancid like some of my extra virgin olive oil...

If you want more flavor while cooking with coconut oil, drop in a pat of butter or spoonful of bacon grease...  Both are far better for you than corn oil.

Coconut oil is also good for the skin...  Ladies, if you goop up with face cream at night you might want to consider trying some high quality extra virgin coconut oil instead.

Take care,

V/R, Batch

Batch wrote,
I've been cooking with coconut oil for almost a year and love it.  It stays solid below 76º F and so far hasn't turned rancid like some of my extra virgin olive oil...

Olive oil from Europe has been modified. Stay away from
it. Buy local made if you can, or an Aussie product.

Hoppy.

Thanks for the kind advice guys. I seem to be approaching the end of my current cycle (I really hope so, anyhow), so I use very little energy drinks if any.

BTW, Batch, I'm still on a daily 20K IU D3, probably around 100ng/ml OH25 now, and what seem to do the magic now is an addition of 10mg amitriptyline to the melatonin I take just before sleep. That's a tiny dose that shouldn't make any difference but it does.

Batch wrote on Dec 13^th, 2013 at 3:02am:

Shooky, BobG makes a good point...  If you want something to taste sweet, but want to avoid sugar, (sucrose), Splenda is a good choice and the lesser of the two evils. If you want to see how bad sugar really is, spend some time watching the video at the following link...  It will change your mind about sugar... and make you want to avoid it even more...

Batch,

here is another trick question (or two) ... why does sugar taste sweet? Because it triggers the sugar receptors. Where are sugar receptors? In the tongue, and in the pancreas. Artificial sweeteners do not raise blood sugar, but they do stimulate the pancreas as if there were high levels of sugar in the blood. If someone has type II diabetes or metabolic syndrome (pre-diabetes), then stimulating the pancreas to secrete insulin all the time is not a good idea, it helps to derange normal function and maintains insulin resistance.  Maybe it is a slightly lesser of evils, but it still maintains disease patterns.

Food for thought.