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‘Encrypted’ peptides could be wellspring of natural antibiotics

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Re: ‘Encrypted’ peptides could be wellspring of natural antibiotics

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long did it take you to see results after taking them?

Pretty much right away for both. I think it's because with my condition; eating seems to be incredibly inflammatory. So, whenever I eat anything, I my blood pressure spikes tremendously, heart rate jumps ~15 points, I get brain fog & all kinds of other symptoms, which last several hours only to subside when I start to get really hungry again. Of course.. at that point I'm hungry, and it becomes increasingly hard to n…

>The goal is always to eat as little as possible while maintaining adequate nutrition

That sounds like you're (involuntarily) on a CRON diet; calorie Restriction optimal nutrition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRON-diet

Re: ‘Encrypted’ peptides could be wellspring of natural antibiotics

#42
post #38

There is one thing that worries me about this. See humans and pathogens have a common interest. We don't want to be killed. And they don't want to kill us. So how can this be achieved? By using stronger defences in key parts of the body. Pathogens have no incentive to circumvent them, by respecting the boundaries they can infect and spread without killing with all of the issues that come with that. But if we take the…

We've eradicated diseases before and nothing happened (e.g. smallpox, polio). Also, the only risk is that the bacteria gain resistance to these peptides. Which isn't even that great of a risk - if humans express these peptides, we've been trying these antibiotics for millions of years. Clearly nothing bad happened.

Re: ‘Encrypted’ peptides could be wellspring of natural antibiotics

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much right away for both. I think it's because with my condition; eating seems to be incredibly inflammatory. So, whenever I eat anything, I my blood pressure spikes tremendously, heart rate jumps ~15 points, I get brain fog & all kinds of other symptoms, which last several hours only to subside when I start to get really hungry again. Of course.. at that point I'm hungry, and it becomes increasingly hard to n…

Holy crap you pretty much just described me exactly. My stomach problems are minor but everything else you described is me to a tee. Interestingly the doctor has sent me to get tested for various stomach inflammatory diseases for completely different reasons, but they all came up negative. Just googling now it seems there is no real test for IBS. How did you know that was the cause? Also, I've taken peptides before f…

That's crazy. Docs diagnosed me with IBS based on some tests that I had done at the time (anti-vinculin antibody, SIBO breath test, etc). I don't really know. I do know that I don't poop often enough and that the longer I go without pooping the worse all my symptoms get. Interestingly, like you, I was tested for many inflammatory diseases of the gut too, and they all came up negative; so the tests kind of give me a mixed bag of signals. I also have crazy food sensitivities so it certainly must have some relation to the gut. I'm just doing the BPC-157 right now; some people have recommended others but I haven't tried anything else yet.

Re: ‘Encrypted’ peptides could be wellspring of natural antibiotics

#44
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much right away for both. I think it's because with my condition; eating seems to be incredibly inflammatory. So, whenever I eat anything, I my blood pressure spikes tremendously, heart rate jumps ~15 points, I get brain fog & all kinds of other symptoms, which last several hours only to subside when I start to get really hungry again. Of course.. at that point I'm hungry, and it becomes increasingly hard to n…

I'm curious: do you have noticed any connection between what you eat (macro and micro) and the symptoms level? Because what you're describing could match dysbiosis and/or leaky gut, and you seem to have already dug really well into your condition.

I've tried limiting certain macros and found that it doesn't really make a difference. I did try do to all meat at one point and got a lot worse. The devil is in the details in regards to the micronutrients. I am absolutely unable to tolerate most foods and can only really eat a handful. I can eat most fruits and can eat meat products but cannot eat most vegetables. Which sucks, because you can only eat so much fruit a day and I think a good diet should be vegetable based. Eating most vegetables though, causes me to lose weight, have panic attacks, vertigo, ezcema, peripheral edema, etc; all manners of strange symptoms. It probably is "leaky gut" related but I don't know.

Re: ‘Encrypted’ peptides could be wellspring of natural antibiotics

#45
post #42
post #38

There is one thing that worries me about this. See humans and pathogens have a common interest. We don't want to be killed. And they don't want to kill us. So how can this be achieved? By using stronger defences in key parts of the body. Pathogens have no incentive to circumvent them, by respecting the boundaries they can infect and spread without killing with all of the issues that come with that. But if we take the…

We've eradicated diseases before and nothing happened (e.g. smallpox, polio). Also, the only risk is that the bacteria gain resistance to these peptides. Which isn't even that great of a risk - if humans express these peptides, we've been trying these antibiotics for millions of years. Clearly nothing bad happened.

I think you are missing my point. If there is an antibiotic peptide that's only expressed in the brain, then there is no benefit for bacteria to evolve resistance to it. It would make us too sick. Afflicted people would stay home which would reduce spread. Normally diseases evolve the opposite way: to be less and less harmful. This is known as Smith's "law of declining virulence". So they may even evolve vulnerability.

If you take that some peptide and and put it inside your whole body, then evolving resistance becomes a high priority. Bacteria who don't do it stop spreading.

And once they have evolved resistance there is no going back. You can't send a security update with new brain specific anti-biotics.

Re: ‘Encrypted’ peptides could be wellspring of natural antibiotics

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much right away for both. I think it's because with my condition; eating seems to be incredibly inflammatory. So, whenever I eat anything, I my blood pressure spikes tremendously, heart rate jumps ~15 points, I get brain fog & all kinds of other symptoms, which last several hours only to subside when I start to get really hungry again. Of course.. at that point I'm hungry, and it becomes increasingly hard to n…

>The goal is always to eat as little as possible while maintaining adequate nutrition That sounds like you're (involuntarily) on a CRON diet; calorie Restriction optimal nutrition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRON-diet

Pretty much. It's really hard to maintain long term because I end up eventually getting so hungry that my brain starts becoming obsessive about food. So my attempts are only half successful.

Re: ‘Encrypted’ peptides could be wellspring of natural antibiotics

#47
I checked with a close friend who's spent the last 30 years in research on new antibiotics. Regarding peptides, he says, it's well-known that they're effective, but they make poor "drugs if you define 'drug' as something that you can inject or put in your mouth, have it circulate through the body, arrive intact at the site of infection, and have an effect. They usually fall apart en route; they also often induce an allergic response when you inject them."

Re: ‘Encrypted’ peptides could be wellspring of natural antibiotics

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy crap you pretty much just described me exactly. My stomach problems are minor but everything else you described is me to a tee. Interestingly the doctor has sent me to get tested for various stomach inflammatory diseases for completely different reasons, but they all came up negative. Just googling now it seems there is no real test for IBS. How did you know that was the cause? Also, I've taken peptides before f…

That's crazy. Docs diagnosed me with IBS based on some tests that I had done at the time (anti-vinculin antibody, SIBO breath test, etc). I don't really know. I do know that I don't poop often enough and that the longer I go without pooping the worse all my symptoms get. Interestingly, like you, I was tested for many inflammatory diseases of the gut too, and they all came up negative; so the tests kind of give me a m…

This might sound a bit crazy given what you said, but have you tried light exercise straight after your daytime meal? I too get completely incapacitated by food, my heart rate goes up, and i usually just lie down (haven't measured my blood pressure), but if I go to the gym and do light aerobic exercise for 45 minutes (keeping my heart rate around 135-145) then the worst of the symptoms are abated. Also, the brain fog doesn't matter if you're on a treadmill, it's actually quite a good thing to zone out. Most importantly it allows you to be productive during that time, and later on when you are back to normal you have more time to do other things as you have already gotten your exercise out of the way.

Re: ‘Encrypted’ peptides could be wellspring of natural antibiotics

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's crazy. Docs diagnosed me with IBS based on some tests that I had done at the time (anti-vinculin antibody, SIBO breath test, etc). I don't really know. I do know that I don't poop often enough and that the longer I go without pooping the worse all my symptoms get. Interestingly, like you, I was tested for many inflammatory diseases of the gut too, and they all came up negative; so the tests kind of give me a m…

This might sound a bit crazy given what you said, but have you tried light exercise straight after your daytime meal? I too get completely incapacitated by food, my heart rate goes up, and i usually just lie down (haven't measured my blood pressure), but if I go to the gym and do light aerobic exercise for 45 minutes (keeping my heart rate around 135-145) then the worst of the symptoms are abated. Also, the brain fog…

That's an interesting idea! I have a walking treadmill that I use at my desk which I usually do a few miles a day on; but I'm definitely no where near 135-145BPM. I think I will give that a shot tomorrow after my next meal; thank you so much for the suggestion!

Re: ‘Encrypted’ peptides could be wellspring of natural antibiotics

#50

I checked with a close friend who's spent the last 30 years in research on new antibiotics. Regarding peptides, he says, it's well-known that they're effective, but they make poor "drugs if you define 'drug' as something that you can inject or put in your mouth, have it circulate through the body, arrive intact at the site of infection, and have an effect. They usually fall apart en route; they also often induce an a…

I'm no expert nor have I used any but I've read that some people snort them nasally like saline, on the r/peptides subreddit.

This might be my brain making things up but I think I've also heard of people taking them ocularly, putting a few drops in their eyes. I don't know where I would have read that though.

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