Glycine Intolerance and Possible Solutions

I didn’t have my best stuff in New Mexico but it could have been a whole lot worse if the race had been a few days earlier or later.  After some initial success, the Syntol probiotics have lost their effectiveness in combating the sensitivity.  I don’t doubt that they are still needed but I will lower the dosage and apparently, I need a reserve of glycine in my system.  What happens if I do not take the glycine?  I will need to take an exact cocktail of pills every day just to feel decent and will never even come close to my former glory.  I will probably never truly stabilize and have to make periodic adjustments after sudden relapses.  Yes, I can work, live independently and travel throughout North America but races will be a crap shoot. 

Much of my social life revolves around group runs and because I frequently die 3 miles in, it leaves a hole and makes me look bad in the eyes of the group.  Also, as long as I have to deal with this type of sensitivity such that I am triggered by something as benign as B-vitamins, C and Calcium in small doses, I will almost certainly be alone for the rest of my life.  Nobody can understand the nature of the beast unless they’ve been through it themselves.  To make matters worse, I KNOW that glycine will solve the sensitivity but the glycine itself is not tolerated.  That is the ULTIMATE IN CRUELTY!  Fortunately, there may be a way around it that will allow me to tolerate the very necessary glycine.  I was once both intolerant and highly sensitive to methyl folate yet it was needed because I have the dreaded MTHFR mutation.  TMG and a B-complex which contains PABA, a precursor to MF, appears to have knocked out that problem once and for all.

Option 1- Take a precursor to Glycine such as Threonine.

I could use it as a substitute or an addition.  This is probably least likely to be successful but still worth a try.  Why might it work?  In some cases where the blood/brain barrier is a factor, the precursor is actually more effective than the amino acid itself.  PABA is a precursor to methyl folate and I found that adding just a small amount of PABA, the sensitivity to MF was gone.  Why it might not work?  I believe my sensitivity to glycine stems from an overactive GNMT enzyme whereas the MTHFR enzyme is underactive.  Thus, adding a precursor could make the glycine sensitivity worse.  If I use it as a substitute, there is a chance, albeit small, that it will produce just the right amount of glycine to knock out the sensitivity to other vitamins and minerals without producing a reaction to excess glycine.

Option 2- Support the Glycine Metabolism Pathway

This option involves taking ATP and/or Choline.  It definitely could be beneficial but unlikely to resolve the sensitivity because it likely does not affect the problem enzyme.  I’ve had trouble with ATP and Choline supplementation in the past but that was before Glycine.  In the past, I was criticized for running my workouts too hard for my fitness level and some low-lifes even resorted to personal attacks against me.  I countered by stating that the workouts really were NOT all that hard for me and I sometimes under-performed in races because I simply could not access my top gear.  If the heart rate feature on my new Garmin is accurate, it presents strong evidence in my favor.  At my age, my max heart rate ought to be 180-185 beats per minute and a strong cardiovascular system could raise it a few points higher.  I’ve never taken it higher than 160 even when running all out.  Do I simply have a lower than normal max heart rate?  I don’t think so.  Even when my legs are hurting after a solid tempo or time trial, I’ve never felt like I was spent in terms of cardio.  Moreover, the farther out of whack I am, the LOWER my “max heart rate” becomes.  I hit 160 on a 3 mile time trial, which lasted just under 20 minutes but could not take it higher than 150 in New Mexico despite racing hard for nearly 1 hr 50 min.  On the days that I have to struggle for a Mendoza line performance (3 miles @ 8:00 pace), my heart rate typically won’t go higher than 135.  Even if my max heart rate is low, it should not vary that much from day to day.  In theory, ATP should raise the max heart rate but the impaired glycine conjugation may prevent its effectiveness. 

Option 3- Target the Over-Active GNMT enzyme

This option is the MOST likely to be successful.  It is well documented that methyl folate will slow down this enzyme and thus, I need a larger dose to do the job.  Early indications are that raising it from 2 mg to 3 mg won’t be enough.  Either I need to be much more aggressive (5-10 mg) or take large doses of its precursor PABA.  Yesterday, I had a VERY important revelation.  PABA stands for para amino benzoic acid.  My benzoic acid has tested high enough to be flagged in the past but not so much that it is in the stratosphere.  I’ve since added a small amount of PABA in Yasko’s Ultimate B, which has taken it higher and thus increased the need for glycine.  As I’ve posted earlier. High benzoic acid is an indicator of poor glycine conjugation, which according to Self-Hacked and my own personal observations is the cause of the sensitivity.  The treatment is more glycine, which I could not tolerate because of the over-active enzyme.  If I take more PABA, in theory, it will be doubly beneficial.  First, because it’s a precursor to methyl folate, it will slow down the defective enzyme.  Second, it will raise my benzoic acid levels, which will increase the demand for glycine.  PABA alone without glycine will make things worse and vice versa but I can deal with that.  The same holds true for TMG and MF and it’s not a problem. 

Stay posted for training updates.  I may yet get the resolution before the month is out.

UPDATE:
I learned a lot from today's workout.  PABA WILL MOST DEFINITELY ALLOW ME TO TOLERATE GLYCINE AND THUS KNOCK OUT THE SENSITIVITY TO OTHER STUFF.  However, I still have a fairly low ceiling of tolerance (less than 2g/day) no matter how much PABA I do take.  The tolerance could increase if I try the other options listed here but all I want out of this is freedom from sensitivity.  Just 1g/day will do the job in that respect.