Guest guest Posted March 19, 2003 Report Share Posted March 19, 2003 do you have a hair test? > I don't know if anyone can help me - I'm posting from the office and > all my records are at home, so I may have a few things wrong. My son > tested for low leves of cysteine, which the MD noted was consistent > with detox. We ignored that problem for awhile, while addressing > critically low tryptophan, high copper/low zinc, and messed up EFAs. > Now it is about 4 months after the initial testing, my son is doing > much better, though still emotional, occasionally flapping, and > socially unaware. The MD wants to do something to address the > cysteine issue, and has prescribed NAC. I have no idea what this is, > and unfortunately was working over the phone with the doc, addressing > lots of issues, and never got a clear answer on it. Any ideas on > either what this NAC stuff is, or what the issue is with low cysteine? > Many thanks. > Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 19, 2003 Report Share Posted March 19, 2003 There are some problems with NAC in higher doses for longer periods. To build cysteine you could also use Immunocal, a whey-based product. Dairy in general is also prety good. Perhaps you could discuss with your doctor doing a combination of the above. > I don't know if anyone can help me - I'm posting from the office and > all my records are at home, so I may have a few things wrong. My son > tested for low leves of cysteine, which the MD noted was consistent > with detox. We ignored that problem for awhile, while addressing > critically low tryptophan, high copper/low zinc, and messed up EFAs. > Now it is about 4 months after the initial testing, my son is doing > much better, though still emotional, occasionally flapping, and > socially unaware. The MD wants to do something to address the > cysteine issue, and has prescribed NAC. I have no idea what this is, > and unfortunately was working over the phone with the doc, addressing > lots of issues, and never got a clear answer on it. Any ideas on > either what this NAC stuff is, or what the issue is with low cysteine? > Many thanks. > Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 19, 2003 Report Share Posted March 19, 2003 I don't know why I am waiting to do this, but no, I don't. It will help with clarifying the cysteine issue too? Might this be related to metals? My MD indicated that he can't order a hair test (I suspect it is a NY state issue), therefore Doctors Data testing is out. I have heard that there are some/many unreputable labs out there. I want to be sure that whatever lab I go through I will be able to use the counting rules to help interprete. I know, I know -- I need to go to the autism treatment site... Kathy > > I don't know if anyone can help me - I'm posting from the office > and > > all my records are at home, so I may have a few things wrong. My > son > > tested for low leves of cysteine, which the MD noted was consistent > > with detox. We ignored that problem for awhile, while addressing > > critically low tryptophan, high copper/low zinc, and messed up > EFAs. > > Now it is about 4 months after the initial testing, my son is doing > > much better, though still emotional, occasionally flapping, and > > socially unaware. The MD wants to do something to address the > > cysteine issue, and has prescribed NAC. I have no idea what this > is, > > and unfortunately was working over the phone with the doc, > addressing > > lots of issues, and never got a clear answer on it. Any ideas on > > either what this NAC stuff is, or what the issue is with low > cysteine? > > Many thanks. > > Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 4, 2007 Report Share Posted March 4, 2007 > > Does high serum cysteine reveal > anything useful, or is it only plasma cysteine that is informative? Andy posted on an adult chelation list that he thinks serum cysteine is not useful and he knows of no lab where you can get plasma cysteine tested anymore. (Genova formerly Great Smokies used to do it.) This leaves only experimenting with a diet high in cysteine or low in cysteine to see how you react. He also said serum sulfate testing is probably useful. W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Does anyone have any thoughts about whether cysteine is helpful or not in the detoxification of mercury? We have our daughter on a natural product specially formulated by the vitamin company to detox heavy metals, it contains cysteine as well as betacarotene and antioxidants. Yet a doctor whom we recently visited suggested that cysteine was not helpful and to get her off it as soon as possible? Cysteine is harmful and inappropriate in all cases for heavy metal detox. See following discussion - all I can say is I apologize for all us chemists who didn't fail those pre-meds who didn't "get it" in freshman chem and let them go on to become "alternative health care practitioners." All forms of life contain the amino acid cysteine in proteins. Cysteine having a thiol (-SH) group binds mercury more strongly than, say, sea water or rocks. So does Chlorella. So does sea weed. So do human beings. So do pork chops. This does not mean that eating cysteine, chlorella, seaweed, pork chops or even engaging in cannibalism is effective for heavy metal detox. Your body has a few hundred grams of cysteine running around in it. So what happens when you eat one or two more? The cysteine you eat tries to grab mercury from your body. More precisely, from the cysteine molecules that are an integral part of your body. Unfortunately, since these endogenous and exogenous cysteine molecules are evenly matched, the mercury is passed back and forth in this tug of war, bounces madly around the body, and stays in it due to the overwhelming numerical superiority of the endogenous cysteines. So taking exogenous cysteine increases the damage the mercury does and accellerates the rate at which it concentrates in the most sensitive tissues. Observations of the real patients of the physicians who advocate using cysteine for detox indicates this is true - they experience increased symptoms and usually get permanent neurological damage if they don't stop taking chlorella/cysteine pretty quickly. Once they DO stop, their symptoms subside quite a bit. So while cysteine competes favorably in the competitive equilibrium with seawater for mercury, it does not compete favorably in competitive equilibrium with the human body. It is not a mercury detox agent and should never be used as one - at least not by people who want to get better. Please note that some mercury toxic people have too MUCH cysteine (as can be determined in the Doctor's Data amino acid test, or in the Great Smokies COMPREHENSIVE liver detox test, or alone by Great Smokies in a test on plasma) and benefit greatly from restricting their dietary intake sharply, others are low and need to eat a reasonable amount of it. Individual testing or experiment is required to determine the appropriate (modest) intake level for good health. Andy Cutler Onibasu Link: http://onibasu.com/archives/am/1880.htmlThis is all Greek to me. Can you list these? Elevated plasma thiols are shown by measuring plasma cysteine, which is done by Great Smokies Labs as part of their comprehensive liver detoxification test and I believe by Doctor's Data as part of their plasma amino acid panel. This can also be figured out by their response to 'sulfur foods' or supplements. People have already mentioned sulfur intolerant children on this list, as well as ones who benefit from it. Note that cysteine is NOT the same as cystine. Most labs test for cystine. Few test for cysteine. Elevated or high end of normal cysteine with low-ish glutathione means there is excess oxidative stress that should be corrected with OTHER antioxidants, not with more cysteine or glutathione. Low-ish or low cysteine indicates that additional cysteine, in the form of food sources of thiols (sulfur), cysteine, glutathione or NAC will be helpful. Adults go about 50-50 high and low. I have information on children going both ways - I would love to see an adequately large number of results to get some statistics. It is clear from the current information that automatically feeding autistic children more "sulfur" is NOT a good idea - it will help some but hurt others. Andy Cutler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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