Peeling the Sleeping Onion

Only sleeping 5 hours a night, I've been reading on sleep related issues and experimenting with various products for quite some time. I've found temporary relief in things like copper, lithium, iodine, Vit D, glycine, magnesium, and several others. All of these things helped but I have ultimately gone back to 5 hours. I've only aggressively intervened once and got to 7 hours of sleep, but that took a lot of effort and was a constant hassle of supplements. Why is this the case?

Going through the biochemistry of what is happening, I've always thought I had some type of protein kinase issue. It just fit into what I thought was going wrong. I haven't been able to affect this until now and I've seen positive results. Gaining an hour or two of sleep is significant when you only sleep a few hours a night. For me, I'll take a 20% gain in sleep time and it opened another door to go through.

Going through my cabinet, I have quite a few supplements that I've tried over the years to see if they had any effect. I found a bottle of Lumbrokinase that I had bought and never got around to using. I tried it and immediately slept 2 extra hours that night. I repeated my diet and routine exactly the same the next day and only got a slight increase in sleep time. I got an hour extra the next night, and 1.5 the next. It helps, but how?

As it turns out, Lumbrokinase affects the JAK/STAT1 system. IMO, it probably affects STAT3 as well. Here is an interesting quote from the literature and it just happens to coincide with my theory that borrelia and it's coinfections alter the flora of the GI tract to cause our issues. It states:

"Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) has a key role in maintaining homeostatic inflammation of the gut. As a result of continuous stimulation by the indigenous microflora, immune cells residing in the mucosa give rise to highly inflammatory cells that produce cytokines such as IL-6 and IL-15."

It then says: "Gradual increases in the production of STAT3-activating cytokines upon prolonged inflammation generates an intestinal environment with persistently activated STAT3."

This elevation of STAT3 could be directly causing our GI flora imbalances. STAT3 can come from cytokine activation from LPS, viruses, or other pathogens. Add in that streptozotocin from translocated bacteria on the extracellular matrix is reduced by Lumbrokinase through STAT1 stimulation and it completes the cycle of pathogenesis that I have theorized I've had.

With that being said, this topic is too big for me or anyone I'm afraid. There are so many variables that not even the researchers can determine what is going on. There are 60 plus proteins interacting in the JAK/STAT system and that is what we know about. I usually get thousands of articles to look through on a topic but on this particular topic, I only get a few dozen. I find it interesting that Lumbrokinase is helping to improve my signalling pathways inside the cell. I didn't expect that.

"Going through my cabinet, I have quite a few supplements that I've tried over the years to see if they had any effect. I found a bottle of Lumbrokinase that I had bought and never got around to using."


Sorry, but this made me giggle because I have so many supplements in the 'graveyard' - taking up space in my cupboards...except for the ones my husband has grabbed thinking they may be useful for him.


Georgia - you say you only get 5 hours sleep...when you wake up after the 5 hours..are you not able to lay for awhile and drift off again?
I have one or two wakeups - one very early morning, and sometimes another one a couple hours later...but I don't get out of bed...and do fall back asleep...

Thanks for sharing what you have discovered. As always very interesting.
Take care, Jo

Try my homeopathic Valium remedy as outlined here:

www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=3919795

Girlie said...
"Going through my cabinet, I have quite a few supplements that I've tried over the years to see if they had any effect. I found a bottle of Lumbrokinase that I had bought and never got around to using."
Sorry, but this made me giggle because I have so many supplements in the 'graveyard' - taking up space in my cupboards...except for the ones my husband has grabbed thinking they may be useful for him.
Georgia - you say you only get 5 hours sleep...when you wake up after the 5 hours..are you not able to lay for awhile and drift off again?
I have one or two wakeups - one very early morning, and sometimes another one a couple hours later...but I don't get out of bed...and do fall back asleep...

Without help, I can't go back to sleep if I wake up. Lithium orotate has been the difference here. It slows down my mind which is always wanting to "go." Other things have helped with this as well and breaking a "habit" of waking up is important too. The stress of a new business knocked it down to 4 hours a night as my cortisol levels probably increased, but I've got that smoothed out now.

An interesting note is my back doesn't hurt in the mornings like it did before the lumbrokinase. I can also remove my wedding ring in the morning now showing that I have less inflammation. That didn't happen until the Lumbrokinase. My morning urine volume has increased as well. The first morning after Lumbrokinase, I was 1.5 lbs lighter than I should have been. I weigh daily just for kicks, but I know what I'm supposed to weigh depending on diet, bowel routine, and exercise.

The Dude Abides said...
Interesting stuff, Matt. I have no idea what the hell you're talking about, but it's still fascinating.

Maybe your sleep habits help explain why I would see posts from you anywhere between 1:30 AM and 4:00 AM. I was beginning to wonder if you slept at all.

Or, if perhaps you might be a Vampire...

Might as well make insomnia productive! I don't read as much now that it's football season, it's only a couple nights a week now. I go to bed around 9pm just so I can get my hours in.

A funny story, my wife had to have a lumbar puncture a little while back and I told the neurologist that I wanted some of the spinal fluid to study under my microscope. It really threw him for a loop. This was of course after I had asked questions and had no idea what I was talking about.

He wouldn't give me the fluid.

Georgia Hunter said...
Might as well make insomnia productive! I don't read as much now that it's football season, it's only a couple nights a week now. I go to bed around 9pm just so I can get my hours in.

A funny story, my wife had to have a lumbar puncture a little while back and I told the neurologist that I wanted some of the spinal fluid to study under my microscope. It really threw him for a loop. This was of course after I had asked questions and had no idea what I was talking about.

He wouldn't give me the fluid.

Hahahaha - funny story. The Neurologist probably never had that request before.

Ok Georgia, I'm just going to say it.

Would you write a "cliff notes" version of your posts for the brain impaired? 😊

Purrrsiankitty said...
Ok Georgia, I'm just going to say it.

Would you write a "cliff notes" version of your posts for the brain impaired? 😊

I would if I could Kitty.

.....Something to consider.....since it is an apicomplexan. Therefore it does have sporozoite and merozoite stages....so, those could very possibly be the merozoites you were seeing in your blood.

Like I said, it's something to consider considering your response to treatment and from what you've seen in your blood.