Nightmare on Thymosin Alpha-1 and TB500

I'm biased that >90% of purely negative reactions don't have a positive rebound, just a return to baseline.

Only one way to find out here though.. Ride it out and see how you feel once things flush out.

thanks for posting your experiences Blazer - always interesting to hear other peoples experiments and experiences

i have to say i am still curious why you would choose to do these 2 at a time ?

if it were me i would still do each trial separately giving time for my system to return to baseline in between - as i don't see any other way of knowing which did what - or whether it was some kind of unexpected combined effect - and ultimately that's what i would want to know from a trial.
in this case maybe one would have helped and the other just didn't
maybe both just didn't
or maybe the two together just did something that didn't work well together

i have done so many trials of my own over the years that i have come to realise that we tend to have a fairly simple and optimistic expectation of what might happen going in - but that at least 2 out of every 3 times - as you have experienced - things are different than expected and something unexpected happens and we find ourselves with more questions than answers -

ref stimulate / suppress the immune system
if you read online blogs, forums posts, watch youtubers and read health literature and particularly if we read supplements packaging - they all talk about the immune system as if its like your car stereo -
i.e. it has one big knob - and you can turn it up or turn it down by rotating that knob this way or that.
this sounds simple and straightforward and is great for selling stuff

problem is that is not what the immune system is at all
in reality the immune system is much more like a professional audio mixing desk with hundreds of knobs and
where the outcomes we get are governed by a composite of the settings of all of these individual knobs
each representing one of many many cell types, or one of 30 signalling chemokine or cytokines, or one of 50 or more receptors on cell membranes, control signals in the nervous system etc etc. - and spinning one of two of them all the way around can dramatically alter the sound that comes out.

its also not supposed to be a static thing - its supposed to go through a cycle locally and globally to react to, deal with and then return to baseline - all chronic illnesses involve some perturbation of that cycle

people wanting to sell us stuff - be it a vitamin pill or a peptide - like to say - "want to boost your immune system ? then just take this!" nice and cut and dried.

the problem is modern science knows only a fraction of these interactions - and has also tested these in a small section of the population only - not in people with highly dysregulated immune systems, like those with lyme etc which may respond very differently to the average - so in practice there are more gaps in our knowledge than there are pieces of the puzzle in place - and as a result outcomes can be very unpredictable.

i don't know how much help it is - perhaps some food for thought at least

all the best !

i understand - and i am with you - i want results more than anyone i know.

but if the only way to get them is to work with the world as it is - rather than how i would like it to work - then i go with the former

we have to learn and adapt to succeed 👍

LDN helped me a little with fatigue and function - i would recommend it

BUT - DEFINITELY DO NOT RUSH IN - people with chronic illnesses often react v strongly negatively at first - get scared/ freak out/give up etc

this strong reaction is actually a good sign - as the people that react the most strongly are typically those who will benefit most long term - but reactions can be severe

read as much as you can first to understand that its not a normal pharmacological medicine with a standard dose
start way below target dose - i started at 0.5mg / day - ramp up VERY SLOWLY - i had to go in increments of 0.01mg each 2-3 days to manage my reactions
the benefits come during the ramp up so there is no rush to get to target dose

read:
my posts on it on here
also read
LDNresearchTrust's website - ( and go much more carefully than their pro stance suggests )

i would strongly suggest keeping all other trials or interventions fixed / unchanged during this ramp up phase - as it will be very difficult to track what's doing what otherwise
and i would also create a trial tracker (see posts on Palermo's thread for example/ template) to track dosage ramp and responses over time - as this will help guide you on when to best make the dose steps without overdoing it - but without losing time either.

all the best!!

BlazerGermany said...

Garzie said...
i understand - and i am with you - i want results more than anyone i know.

Totally understandable

but if the only way to get them is to work with the world as it is - rather than how i would like it to work - then i go with the former

Yes, it has to be like this it seems. But since nothing had to great effects on me and i tried like 5 antibiotics and 1 antiviral with close to no success i got greedy like - maybe I need more of everything. As it seems i dont, i just need the right stuff fitting for my special case - and that is the hardest part.

we have to learn and adapt to succeed 👍

Yes. Unsure what i will try now, but i am looking for the herbal route now since i burned my fingers in the chemical area for now. With one exception: LDN is still on my list even though it pharmaceutical.

Just to take it into the notes:

I never caught any cold since i got sick. Today I caught my first cold since 2 years. Maybe that means something good, maybe it means something bad - I just wanted to share it.

Just my opinion, but I’d wager what you are going thru is a good sign despite the misery it’s putting you thru. Based on your symptoms you have been describing I would bet your immune system - particularly your T cells which consist of subsets that kill bugs, especially inside the cell, and subsets that regulate immune responses to protect against self damage, get disabled by Lyme. Basically, what I mean is that it may be likely are now able to respond to additional targets and pathogens more appropriately. The misery may be a herx from immune mediated pathogen die off. Those symptoms of a cold is our bodies immune mediated physiological response- symptoms you haven’t experienced since getting sick right? Did you get any spike in autoimmune symptoms? I would like to hear more about your experience as I was gearing up to try these myself. Keep fighting strong Blazer!

i also did not have a cold or respiratory virus - at least not with normal recognisable symptoms for the first 6 years of my illness - and only began having them again when i was past around 50% recovered

this very common in the Lyme and CFS community

i think its significance is just that - using the audio mixing desk analogy - that some knobs are dialled up or down in a way that either prevents us getting infected in the first place - as the immune environment is less favourable - or if we are infected - prevents the normal immune response - and hence prevents the normal symptoms from forming

now when i get them - i do get respiratory symptoms - and and my other symptoms tend to flare for a while - then settle down.

i think its a sign of a more normal immune response

So you Seen people get vitiligo or Alopecia because of ta1?

Wow...

I stopped taking it for the Moment and i returned to baseline.

I Had 1-2 really good days after Feeling so horrible so it might actually be a herx.

I will restart it on much lower Dosis. 0.1mg instead of 0.5