Ammonia

I've been doing some reading and finding some interesting things pertaining to ammonia.

Not long ago, Dr Jernigan and I were discussing the problem that Lyme patients have with elevated ammonia levels. He was looking for the etiology of where ammonia was coming from and I gave him several possible areas that some researchers have not considered like plasminogen and extracellular polyamines. I didn't know the answer and just gave him some areas to look into. He is not my physician, we were just discussing possible origins of so much ammonia.

Ammonia is produced in the muscle from protein degradation, during the urea cycle in the kidney during urea formation, and sometimes during the transsulfuration cycle. What I did not know is that up to 4 grams of ammonia can be absorbed through the portal vein daily.


We are slightly acidic by nature and having a chronic infection makes us more acidic. What we eat is also mostly acidic. The stomach has a low pH and is very acidic. This is to help reduce the particle size of foods to assist in assimilation of the various components of what we eat. After traveling through the stomach, the particles of food go to the duodenum which usually has a pH between 7.0 and 8.5. This food is acidic because of the hydrochloric acid and pepsin from the stomach but also because it was acidic to start off with. Bacteria in the duodenum and small intestine regulate the pH by ammonia production. Ammonia production in the GI tract is mostly associated with gram negative anaerobes like clostridia, enterobacteria, prevotella, and bacillus species. Modest amounts of ammonia are associated with gram positive non-sporing anaerobes like streptococci and micrococci. Very little ammonia is formed by lactobacilli and yeasts. It is interesting to note that less ammonia is made at a pH of 5 than a pH of 7.

What if the body becomes so acidic from infection that the GI tract allows more ammonia to be absorbed through the portal vein? The body uses ammonia to increase our pH and reduce acid levels and the biggest store of ammonia it has is in the GI tract. Instead of deaminating plasminogen, it simply increases absorption of ammonia from the GI tract. I know with me, decreasing protein intake helped decrease ammonia. We need protein so I'm not advocating eliminating it, but we need to change the levels of bacteria in our GI tract and what we eat does that. Supplementing is good, but eating the bacteria is so much better.

What does this mean to Lyme patients? Many Lyme patients can benefit from increasing the amount of lactobacilli and yeasts in their GI tract. Florastor is a good product that contains a good yeast and carbohydrate fermentation by the yeast decreases ammonia production.

Florajen 3 is a good probiotic that contains lactobacillus.

Glutamine transfers nitrogen between the tissues and is a substrate for renal ammonia production. It also is the main fuel for intestinal mucosa. People with too much ammonia may also have too little glutamine due to being overly acidic. Supplementing glutamine may or may not help but getting acid levels down will. Eat less acidic foods goes along with what I have been saying for quite some time.

I had headaches, brain fog, night sweats, and severe depression. The thing about the severe depression I had from too much ammonia is that it would only last for a day or so. It's the bad kind of depression where suicidal thoughts start coming into play. Scary stuff.

Thanks for bringing this up GH. What helped me were 2 botanicals called Silphitrin and Pale Spike Lobelia when I first started Dr. J's protocol. Later on these botanicals were incorporated into the Neuro-Antitox Formulas. Silphitrin really targets the ammonia by binding it up so one's body can clear it out.

Diet also plays a role. Some may find the article below helpful:

hansacenter.blogspot.com/2015/05/eliminating-ammonia-toxicity-in-lyme.html

Diet:

davidjernigan.blogspot.com/2010/12/alkaline-brain-dietary-concerns-in-lyme.html

Denise

I, too, believe fermented foods are the best source of probiotics! I've been struggling with this...
So many recommend cutting out dairy when dealing with Lyme. (My DO recommended a dairy-free diet) I've been making water kefir because I've been trying to avoid dairy, but it doesn't have the probiotic benefit that milk kefir does, and I don't like it as well. I know you can make kefir with coconut and almond milk, but you still need to refresh the grains with dairy weekly (it needs the lactose)

I'm glad to hear that you both make kefir, cd and PeteZa! It feels right to me, so I'll be doing it as well.

I also eat lots of sauerkraut and drink kombucha daily.

I know!!!!

I've been buying it but at almost $4.00 a bottle I needed to find another way...so I am making it now. I'm trying to duplicate GT's Trilogy, which is my favorite. I'm adding lemon, ginger, and raspberry to a batch today. My son loves the green one.