** This is intended to be a living, preliminary document. I will rely on feedback from fellow “Floxies” to ask questions or suggest something I should cover or include. My initial intent is to get something helpful up and available to get as many as I can on the road to better days, not to overwhelm with technical details. I have extensive actual, personal and direct experience with this which I think may prove to be helpful. **
What is Glutathione?
Glutathione is your body’s “Master Antioxidant”. It is a tripeptide – consisting of the amino acids L-cysteine, L-glutamic acid and glycine – that your body relies heavily on for maintaining the cells redox state and is one of the most important cellular antioxidants.
I noticed the following description on papers from one of my recent orders and thought it was good and to the point.
Glutathione participates in the hepatic detoxification of many compounds via glutathione s-transferase. Glutathione reduces oxidative damage, particularly in the mitochondria and red blood cells, and appears to reduce free radical damage due to radiation. Glutathione is involved in cellular transmembrane amino acid transport systems and is involved in fatty acid synthesis. It facilitates the development and function of a variety of immunce cells, including macrophages and lymphocytes. In humans, glutathione depletion is linked to a number of disease states including pancreatic inflammation, diabetes, HIV, liver cirrhosis, pulmonary disease, Crohn’s disease, and neurodegeneration.
Glutathione plays many important roles and has incredible healing benefits for a variety of ailments/issues. The scope here is mainly about FQ Toxicity. In the interest of readability and simplicity, that’s what I’m intending to address.
What does it do for me?
Why does it work?
Glutathione is involved in some crucial things in our bodies, so I’m sure there is more than one reason it helps. But my understanding is the main benefit is it’s job in fighting oxidative stress.
Fluoroquinolones cause Mitochondrial damage. Oxidative stress(damage) is a regular byproduct of the normal energy cycle in properly functioning bodies and is normally kept in check fairly well. But people with mitochondrial disorders can have an excessive amount. And for those of us with mito, oxidative stress is bad. Real bad. Oxidative damage/stress is the mechanism that causes a peeled apple to turn brown. Oxidative stress interferes with the ability of the mitochondria to make ATP, which is critical in the production of energy. Anyone who’s been athletic is likely at least somewhat familiar with ATP and the energy cycle. Glutathione is directly involved in keeping this in check in the body. It is arguably the best scavenger of those free-radicals as it is your body’s master antioxidant.
Will it work for you?
For more acute reactions, I cannot say you will notice any benefit in the short term although this is beneficial for everyone – even healthy people. Glutathione is likely mostly useful for the more severe crowd and those who have progressive weakness, pain from physical exertion, energy issues, pain in layers over whole body, severe fatigue (with pain), etc. Until I can offer a better description, the best I can suggest is read My Story. If any of this rings true for you, then glutathione will likely offer you similar results. In the forums I have caught many posts over the years of those who sound a lot like me. These are the people I hope to reach.
This is not the answer. But glutathione is certainly a heavy hitter in fighting back.
Then Came Michael... 