Anyone use L-Carnitine? Does it work? Does it help?

Anyone use L-Carnitine? Does it work? Does it help?  Would you suggest it? I just bought a bottle..500 mg i'm about to take...is that too high?

L-carnitine is a recommended supplement for thalassemia because of its nitric oxide inducing properties. Nitric oxide helps maintain the flexibility of blood vessels and the heart, thereby promoting circulation and and reducing stress on the heart. A dose of 400-1000 mg daily is suitable for an adult.

Hi Andy,
I want to start giving my son L-carnitine . He is soon going to be a year old. What dose would be recommended for this age He is 10kg. Also is there a specific brand you would recommend ?Thanks
Zahra

I am not comfortable recommending L-carnitine for children under age two. It has not been tested and I doubt the need in thalassemia at that age. I would wait until two years old minimum, unless prescribed by your doctor.

I am currently giving my 10 year old son 500mg of L-carnitine.  It was prescribed for him by his doc in Oakland.  I don't know if one would notice any visible changes, however it provides help to the heart (as Andy said) by inducing NO.  It is also a potent antioxidant. 

Hello

All the studies made on L-carnitine and thal were done on the basis of 50mg/kilo. L-carnitine MUST be given 5 days a week cause it was found that taking it daily, may cause bone marrow depression.

One last tip that i knew in the last conference, is that the effiency of L-carnitine is associated with taking folic acid


manal

Welcome Manal,

We have discussed that before, but I tend to think that only thal intermedias must take carnitine 5 days a week, as their bonne marrow more or less functions. Thal majors like me with an inactive bonne marrow, can take carnitine every day. Of course you insisted before on the contrary, but it makes sense, doesn't it? Another thing to support my saying, is that folic acid is mainly given to intermedias. In majors its use is questioned.

Lena.

Thanks Lena

The bone marrow is not responsile for the red blood cells only, but it is also responsible for all the other blood products (white blood cells, platletes,...) so though the bone marrow does not supply red blood cells in majors, it is still doing its job in supplying the other products so suppressing it may cause inadequate quantitiues of the other blood products leading to aplasia

As for folic acid, it is prescribed here in my country for all kinds of thal (major, minor, intermedia) as it has a tendency to increase the life of the red blood cell even if the patient is trasfusion dependent.

Also folic acid is important in many aspects,one important thing as i said before is that it must be taken with the L-carnitine in order for it to work effiently. Also folic acid helps decreasing the risks of heart disease, stroke, decrease chances of cancer, increase fertility in both men and women, defieceny of folic acid is said to cause depression, folic acid can correct B12 ,.........

So it has other very important functions if we are not going to consider increasing the life of red blood cells.

The nice thing about folic acid to is that it has almost no risk of toxicity cause it is water-soluble and any exces of it is washed ouside the body

Hope this helps

manal

Thank you Manal, your info sure help. In Greece we used to take folid acid in the past, but now doctors do not suggest it and Greek patients do not take it any more. My hema explained to me why but I cannot remember it now. As for bone marrow, yes, I hadn't thought about the other products that it supplies. Yes, that makes sense.

Lena.

You are welcomed dear

manal

I got to know the L-carnitine topic quite thoroughly.

There are some things that I'd like to point out/ask about:
- L-carnitine is not toxic even in very high doses (less toxic than salt) - but I would not recommend it to very young children - see side effects below
- side effects, especially if taken in one high dose: diarea, feeling hot, high blood pressure, feeling of too much energy. The first side effect was caused by the dose of 3000 mg a day, the other side effects occured when I took L-carnitine for the first time, the dose was only 1000 mg - and I thought I would have a heart attack then... These all side effect subside completely (usually) when your stomach gets used to L-carnitine...
- L-carnitine is very quickly eliminated from the bloodstream - 1 hour and it is out. So it seems it's best to take it in divided doses. Unfortunetely this is something not presented in official guidelines, and it is even difficult to find on the net. What do you think about it...?
- L-carnitine provides energy to the muscles (also heart muscle), as it promotes fat oxidation. So when you are tired and have no energy, L-carnitine may help. It also allows you to work harder and longer physically without having cramps&muscle pain.
- The cheapest brand of L-carnitine is Puritan's (anyone found cheaper?) and it is convenient as these are tablets. Sometimes L-carnitine comes as liquid, and it may be cheaper then, but this form is not convenient.

Guess that's all for now.
B.

Hi Bigg

L-carnitine is very quickly eliminated from the bloodstream - 1 hour and it is out

''L-carnitine is readily absoarbed, the maximal concentration is reached after 4 hours, L-carnitine is eliminated in urine, its half-life is nearly 15 hours''

This is what written on the leaflet of my L-carnitine (syrup)

manal

Hm, here is some research in this matter:

http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?wo=1995005168&IA=WO1995005168&DISPLAY=DESC

Because the half-life L-carnitine in the human is approximately 30 minutes, the usual dosage regimen is to administer an excess amount of L-carnitine four times each day.

It's just something to be aware of... it doesn't hurt to take L-carnitine in 2 divided doses for example, not 1. This research does not concern exactly blood disorders, but the conclusions may be applied, I guess...

I wonder which half-life we believe, the 30 minutes or the 15 hours

manal

Well, I need to take L-carnitine because of the muscle problems that I have - something similar to what is described in the quoted article.
If I don't take it, I can feel it in the muscles. I can feel, that after 4 hours carnitine is gone for good - so for sure it is not 15 hours...