People ask me questions about PEA constantly. I’ve answered time and again in the support groups and members can search for those answers, but I wanted to write it all out here, so that it will be easily found when needed. Feel free to share.
When I was at my worst, I was on massive doses of Gabapentin and opioids, but they were barely touching my pain. I was trying everything that I heard of in the groups and made sure to start them one at a time, so I could judge what worked and what didn’t.
I was 2 years and 4 months post op in October 2020, and I had settled into a constant state of about 7-8 daily pain still. My sacral surgery had been a success but I also had a lot of upper body symptoms and pain, because of TCs throughout my spine. I also have arthritis and other “back issues” like Spondylolisthesis and scoliosis.
Since I also have high CSF pressure, AA, and a Chiari Malformation, I never knew which condition was causing which symptoms but I needed to find an answer that would help my whole system and all of my conditions.
I had learned about Dr Tennant’s Protocol and believed that somewhere in those options, I could find the answer.
At that point I was taking 15mg Morphine ER, 3 times a day, 15mg Oxycodone, 4 times a day, and 600mg Gabapentin, 3 times a day. I was still in 7-8+ daily pain but without the meds I couldn’t have survived.
It was time to try the next option, PEA. I had tried several things already but trying one at a time took a long time… I took the 1200+mg a day, as recommended, and within 2 weeks I was down to 3-4 pain. I was truly shocked, and kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and the pain to jump back up, but it never did!
Within 6 months I was able to come off of all the heavy opioids and switch to Suboxone, which is a “half opioid agonist” that also has Naloxone in it, which is another recommendation in the Protocol. Because it was a film that dissolves in the mouth, I was able to gradually cut that down too. I started with a whole film 3 times a day and I’m now at 1/2-3/4 of a film twice a day. I was also able to cut my Gabapentin down by 2/3, to 300mg twice a day.
Not only did it reduce my pain, by controlling my neural inflammation, it also significantly reduced my symptoms. I used to get my “heart attack”, and “stroke” symptoms 3-4 times a month, sometimes even a week. Since PEA, I only had each symptom one time last year. Each of those times were after my body was recovering from Covid last January. After that time having Covid, it swept through my family 2 more times last year and I didn’t get sick with it either of those times.
With my inflammation under control, it’s also released pressure on my pituitary gland and my cortisol levels have stabilized. This condition was called Cushings Disease and it’s typically caused by a tumor on your adrenal gland or your pituitary gland.
I didn’t have either of those and for 2 decades we couldn’t figure out why I had it. After studying my brain MRI, I discovered I had an Empty Sella. The Sella is the area of the brain that houses the pituitary gland. It looks “Empty” because the CSF pressure is so high that it crushes the gland.
I asked my doctors at that point if that could be causing my Cushings and they said No. That didn’t make sense to me because it seemed logical that if my cortisol was effected by my pituitary gland and my pituitary gland was crushed, it must be connected! Well, that ended up being one more thing that I figured out on my own before the researchers figured it out. It was just proven that it could cause Cushings a few years ago! What happens with high cortisol levels is that your whole body swells up, because it’s a steroid. Symptoms are things like “moon face”, and “Buffalo Hump” on the upper back. Mine was “cyclical” so it would come and go, but I would tell doctors that my being overweight wasn’t caused by me over eating but because of my medical conditions. They didn’t believe that either. Until 2 things happened. The First was when my cardiologist tested my heart and did a “calcium score” test on me. This tests the plaque in the arteries. I got a ZERO score! She tested it twice to be sure.
She said “I have marathon runners that don’t score zero and you’re significantly overweight. I don’t understand How?” I told her it was a symptom of my “mystery illness” (we didn’t know enough about my diseases yet) Years later, the second thing that happened was that once I started PEA and my neural inflammation was under control, I dropped 40lbs in a year. I didn’t change anything except using PEA. It just allowed my body to finally function properly and I was able to settle down into what my weight should have been before. After using PEA diligently, day and night, for 2 1/2 years, I’ve experienced other benefits as well. It has neural regeneration properties, so nerves that had been damaged seem to be improving. It’s also improved my immune system. I used to get every virus that was anywhere near me. Last year though, as I mentioned, we had Covid sweep 6 out of 7 of us in our household, including my two young, healthy adult children, and two hospitalizations with my parents, and I never got it, either time. I’ve also had severe seasonal allergies for 3 decades but I didn’t have any symptoms this year. Usually from late January through mid April I felt like I had a flu. This year I didn’t feel bad at all. No yellow mucus or coughing every morning to the point of throwing up. No feeling like “The Wicked Witch of The West” was sprinkling “Poppies, Poppies” over my head, making me want to sleep 24/7! Nothing. Again, it could only be the PEA. Brand IS important. I’ve tried 5 different brands and continually go back to Mirica brand. They are my Gold Standard! PEA has not only changed my whole life and health, I’ve watched it do the same for countless people in the support groups, in my family and even patients of my Pain Management doctor, who started recommending it to his patients in January 2022, after he saw what it was doing for me and my parents.
Of everything that I can recommend, this one supplement is the most important, from my perspective. It MUST be taken regularly and again, brand is important, in my opinion. It is NOT an “as needed” supplement. Here’s one last interesting thing that happened in my journey regarding PEA. For those who’ve read other parts of my blog, you know that my first born son was brain injured in 1992. He was my first “Neurology Professor” and the whole reason that I understand my own diseases as well as I’m able to. I sought treatments for him across the globe, including Europe. I had remembered that one of his treatments, that was sent to me from one of his doctors in Germany, was a protein powder that I added to his food every day.
About 6 months ago I came across his old medical logs that I kept and discovered that that protein powder was actually PEA! The powder was used as the method of delivery for a child.
That was 30 years ago! I had completely forgotten the name of it because it’s not something that is commonly used in the States but it HAS been used in Europe for decades! Now here I am, 30 years later, using it for my own neurological diseases!
Footnote. I’ve been asked to add to couple of things to this post.
Would my images look different now, after years of use? For example, would I still have an Empty Sella?
I don’t know what my images show now but I do know that my symptoms are mostly gone. I’m getting a new lumbar MRI because I’m going to need another fusion at L5-S1 eventually but I don’t have plans for a new brain MRI to check my Sella. There’s really no need right now because I’m doing great.
I don’t believe PEA can “heal” TCs but in controlling my inflammation it has relieved my pain and symptoms.
You can search for studies that explain some of its effects on different types of diseases and parts of our bodies. I know it’s been found to help with both neurological issues like dementia, Parkinson’s, etc. AND it’s been shown to help with respiratory inflammation. It’s been studied and found to help with the cytokine storms of Covid patients, etc.
What is PEA made of and how is it processed in the body?
It is a natural substance (fatty acid) that humans used to get a lot of, from eggs, milk, etc but our diets have moved away from getting enough of those things.
It’s absorbed through the blood stream and doesn’t have any known negative effects on our kidneys or liver, etc. There are no known negative side effects and it’s been used, particularly in Europe, for decades.
It’s a fatty acid that our bodies already produce, but not enough of it. Those fatty acids go to the sites of inflammation and help our bodies naturally reduce the inflammation.
This is an article that explains PEA very well. There are also many research studies and articles online that you can search for.
Here’s a direct link to the company, to buy Mirica brand PEA. They offered for me to have a link where I would make 25% off of every purchase and I declined them.
I NEVER want anyone to think that I’m promoting it for profit! That couldn’t be further from the truth. I have never made ANY money off of helping people with my diseases.
I buy the Regular, not the Advanced. Several other TC/AA patients and I tried to switch to Advanced but after a week or two we all started to feel our symptoms returning and switched back to regular. I can’t explain why but that was our experience.
I have stayed with the loading dose of 2 pills in the morning and 2 at night. The bottle says that after a month people can reduce it by half but when I tried, again, symptoms returned and I went back up. Dr Tennant recommends around 1200mg a day and that’s the loading dose.
I guess for maintenance therapy for regular people, the half dose is sufficient, but for those of us fighting a battle with neurological diseases, we need a higher therapeutic dose.
Note: Mirica brand also has sunflower lecithin. Most people have no problems with this ingredient but some have reported sensitivity to it.
What is sunflower lecithin? It’s an ingredient that’s added to certain foods as an emulsifier, helping to stabilize mixtures and prevent different parts from separating. Lecithin itself is also a type of fatty substance naturally found in the human body and some foods, like eggs and soybeans.
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