He thought he had an infection (then the tremors started)

Here’s a riddle: What feels like an infection and has all the symptoms of an infection – but isn’t an infection?

Alex discovered the answer to this riddle the hard way. He felt awful. He had the fever, chills, achiness, runny nose, and cough. He thought he had an infection. His doctor said he had an infection.

So he rested, took the medications the doctor gave him, and eventually recovered. But as soon as he recovered, the tremors started.

It was a nightmare. No matter what he did, he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. He thought he was developing Parkinson’s. But his doctor ruled that out. He had non-Parkinson’s tremors.

Five years later, still suffering from the tremors, he told me what happened. And it was clear he didn’t have an infection.

One clear indicator of an infection is a fever, right? Ask any doctor and they’ll tell you that if you have a fever, you have an infection. That’s why Alex knew he had an infection. He had a high fever for three days. And his doctor agreed that it had to be an infection.

But most people don’t realize that there are other causes of a fever. For instance, food poisoning, heat exhaustion, serious sunburn, inflammation, tumors, and even blood clots can cause a fever.

But there’s one other cause that most doctors never consider – severe nutrient deficiencies.

Take vitamin C, for example. A severe vitamin C deficiency will cause scurvy. And one of the symptoms of scurvy is a low-grade fever.

Severe vitamin B12, zinc, and vitamin D deficiencies can cause a fever as well. But Alex was deficient in another nutrient – and his tremors told me what it was.

When Tremors Are Not a Sign of Parkinson’s

When most of us think of tremors, we think of Parkinson’s disease. But not all tremors are the result of Parkinson’s. There are other causes. But whatever the cause, tremors don’t just come and go. They come and stay. Once you have tremors, conventional medicine says you’re stuck with them for life.

But many cases of tremors are a sign of a thiamine deficiency. And the first sign of that deficiency can have identical symptoms as an infection.

This was discovered back in 1897. There was a large disease outbreak in the Dutch East Indies that the local medical professionals thought was caused by an infectious agent (bacteria, parasite, fungus).

But a scientist in the area named Christian Eijkman had stumbled onto another possible cause. He had chickens that had developed several muscle disorders when fed polished rice. Polished rice means the hull has been removed. This hull is rich in vitamin B1 (thiamine). As soon as he fed them unpolished rice (rice with the hull still on it), the chickens would get healthy.

Thiamine deficiency is known for causing a lot of muscle-control issues. This can range from simple weakness to coordination issues to tremors to paralysis. That’s why Alex’s tremors pointed to this deficiency.

Well, as soon as Eijkman fed the unpolished rice to the people suffering from the “infection,” the outbreak ended within days.

What everyone thought was an infection was simply a severe nutrient deficiency in the community.

Why Did Alex Develop Tremors?

When Alex mentioned his “infection” and the subsequent tremors, I began asking a lot of questions. I started with his diet. He said he eats a lot of simple carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates are a lot like polished rice. They’ve had most of the nutrients removed from the flour.

So a diet rich in simple carbs will usually be nutrient deficient.

Next, Alex said he starts his day off with several cups of coffee. There are compounds in coffee and tea that inactivate thiamine. So if you’re a big coffee or tea drinker and you eat a lot of refined foods, you could be low in thiamine. And that thiamine deficiency could lead to an infection-like illness as well as ongoing symptoms, such as tremors.

How to Treat a Thiamine Deficiency

If your thiamine deficiency isn’t causing illness yet, you can take supplemental thiamine. It’s inexpensive and best taken in a B-complex formulation or a quality multivitamin/mineral.

But, if you’re like Alex, and have other symptoms, oral supplements won’t reverse this condition. You will need high-dose thiamine injections.

One case study showed that 100 mg injections of thiamine helped reverse the tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease. This led the researchers to suggest that high doses of thiamine may protect against all types of tremors.

The participants in this study experienced a considerable reduction of symptoms when they were given 100-200 mg of thiamine twice a week for one month. So that’s what I suggested Alex try. There was very little risk, as the study participants didn’t experience any negative side effects.

After only two weeks of twice-weekly injections, he noticed a considerable reduction of motor and nonmotor symptoms – just like all the patients in the study.

Within a month, Alex was tremor-free. He kept getting the injections for another month. And now he takes a special form of supplemental thiamine to keep his thiamine levels high.

There are three kinds of oral thiamine available on the Internet. They are all great nutrients. But the best form for getting into the brain is allithiamine. So, for tremors, you’ll want to take allithiamine.

Alex is now taking 100 mg of allithiamine twice a day. That dose keeps his tremors at bay most of the time. If he ever starts to feel sick or extremely stressed, he adds a third dose daily to keep the tremors from coming back.

There are other nutrient deficiencies that can lead to similar chronic illnesses. And many of these deficiencies can mimic infections. So if you have a chronic condition that started right after an infection, it’s time to see a doctor who can find out exactly what nutrient you need. You can find such a doctor at www.acam.org.