Ubiquinol vs CoQ10

[KenG]

Hi everyone. I was just curious about your familiarity and experience with ubiquinol. For those who are unfamiliar with it. It is simply the reduced form of CoQ10, meaning it has two added electrons, making it the "active" form of CoQ10. This allegedly makes it much more bioavailable to the body, and thus more effective.

As Im sure many of you already know, ubiquinol is much more expensive than CoQ10; and so I'm just curious about your own experiences with the supplement.

Best regards,

Ken

 

[Nikki J]

My MGH neurologist told me to skip the whole category as I do not take a statin drug. She said there had been no benefit in ALS ( and she is very much in favor of trying anything that might have a benefit. This was the only thing I had started on my own that she said to stop and she added a couple of things to the list I had) I know that is not what you asked just thought I would pass on what I was told

 

[azgirl]

Nikki, do you mind sharing the list of supplements you've settled on. I don't get much direction on this from my clinic.

 

[Nikki J]

Sure
Vitamin e 1000 2x times day ( controversial as it has other risks but how much do we have to lose?)
Vitamin D 5000 a day
Turmeric 500 a day
Acetyl l carnitine 3000 a day
Lserine 500 a day ( might go up on that )
I did take b complex but b12 got too high so now I take b6
Liposomal glutathione 1 tbsp
I was going to take inosine for uric acid but my level was good without it
I was going to take copper and zinc but I have very high free copper. I take things for that too
If you have questions feel free to pm me

 

[KenG]

I was under the impression that CoQ10 and ubiquinol act as an antioxidant and cofactors in the mitochondria for a bunch of different processes. I find it surprising that they would tell you to get off of it considering it acts as yet another antioxidant, just like E and D. Interesting. Anyone else with experience with ubiquinol vs CoQ10?

 

[4tloml]

Ken, my PALS was initially diagnosed with bulbar-onset ALS in April 2014, however, the ALS specialist said the EMG/NC didn't look "quite like ALS," and sent him to a neurologist who was a movement disorder specialist. She thought he had Multiple System Atrophy-Cerebellar (MSA-C), a Parkinson Plus disorder. Because he had diabetes and also took a statin, he had been taking Ubiquinol (not CoQ10 because of the bioavailability you mentioned which becomes more critical as we age). This Parkinson Neurologist had him substantially increase his dose because the first clinical trials in Japan treating MSA-C with CoQ10 demonstrated positive results.

ALS & MSA-C have several overlap symptoms, but muscle atrophy is not one and by September 2015, my husband had substantial atrophy in his right hand/arm/shoulder. On Nov. 6th, the ALS specialist determined it was "definite ALS."

Both neurologists told him to continue with the Ubiquinol (but again, he is on a statin). His ALS neurologist seemed surprised at his slow progression. He flat out told us his prognosis would normally be "18-24 months, but you've already had it that long." No way to know if progression has been impacted favorably by the Ubiquinol, but we don't think it's hurt. And since we know it has had favorable results in the brains of those with MSA-C, we're willing to keep paying for it.

 

[KenG]

4tloml - May I ask what dose he is taking? My dad was taking about 200 of ubiquinol and 200 of CoQ10 for a while. Not sure what he's currently taking. I had read an article about treatment with ubiquinol a while ago and the doses were as high as 800-1000. Thanks!

 

[4tloml]

He's taking 400 mg Ubiquinol split into 2 doses. We were unable to determine the conversion dose recommended when going from CoQ10 to Ubiquinol (even our Parkinson Neurologist could not find good info on that). The doses of CoQ10 in the study were 800-1000, but since the Ubiquinol supposedly is an active (more bioavailable) form and doesn't have to go through the conversion process, we all thought 400 was a reasonable dose. It's an educated guess--suppose that's why they call it the "art of medicine" and not the "science of medicine!"