Quick update on things, it has been about a week since I stopped taking NR and pterostilbene. My hip flexor issues seem to have calmed down substantially, which is HUGE to me. I was in this stagnation of pain where nothing would get better, for 2 months. Thank God for this thread. I would have never considered doing this without everyone's posts.
Update -
It has been about 3.5-4 weeks since I stopped taking NR and pterostilbene. I have experienced some negative side effects from stopping. So, clearly, one of these (or both) were doing some substantially good things, I believe.
Pain Update
First, an update on the pain, it is for the most part entirely gone now. There is still some minor pain in the wrist, and the hip is still tight. I went from experiencing pain in my hip on a daily basis to no pain at all, perhaps one instance of pain in the last week or 2. So, I feel like there has been substantial improvement. This is also while completing a 30 day (no breaks) calisthenics strength program.
Less Productive Sleep
I track my sleep with a Garmin watch. This does not track naps, unfortunately, as I nap a lot. Check out how my sleep quality has declined:
- 2/24/19 - 3/2/19
- 2h 8m avg deep
- 4h 47m avg light
- 0h 9m avg awake
- 6h 55m total avg sleep
- 3/3/19 - 3/9/19
- 2h 19m avg deep
- 4h 48m avg light
- 0h 8m avg awake
- 7h 7m avg total sleep
- 3/10/19 - 3/16/19
- 2 hours 32 minutes average deep
- 4h 26m average light
- 0h 12 min average awake
- 6h 58m total average sleep
- 3/17/19 - 3/23/19
- 2h 15m avg deep
- 4h 35m avg light
- 0h 15m avg awake
- 6h 50m total avg sleep
- 3/24/19 - 3/30/19
- 1h 48m avg deep
- 5h 14m avg light
- 0h 12m avg awake
- 7h 2m total avg sleep
- 3/31/19 - 4/6/19
- 1h 25m avg deep
- 5h 20m avg light
- 0h 17m avg awake
- 6h 45m avg total sleep
That is a 44%+ decrease in average deep sleep! That is insane. If you ask me, this ALONE is enough reason to begin taking whichever substance (NR or pterostilbene or both) that is responsible for this.
Can anyone argue that less deep sleep is good? I'm assuming probably not.
Other Effects
Heart Murmurs
I seem to notice a substantial increase in heart murmurs. I have dealt with this all my life, had all kinds of tests done (found nothing), and believe it to be linked to a lack of cardio exercise, as it seems to be inversely correlated. Nevertheless, I did not have heart murmurs, to my recollection, the entire time I was taking these two substances. In the last 2 weeks, I have had substantially more. Now, I believe this may be correlated to less deep sleep. Cardio exercise may increase the amount of deep sleep (I have no idea for certain).
Minor Brain Fog (possibly too subjective)
I have had some minor instances of brain fog but nothing seemingly substantial. I am still taking NMN every other day of the week. However, before, I was rotating between NMN and NR every day. Therefore, I effectively decreased my NAD+ precursors. This could be causing some of this. However, it also could be a cause of less productive sleep too!
Conclusion / Next Steps
I will be starting NR again tomorrow (low dose @ 150 mg/day) to see if my deep sleep bounces back. If it does not, I will up the NR dose to what I was doing previously (600 mg/day). If still no effect, I will evaluate whether pterostilbene is responsible alone or paired with NR.
Edited by jgkyker, 06 April 2019 - 01:29 PM.