I can understand how it is as it sounds like we are both in a very similar situation, we both just want to feel better, have the energy to live, enjoy life and the drive and motivation to do what we want to do ie achieve etc.

I seem to spend a large amount of my time counteracting the effects of this illness, literally hours and countless hours in the kitchen taking supplements and preparing meals. It annoys me that I have to spend so much of my life doing this rather than putting my time to better use, ie achieving.

SAM-e worked okay for me but the effect was not enough to justify the cost, blink and it is easy to miss. Other nutrients play a key role along with this and without them or them being used up so quickly that there is insufficient remaining then it ultimately has an effect on mood and energy. There are multiple factors in this, Increased Intestinal Permeability Syndrome aka Leaky Gut, the resulting immune reaction, overloaded detox and methylation systems and an enormous increase in nutrient requirements. They all inter relate and affect one another and any weakness in any part can bring it all down.

Are you taking a high quality supplement with all the B vits? Minerals such as magnesium? Look into the methylation supplements and makes sure you are getting enough. Phoenix rising and/or Dr Sarah Myhill will show what is needed.

I can feel better for short periods, have noticeable improvement in mood and energy and want more of the same but it takes so much effort to maintain it all and it should not be that way.

I think that you are getting too much protein. I know that what you are taking is what is recommended but I think that your digestion is compromised and digesting protein is difficult. I think it might be worth you INCREASING your protein but DECREASING the frequency and giving your body a longer break between doses. Try moving to twice daily but take higher doses but a little less in total. 92g protein/day is quite a lot and you can probably manage with 35g-40g protein twice daily and 35gx2 might be enough if it is high quality.

Are you sure your figures are correct? 23g protein from 33g whey? All the whey powder protein that I have seen is more like 80-82% protein. Is that just regular whey or whey powder protein?

Epstein Barr virus was once believed to be implicated in Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome but I think it is more just a result of a chronically depressed immune system.

When you consume protein, if you have a urease positive bacteria it will produce enormous amounts of ammonia which will stop energy production following the protein meal and eating that x4 daily is giving you no breaks just a constant flow of ammonia switching off energy production. I think that this might be what is happening.

Please remember to answer my question about snot lol It is very relevant. Not swallowing saliva after eating protein works for me. Difficult but it short circuits the process. See my question about mucus/saliva/snot. It might be worth trying to see if it brings some relief, it's more than just one thing though, the immune reaction is part of it and so is the digestive hijack.

MSM is claimed to raise Glutathione, I do not know whether that is true. It does seem to improve how I feel maybe due to supplying much needed methyl groups. My methylation system is not up and running, nothing has ever got it working successfully. My gut permeability is extreme, which is a big burden.

Turmeric/Curcumin can be helpful, it does help the liver function stimulating bile release which might alter your stool color. It's poorly absorbed and can take quite a lot to have any effect, curcumin extract being better and black pepper is meant to help prevent it's breakdown. But I would urge caution after what I read in a book I have been reading, especially if you do have an gastro intestinal infection. Probably best avoided ATM.

You mention berberine and I have been reading about that. It is present in many herbs including Goldenseal root. It's efflux pump inhibitors that I am after and Goldenseal leaf is one I am interested in but getting it in a tincture fluid extract is proving difficult. THMPD has stopped availability to the public, you will be next affected by this if they get their way! I may have to make it myself if I can get the dried leaf and distilling equipment and then I have no idea that it will be effective. I have tried Green Tea extract and liquorice root/Gan Cao extract together without much effect and they are both meant to be efflux pump inhibitors against gram negative bacteria. That was along with essential oils as anti bacterials. I have noticed more effect from taking just the essential oils in the past.

I don't think you are going to find one fix all supplement. Something might help and it might take several things to get a noticeable effect and even then it could be fairly brief just like I get. Considering the amount of time I have had this I do well, I used to be totally exhausted and just slept whenever I changed the things I ate. At least now I can vary what I eat and the times I eat them which I could not do. I used to find that when I ate a very strict and rigid diet I did not get tiredness and very little symptoms but whenever I varied my diet and the times I ate them I just slept and slept totally exhausted, it was not living, barely existing! High dose B12 helped me a lot. It affects the T suppressor cell function causing a suppression of the immune system, a bit risky but it helps me a lot. High dose B12 is meant to have a negative outcome on the circulatory system too and I have a family history of circulatory disease with both my father and grandfather dying before they were 60 and I am diabetic and neither of them were although they both smoked and I do not. All about risks and benefits and so far things are largely much better but I am still gunning for a bacteria to end this.

Forget about glutamine because it will not fix it! That is a widely held falsehood. Glutamine might help provide what is needed to produce glutathione but it will not fix leaky gut because it is prevented by the infection.

Do you get any muscle or joint pain?

A heidelburg test would clarify whether you do have hypochlorhydria but almost every Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome sufferer has it so IMO it would be a waste of money. A simple sodium bicarb test would probably tell you all you need to know and cost you next to nothing.