Good....Exploration of new directions almost never sets one back, even as we need to apply caution before embarking on something new. The range of available B-complex products is off the charts, and the type and strength/dose of B1 that will be contained in any given product varies wildly. Some experts feel that mononitrate, HCl, benfotiamine, and TTFD all yield particular and unique benefits, and that some patients will benefit by combining one of more of these. And some B-complex products provide only the U.S. minimum daily requirement, while others supply as much as 100 mg of mononitrate or HCl. The only B complex I have encountered that contains benfotiamine and TTFD as its B1 component is Elliot Overton's ThiActive B, and this product is used primarily as a background B-complex to be used together with upwardly titrating doses of B1 gotten from other sources. One can develop a reaction to even a very low dose of any of the B1s, and the literature indicates that this is understood to be the result of a patient with longstanding or severe B1 deficiency (acute or subacute) having lost the natural ability (temporary) to metabolize B1 readily. And itś also important to note that there is no established set of equivalencies across the various types of B1, such that itś hard to say how much HCl would be needed in order to match the effect of B1 taken as, e.g., 15 mg TTFD. In addition, benfotiamine is often mislabeled as lipid-soluble, but while it is absorbed, by many, more easily than is HCl, this is not because it is lipid soluble, since, by definition, all thiamine is water-soluble. There is consensus, though, that only TTFD (and a similar product called allithiamine) can readily cross the blood-brain barrier at low doses. That said, patients with Parkinsonś Disease who follow a B1 protocol operate on the assumption that even if they take B1 as mononitrate (the cheapest and most commercially used B1), so long as they take a relatively large dose of it, it will, by virtue of its sheer volume in the bloodstream, make it into the brain. Getting B1 into the brain is important, according to the B1 scientific experts, if one is trying to treat dysautonomia (which, in this context, involves any disorder in which the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous symptoms are not interacting properly). In any case, I wish I could say there are physicians in the U.S. who know how to implement and monitor patients on a B1 protocol, but my impression is that this area, outside of clinical studies, is being left to patients themselves. So patients in this endeavor, unfortunately, need to become quite knowledgeable in order to develop their optimal personal protocol. Elliot Overton, the complementary health practitioner in the UK best known for use of B1 in his practice setting, operates a Facebook group for patients wanting to receive his guidance as they progress. So my approach, so far, has been to read Dr. Derrick Lonsdaleś wonderful book on thiamine and dysautonomia and Elliot Overtonś manual on creating oneś own B1 protocol, and to monitor developments in B1 therapy both independently and via participation at the Overton Facebook Group (though my acceptance there is still pending). . . Despite all this, when one considers that B1, if the B1 scholars are right, may be linked to the deepest root cause of long COVID and of dysautonomia in general, pursuing B1 therapy becomes, at least for me, an irresistable option with the greatest possible potential to restore health.