SynAmnesia
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2007
- Messages
- 108
Boiling in Acid said:
Taking L-glutamic acid, also known as L-glutamate is pointless. As I mentioned earlier, glutamate is transported OUT of the brain by the acidic transport protein, and therefore, your oral glutamate will not cross the blood brain barrier rendering a waste of money.
However, I have just read a paper that said that oral L-glutamine increased plasma GABA levels in rats without significantly raising plasma glutamate levels. This is quite interesting considering the mechanism for transforming glutamine to GABA goes through a glutamate intermediate. Therefore, L-glutamine might be your best bet. Bear in mind that this study was done in rats, and rat brains don't always equal our brains. If they did, we would have many more effective drugs, and research would be a lot easier. Therefore, oral L-glutamine may increase glutamate levels in humans, which would do the exact opposite of what you wanted. However, it may also increase GABA at the same time. It all depends on the kinetics of the reactions. Furthermore, it may increase glutamate in some areas of the brain and GABA in other areas of the brain. Who knows. I don't think this has been studied in humans.
The paper mentioned above is:
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/21/4/1227
One of the best suggestions I could give you is to see a professional. See someone who can help you personally. There are many options for anxiety from drugs like buspar (which doesn't help everyone--but it helps some), to neurofeedback (which is highly recommended), to plain old meditation. CBT also works well. Don't just try to treat yourself, as often it doesn't work well, and you are just wasting money on supplements that are often expensive.
Also, please note that amino acid precursors and other things are potent chemicals. Although they aren't regulated--they are basically drugs. The reason that they aren't regulated is due to this random law passed by the FDA saying that any amino acids or biproducts of amino acids are "supplements" and do not need to be regulated unless they have posed a significant risk or were grandfathered in as a potential drug or drug on the market. Think about it--L-dopa is a hydroxylated form of tyrosine. If L-dopa wasn't regulated by the FDA, who knows what people would market it and use it for. People could advocate using it for improving memory, or who knows what else.... I guess L-dopa is a bit different due to the fact it bypasses the rate limiting enzyme, but still... Although you eat amino acids every day, you don't want to throw the concentrations completely out of whack by taking too much of one without doctors orders. As I stated before, increasing a concentration of one neutral amino acid in the blood, decreases the permiability of the other amino acids. However, if you want to try it, a few days probably wouldn't hurt you. If you start feeling more depressed due to low serotonin levels, stop. They should return back to normal. Also, note that dosage is important. Don't overdo it. Furthermore, make sure your supplements are from a good company, as many times supplements have random things in there that you don't want. (Back in the days there was a tryptophan supplement that caused problems due to a bad synthesis that gave oral tryptophan a bad name... It still is barely used to this day).
Although B vitamins may not help your anxiety--that is no reason not to take them. They are good for you anyway. It won't hurt you, as since it is water soluble, you will just excrete the excess.
I don't know about taurine for anxiety. I think it is a stimulant, and may work by inhibiting adenosine like caffeine. Therefore, It may have opposite effects from what you want. But I don't know. Someone else can probably help you on that.
Sorry if this explanation is a bit too simplistic for ADD. However, I thought Boiling In Acid might appreciate a full response.
btw i tried l-phenylalanine, but discontinued it's use after 2 days, as it increased my anxiety, & also made me depressed. so i'm not interested in something dopamine increasing, as well as i don't like nothing serotonin acting, as something about increased serotonin feels super unnatural to me, & i tend to discontinue whatever it is very quickly.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
