everywomanover29

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GABA

GABA oral rinse reduces burning mouth pain

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Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) is a chronic pain condition characterized by persistent burning in the mouth. It affects mostly females, especially postmenopausal women, and conventional approaches are often not very successful. You’ll often see articles and papers with the terms ‘refractory’ and ‘unknown etiology’/unknown causes.

Medications like SRNIs and benzodiazepines

Some studies report limited success with medications like venlafaxine/Effexor, an SRNI and topical and oral use of benzodiazepines such as clonazepam/Klonopin. In this paper, Refractory burning mouth syndrome: clinical and paraclinical evaluation, comorbidities, treatment and outcome, 8 participants saw their pain diminish by half within 3 months.

Another paper, The Effect of Clonazepam Mouthwash on the Symptomatology of Burning Mouth Syndrome: An Open Pilot Study, reports success with a benzodiazepine mouthwash in half the participants.

Other than the poor quality of life and having to continue to live with pain, the bigger concern is the side-effects of medications like these, plus concerns with tolerance and then issues with withdrawal.

New oral GABA research for burning mouth

It’s for this reason that I’m excited about the recent research, γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) oral rinse reduces capsaicin-induced burning mouth pain sensation: An experimental quantitative sensory testing study in healthy subjects, that finds that both and men and women experienced immediate benefits when using GABA for burning mouth pain.

The burning mouth pain was caused by the application of capsaicin to the tongues of thirty healthy males and females. Capsaicin is the compound that makes chili peppers hot. (I find it interesting that capsaicin was the compound used to cause the burning mouth sensation because this same compound is used in topical creams and patches to ease pain.)  

The study concludes as follows:

Capsaicin-induced burning tongue pain and decreases in WDT (warm detection) and HPT (heat pain) can be ameliorated by rinsing the mouth with lidocaine and GABA solutions.

Rinsing the mouth with an oral GABA containing solution ameliorated burning pain and increased heat sensitivity produced by application of capsaicin to the tongue. This finding suggests that GABA can act as a local analgesic agent in the oral cavity.

Lidocaine, a numbing medication, was part of the GABA solution in this study, but because it has side-effects that may include anxiety, I recommend a trial of a GABA-only solution to ease the burning mouth pain.

Using a GABA-only oral solution

Using a GABA-only oral solution makes sense given that the likely mechanism of action of topical benzodiazepines in burning mouth pain is via local action on peripheral GABAA receptors found in the nerve fibers of the tongue.

This is also very feasible based on how effective GABA is for other pain such as proctalgia fugax/rectal spasms, and the visceral pain and muscle tension in your gut caused by the bloating symptoms of SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and muscular back pain after a fall.  

How much GABA will help?

As with any use of GABA and the other amino acids, how much will help depends on each person’s unique biochemistry and needs at the time. In the same way I do a trial of GABA with my anxiety clients to determine how much would help, I do the same with burning mouth pain (and other pain situations).

I recommend a trial of a GABA-only product and starting low with 100 to 200mg of GABA swished held in the mouth with some water for a few minutes. This can be used three or four times a day in between meals and with the mg increased slowly based on results.  You can find the GABA supplements I recommend here.

GABA is an amino acid that is recognized for calming physical anxiety and tension and since anxiety (and depression) is very common in those with burning mouth pain, the GABA is going to provide calming benefits too.  

As with any health condition, finding the underlying root causes using a comprehensive functional medicine approach is key. One such root cause may be low GABA and using oral GABA is going to address this one and provide some relief while other root causes are identified and addressed.  

These other root causes can be very varied as explained in the paper Burning Mouth Syndrome. They can include: age-related reduction in estrogen and progesterone levels, lower cortisol, diabetes mellitus and hypothyroidism, allergic reactions to foods, additives and even metals in the mouth, autoimmune connective tissue disorders, nutritional deficiencies (B1, B2, B6, B12. folate, and/or zinc), smoking and candida, and medication side-effects as mentioned above.

Have you experienced burning mouth pain and seen relief with GABA or other nutritional approaches?

If you’re a practitioner, is burning mouth pain common in your postmenopausal clients or patients and what approaches have you found most successful? Have you found GABA to be helpful?

If you are still suffering with burning mouth please share the following when you comment:

  • Your age (it seems to be more prevalent in women 59 and older)
  • If you have anxiety and/or depression now and have been prone to either in the past
  • How you score on the low GABA questionnaire and which symptoms you relate to? This will provide a clue that low GABA may be an issue and the oral GABA rinse is more likely to help
  • How you score on the low serotonin questionnaire (same link as GABA questionnaire above) and which symptoms you relate to? SSRIs have been shown to help in some cases and we know tryptophan/5-HTP help with pain so serotonin support may help too. Perhaps a tryptophan or 5-HTP rinse is worth a trial too?
  • How long it’s been an issue, what approaches you’ve tried and which approaches have helped (even if they only helped a short while or helped the pain a little)
  • Current and past medications (burning mouth is caused by certain medications)

I’d love to gather a list of all this so we can help you and more women who suffer with these awful symptoms.

PTSD from 3 tours in Afghanistan: Can GABA help with the anxiety?

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My husband is suffering from PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] from 3 tours in Afghanistan. Can [GABA] help with the anxiety he is experiencing. Your thoughts?

I received the above question in response to one of my blogs addressing GABA for the physical, stiff-and-tense muscle type of anxiety.

It’s very likely that GABA will help ease some of the anxiety he is experiencing. Anxiety can have many root causes and with PTSD I would look into neurotransmitter imbalances first and use three key amino acids to address these three possible root causes, before digging deeper to address other nutrient deficiencies and root causes that may take longer to address.

Amino acids to provide some anxiety relief quickly

In order to provide some anxiety relief as quickly as possible I would assess for low GABA, low serotonin and low blood sugar using the amino acid questionnaire:

  • With low GABA he could be experiencing physical anxiety, muscle tension and the need to self-medicate with alcohol or sugary foods in order to calm down and relax. We would do an amino acid trial with calming GABA. Research also now shows that GABA helps with unwanted obtrusive thoughts which are common with PTSD.
  • With low serotonin he could be experiencing mental anxiety, ruminations, fears, phobias, anger and irritability and probably insomnia. We would do an amino acid trial with tryptophan first and then 5-HTP if the tryptophan isn’t helping and we know cortisol is not high.
  • With low blood sugar he could experience anxiety and feel extra stressed when he goes too long without eating. It’s likely he could also have an intense desire to eat candies and sweet treats. We would do a trial with glutamine and make sure he’s eating a breakfast that contains quality animal protein such eggs and bacon, or a protein smoothie.

High cortisol?

We would also want to determine if high cortisol is a driving factor of the anxiety. I’d want to see the results from a 4-collection cortisol saliva test (on waking, noon, around 5pm and around 10pm).

We would address adrenal issues (either high or low) with adrenal support of a good 50mg B-complex, extra pantothenic acid, vitamin C, and adaptogen such as rhodiola. If cortisol is high this can trigger anxiety and adrenaline-type surges and the phosphorylated serine product Seriphos used a few hours before the high cortisol is the best for lowering the high cortisol.

Recent research finds evidence that orange essential oil reduces fear and anxiety, diminishes immune system markers of stress in mice and may help alleviate PTSD and a blend of lavender, ylang-ylang, marjoram, and neroli (also a citrus oil) reduces stress and lowers cortisol too.

Other factors: gut health, diet, low vitamin D

When it comes to anxiety and PTSD, there are other factors to be considered:

Possible effects from malaria drugs and other toxic exposures  

If symptoms persist other factors like the effects of medications (or other toxic exposures) must be considered. In one case study, Malaria drug causes brain damage that mimics PTSD, a service member was diagnosed with anxiety, PTSD and a thiamine deficiency. Various treatments, including medication, behavioral therapy and vitamins didn’t help. It was determined that his symptoms were due to the anti-malaria medication mefloquine, which is now known to contribute to neuropsychiatric symptoms in susceptible individuals.

As with any anxiety condition, the root causes and solutions are unique to each individual and the above approach would be adapted based on each person’s unique needs and biochemistry. Additional approaches over and above these listed here may well need to be considered.

How much GABA should I use and which GABA product is best?

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The most common question I get about GABA (gamma-amino butyric acid) is the one about the blood-brain barrier and does it even work (it certainly does – read here for information on this one).

The next most common question I get about GABA is this one:

How much GABA should I use and which GABA product is best?

This exact question was actually asked of me a number of times last week after I published: Herbal therapy is equivalent to rifaximin for the treatment of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). In this blog I share about my trials of using sublingual GABA for the visceral pain and muscle tension in my gut caused by the bloating symptoms of SIBO.

There is no simple answer! It requires a blog post to provide a good answer because we are all unique, have different needs and these needs can even differ at different times depending on the issue and what is going on in our lives at the moment.

Let’s first do a quick recap of GABA (gamma-amino butyric acid) in case this is new to you. GABA is a calming amino acid that can be used as a supplement to raise GABA levels (GABA is also a neurotransmitter. It’s one of the amino acids I use most frequently with my anxious clients (together with tryptophan). GABA helps with the physical anxiety and tension, as well as panic attacks. New research shows it also helps with inhibition of unwanted thoughts and may also offer gut protection after alcohol consumption. It also helps with stiff and tense muscles and muscle pain and spasms.

How I have benefited from GABA

Here is a quick summary of how I’ve benefited from GABA supplements. I use this information to inform my use of GABA to help with the visceral pain I now experience due to my SIBO (more on that below).

If you have never used GABA or if you’ve used it once or twice, reading this should give you a clue as to why there is no one answer and how we need to use a trial approach to figure out what is best for each situation.

This also illustrates that there is no one size fits all for everyone and even for the same person under different situations.

  1. The anxiety and panic attacks I experienced 15 years ago:
    1. I used 1-2 GABA Calm three times a day and a combination GABA product at night. GABA Calm contains 125mg GABA and the GABA product contains 200mg GABA. My anxiety eased and my panic attacks stopped in a few days, giving me immediate relief and hope while I started to address all the other root causes like gluten sensitivity, adrenal issues, low zinc, gut health, low vitamin B6 and more
    2. The doses of GABA I used for my anxiety and panic attacks are typical amounts my clients benefit from and I would not have someone start on 500mg.
    3. If someone is a “pixie-dust” person and very sensitive I’d have them start with a pinch/dab or ¼ of 125 mg GABA Calm.
  1. The “ice-pick” headaches on the top of the skull that I discovered were caused by neck spasms:
    1. Physical therapy, high doses of GABA and high doses of magnesium were essential.
    2. Because of the low doses of GABA I had used for my anxiety years before this, I started with low doses of GABA increasing slowly from 200mg up to 1000mg GABA. This higher amount worked for me at this time for this injury.
  1. Throat spasms and the loss of my voice due to vagus nerve issues caused by a terrifying plane ride:
    1. Based on my prior ice-pick headache experience I now knew I could tolerate higher doses and started with 500mg GABA and used more as needed.
    2. I must have been really low in GABA because I was actually able to use upwards of 5 (and sometime more) doses of 500mg a day and not feel too wiped out, even during the day.
    3. That’s a lot of GABA for me – as I mentioned above 125mg to 250mg used to be enough for the anxiety I experienced 15 years ago.
    4. I write more about all this here: Vagus nerve rehab with GABA, breathing, humming, gargling and key nutrients (with videos to demonstrate immediate effects when using GABA sublingually)
  1. Rectal spasms/proctalgia fugax. These seem to be related to SIBO/IBS and I still experience these from time to time.
    1. I have found that 250mg to 500mg GABA opened onto my tongue works best for me for this particular muscle spasm.
    2. Again, it eases the spasms and pain in a few minutes. I write more about this here: How GABA eases agonizing rectal pain and spasms in under 2 minutes
  1. A back injury in August causing severe muscle spasms and pain.
    1. Again, based on my previous experiences using GABA, right after my fall I started taking 1000mg of GABA powder every few hours (held in my mouth for 1-2 minutes) and then reduced it to 2 or 3 times a day as needed.
    2. I share more in this blog: Acupuncture boosts GABA to reduce back pain and oral GABA further reduces the pain
    3. In the above blog you can also read some research about the mechanism of how GABA supplements ease inflammation and tracheal spasms associated with asthma.
  1. Visceral pain caused by SIBO.
    1. My SIBO is really well-controlled with diet but I’ve been having pain, bloating and insomnia while doing this herbal SIBO protocol. I suspect the cellulose in one of the herbal products is causing this bloating and pain after dinner. It was getting so bad it was keeping me awake (this is typical when I am accidently exposed to problematic foods and get a flare-up).
    2. SIBO patients can have visceral hypersensitivity where their pain can be due to the pressure of the gas that is produced and the muscles in the digestive system actually contracting against this pressure.
    3. It got me thinking about how effective GABA is for relieving muscle tension and how much it’s helped me in the past. I also use GABA with my clients all the time for relief of their physical anxiety and stiff and tense muscles. There are GABA receptors all over the gut and I recently discovered that GABA is important for motility.
    4. Over the last 2 weeks I’ve trialed 300mg GABA (opened on to the tongue) a few times to ease the pain and pressure and it’s been amazing at how much it’s helped and how quickly it’s eased the pain. I’ve used it as soon as I notice the bloating starting and it GABA helps me sleep too (as does the tryptophan I’ve also added). I suspect I could safely double this dose in the evening and may do this if the lower dose isn’t enough some evenings. I’ve also used it some days the next morning when I wake with the bloated ache in my belly.

How much should I use and which GABA product is best?

I have a blog post listing the products I use with clients: The Antianxiety Food Solution Amino Acid and Pyroluria Supplements

Always read the precautions (there is a link on the above blog) and do the amino acid questionnaire (the link is also on the above blog) before starting a trial. I also recommend reading the amino acids chapter in my book The Antianxiety Food Solution so you are a well-informed savvy consumer.

If you’re doing a trial for anxiety and panic attacks:

  • If you can use tyrosine the Source Naturals GABA Calm product is the one I use with most of my anxious clients.
  • The other GABA products listed on the supplements blog need to be opened onto the tongue and started with a low dose (100-200mg is a good starting dose) and increase based on symptom relief. More can often be used at night, especially if sleep is also an issue – sometimes up to 500mg.

If you have SIBO/IBS and are doing a trial for visceral pain:

  • I’d suggest NOT starting with the Source Naturals GABA Calm because the sugar alcohols can be problematic for some individuals. Or if you do, be aware that it may not help and may make things worse in the short-term. Personally, I have not found this product to be an issue with my SIBO and I have very few clients report an issue.
  • The other GABA products listed on the supplements blog need to be opened onto the tongue and started with a low dose and increased based on symptom relief.
  • For a client totally new to GABA I’d start with 100-200mg in the evening and also increase slowly over a few weeks based on symptom relief, up to 500-1000mg.
  • For early morning belly pain I’d start a client on 100-200mg because too much in the day can make you feel tired.    

If you have other pain issues:

  • For a client totally new to GABA I’d start with 100-200mg in the evening and increase slowly over a few weeks based on symptom relief, up to 500-1000mg.  Depending on the pain more may often be needed and higher doses can often be tolerated during the day.
  • Keep in mind that pain can have any many root causes and it may be more than low just GABA or may not be due to low GABA at all. Other factors to consider include but are not limited to: low serotonin, low magnesium, low endorphins, inflammation, structural damage, low omega-3s, gluten issues, Lyme disease etc.  Physical therapy and acupuncture are wonderful approaches to include too.

As you can see from my experiences above it’s a matter of doing trials to find the ideal amount for you for your particular situation.  

If you’ve used GABA supplements for anxiety, visceral pain or other muscles spasms I’d love to hear from you.

This GABA-pain connection is not well recognized and I’d love to have more people know about this as a possible option. The more we share our experiences the more we all learn.

If you plan a trial similar to any of the above I’d also love to hear your questions and feedback.

Herbal therapy is equivalent to rifaximin for the treatment of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)

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Despite the fact that this paper was published in 2014, it’s still very relevant and I’m just behind in sharing it via a blog post: Herbal therapy is equivalent to rifaximin for the treatment of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth

Patients with small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) have chronic intestinal and extraintestinal symptomatology which adversely affects their quality of life. Present treatment of SIBO is limited to oral antibiotics with variable success. A growing number of patients are interested in using complementary and alternative therapies for their gastrointestinal health. The objective was to determine the remission rate of SIBO using either the antibiotic rifaximin or herbals in a tertiary care referral gastroenterology practice.

I’ve also decided to post this study now because I’ve been dealing with chronic SIBO for some time and am in the middle of doing the Metagenics herbal protocol (more information on that below).

SIBO symptoms and conditions

Here is a summary of some of the chronic intestinal symptoms: Abdominal bloating (gas), belching, flatulence, abdominal pain, cramps, constipation and/or diarrhea, heartburn (reflux or GERD), nausea and food sensitivities.

Here is a summary of some of the extraintestinal (outside the intestinal system) symptoms and conditions that have been linked to SIBO and/or dysbiosis: disorders of mood and behavior (including anxiety), diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, rosacea, restless legs syndrome, pain, anemia, interstitial cystitis, and other pelvic conditions such as vulvodynia and proctalgia fugax (rectal spasms), chronic prostatitis and polyneuropathy.

During season 3 of The Anxiety Summit, I interviewed Dr. Allison Siebecker on Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth and Anxiety. We talked about the SIBO Questionnaire I use with my clients and she gave me permission to share my modified version. You can find this SIBO questionnaire here. Please check out Dr. Siebecker’s site siboinfo.com for a wealth of information about SIBO.

The herbal treatments in this study

In this study, one hundred and four patients who tested positive for newly diagnosed SIBO by lactulose breath testing were offered either 1200mg rifaximin a day or one of two herbal treatments for 4 weeks. Lactulose breath testing was done again at the end of the treatment.

These are the two herbal treatments that were offered:  

Dysbiocide and FC Cidal (both by Biotics Research): take 2 capsules twice daily of each of these products

or

Candibactin-AR and Candibactin-BR (both by Metagenics): take 2 capsules twice daily of each of these products

The ingredients in each of the products
(from the paper: Herbal therapy is equivalent to rifaximin for the treatment of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth)

Study conclusion

The study concluded that these herbal therapies are at least as effective as rifaximin for resolution of SIBO. It also states that the herbal products also appear to be as effective as triple antibiotic therapy in patients who don’t respond to rifaximin.

Adverse effects

With regards to adverse effects, they were reported as follows: in the rifaximin treated patients there was 1 case of anaphylaxis, 2 cases of hives, 2 cases of diarrhea and 1 case of Clostridium difficile; in the herbal group only one case of diarrhea was reported.

A comment about bioindividuality

You’ll notice that the only herb that is in both sets of herbal protocols is Red Thyme Oil or thymus vulgaris and yet both herbal protocols offer a solution. I’ve heard Dr. Siebecker share that of all the different approaches for SIBO (including the elemental diet), at least one approach works for everyone. So, if you’ve tried an approach and it hasn’t worked, don’t give up and move on to the next approach. This points to bioindividuality, and there being no one size fits all approach.

Dr. Siebecker lists the above combination herbal protocols together with the herbal protocol her and team use on her site, which, again, is different from the above: 1-3 of the following herbs x 4 weeks per course, at highest levels suggested on product labels.

  • Allicin from Garlic (the highest potency formula is Allimed)
  • Oregano
  • Berberine- found in Goldenseal, Oregon Grape, Barberry, Coptis, Phellodendron
  • Neem
  • Cinnamon

My protocol and experience

As I mention above, I also decided to post this study because I’ve been dealing with chronic SIBO for some time and am in the middle of doing the Metagenics herbal protocol. I’m 14 days into a 28-day protocol.

I’m actually doing 1 capsule of Candibactin-AR, 3 times a day away from food and 2 capsules of Candibactin-BR, twice a day, and about 10 minutes before food. I landed on this protocol, so I would have enough of each for a 4-week protocol.

When I started on the products I immediately observed the typical SIBO bloating and almost quit but quickly figured out it was from the microcrystalline cellulose and hypromellose in the Candibactin-BR.

It turns out that these are soluble fibers (dispersible in water) and are more easily fermented than insoluble fibers. This fermentation in the small intestine can trigger IBS/SIBO symptoms. Adding 2 capsules of a product with cellulase (an enzyme that breaks down cellulose) has helped.

Pain, gas and GABA

I also remembered that Dr. Siebecker shared on the SIBO SOS I summit about how SIBO patients can have visceral hypersensitivity where their pain can be due to the pressure of the gas that is produced and the muscles in the digestive system actually contracting against this pressure. It got me thinking about how effective GABA is for relieving muscle tension. I use GABA with my clients all the time for relief of their physical anxiety and stiff and tense muscles. And GABA helps me and many others with proctalgia fugax (rectal spasms)  which seems to be related to IBS/SIBO.

Over the last week I’ve tried sublingual GABA a few times to ease the pain and pressure and it’s been amazing. I’ve used it as soon as I notice the bloating starting AND even the next morning when I wake with the bloated ache in my belly.  I’ve been using the NFH GABA-T SAP opened on to my tongue. This product contains 300mg GABA and 150mg of theanine.  

I’m going to keep this in mind in case of a future flare up of my IBS/SIBO if I’m accidentally exposed to a food I can’t tolerate – assuming this protocol doesn’t clear it up for me. I suspect, as Dr. Siebecker reports, and based on the fact that I have chronic SIBO, that I’ll need a few more rounds anyway.

There is research supporting why this works: there are GABA receptors all over the gut and GABA is important for motility. (Stay tuned for a detailed blog post on this topic).

As well as the initial bloating and pain, I’ve also experienced some die-off symptoms like brain-fog and feeling blah, together with some sleep issues a few nights. The GABA helps with this and so does the tryptophan that I’ve also added.

If you’ve used GABA for this purpose or medications like Gabapentin or others to achieve similar results, I’d love to hear from you.

I’ll share more as I progress through the protocol. I’m also going to be speaking on SIBO SOS summit (the 3rd one) hosted by Dr. Allison Siebecker and Shivan Sarno. I will share more about my SIBO journey then, as well as all my results with this herbal protocol and any other challenges I face along the way.

Please also share if you’ve had success with any of the above herbal protocols or other approaches for your SIBO.

And feel free to post any questions below.

GABA helps with inhibition of unwanted thoughts

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There is plenty of research and clinical evidence showing that low serotonin promotes worry and ruminating thoughts and we know that using tryptophan (or 5-HTP) can help with easing these worries and unwanted thoughts i.e. the worry-in-the-head type of anxiety.

The calming supplement GABA has long been recognized to help ease the more physical type of anxiety where you feel body tension and may have stiff and tense muscles.

Over the last year I’ve been getting feedback from women in my community saying that oral GABA supplements also helps some of the head symptoms too and now we have some new research supporting the possible mechanism of this – Scientists identify mechanism that helps us inhibit unwanted thoughts:

We are sometimes confronted with reminders of unwanted thoughts – thoughts about unpleasant memories, images or worries. When this happens, the thought may be retrieved, making us think about it again even though we prefer not to. While being reminded in this way may not be a problem when our thoughts are positive, if the topic was unpleasant or traumatic, our thoughts may be very negative, worrying or ruminating about what happened, taking us back to the event.

Scientists have identified a key chemical within the ‘memory’ region of the brain that allows us to suppress unwanted thoughts, helping explain why people who suffer from disorders such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and schizophrenia often experience persistent intrusive thoughts when these circuits go awry.

Professor Anderson, Dr. Schmitz and colleagues showed that the ability to inhibit unwanted thoughts relies on a neurotransmitter – a chemical within the brain that allows messages to pass between nerve cells – known as GABA. 

GABA is the main ‘inhibitory’ neurotransmitter in the brain, and its release by one nerve cell can suppress activity in other cells to which it is connected.

Anderson and colleagues discovered that GABA concentrations within the hippocampus – a key area of the brain involved in memory – predict people’s ability to block the retrieval process and prevent thoughts and memories from returning.

The study is looking at GABA concentrations within the hippocampus and there is no mention of the use of GABA supplementation to enhance this process:

While the study does not examine any immediate treatments, Professor Anderson believes it could offer a new approach to tackling intrusive thoughts in these disorders.

Ideally the next step will be to study the use of oral GABA supplementation. I’ll be reaching out to Professor Anderson to share details about the effectiveness of sublingual GABA.

I would also love to know what levels of GABA the study participants had in their gut and what other low GABA symptoms they had.

Here is the study abstract: Hippocampal GABA enables inhibitory control over unwanted thoughts

Feedback on GABA helping with overactive brain and perseveration

When I shared this research on facebook two people commented on how the Source Naturals GABA Calm product I recommend helps them with this aspect of anxiety.

Tiffany shares how Source Naturals GABA Calm helps calm her overactive brain:

I have definitely noticed that sublingual GABA Calm that you suggest helps calm my overactive brain.

Dawn shares how this same GABA product has helped her a lot:

I have an old TBI [traumatic brain injury] and the physiology of PTSD, from childhood trauma, so a double whammy. This sublingual lozenge makes a big difference in my day if I start to get anxious, or begin to perseverate on something that really isn’t all that important.

Perseverate is not a word I use very much and in case you’re not familiar with this term, the Oxford dictionary defines it as follows: “repeat or prolong an action, thought, or utterance after the stimulus that prompted it has ceased.” It’s also defined as: “the tendency of an idea to stick in your mind or recur, or getting stuck on something mentally and not being able to shift gears.” In psychiatry it’s “the persistent and pathological repetition of a verbal or motor response, often seen in organic brain disease and schizophrenia.”

Updating the GABA questionnaire and GABA blog

I’m using this research and feedback to make a preliminary update of the low GABA section on the amino acid questionnaire:

  • Do you have intrusive thoughts, perseverate or have an overactive brain? Or do you have unwanted thoughts – thoughts about unpleasant memories, images or worries?

I’ve also updated this recent blog post – Anxiety, compulsive thinking, counting behaviors: gluten, tryptophan and inositol where I to share my feedback on a question I received on how to approach working with a child with anxiety, compulsive thinking and counting behaviors. I mentioned GABA as a possibility but with her symptoms and this new research, a GABA trial would definitely be something to pursue.  

I’d love your feedback

  • Do you resonate with any of this and have you seen this benefit when using GABA, in addition to the relief of physical anxiety?
  • If you’ve also observed improvements in your ruminating thoughts when using tryptophan, I’d love you to try and share how GABA helps and how tryptophan helps i.e. how you feel before and after with each supplement?
  • Also, if you are also using tryptophan and/or 5-HTP how do you know if it’s these amino acids or the GABA that is helping?
  • I’m really looking for the differences you observe as you support low GABA vs low serotonin?  Are they clear or are they blurred?
  • If you’re a practitioner what feedback do you get from your clients/patients about low GABA vs low serotonin?

As I mention above I would love to see follow-on research showing that sublingual GABA supplements can actually shift this. I’ll be reaching out to the study authors sharing what we see clinically so your feedback is valuable and appreciated. 

Does GABA offer gut protection after drinking alcohol?

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A paper published earlier this year has us asking the question: will oral GABA supplementation offer gut protection in humans who drink too much alcohol? It’s too soon to know but the results from the animal study leave me spell-bound by this calming amino acid yet again!

The paper, Gastroprotective effect of gamma-aminobutyric acid on ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury

aimed to investigate the gastroprotective effect of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury and gastric epithelial cells injury [in rats].

Ethanol or alcohol is known to damage the gut and the study was carried out on rats given GABA and then ethanol.

It was also tested using the human gastric epithelial cell line GES-1 (more here on how human cell lines are commonly used in research) which was incubated with GABA and then treated with ethanol to induce cell injury.

The use of GABA prior to treatment with ethanol

showed that GABA pretreatment significantly reduced gastric ulcer index in a dose-dependent manner.

Administration with GABA could not only remarkably restrain oxidative stress by increase of superoxide dismutase, catalase activities and decrease of malondialdehyde content in gastric tissue and cells, but also significantly reduced pro-inflammatory factors activities (interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor α) in gastric tissue.

These studies clearly provided evidence that GABA had a considerable gastroprotective effect on ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury and gastric epithelial cells injury. The underlying mechanism of mitigating lesions may be ascribed to the improvement of anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant status as well as the increases of PGE2 [prostaglandin E2] and NO [nitric oxide] levels.

In summary, the use of GABA shows the potential for less ulcers, less oxidative damage, less inflammation in the gut, and gastroprotective properties after alcohol consumption. Human studies will show if oral GABA supplementation offers gut protection in those who drink too much alcohol.

Many social drinkers are not connecting their drinking to stress

We are a stressed society and this leads a great deal of “social” drinking. Many social drinkers are not connecting their drinking to stress and their need to self-medicate and de-stress.

As I found when I posted new study this on facebook – Moderate alcohol consumption as risk factor for adverse brain outcomes and cognitive decline – many social drinkers also get upset when you point out research like this because they don’t want to have to give it up. This CNN article, Moderate drinking may alter brain, summarizes the study and reports that the

moderate group was drinking about 14 to 21 units of alcohol per week, or about a medium glass of wine each night, plus a little extra on the weekends.

What is so interesting is that this very same calming amino acid, GABA, when used to address low GABA levels can help reduce your need to self-medicate or self-soothe with alcohol (or sugar/carbs). Don’t forget, with low GABA levels, you’ll also experience physical anxiety, stiff and tense muscles, overwhelm and panic attacks. I recently blogged about GABA here: GABA for the physical-tension and stiff-and-tense-muscles type of anxiety

Of course, I’d recommend using GABA supplements to address the low GABA and prevent so much “social” drinking that may damage to the gut (i.e. addressing the root cause as always), rather than using GABA so you can prevent gut damage when you do drink.

If you are a big “social” drinker and choose the latter (use GABA to prevent gut damage when you do drink) be warned, you’ll feel calmer and less stressed and very likely reduce your desire and need for a drink!

My blog mentions “social” drinking because of the paper about moderate alcohol consumption above but all this could be equally applicable to heavy drinkers and alcoholics too.

In summary, oral GABA can achieve the following:

  • help you quit alcohol and not feel deprived and having to use willpower
  • leave you feeling calm and stress-free with no need to self-medicate with alcohol
  • heal damage caused to your gut if you do indulge once in awhile (based on projections from the above research)

Have you noticed that GABA reduces your need to drink alcohol?

Have you noticed any improvements in gut health since using GABA?