GABA

The Anxiety Summit – Opening: benzos, electroshock, blueberries, sauerkraut and the vagus nerve

June 7, 2016 By Trudy Scott 56 Comments

The host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution opens up the Anxiety Summit Season 4.

Anxiety Summit opening: benzos, electroshock, blueberries, sauerkraut and the vagus nerve

My vagus nerve story and how GABA helped
Why we need an integrative approach: Electroshock, LSD, BPA, zinc deficiencies, medication side-effects
An update on benzodiazepines and what we can learn from the Swiss and Blue Zones
Anxiety: new research on blueberries, gluten, sauerkraut, low vitamin B6 and iron, foods rich in polyphenols
An overview of the speakers and topics on this summit

My vagus nerve story – the videos document the journey with GABA and vagus nerve exercises 3-6-6 breathing and happy birthday humming.

This article published just last month is just so distressing to even contemplate: American Psychiatric Association Lobbies FDA to Electroshock Children

While the APA looks to seizure-inducing, brain-disabling, electricity as a form of ‘treatment,’ lobbying the FDA to make ECT available for children, no one in medicine, let alone psychiatry, has a clue how ECT machines ‘work’ or how passing large amounts of electricity into a child’s brain ‘treats’ the subjective mental disorder.

Also published last month is an article in the New York Times called: LSD Like Drugs Are Out of the Haze and Back in the Labs.

modern scientists are picking up where their forerunners of the ’50s and ’60s left off. They are studying hallucinogens’ potential to help smokers kick the habit, to undo addictions to drugs and alcohol, to cope with cluster headaches and depression, and to deal with obsessive-compulsive and post-traumatic stress disorders.

Earlier this year a bill was put forward in Massachusetts proposing informed consent for benzodiazepine use. They will be submitting it again in a future session.

Here is the blog post and research on blueberries and serotonin: Blueberries boost serotonin and may help with PTSD and anxiety

Rats that were fed blueberries saw an increase in serotonin levels and the study authors suggest that the neuroprotection offered by the blueberries may offer support for those with PTSD. Presumably this could help those with anxiety and depression too, since low serotonin can also be an underlying factor.

Here is the blog post and research on gluten and OCD: Integrative Medicine Approach to Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety

The 7-year-old boy was put on a gluten-free diet and they saw a huge reduction in his OCD symptoms and anxiety and an improvement in social behavior and school work.

A paper published in August 2015: Fermented foods, neuroticism, and social anxiety suggests that:

consumption of fermented foods that contain probiotics may serve as a low-risk intervention for reducing social anxiety

Here are some of the other papers I mentioned:

Here is the master blog with all the speakers, their topics and their individual blog posts with additional information, links to studies, books and other resources – The Anxiety Summit Season 4: All the speakers and topics (keep in mind that the speaker blog links will be live/active from the day of the speaker interview)

If you already have my book The Antianxiety Food Solution: How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings, I recommend that you skim through it again and review the chapters on the food basics, gluten, amino acids, pyroluria and digestion. If you don’t yet have a copy, I highly recommend getting a copy so you can be educated as well as empowered.

Here is my gift to you, a song called Top of the World (grab the mp3 at this link)

A new beginning, a brand new day
All of my fears are gone away
I feel so calm, so free, so whole
Right now, I’m feeling on top of the world

On top the world
Right now, I’m feeling on top of the world

And here is another special gift: transcript of this entire talk!
Download the transcript here (right-click on the link and select “Save link as” or “Save target as” to download the file to your computer)

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here: www.theAnxietySummit.com

Missed this interview or can’t listen live? Or want this and the other great interviews for your learning library? Purchase the MP3s or MP3s + transcripts and listen when it suits you.

You can find your purchasing options here.: Anxiety Summit Season 1, Anxiety Summit Season 2, Anxiety Summit Season 3, and Anxiety Summit Season 4.

Source Naturals GABA Calm™: Why I recommend it for anxiety

May 27, 2016 By Trudy Scott 185 Comments

When you have low GABA levels you will have physical anxiety with stiff and tense muscles as well as feelings of stress, overwhelm and may even have panic attacks.

The amino acid GABA helps to raise GABA levels and ease these symptoms very quickly. I find that all GABA products are most effective when taken sublingually or opened on to the tongue. This is why I recommend the Source Naturals GABA Calm™ product.

It is a pleasant-tasting sublingual product that you can buy at your local health-store and in my online supplement store. It is a lozenge that contains 125mg GABA, 5mg magnesium, 50mg glycine, 25mg tyrosine and 20 mg taurine.

[Note: this product is a lozenge with 125mg GABA and is not to be confused with the Source Naturals, GABA Calm Mind, 750 mg tablets]

This is my most popular and most effective form of GABA I use with my clients. Here is the product description from the Source Naturals site:

GABA Calm™ combines two of the main inhibitory neurotransmitters, GABA and glycine, with N-acetyl L-tyrosine, which is a precursor to the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine. In addition, taurine supports the calming effects of GABA. The lozenge form dissolves in the mouth for quick and convenient delivery.

The GABA, glycine and taurine are calming and the N-acetyl L-tyrosine (which boosts the catecholamines and can be more stimulating) counters some of the calming effects so you have a nice balance.

A typical starting dose could look like this:

1 x GABA Calm on waking
1 x GABA Calm mid-morning
1 x GABA Calm mid-afternoon

If this works well but you still have some anxiety, then you could try 2 each time and even 3 each time.

I have all my clients do an amino acid trial to determine what will work best for their own needs.

As with all of the amino acids we review the Amino Acid Precautions before starting GABA Calm. The only precaution for using GABA is low blood pressure. I have yet to see it be an issue but it’s something to watch.

Since GABA Calm does contain tyrosine please be aware of these precautions. I don’t have my clients use it in these instances:

Overactive thyroid/Grave’s disease
Melanoma
Phenylketonuria (PKU)
Bipolar disorder

The amount of tyrosine in GABA Calm is so low it’s typically not an issue but I have my clients monitor their use of GABA Calm if they have

High Blood pressure
Migraine headaches

Some of my clients do fine taking this product at night and it calms them and helps them sleep. Here is feedback I recently received from someone:

I’ve been getting good results with taking 2 x Source Naturals GABA Calm lozenges of late, especially at night if I can’t get to sleep. I have tried several GABA supplements but this one seems to be the only one that works for me

Others find it affects their sleep and can only use it for easing their anxiety in the day time.

When I was experiencing my anxiety and panic attacks I used to take GABA Calm™ during the day (1-3, 3 times day) and it completely stopped the panic attacks and eased my anxiety while I dug deeper looking for the other contributing factors (like gluten issues, low progesterone, heavy metals and more). I took 2 of the Country Life GABA Relaxer at night. This product contains GABA, glycine, taurine, inositol, vitamin B6 and niacinamide.

It’s a great product to use with children. Trish Soderstrom shared how she used this product with her daughter’s Lyme anxiety.

We’ve used Source Naturals GABA Calm sublinguals with good results. I learned about GABA helping anxiety and because I was treating my young daughter I purchased this because it was easy for her to take.

She’ll be sharing more during her interview on the Anxiety Summit: How We Used GABA for Lyme Anxiety.

Dr. Zendi Moldenhauer, PhD, NP, RN will also be talking about how she uses this product in her interview: Anxiety in children, adolescents and young adults: an integrative psychiatric approach.

I recently received this comment on another blog post where I mentioned GABA Calm™:

Checked out gaba calm. Sounded great until I looked at the ingredients: sorbitol and mannitol are listed as first ingredients. These fake sugars can wreak havoc on your system. Also natural orange flavor… Heaven knows what that is. Too bad, sounded great. Any other suggestions?

Here is my response to this: I agree we could do better but it’s still a very effective product since sublingual GABA is best for most people. Sorbitol and mannitol are not fake sugars but sugar alcohols that don’t affect blood sugar. Very large amounts of sugar alcohols can sometimes cause lose stool but none of my clients have reported this effect from GABA Calm since it contains a very small amount.

If you choose not to use this product, I list other GABA products here on my supplements blog. Opening the capsule seems to be the best way to take GABA.

We are all different and many people do well with other types of GABA products as you can read here – GABA, the calming amino acid: products and results.

The blood brain barrier question comes up at least once a week. In fact, I was just asked this question last week:

Does a GABA supplement have to cross the blood brain barrier to be effective? A nutrition seminar I have been to, said it does not and GABA supplements are ineffective.

This is a myth and I am on a mission to change this thinking about GABA. GABA supplements are very effective for many anxious individuals.

I’d love to hear if you’ve used GABA Calm™ for anxiety, panic attacks, sleep and/or stress eating and how it’s worked for you. How often do you take it and how much do you take?

If you use it with clients I’d love to hear from you too.

If you use GABA Calm™ during the day and another GABA product at night please share that info too.

I’m sharing this information in preparation for my Anxiety Summit interview on GABA and dispelling the blood brain barrier myth. I’ll be sharing what we do know about how GABA works, what we don’t yet know and what we hope to learn through further research.

Vagus nerve rehab with GABA, breathing, humming, gargling and key nutrients

March 25, 2016 By Trudy Scott 248 Comments

I’ve got an issue going on with my vagus nerve at the moment and the throat spasms have been affecting my voice and ability to speak for any length of time. It’s also causing this persistent dry cough, despite not feeling sick or having any respiratory symptoms. It’s much worse later in the day and gets particularly bad after about 30 minutes of talking.

I’ve been working with the very talented PT/nutritionist Joe Tatta for the last week and I am seeing much improvement already. I’m also learning so much on vagus nerve rehab.

Joe is a Musculoskeletal Pain Expert and you may recall our wonderful interview on the last Anxiety Summit on pain and anxiety.

Let me give you some of the back story. Just over a week ago I posted this message in a private facebook group of integrative practitioners/colleagues:

I’d love some help for me please. I have this ongoing spasmodic dry cough that starts as soon as I talk and gets worse later in the day. As you can imagine it’s affecting my day to day meetings, seeing clients and doing interviews, not to mention being highly irritating!

I don’t feel sick at all and have no congestion. It started after my NYC trip and a really frightening flight over the Colorado mountains!

We had the most awful turbulence and it felt like wings on the plane were going to break. People were screaming and the parents behind us were reassuring their kids saying it’s ok, it’s just like a roller coaster ride. I was sitting next to a 6’4’’ young man who had just completed training in the Coast Guard. He was also terrified and said they had taught him how to survive a boat going down but not how to survive a plane going down.

I believe my immune system got suppressed big time! The day after I got home I got the flu for the first time in 30+ years and I felt pretty grim for a day and then recovered nicely over the next 4-5 days. The flu was over 10 days ago but this stupid cough continues!

One night I could not sleep due to the coughing and decided to try and relax my airways with GABA. I know how effective GABA is for stiff and tense muscles so why not try it for the throat spasms I was having? I am now able to have a reasonable conversation for say 15-30 mins if I take 500mg GABA opened on to my tongue. Viola! a new use for GABA – pretty cool!

I must be low in GABA because I’m able to take upwards of 5 (and sometime more) doses of 500mg a day and not feel too wiped out. That’s a lot of GABA for me – 125mg to 250mg used to be enough for the anxiety I once experienced! I did have a bit of my old early morning waking with anxiety (that I used to have in my late 30s) that week of the flu but that’s now gone.

I’m also using a homeopathic called Boiron Drosera. I’ve never had asthma and don’t have much experience with it but from what I’m reading it sounds like the“cough-variant” of asthma!?

I’m asking here because I’m intrigued by this whole scary flight/depressed immunity/GABA for the spasms thing and wonder if anyone here has any insights?

Joe Tatta responded in about 30 minutes with this message:

Sounds like you have a vagus nerve problem. Potentially loss of parasympathetics. You can read some in this article but there is much more…

Here is the article he shared: Arnold’s nerve cough reflex: evidence for chronic cough as a sensory vagal neuropathy

Arnold’s nerve ear-cough reflex is recognised to occur uncommonly in patients with chronic cough. In these patients, mechanical stimulation of the external auditory meatus can activate the auricular branch of the vagus nerve (Arnold’s nerve) and evoke reflex cough. This is an example of hypersensitivity of vagal afferent nerves, and there is now an increasing recognition that many cases of refractory or idiopathic cough may be due to a sensory neuropathy of the vagus nerve.

The paper presents two cases where the cough was successfully treated with gabapentin. Gabapentin (also known as Neurontin) affects GABA levels and this why I get such great results with GABA.

Gabapentin is drug that is primarily used to treat seizures and neuropathic pain. It is also used for restless leg syndrome and hot flashes, and off-label for anxiety, insomnia, fibromyalgia and bipolar disorder. I’d love to see GABA being studied and used for these conditions especially because gabapentin can cause withdrawal syndrome: Withdrawal symptoms after gabapentin discontinuation and an increased risk of suicidal thoughts.

Joe offered to meet with me via skype and I learned that the neuro-rehab is key. I’ve been doing breathing exercises and humming every hour on the hour for the last week i.e. about 10 times a day. When I hum it’s the “happy birthday” song and I have to think of a specific birthday. I hum and smile and think about my baby sister’s 7^th birthday party 37 years ago. I had just come back from Australia and I have such great memories of it! We chatted about it at the weekend and had a good laugh.

I continue to use the GABA as needed, and am also taking GPC (GlyceroPhosphoCholine) and Acetyl-L-carnitine, both of which are acetylcholine precursors for nerve rehabilitation.

Because I’ve had so many questions about what is going on with me and what I’m doing, I have decided to start this blog post and I’ll continue to add to it. I’ve been documenting what has been happening as I go through this rehab because I’m finding it so fascinating.

Stay tuned for all the details:

More on the vagus nerve and why it’s so important
Why the very scary plane ride triggered this issue I’m having
How GABA works to stop the spasms in 5-10 seconds (I have a video to share)
Exactly what exercises I’m doing for the rehab and why you need to build up and not do gargling exercises on day one
More details about the nutrients: GPC and acetyl-l-carnitine
And an interview with Joe Tatta to share his expertise (I’m the patient/client here and am in learning mode)

I wouldn’t suggest trying any of this yourself until I share more because from what I’ve learned so far, you need to slowly built up to certain of the exercises.

Updates April 1, 2016:

Here is the first video (taken March 16, 2016) where I share the story of the scary plane ride and my flu and the start of the throat spasms. You can hear how my voice sounds and how quickly 500mg GABA relaxes the spasms in my throat/neck. I share what I learned from Joe Tatta about it being connected the vagus nerve.

Here is the second video (also taken March 16, 2016) where I demonstrate the 3-6-6 second breathing exercise and the happy birthday song humming exercise. I have to think of an actual birthday. I hum and think of my baby sister’s birthday (you can see those photos above). Be warned, I am what I call “musically challenged!”

Here is the third video (taken late evening March 16, 2016) where you can hear how bad my voice and throat gets later in the day.

Here is the video taken at Heavenly ski resort on March 27, 2016. You can see me doing my humming exercises in between skiing on this beautiful mountain and how I needed GABA after a strenuous ski run. And I summarize what has been working for me so far. I hope you enjoy the stunning scenery too! I feel so fortunate that we can hop in the car and visit such an amazing place like this on the weekend! It’s about 90 minutes up the hill from where we live.

And here is the final video in this series (taken yesterday March 31, 2016). I demonstrate the exercises I am currently doing: 3-6-6 second breathing, humming (which has improved), the yawning and the tongue massage of the roof of my mouth. I also talk about GPC and acetyl-l-carnitine.

You can probably see and hear that I am much improved and have not needed much GABA for the last two days now. In the last week I have interviewed Dr. Josh Axe for his “Eat Dirt” book and Dr. Kelly Brogan for her “A Mind of Your Own” book. And Dr. David Brady has interviewed me for his Fibrofix Summit and Dr. Eric Zielinski interviewed me for his Essential Oils Summit. For each interview I did my exercises right beforehand and took 500mg GABA half way through the interview and had immediate relief.

GABA for vagus nerve — I had 2 x 500mg GABA on hand for my interviews – opened and ready to use!

Update: April 8, 2016

I continue to improve and have not needed GABA for 4 days and only have a very mild hint of the throat feeling late evening.

Two days ago I added an essential oil called Parasympathetic. It contains clove and lemon and I’ll share more in a future post. Right now I can share that I used too much the first day and had the very dry mouth I experienced with too much GPC and acetyl-l-carnitine.

Update: April 22, 2016

A quick update to let you know that my dry spasmodic cough has completely gone. I have not had any symptoms for a week and I have stopped the vagus nerve rehab exercises, GPC, acetyl-l-carnitine, the essential oil called Parasympathetic and GABA.

Additional resources when you are new to using GABAand other amino acids as supplements

As always, I use the symptoms questionnaire to figure out if low serotonin or low GABA or other neurotransmitter imbalances may be an issue.

If you suspect low levels of any of the neurotransmitters and do not yet have my book, The Antianxiety Food Solution – How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings, I highly recommend getting it and reading it before jumping in and using amino acids on your own so you are knowledgeable. And be sure to share it with the practitioner/health team you or your loved one is working with.

There is an entire chapter on the amino acids and they are discussed throughout the book in the sections on gut health, gluten, blood sugar control (this is covered in an entire chapter too), sugar cravings, anxiety and mood issues.

The book doesn’t include product names (per the publisher’s request) so this blog, The Antianxiety Food Solution Amino Acid and Pyroluria Supplements, lists the amino acids that I use with my individual clients and those in my group programs.

If, after reading this blog and my book, you don’t feel comfortable figuring things out on your own (i.e. doing the symptoms questionnaire and respective amino acids trials), a good place to get help is the GABA QuickStart Program (if you have low GABA symptoms). This is a paid online/virtual group program where you get my guidance and community support.

If you are a practitioner, join us in The Balancing Neurotransmitters: the Fundamentals program. This is also a paid online/virtual program with an opportunity to interact with me and other practitioners who are also using the amino acids.

Wrapping up and your feedback

I so appreciate all the caring and concerned comments, feedback and ideas for me! And boy, am I grateful for Joe and his expertise!

I will still be interviewing Joe so he can share the theory and address questions so please post questions you may have.

If any of this resonates with you or if you have any other questions I’d love to hear back from you.

Please post them in the comments section below.

Chronic Lyme Disease Summit – anxiety, pyroluria & more

March 21, 2016 By Trudy Scott 6 Comments

The Chronic Lyme Disease Summit runs from April 4th to 11th so I’m sharing some additional information for you.

The response to this summit, hosted by Dr. Jay Davidson, is out of this world already. Lyme disease is much more talked about than most realize and more people are affected by Lyme disease each year than breast cancer!

Many people with chronic Lyme disease have chronic anxiety too and the focus of my interview is how to use targeted individual amino acids GABA and tryptophan to top up low levels of GABA and serotonin while the Lyme is being addressed.

This gives Lyme sufferers resolution from much of the anxiety (if not all) right away and they don’t need to resort to meds like benzodiazepines or anti-depressants (like the women in the study below). There is also a big connection between Lyme disease and pyroluria and I cover this too.

Here is one study that shows that Lyme-anxiety is very real and that panic attacks may actually be trigged by the Lyme disease:

A paper published in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice in 2000: Panic attacks may reveal previously unsuspected chronic disseminated lyme disease

describes the histories of three patients with panic-like episodes that turned out to be related to underlying, previously unsuspected tick-borne diseases.

Each woman experienced symptoms that are not usual in panic disorder but are typical of neurological Lyme disease, including exquisite sensitivity to light, touch, and sounds, joint pain often in combination with cognitive changes including mental fogginess and loss of recent memory, and some degree of bizarre, shifting, and often excruciating neurological pain. Because these symptoms are atypical of primary panic disorder, they were very helpful in alerting the clinician to suspect an underlying physical illness.

In each case, the results of testing revealed positive hallmarks of disseminated Lyme and other tick-borne diseases [ including Lyme borreliosis caused by the spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis.] Since beginning treatment with intensive doses of appropriate antimicrobial medications for their tick-borne infections, all three patients have become free of panic attacks.

Treatment of their infections by a specialist in Lyme disease allowed one of the women to discontinue anti-anxiety medication completely and another to reduce the dose of medication to occasional use only. The third patient is no longer anxious but her depression is resolving more slowly despite the ongoing use of an antidepressant. Two of the patients have also needed ongoing medication for pain and other symptoms of late-stage, neurological Lyme disease

One of my favorite presentations at the 2015 IMMH/Integrative Medicine for Mental Health conference was Dr. Suruchi Chandra’s Neuropsychiatric Lyme Disease talk. She shared that:

Lyme disease is one of the fastest growing infectious diseases in the United States. It can remain dormant for years and then later mimic a number of psychiatric illnesses, including anxiety disorders, mood disturbances, psychosis, and autism-like behaviors. It can be further complicated by the presence of co-infections.

Tune in to the summit to hear more about Lyme and anxiety and the amino acids GABA and tryptophan (and the Lyme-pyroluria connection).

(Please note: I’m not a Lyme disease expert – people seek me out for help with their anxiety and many of them also happen to have Lyme disease. The information we covered in the interview is very powerful for anxiety whether or not Lyme disease is a factor.)

Here are a selection of the many excellent Lyme interviews you’ll hear:

Dr. Jay Davidson, DC, PScD: Heavy Metal Detox and Lyme Disease
Connie Strasheim: Lyme Disease and Cancer
Jack Tips, PhD, CCN: The Gut Microbiome and Lyme disease
Shayne Morris, PhD: Biofilm, Bugs and Bacteriophage
Bradley Bush, ND: A Lab Test that Actually Works for Detecting Lyme Disease

When you register you get access to 3 talks right away – mine is one of the 3 talks! You can register here:
https://qt247.isrefer.com/go/LYME16reg/trudyscottcn

Sleep promoting effects of combined GABA and 5-HTP: new research

March 11, 2016 By Trudy Scott 173 Comments

gaba 5-htp and sleep

A new paper published in Life Sciences reports that a combination of GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) and 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) improved sleep and sleep duration more than the use of either of the two amino acids alone.

Insomnia is a common symptom of both low GABA and low serotonin. The amino acid GABA raises levels of GABA, our calming brain chemical/neurotransmitter. 5-HTP is one of the amino acids that raises serotonin, your happy brain chemical/neurotransmitter (which is also happens to be calming) and in turn converts to melatonin to help you sleep. Tryptophan is the other amino acid that raises serotonin.

Low levels of both brain chemicals can also make you anxious, worried and overwhelmed. With low GABA levels you’ll have physical anxiety and may lie awake in bed feeling tension in your body. With low serotonin you’ll have the busy-mind type of anxiety, often lying in bed not able to switch off the ruminating thoughts or monkey-mind. (You can find the complete amino acid questionnaire here.)

The study, Sleep-promoting effects of a GABA/5-HTP mixture: Behavioral changes and neuromodulation in an invertebrate model, used caffeine treated fruit flies and:

Behavioral assays were applied to investigate subjective nighttime activity, sleep episodes, and total duration of subjective nighttime sleep of two amino acids and GABA/5-HTP mixture

In case you’re wondering, fruit flies are often used in research. This paper shares that the “Homeostatic and circadian regulation in Drosophila are comparable to findings from mammalian sleep research.” I can’t help chuckling when I imagine these little fruit flies lying in a tiny bed, ramped up on caffeine and with busy little minds!

fruit-fly

After my attempt at some humor (laughter is good for us too!), let’s get on to the serious stuff.

The study concludes that:

using a GABA/5-HTP mixture modulates subjective nighttime activity, sleep episodes, and total duration of subjective nighttime sleep to a greater extent than single administration of each amino acid, and that this modulation occurs via GABAergic and serotonergic signaling.

How this might equate to human dosing and other possible combinations

You may be wondering how this might equate to human dosing of these amino acids. Since it was the combined use of 1% GABA and 0.1% 5-HTP that had the most impact, this could equate to:

250mg GABA and 25mg 5-HTP or
500mg GABA and 50mg 5-HTP or
1000mg GABA and 100mg 5-HTP

Do keep in mind that we are all unique and there is no one size fits all so it’s important to do a trial to see how much of each may work for you. This means starting low and increasing until you don’t get added benefits or until you get an adverse effect.

You may do better with a combination of GABA and 5-HTP or you may even find that you do well with one or the other. And you may also find tryptophan works better for you than 5-HTP. We know that 5-HTP can raise cortisol so keep that in mind if you know you have high night-time cortisol. And for many of my clients 250mg to 500mg GABA is too much, although you may be able to get away with more at night than during the day. And different GABA products work well for different people. But again, it’s important to figure out what works for you.

Here are some possible combinations that could help you with the restless nights and anxiety:

GABA and 5-HTP
GABA alone
5-HTP alone
Tryptophan alone
GABA and tryptophan (this is what recommend most of the time)

I recently blogged about the differences between Tryptophan 500mg and Tryptophan Complete (by Lidtke) so the Complete product may well be part of the equation too.

Additional resources when you are new to using tryptophan, 5-HTP, GABA and other amino acids as supplements

As always, I use the symptoms questionnaire to figure out if low serotonin or low GABA or other neurotransmitter imbalances may be an issue.

Wrapping up and your feedback

Keep in mind that low GABA and/or low serotonin are just one of many causes of insomnia. If you try to address what appears to be low levels and it doesn’t work then you have to look for other root causes such as: high cortisol, low blood sugar, SIBO, gluten sensitivity, EMF sensitivity, medication side-effects, caffeine and sugar consumption, benzodiazepine tolerance and/or withdrawal, parasites, and too much light too late or not enough light early in the morning.

Have you used any of the above with good results for sleep? I’d love to hear if you do better with the synergistic effects of two amino acids. And how much works for you?

Or do you do better with another combination?

Feel free to share your feedback and ask your questions below in the comments section.

GABA helps with Lyme anxiety (while addressing the underlying disease)

January 22, 2016 By Trudy Scott 42 Comments

GABA is a calming amino acid that helps to reduce anxiety and panic attacks in individuals with low GABA levels and helps to address the anxiety that many individuals experience when they have Lyme disease.

At the recent IMMH/Integrative Medicine for Mental Health conference Dr. Suruchi Chandra presented on Neuropsychiatric Lyme Disease and shared that:

Lyme disease is one of the fastest growing infectious diseases in the United States. It can remain dormant for years and then later mimic a number of psychiatric illnesses, including anxiety disorders, mood disturbances, psychosis, and autism-like behaviors. It can be further complicated by the presence of co-infections.

Last month I shared a post called GABA, the calming amino acid: expert opinions and Tricia Soderstrom, creator of the blog Abounding in Hope with Lyme shared it with her online Lyme community with this comment:

Lyme anxiety is real! We’ve used GABA with great success.

Read on to learn about her daughter’s symptoms and which GABA product helped; how Tricia continued to search and discover the psychiatric and pyroluria connection; and then her discovery of GABA, 5-HTP, theanine and tryptophan. You can also read how GABA also helped Tricia with her Lyme-induced anxiety (and her advocacy work). You’ll also find additional resources if you need guidance using amino acids like tryptophan/5-HTP and GABA/theanine.

Her daughter’s symptoms and which GABA product helped

Tricia shared further when I asked what had helped:

We’ve used Source Naturals GABA Calm sublinguals with good results. I learned about GABA helping anxiety and because I was treating my young daughter I purchased this because it was easy for her to take.

Lyme, Bartonella and Babesia are all known to cause anxiety and other psychological disorders ranging from mild to very severe. My daughter had it very severely but thankfully is much better now that we’ve treated the tick-borne diseases.

She also shared this excellent article by Pamela Weintraub as a resource: High Anxiety (Neurological Lyme Disease, Part Three)

I asked Tricia if I could share some of her daughter’s Lyme story and how GABA (and other nutrients) had helped with her anxiety while they were treating the Lyme disease. She kindly agreed and here are some excerpts from her blog post: How A Tick Bite Changed My Daughter – Part 2 Using Supplements To Nourish The Brain

When my third daughter turned 7 we had no idea that our whole lives were beginning to turn upside down by severe anxiety and OCD.

As that year progressed I noticed my …daughter incessantly washing her hands, pooling saliva in her mouth, clenching her fists until the skin around her knuckles turned bright white and repeating motions. Her eyes were wider than normal and she became very fearful of things that never bothered her before.

At the same time, she was complaining of deep hip pain, pain in her feet, very bad headaches, motion sickness, nausea, heart palpitations and other symptoms….

Her anxiety grew, her obsessions controlled her and she was incapable of thinking rationally during these episodes. With age her episodes became more frequent and more severe.

Tricia continued to search and discovered the psychiatric and pyroluria connection

Tricia diligently searched for solutions for the Lyme disease that was impacting her daughter and herself. As Tricia learned more, she discovered the psychiatric connection to Lyme and they worked without success, with various doctors, having her daughter try antibiotic treatments and anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications.

Still searching, she discovered Dr. Klinghart teaching about pyroluria and started adjusting her daughter’s diet and adding various nutrients: magnesium, fish oil, trace minerals, vitamin D, evening primrose oil, vitamin B6 and zinc (the latter three are key for pyroluria).

Tricia’s discovery of GABA, 5-HTP, theanine and tryptophan

Tricia then came across some of the amazing interviews I did with various experts on season 1 of the Anxiety Summit and it further consolidated what she had already discovered. She shares this:

What I learned was astounding and it was very similar to what [Dr. Kinghart] taught but I began to also learn about GABA, 5-HTP, L-Theanine, and L-Tryptophan.

To my daughter’s routine I added Source Naturals GABA Calm sublingual, Nature’s Way 5-HTP, Nature’s Way L-Theanine/ Green Tea sublingal, and Source Natural’s Melatonin.

At first we used GABA or L-Theanine whenever she would have a panic attack or her OCD was too much to deal with. After awhile I just had her take it first thing in the morning, mid-day and then again in the evenings when her symptoms would be at their worst.

The amino acids and brain nutrients were ONE part of the solution, together with dietary changes, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and homeopathy. As Tricia says:

These supplements did not cure my daughter but they helped her get off the prescription drugs and they helped both of us during our most trying times

This is why I love using targeted individual amino acids such as GABA. They give you immediate relief from anxiety and panic attacks while you are dealing with bigger underlying issues such as Lyme disease. Adding other nutrients (like zinc, magnesium, vitamin B6 etc) address nutritional deficiencies that the Lyme disease may be causing.

Keep in mind that Tricia’s daughter did well with Source Natural GABA Calm but there are many other excellent GABA products that can be beneficial too.

Tricia’s daughter has given her the go ahead to share her story and she is now doing so well!

My daughter is now a beautiful 15 year old, looking forward to her 16th birthday and getting her driver’s license.

She is the brave one to allow me to expose how this illness completely changed her and controlled her. At one point she was embarrassed about it but now she really wants to help others.

What an encouraging, heartwarming and inspiring story!

Both Tricia and her daughter are very brave and I appreciate having the opportunity to share their story with you. I encourage you to read the whole story here on her blog.

GABA also helped Tricia with her Lyme-induced anxiety (and her advocacy work)

Tricia also experienced Lyme-induced anxiety and she too found benefits with GABA. You can read more about her episodes of fear, panic attacks, fear of going outside and withdrawing from social situations on this blog post: Where Does Your Fear Come From And What Are You Doing About It? (Our Journey With Neurological Lyme)

Here is a little more about Tricia: She is a mom of 4 and wife of 26 years to Scott. She was living a busy and active life as an outdoorsy homeschool mom, when chronic Lyme disease side-lined her and her entire family. She has spent the past 8 years recovering, advocating and caring for her family and researching tick-borne diseases. Tricia continues to homeschool her youngest two children and blogs about her life as a Christian homeschool mom with chronic Lyme, while homeschooling her children who also have chronic Lyme. She is passionate about educating others about tick-borne disease, and how to prevent, recognize and get the proper treatment. You can read more about her and her Lyme resources here. And you can find Tricia on Facebook here AboundinginHopewithLyme

Additional resources when you are new to using tryptophan or GABA and other amino acids as supplements

We use the symptoms questionnaire to figure out if low serotonin or low GABA or other neurotransmitter imbalances may be an issue for you.

If you suspect low levels of any of the neurotransmitters and do not yet have my book, The Antianxiety Food Solution – How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings. I highly recommend getting it and reading it before jumping in and using amino acids on your own so you are knowledgeable. And be sure to share it with the practitioner/health team you or your loved one is working with.

If you need serotonin support, the Serotonin QuickStart Program is a good place to get help. This is also a paid online/virtual group program where you get my guidance on using tryptophan and 5-HTP safely, and community support during 5 LIVE Q&A calls. You can sign up to be notified when the next live launch of this program is happening.

Wrapping up and your feedback

I’d love to hear if you have used GABA (or one of the other amino acids) to help with your anxiety while undergoing treatment for Lyme disease.

Dr. Klinghart discusses the connection between Lyme disease and pyroluria. I’d also love to hear if you have Lyme disease and also have pyroluria? You can do the pyroluria questionnaire here.

I’d love to hear if you have used GABA (or one of the other amino acids) to help with your anxiety while undergoing treatment for Lyme disease.

Dr. Klinghart discusses the connection between Lyme disease and pyroluria. I’d also love to hear if you have Lyme disease and also have pyroluria? You can do the pyroluria questionnaire here.