amino acids

Anxiety Summit season 4: the top six reasons to attend

June 3, 2016 By Trudy Scott 7 Comments

anxiety-summit-hope

We’re getting ready for the Anxiety Summit! It starts next week June 6^th and runs through June 16^th and I can’t wait to share all the amazing speakers and resources with you.

If you’ve already signed up for the summit these top six reasons will inspire you even further. If you haven’t yet signed up I hope to motivate you to join us and learn nutritional tools to overcome anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks, OCD and even insomnia and stress eating.

(1) More and more children and adolescents have anxiety

Dr. Zendi Moldenhauer, integrative psychiatric NP, is one of the wonderful summit speakers. Her topic is Anxiety in children, adolescents and young adults: an integrative psychiatric approach, and she shares this:

Anxiety in children and adolescents is on the rise globally. The number of teens ages 13-18 who have been officially diagnosed with an anxiety disorder is only 8%, however our real-life experience shows it to be closer to 1 in 4 or 1 in 5.

Dr Zendi shares that many anxious children and adolescents actually have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and that by addressing gut health we can see anxiety symptoms disappear. The adrenals can be supported with theanine, an amino acid that promotes alert relaxation, and low GABA levels can be boosted with a calming amino acid such as GABA-Calm.

(2) American Psychiatric Association Lobbies FDA to Electroshock Children

This is the title of a recent article published on the CCHRINT website and here is what they are saying:

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is aggressively lobbying the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow it broader use of Electroshock (ECT) on patients, including 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.

It’s unfathomable to me that with what we now know about nutritional psychiatry (see more on this below) that we could be considering something as awful as this.

(3) We can control the size of our hippocampus by what we eat

Dr. Drew Ramsey, M.D., psychiatrist, farmer and author of the new book Eat Complete, another wonderful summit speaker, covers Nutrients that Fuel Brain Power and Reduce Anxiety.

I love what Dr. Drew Ramsey says in our interview: “I eat for a bigger hippocampus.” The hippocampus is an area of your brain involved in emotional regulation and learning. Don’t you want a bigger hippocampus?

We talked about this in the context of the research published by Dr. Felice Jacka and her team: Western diet is associated with a smaller hippocampus: a longitudinal investigation. Here is the conclusion of the study:

Lower intakes of nutrient-dense foods and higher intakes of unhealthy foods are each independently associated with smaller left hippocampal volume. To our knowledge, this is the first human study to demonstrate associations between diet and hippocampal volume concordant with data previously observed in animal models.

The Anxiety Summit is “a bouquet of hope”

(4) Tryptophan and GABA give you hope and an immediate feeling of calm

The Anxiety Summit has been called a “bouquet of hope” and these calming and mood-boosting amino acids are my favorite nutrients for anxiety because they offer so much hope right away. They get much coverage this season.

Serotonin and anxiety: tryptophan, 5-HTP, serotonin syndrome and medication tapers, an interview with Dr. Peter Bongiorno, ND, author of Holistic Therapies for Anxiety and Depression:

Low levels of tryptophan contribute to generalized anxiety and panic attacks. Back in the early 1990s, a laboratory I was associated with at Yale University performed “tryptophan depletion studies” and which volunteers who were already prone to anxiety were put on a tryptophan-free diet. Within days, these people were extremely anxious, panicky and unstable – and they had lots of trouble staying asleep.

In my interview, GABA: Blood brain barrier controversy, concerns, best forms and how to do a trial for eliminating anxiety, I cover the research and practical steps on how to get the best results. But most importantly you’ll hear heartwarming success stories from people who use GABA, like this one:

It helps lower my overall anxious feeling all day (anxiety for no reason). I just started increasing the dose slightly and am beginning to take it a few times a day to help with social anxiety.

And this one:

It changed my life in minutes! Take it every day now. No more hopelessness!

If you have anxiety I want you to have hope that you will find an answer and I want to give you tools and resources to get there.

Tryptophan and GABA give you HOPE and relief right away while you are addressing some of the bigger underlying causes of your anxiety which may take longer to address. Some of these more complex causes may be leaky gut, mercury toxicity, gluten issues or Lyme disease and are also their own topics in the summit.

(5) Anxious individuals are actively looking for nutritional solutions

In a paper published earlier this year, Herbal medicine use behaviour in Australian adults who experience anxiety: a descriptive study, out of 400 anxious Australian adults in the study:

47% were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder
82% experienced anxiety symptoms in the previous 12 months
3% had used prescribed pharmaceuticals for anxiety
8% had used herbal medicines for anxiety

The authors of the study voice concerns about the dangers of self-prescribing saying this about the widespread use of herbal medicines:

Herbal medicines are being used by adults with anxiety and are commonly self-prescribed for anxiety symptoms. These behaviours are concerning as people may not be receiving the most suitable treatments, and their use of herbal medicines may even be dangerous. It is critical we develop a better understanding of why people are using these medicines.

Based on my practice and after interviewing over 100 experts on nutritional solutions for anxiety and seeing the research, this is my belief: more and more people who are not getting solutions from medications are being smart and are looking to address the root cause/s of their anxiety naturally and nutritionally. Are you one of them?

I’m all about self-empowerment and being informed and the summit delivers plenty of practical content and the research.

(6) Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric illness

Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric illness affecting children and adults. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association Of America, it’s estimated that 40 million American adults suffer with an anxiety disorder. These numbers are much higher because you may never get a diagnosis and be counted (just look at the Australian herbal study below). You may not even identify with the term anxiety because you have felt like for so long and just think ‘this is me, this is just how I am.’

It doesn’t have to be like this. We can change these stats. You can feel on top of the world again!

The summit offers hope and solutions, research and success stories!

Discover the connections between anxiety and brain food, why healthy fats and turmeric feed our brains, how grass-fed red meat helps with anxiety, the impact of coffee and gluten, the best gluten testing, GABA and the blood brain barrier, serotonin and tryptophan, best forms of GABA and tryptophan, anxiety in autism, MS and anxiety, Lyme disease and anxiety, mercury and lead detox, leaky gut and the SCD diet, low cholesterol and low oxytocin, the microbiome, stomach acid and zinc, fluroquinolones, methylation, pyroluria, the importance of community and much more.

Join us June 6-16^th online – register here www.theanxietysummit.com

And please share widely!

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.

Heavy metal detox on Chronic Lyme Disease Summit – starts Monday

April 3, 2016 By Trudy Scott 4 Comments

Just a quick reminder that the Chronic Lyme Disease Summit starts tomorrow Monday April 4^th and runs through April 11^th.

Here are the speakers for day 1. And you can register here:
https://qt247.isrefer.com/go/LYME16reg/trudyscottcn

Dr. Jay Davidson is the fabulous host of the summit and he covers Heavy Metal Detoxification and Lyme Disease and why he is so passionate about this topic and getting the message out there. He shares the story of his wife’s Lyme disease and how she didn’t have the classic bulls eye rash and how they didn’t even find a tick. It was when his wife gave birth to their daughter that she got really sick and almost died.

He shares the role heavy metals (lead, mercury and aluminum) play and where they are found:

High fructose corn syrup contains mercury
Contact lenses cleaners in the 80s or even early 90s contained thimerosal
Red lipstick contains lead
And many more sources of these metals!

Dr. Davidson goes into great depth into heavy metal chelation in this interview:

I’m not really a big fan of the cilantro and the chlorella. Even though those are talked about a lot in the heavy metal world. It seems as if those stir things up more than they actually are able to pull things out.

For instance, when you’re looking at studies with chlorella and cilantro a lot of the studies will be in vitro or they’re looking at the chlorella binding to mercury, or the cilantro binding to mercury in a petri dish. But I think it’s a whole different set of circumstances in the science world. And you look at in vivo of in the body, being able to grab onto it in the body and pull it out.

He shares that he is a fan of glutathione:

I know there’s definitely a lot of disagreement in this world of “Well, should we raise glutathione or shouldn’t we? Are we causing other issues?” But I really love glutathione because glutathione is one of those things that helps to neutralize mercury in the body

Dr. Davidson goes into great depth on heavy metal detox and the hard lessons he has learned. It is an intense interview full of very specific information (probably the most detailed heavy metal interview I’ve listened to!) He ends with this connection to Lyme disease:

I don’t know if anybody can ever truly get well from Lyme disease if there’s mercury and lead in the body if you’re not detoxing that. Because essentially what happened with my wife is as we started detoxing the mercury and lead, which she was also high levels of mercury and lead in her body, toxic levels of it, it started releasing the biofilm, which allowed her body and her immune system to say “Hey, there’s bugs underneath these blankets of biofilms.”

Signing up for the event is worth it just for this interview!

And a reminder that the price increases once the summit starts so make your purchase now if you are wanting to keep this valuable information for your learning library
https://qt247.isrefer.com/go/LYME16order/trudyscottcn/

Enjoy!

Tryptophan 500mg or Tryptophan Complete (by Lidtke)?

February 19, 2016 By Trudy Scott 143 Comments

tryptogold-lidke — Lidtke Tryptophan 500mg and Lidtke Tryptophan Complete (credit: Lidtke)

If you’ve been following me and have read my book The Antianxiety Food Solution and heard me speak at conferences and on summits, you know I have been an avid fan of the Lidtke tryptophan 500mg for years and years because of the quality and because it works SO well for my anxious clients. The Lidtke brand is the ONLY tryptophan I recommend (and I’m not paid to say this) for boosting serotonin levels. You can find it and the other amino acids I use on the supplements blog.

This week I had a great conversation with Ron Sturtz, Owner and product formulator of the products at Lidtke Technologies. We discussed tryptophan in general and concerns about it not going down the serotonin pathway and instead converting to quinolinic acid.

We talked extensively about the Lidtke Tryptophan Complete and why they include vitamin C, niacinaminde, P5P (the active form of vitamin B6), curcumin, lysine, magnesium glycinate, magnesium taurinate and folate (from lemon peel) in the product. As a result of that discussion I now want to learn more about the Lidtke Tryptophan Complete product for you and for my clients.

I’ll be sharing more information with links to the research as to why these ingredients are important in the serotonin pathway but here is the short version: with these ingredients and co-factors less tryptophan is reportedly needed and there is less chance of it going down the wrong pathway to produce neurotoxic quinolinic acid instead of going down the pathway to make serotonin. We obviously want the latter to happen.

I’ve also decided I want to interview Ron on the next Anxiety Summit. The biochemistry is too important not to share. Hearing him say “we are fanatical about safety!” makes me even more of a fan of this company and their products!

Anyway, according to Ron, you should need less of the Lidtke Tryptophan Complete. He shared that 500mg Lidtke Tryptophan is approximately equivalent to 350mg Lidtke Tryptophan Complete, since it has all the co-factors.

I asked for feedback in some Facebook groups I host and got this:

I’ve used the Tryptophan Complete product and actually like it a lot better than the 500mg version. The Tryptophan Complete gave a much deeper state of relaxation and a way more solid sleep than the 500 mg version. I thought I would try the latter [the 500mg] and although it is good, once it is done, I’m going to go back to the Lidke Tryptophan Complete. For me, it seems that the addition of the other ingredients really worked well for my body chemistry, leaving me feeling grounded, focused and well rested. 🙂

With the Tryptophan Complete she needed just 1 tablet (350mg) an hour before bed and with the Tryptophan 500 mg, she took 2 tabs (1000mg) an hour before bed.

My concerns right now would be individual reactions to any or all the other ingredients, since we all have very individualized needs. Someone did share this on one of my Facebook posts:

Can’t do the p5p! Makes me agitated.

I’m not yet sure what my final recommendations will be but these are my initial thoughts (which may be revised in the future):

I like to have my clients do a trial of the amino acids so they can find the ideal dose for their needs and right now I still feel this would still be the best approach to take – using 500mg tryptophan. Once you have figured out you do well with tryptophan-only product and have your dose, then consider reducing it slightly after about 2-3 weeks and adding in additional Tryptophan Complete.
The other option is this: if you don’t get the expected results with Tryptophan 500mg, then try the Tryptophan Complete. You may need the other ingredients for it to work well for you.
Don’t use the Tryptophan Complete if you know you react to any of the other ingredients
If you do better with higher doses of tryptophan don’t use more than the recommended 3x Tryptophan Complete because you’ll end up with too much of the other ingredients. Rather make up the difference with extra capsules of the 500mg Tryptophan

So for now, since I’m in learning mode/discovery mode I’d love your feedback.

I’d love to hear if you’ve used the Lidtke Tryptophan Complete product (personally or with clients/patients)? And what you’ve observed? Better or worse?

Have you also tried the Lidtke 500mg tryptophan in the past and noticed any difference when using the Lidtke Tryptophan Complete?

And how much of each did you find you needed?

So is it Tryptophan 500mg or Tryptophan Complete or a combination for you?

GABA, the calming amino acid: products and results

December 18, 2015 By Trudy Scott 57 Comments

gaba

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is a calming amino acid that when taken orally works to relax, calm, ease anxiety and social anxiety, quiet the mind, help with sleeping better, reduce neck tension, remove uneasiness and worry, and give hope.

Even though we have recent research that it does work we still hear the naysayers saying “why bother to take GABA, it just doesn’t work unless you have a leaky blood brain barrier.”

The blog post from last week – GABA, the calming amino acid: expert opinions generated so much interest and feedback, so I’m sharing some of this feedback so you can hear first-hand from people who have tried various GABA products. I’ve corrected typos but what follows is their actual feedback.

As you’ll see, it does work extremely well for many people. You’ll also see that there are many different products that work well. I’m sharing all of them even though I have my favorites.

There are some people that don’t benefit from it. I share some questions below and you may want to go through these if GABA doesn’t work for you.

Here is the feedback for many of the products that were mentioned. It starts with products I like/recommend and have experience with.

Allergy Research 200mg of Zen product contains 500mg GABA and 200mg Theanine 200 mg per 2 capsules. Dee likes the instant calm and compared how it worked as well as Xanax had worked for her in the past:

I have taken Xanax in the past for panic attacks. My functional medicine doctor suggested this product as I wanted a natural product. I was amazed how it works just like the Xanax did – instant calm feeling within 10 mins of taking 2 capsules. I use them as needed when I am having heightened stress and anxiety.

I’ve had a number of clients who really liked this GABA/theanine combination. This product together with Nutritional Fundamentals GABA-T SAP, also a GABA/theanine combination, comes highly recommended by me. They both contain a small amount of GABA, the theanine works really well with the GABA and the capsules, when opened on to the tongue, are pleasant tasting.

Source Naturals GABA Calm was only mentioned once which surprised me! Together with GABA/theanine combination products above, it’s the GABA product I use most with my clients because it’s sublingual, easy to take, great tasting and works so exceptionally well. It contains GABA, taurine and glycine, and a small amount of magnesium and tyrosine. The tyrosine means this product cannot be used if you have melanoma, high blood pressure or bipolar disorder. You can see all the amino acid precautions here.

Country Life GABA Relaxer contains GABA, taurine, glycine, inositol, niacin and vitamin B6. Melissa shares how much it helped her:

After my first panic attack I thankfully found Julia Ross’s work. I began taking 250 mg GABA every night. That really helped! Now a few years later I don’t need it every day, and I take a half pill during my cycle anxiety – more like uneasiness and over worried now, just as needed. I then heard you speak Trudy and share more info, bought your book, and put into place supportive lifestyle changes, and I have my life back. GABA is a great supplement for some of us!

I really like this product and used it when I worked with Julia Ross in her clinic. It was also a product I personally used when my anxiety and panic attacks started. I used this at night and GABA Calm in the day.

Seeking Health GABA 500mg was mentioned by a few people. Sherie said she loves it and takes it 2-4 times a day (she also takes theanine). This is what she shares:

It helps lower my overall anxious feeling all day (anxiety for no reason). I just started increasing the dose slightly and am beginning to take it a few times a day to help with social anxiety. I have lifelong problem of severe blushing and sweating from social anxiety and need that to stop.

I asked her if she’s looked into pyroluria and she said hadn’t but said it fits her to a T so this would be the next thing for her to address. It’s seldom just one underlying cause and the great thing is that the zinc, vitamin B6 and evening primrose oil of the pyroluria protocol help us make more GABA (and other brain chemicals).

I’d like to add that 500mg can be a high amount for many anxious individuals so it’s not something I typically start with. I like to have my clients start on either Source Naturals GABA Calm (which has 125mg of GABA) or one of the GABA/theanine combination products that have around 200mg GABA, and increase as needed.

I recommend GABA over pharmaGABA because over the years I’ve simply found more people seem to do better on GABA. But clearly, pharmaGABA does work for some individuals.

Thorne PharmaGABA-100 contains 100mg pharmaGABA and Cheryl shares how this product works great for her:

I usually only take it at night only when I know I need it, to quiet my mind and relax my body so I can sleep better. I need it less now because I am following MTHFR and adrenal fatigue supplement protocols and diet.

PharmaGABA Stress Relax from Natural Factors is another pharmaGABA product and Gina chewed two 100mg tablets and said this is how they helped:

It changed my life in minutes! Take it every day now. No more hopelessness!

April also finds that the Natural Factors pharmaGABA works great for her:

I take 100mg a day for about a week and then take time off until I feel I need it again or I feel I have too much. I know if I take too much, I get spacey, unmotivated, depressed even. Helps a ton with head/neck tension and anxiety.

I just want to add that this product does contain sugar (3.5 g with 300mg pharmaGABA) and fruit flavors (which sensitive folks may have an issue with) so this one would not be high on my list of recommendations. But if it’s the only one that works for you then go for it!

Quicksilver GABA is a liquid that contains GABA, theanine and sunflower lecithin, and is promoted as being a very effective form of delivery. Candy shares:

It is a liquid that I keep in the fridge. I squirt and leave it under my tongue for a couple minutes. It has been helpful.

I look forward to hearing if you or your clients have found this to be superior to other forms. I’d like add that it’s not suitable for children and alcoholics due to the ethanol.

A few other products were mentioned (neither of which I’ve had feedback on until now):

Source Naturals Theanine Serine which has GABA, theanine, taurine, magnesium and holy basil.
Pure Tranquility from Pure Encapsulations contains GABA, theanine and glycine. One person was suspicious that it was triggering migraines. I wonder if it could be related to one of the other ingredients like the natural apple flavor, potassium sorbate or purified stevia extract?

GABA won’t work for everyone and a few people said GABA didn’t work at all.

Karen appreciated me dispelling the blood-brain-barrier-GABA myth and pointing out that phenibut is not GABA. But GABA didn’t work for her and she shared this:

I have tried GABA, my mother swears by it and my husband uses it. It has a calming effect on me, but I like holy basil better.

I checked with her and she hasn’t tried it sublingually, which I find to be more effective for most of my clients. This could be something like Source Naturals GABA Calm or one of the GABA /theanine combination products opened on to tongue and held there for 1-2 minutes.

GABA also didn’t work for Sheri and she said:

I’m one of those folks for whom it seems to do nothing. Zip. I have found some relief using niacinamide, however.

Dr. Jonathan Prousky really likes niacinamide for anxiety and I find it helps a lot with my clients who have runaway thoughts and paranoia.

If GABA doesn’t work for you that’s fine, not everything works for everyone. But if you really feel GABA should work for you or feel you need additional support for your anxiety then I wouldn’t give up and ask these questions:

do you have an underactive thyroid (amino acids may not be as effective)
did you take it sublingually (it’s often more effective taken this way)
did you take it away from protein (it needs to be taken this way)
how much did you take (amounts can vary by person)
do you have low GABA symptoms/physical anxiety (it will only work if you do) or
are you taking a benzodiazepine (for some people on benzos many supplements don’t work or are just too much for them)

Here is the facebook post if you’d like to read the whole discussion. I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to this great discussion!

I’ll cover phenibut (which is not GABA) in a future blog post. It’s always a hot topic and is not something I recommend but more on that next time.

A heads up that I’ve shared links to the products that were mentioned so you can check them out. Some of the links are from Emerson, the online distributer I use. If you’d like to order from them you can find out how to set up an account here.

Now I’d love to hear from you. Have you used any of these GABA products (or had your clients use them) with good results? How much did you/they use and what were the results?

If GABA doesn’t help do you say “yes” to any of the 6 above questions?

How to do an amino acid trial for anxiety

October 9, 2015 By Trudy Scott 184 Comments

The best way to figure out if you have a particular brain chemical imbalance and if you’ll benefit from a certain amino acid, is to do a trial. This is something I do with all my clients with anxiety, when we’re working one-one-one and with those in group programs, and it works really well.

Because the effects of amino acids can be felt within a few minutes to a few days, it’s easy to confirm whether you do in fact have a deficiency in a certain area and whether you’ll benefit from supplementing with the associated amino acid.

How does doing a trial work?

I have my clients complete the Amino Acids Mood Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution and check off their symptoms on the low serotonin, low GABA, low catecholamines, low endorphins, and low blood sugar sections. The rating uses scale of 1-10 with 10 being worst.
I also have my clients review the Amino Acids Precautions and we figure out which amino acids they can and can’t use
I have them do a trial of the amino acid that resonates the most with them. For example if they have really bad obsessive thoughts, anxiety in the head, negative self-talk we’ll start with trying to address low serotonin with tryptophan or 5-HTP. If they resonate more with physical tension and overwhelm, we’ll start with trying to address low GABA with GABA.
We trial one amino acid at a time and use them opened onto the tongue or chewed (and held there for 1 to 2 minutes) for getting immediate feedback.
I have my client rate themselves before the trial and then afterwards (10 is worst), looking for benefits and how many notches they improved. This helps us figure out how much to start with.
- If it’s a big improvement (like 4 or 5 notches) they may start on 1 of the lowest dose (for example 1 x 500mg tryptophan or 1 x 125 mg GABA).
- If they see a small improvement (like 1 or 2 notches) we may start with the lowest dose and give them a range to try over the next week (for example 1-2 x 500mg tryptophan or 1-2 x 125 mg GABA)
During the trial and over the next week we also look for possible negative effects, such as a headache or feeling light-headed. If the adverse effects of supplemental amino acids are uncomfortable, taking 1,000 mg of vitamin C is an effective short-term antidote.
If someone is very sensitive to small amount of supplements, we may have them do a trial with a dab or two rather than a whole capsule and start really low during the next week.
We typically allow a week to see how the selected amino acid is working and adjust up or down during that week until we find the optimal amount.

What are the advantages of doing a trial?

You are able to target the amino acid for your specific needs – I write more about this here: Targeted individual amino acids: what do we really mean?
You get feedback immediately – the amino acid works or doesn’t
You are able to figure out what your starting dose of the amino should be and are able to adjust upwards accordingly
You get more in tune with your symptoms and how certain amino acids affect you
You can use the results (provided you log them – this is something I recommend and encourage) if you ever need a tune up in the future

Which amino acids have you found to be effective? Did you do a trial to figure out which one to try and how did that work for you? We’d love to hear in the comments below?

Have you got questions about doing a trial? Feel free to ask in the comments below.

If this information is useful but also sounds a little overwhelming, check out the The Amazing Aminos for Anxiety homestudy program. This homestudy group program provides guidance with using each of the targeted individual amino acids and how to do a trial.