benzodiazepines

Low zinc and low GABA contributing to anxiety in children and women

October 7, 2016 By Trudy Scott 18 Comments

low-zinc-gaba-video

Dr. Nicole Beurkens and I sit down together at the end of the recent Integrative Medicine for Mental Health conference to talk about anxiety and the impact of both low zinc and low GABA. Nicole shares her perspectives on working with children and I share what I see with the adult women I work with. We don’t specifically talk about older adults or men but it’s applicable to everyone.

Dr. Nicole Beurkens PhD, a special educator, clinical psychologist and nutritionist, is author of the new book Life Will Get Better: Simple Solutions for Parents of Children with Attention, Anxiety, Mood and Behavior Challenges

In case you’re new to my community, this is my book: The Antianxiety Food Solution: How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings

Here are some of the highlights from our conversation about zinc:

Zinc is a very common deficiency and can be a contributing factor in both anxiety and ADHD
Zinc is depleted by sugar consumption, stress and exercise
Zinc sulfate used as a zinc challenge is one way to determine your zinc status
Nicole’s response to the zinc challenge: fuzzy, strong yukky taste – which means good zinc levels
Most people coming to the booth had very little reaction to the zinc challenge – which means low zinc levels
Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 are used to figure out your zinc status (you can read about the zinc taste test here)
My response to the zinc challenge: metallic, gross, horrible and I got goosebumps – – which means good zinc levels
Nicole shares that most of kids and young adults at her clinic have level 1 or level 2 zinc status, and it’s an easy test to do with kids
Many people at the conference were on zinc and were surprised they were not tasting the zinc sulfate. Other than sugar consumption, stress and exercise, low HCl (stomach acid) can affect your absorption. I also found that many of these folks were on a gluten-free or Paleo or GAPs diet and eating a lot of nuts or using nut flours. Nuts are high in copper and this can counteract the zinc.
We talk about the importance of good quality zinc supplements and finding a zinc product and multi that is copper-free. Here are the products I recommend.

Then we talk about GABA Calm, a calming amino acid that we both love! Here are some of the highlights from this section:

It’s a lozenge/sublingual, is easy to take and helps in situations where the anxiety can quickly escalate into panic attacks. Nicole likes the peppermint flavor and finds many of the children and young adults she works with prefer the orange flavor. Personally I also prefer the orange flavor.
For adults, if you use wine at the end of the day to de-stress, you may be low in GABA and self-medicating, and using something like GABA-Calm often helps.
Moms will take their GABA Calm with them and use as needed and give to their kids if needed too.
I share how effective it is for Lyme anxiety and how it can be used instead of benzodiazepines (I interviewed Trish about this on the recent Anxiety Summit)
GABA Calm can help when you’re on a benzodiazepine and even very severe anxiety or depression can be alleviated with diet and nutrients.
Nicole shares how common benzodiazepine prescriptions are in teens and young adults; and the issues with dependence and wanting to quit but not being able to. It can sometimes take years to reduce the medications.
I share about the first World Benzo Awareness Day on July 11 – so many people are in trouble and are not cautioned.

We were both so encouraged being at this conference and seeing so many physicians, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, psychiatric nurse practitioners and others practitioners who are really interested in learning more about these approaches. They are seeing the same issues we see with some of the medications (and not getting to the root cause of anxiety) and they are excited to expand their knowledge base. It’s just so exciting to see the pendulum swinging!

We both really appreciate the Integrative Medicine for Mental Health conference. If you’re a practitioner and haven’t attended it’s a must-attend event. If you were there you know what I mean. It was also super to meet so many of you after my talk and at my booth. If you’re not a practitioner do tell your doctor about it. Save the date for 2017: September 28 – October 1 in Orange County, California.

We did this as a live video feed on Facebook hence the references to posting questions and Facebook. It was also the end of the event and the people next to us were packing boxes and using a lot of tape so apologies for the weird noises.

Feel free to share your results with zinc and GABA Calm and any questions you may have.

World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day – say NO to Benzodiazepines for anxiety!

July 11, 2016 By Trudy Scott 17 Comments

world benzo awareness day july 11 2016

Today, July 11^th, is World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day

This date was designated in recognition of Prof. Heather Ashton’s significant contributions to the benzodiazepine cause over so many decades; together with all of the help she has given to so many people around the world.

In honor of World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day, also called W-BAD I’ve decided to re-release a webinar I did last year: Say NO to Benzodiazepines for anxiety [CLICK THIS LINK TO FIND THE WEBINAR]

say no-to-benzo

Here is an excerpt of the overview from: Say NO to benzodiazepines for anxiety!

Benzodiazepines are a class of psychoactive drugs that work by enhancing the effect of the calming neurotransmitter GABA, and are used to treat anxiety, insomnia, pain, muscle spasms and a range of other conditions. They are widely prescribed, particularly among elderly patients and may even be used off-label with children with autism.

Use of this medication is very controversial. We know long term use leads to tolerance, dependence, and many adverse psychological effects and even physical effects. Short term use is generally considered safe but even using them for 2 – 4 weeks can lead to problems for certain individuals.

This presentation provides an overview of benzodiazepines; when they are used; who they are prescribed to; details about tolerance, dependence, and the many adverse effects; how to taper, including nutritional support during the taper; what to do instead of saying yes to a benzodiazepine prescription in the first place; and additional resources.

Here is one of the benzo stories I share in the webinar:

world benzo awareness day story

We know that some individuals are much more affected than others when it comes to tolerance and withdrawal. Here are some other possible factors that may affect tolerance and withdrawal:

world benzo awareness day liver enzymes

During season 4 of the Anxiety Summit, Lisa Bloomquist talked about Antibiotic Induced Anxiety – How Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Induce Psychiatric Illness Symptoms. During this interview she shared how:

People who have gone through benzodiazepine withdrawal before should never take a fluoroquinolone because essentially it can throw people right back into the benzo withdrawal – because it has very similar effects on people’s GABA’s receptors as what happens when people go through benzodiazepine withdrawal.

I would love to see a survey of people who have experienced adverse effects when using benzodiazepines as prescribed or when tapering. Could these be some of the contributing factors?

Taking Valium/ diazepam and have the CYP2C19 polymorphism (about 10-20% of Western populations are defective in genes of the CYP liver enzyme superfamily)
Taking Xanax/ alprazolam and have CYP3A5 polymorphism (about 10-20% of Western populations are defective in genes of the CYP liver enzyme superfamily)
Taking any benzodiazepine and also
- Taking oral contraceptives
- Taking a course of antibiotics
- Taking a course of one of the fluoroquinolone antibiotics
- On an SSRI prescription
- Taking a course of antifungal medications
- Drinking alcohol on a regular basis
- On an opioid such as oxycodone
- Drinking grapefruit juice on a regular basis

For withdrawal/tapering, the best resource I know of is Benzo.org.uk which contains the Ashton Manual. You will need to educate yourself and your doctor and/or find a doctor willing to help you with the adjusted prescription. It does need to be done very very very slowly.

Finding a good support group like Benzobuddies.org is very helpful for many of my clients. Just be aware that this group and some of the other support groups say no to any supplements during the taper process. I find it to be very individualized and have many clients that see great benefit by using GABA, tryptophan, zinc, magnesium and other nutrients. (You can read more about this here: Anxiety and the amino acids overview)

That being said some people tapering can only tolerate very low amounts of the amino acids (like a dab or pinch from a capsule) and some can’t tolerate any supplements and do better with essential oils, yoga, light therapy and dietary changes.

You can find more information on World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day on Benzo Case: Raising Awareness about Benzodiazepine Drugs (widely prescribed for anxiety, stress, sleep, pain and much more…) and additional stories on the World Benzo Awareness facebook page.

World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day was conceived by the acting Chair Barry Halsam, former Chair of Oldham TRANX, and jointly organized by Wayne Douglas, founder of benzo.case.com / benzo-case-japan.com

Please read share so your loved ones are informed and can say NO to benzos!

If you have experienced adverse effects when taking or tapering from benzodiazepines I’d love some feedback on the above possible contributing factors.

Benzodiazepines do patients more harm than good

September 15, 2015 By Trudy Scott 91 Comments

Dr. Nicole Beurkens recently shared her experiences about benzodiazepines on the blog: Say NO to Benzodiazepines for anxiety!

In my experience as a clinical psychologist benzodiazepines do patients more harm than good. While it is appealing to think that a pill can quickly and effectively remove symptoms of anxiety, panic, and/or insomnia, the reality is that there are significant negative long-term consequences for most people who use these medications.

It is not uncommon for me to have patients on multiple psychotropic medications, including benzos, due to symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, or other mental health issues.

Patients can quickly become dependent on these medications, and they are often prescribed higher doses over time with diminishing returns.

Some patients reach a point where they are not having symptom relief with the benzos, but they cannot function at all without them.

This issue is fresh in my mind because I have a 24-year-old male patient who is entering a rehab program next week due to addiction and substance use issues. The gateway drugs that led to these addiction issues for him were Ativan and Adderall prescribed to him since he was 14 years old. He now sees that these drugs have done a significant amount of damage, but we are having to admit him to a long-term treatment program to get off of these medications (and other substances) safely.

I maintain that if prescribers fully informed patients of the risks involved with these medications most people would never start taking them. We need to do more to educate patients and practitioners about the realities of these medications, as well as safer alternatives.

I am now devoting a significant amount of time and attention to this issue not just for benzodiazepines, but psychiatric medications in general. Especially where children are concerned, parents and professionals needs to have appropriate facts about these drugs and understand the many non-medication options that are available. I’m writing about this and providing resources at my site http://www.DrBeurkens.com for anyone who is interested. Thanks, Trudy, for getting this information out to more people!

As she says, it’s so important that we need to do more to educate patients and practitioners about the realities of these medications, as well as safer alternatives. Here is a recent blog post where she does just that: Beware the Rush to Prescribe

I appreciate that Dr. Beurkens is now devoting a significant amount of time and attention to this issue not just for benzodiazepines, but psychiatric medications in general. Her motto is to provide “Solutions to End Overmedication of Children with Developmental or Mental Health Concerns.”