low blood sugar

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

February 23, 2018 By Trudy Scott 23 Comments

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:

gut health and the microbiome – has he picked up parasites or other gut bugs or been impacted by foodborne pathogens
diet and the importance of getting back to eating a real whole foods quality diet in order to provide the body with the best nutrients. An example from a recent study report that blueberries boost serotonin and may help ease PTSD
addressing low vitamin D: “Through its association with testosterone production, vitamin D deficiency may increase the risk for posttraumatic stress disorder”
removal of gluten, sugar and caffeine – all of which can contribute to anxiety and cause nutrient depletions

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.

Glutamine for calming, intense sugar cravings, gut healing and low blood sugar

September 13, 2017 By Trudy Scott 29 Comments

Today I’m reviewing glutamine for the calming properties and to also share how glutamine helps reduce intense sugar cravings, helps with gut healing and prevents low blood sugar (which can actually cause anxiety and panic attacks).

I’m also sharing some additional resources for you on glutamine.

Here are all the symptoms we see with low blood sugar:

Crave sugar, starch or alcohol any time during the day
Irritable, shaky, headachey – especially if going too long between meals
Intense cravings for sweets
Lightheaded if meals are missed
Eating relieves fatigue
Agitated, easily upset
Nervous, anxious, panic attacks

Together with low serotonin and low GABA, addressing low blood sugar is one of the most effective approach I use with clients to help ease anxiety. We achieve this with the use of glutamine and by controlling blood sugar by starting the day with a breakfast that includes quality animal protein.

Glutamine also helps eliminate sugar cravings and the strong desire for something sweet when opened directly on to the tongue. This blog and video explains it all: Glutamine for low blood sugar and calming effects

watch this video to hear how powerful glutamine was for Nicole – she saw results in around 5 minutes. I really like to get testimonials like this because when I talk about the profound and quick effects of the amazing amino acids it almost sounds too good to be true! But in this case (and the majority of cases), it really is true!

Nicole says “I get irritable, I get shaky and I get to the point that if I don’t get food NOW I think I’m going to hurt something!”

She tried the glutamine and in under 5 minutes she went from that feeling to: “I’m ok. I feel happy, I feel calm, I feel I can make it longer without needing food right away.”

She finished up by saying “I’m impressed at how well that worked for me”

When I mentioned I was working on this blog (on facebook) I had plenty of questions about this sugar craving benefit we see with glutamine. Keep in mind that low blood sugar is just ONE of the root causes of sugar cravings and glutamine will only work if the cravings are driven by low blood sugar. The way to figure it out is to do the amino acid mood questionnaire

Here is a simple way to help you figure it out:

if you have to eat sugar when you haven’t eaten in awhile it’s likely low blood sugar and glutamine on the tongue stops the sugar desire on the spot
if you stress-eat your sugar cravings are likely due to low GABA, and GABA will stop the stress-eating and calm you down
if you eat sugar or carbs to feel happy (and especially from late afternoon onwards) then your sugar cravings are likely due to low serotonin, and tryptophan stops the cravings and boosts mood and reduces anxiety
if you eat sugar for an energy boost then it’s likely due to low catecholamines and tyrosine will stop those cravings and give you a mood and energy boost
if you are a comfort-eater then it’s likely due to low endorphins and DPA will stop that “I deserve-it-reward-eating” and also give you a hug-like mood boost

When I asked for feedback one person felt glutamine made her depressed. This was new to me but I never say never and suggested she look at what else was in the product she used. I had one client feel more anxious on glutamine and it was due to one of the fillers.

Glutamine converts to GABA in most people and this is another way it helps calm you. For some people it converts to too much glutamate and can be a bit too stimulating. I’ll have these people use less or only use it during the day or not use it all. As with all nutrients used as supplements there is no one size fits all.

Dr. Josh Axe shares that glutamine is critical for any program designed to heal leaky gut and I write about this in this blog: Glutamine for healing a leaky gut

as a functional amino acid with multiple key physiological roles, glutamine holds great promise in protecting the gut from atrophy and injury under various stress conditions in mammals and other animals.

Here are some of the actual glutamine products I recommend and use with clients:

Pure Encapsulations L-Glutamine 500mg: L-glutamine (free-form) 500 mg, vitamin C (as ascorbyl palmitate) 5 mg. The capsules can be swallowed or the capsule can be opened on to the tongue
Designs for Health Glutamine Powder: This is a powdered glutamine that you can use right on your tongue or even mixed in water. The taste is quite pleasant.

As with all the amino acids, when using glutamine:

Start low (500mg is a typical starting dose) and increase as needed.
Do a trial to determine if the anxiety and sugar cravings are in fact due to low blood sugar. I always do this with clients before starting any amino acid. Be sure to read how to do an amino acid trial. It has the amino acid questionnaire, the precautions and information on how to use targeted individual amino acids.
Take between meals and away from protein for the best effects

The blog has many other posts on glutamine – simply use the “search” function to find them.

This blog post is part of the series of amino acid product reviews:

The resources in this blog and my other articles are intended to be used in conjunction with my book: The Antianxiety Food Solution – How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings. If you do not have my book I highly recommend getting it and reading it before jumping in and taking the amino acid supplements:

There is a complete chapter on the amino acids and one for pyroluria, plus information on real whole food, sugar and blood sugar, gluten, digestion and much more.

You can find the glutamine products and the others I recommend here on this blog: The Antianxiety Food Solution Amino Acid and Pyroluria Supplements

I’d love to hear if glutamine has worked for you and how it’s helped? With low blood sugar symptoms and anxiety? For intense sugar cravings? For gut healing?

If you have questions please post them below or on the supplements blog

Depression as a black dog that comes in and lays down beside you at night

May 26, 2017 By Trudy Scott 18 Comments

Trevor King’s interview about his journey with depression – on That Vitamin Summit – is not to be missed if you are depressed, have ever suffered with depression or if you have a loved one or friend with depression. He shares how he feels a sense of complete hopelessness at times:

It descends like a black cloud that makes me almost sort of retreat into myself. And my eyes will know and I don’t want to take the world in. I don’t want to get out of bed at times. Actually, that’s one of the things that … one of the only things that actually helps me, is going to bed and lying down.

Winston Churchill famously described it as this black dog who’d come in and lay beside him at night.

“From the moment my eyes opened in the morning, I am engaged in a battle. I must protect myself with armor against ongoing, negative, intrusive thoughts that flood into my brain, while sending my prefrontal cortex, which is the home of logical thought, the green light to make decisions and take charge of my brain’s limbic system. That is, before the fear center completely spazzes out. I spend more time and energy chasing and maintaining good health than I do in any other aspect of my life. My marriage, family or work. Because I know that everything meaningful and good around me depends on a stable base. And I hope and pray that one day, I don’t have to fight so hard for my sanity.”

He talks about how he is affected by sugar and low blood sugar, and how he’s found some benefits with niacin, chromium, magnesium and tryptophan (when he’s consistent with taking them!).

Trevor actually talks about the GABA interview I did with him a few days earlier and how he’s very interested in what he learned. He is planning to do a trial of GABA to see if it can help him further.

Here is a snippet from my interview on GABA (so do tune in to this interview if you’re new to my work and the targeted amino acids):

GABA is really quite profound. When I had my anxiety, GABA was my lifesaver. It completely turned my life around. Within three days of using GABA, the panic attacks stopped and the anxiety started to go down, and then I had to look for all the other root causes. It worked immediately so I’m a complete believer, just because I’ve experienced it myself. You’ll hear a lot of people say GABA won’t work. It doesn’t cross the blood/brain barrier so it’s not going to have an impact.

We’ve now got research showing that there may be ways that it crosses the blood/brain barrier. We’ve also got research showing that we have GABA receptors in various parts of our body. We’ve got a lot in our muscles, and with low GABA symptoms you’ll have physical tension.

The beautiful thing is it works. It works quickly, and if you have these low GABA symptoms, which is the physical anxiety, which could be panic attacks. It could be stress eating, it could be drinking to calm down. If you are the kind of person who needs wine to wind down at the end of the day, that’s a big sign that you may need GABA. You take the GABA and you just feel this physical tension release from you, you know you’re onto something good.

I just wish I’d known about his struggles with depression at the time of our interview – I would have talked more about tyrosine for dopamine support (for curl up in bed depression) and DPA for endorphin boosting (for low endorphins weepy depression).

I did discuss gluten and would consider this especially since his daughter has issues with it. I talked about low serotonin and mentioned Lidtke tryptophan. If someone doesn’t do well on another brand I’d have them trial the Lidtke brand. I’d also look into SIBO – I have SIBO and rice and grains make me feel flat and low and I see this often with clients. Finally I’d look into lithium orotate for keeping an even mood.

Trevor shares these wise words at the end of his interview:

You do find that when you actually bite the bullet and share it with people,

people are very, very understanding. And actually, you’re amazed that many people have been there themselves.

I could not agree more which is why I’ve always shared my journey with anxiety. I appreciate him for being willing to share his story with depression!

If you’re not already registered here is the registration link for That Vitamin Summit

Feel free to post questions or feedback below – and share your story with anxiety or depression if you feel drawn to do so

Anxiety and Hypoglycemia Symptoms Improve with Diet Modification

August 12, 2016 By Trudy Scott 15 Comments

strawberry-smoothie

A paper published by the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine last month supports what I see with my clients on a daily basis: when it comes to anxiety caused by low blood sugar (or hypoglycemia) the correct diet can have a huge impact. And this means is the inclusion of enough protein, fats and fiber, especially at breakfast.

Here is the abstract from the paper: Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Hypoglycemia Symptoms Improved with Diet Modification

Observational evidence suggests that a relationship may exist between high glycemic index diets and the development of anxiety and depression symptoms; however, as no interventional studies assessing this relationship in a psychiatric population have been completed, the possibility of a causal link is unclear.

AB is a 15-year-old female who presented with concerns of generalized anxiety disorder and hypoglycemia symptoms. Her diet consisted primarily of refined carbohydrates. The addition of protein, fat, and fiber to her diet resulted in a substantial decrease in anxiety symptoms as well as a decrease in the frequency and severity of hypoglycemia symptoms.

A brief return to her previous diet caused a return of her anxiety symptoms, followed by improvement when she restarted the prescribed diet.

This case strengthens the hypothesis that dietary glycemic index may play a role in the pathogenesis or progression of mental illnesses such as generalized anxiety disorder and subsequently that dietary modification as a therapeutic intervention in the treatment of mental illness warrants further study.

Here are some details about this case report for AB, who was a 15-year-old female student of south-Asian descent:

she had anxiety (rated as 8/10 with 10 being the highest level of anxiety), worried excessively, experienced heart palpitations, shakiness, discomfort in her stomach, and muscle tension and often missed school because of how she felt
she experienced symptoms of hypoglycemia/low blood sugar and when her blood sugar dipped too low she experienced muscle weakness, headaches, nausea, anxiety, and poor concentration
when she felt anxious she would eat she would eat chocolate, chips, fruit and when her blood sugar dipped she would eat a granola bar

As you can see from her typical daily diet she was eating mostly carbohydrates, with very little protein, fat or fiber:

Breakfast: fruit smoothie containing fruit, fruit juice, and water.
Morning snack: bagel with margarine.
Lunch: pasta or white rice with vegetables.
Afternoon snack: granola bar or cookies or gummy candies.
After school meal: white pasta; it may include meat.
Dinner: white rice or spaghetti; it may include meat.
Evening snack: cookies and toast.
Beverages: 2 liters of water, 1 cup of juice, 1 cup of lactose-free milk, and 1 cup of tea.

She made the following changes in her diet adding protein at breakfast, lunch, dinner and at snack time, and adding healthy fats like flax seeds, olive oil and nut butters:

Breakfast: includes a smoothie containing fruit, water, 1 scoop of protein powder, and 1 tablespoon of flax seeds or olive oil.
Lunch and dinner: include a serving of protein (meat, legume, and soy) and a serving of vegetables.
Snacks: include protein when possible (e.g., apple with sunflower seed butter, vegetable sticks with hummus, and pumpkin seeds).
Continue to eat carbohydrate-containing snacks as needed for the management of hypoglycemia symptoms.

Over a 4-week period she made a few simple dietary changes and saw profound results: her anxiety decreased significantly from 8/10 to 4 or 5/10, she had more energy, she had fewer headaches, better concentration and improved mood.

The interesting factor is that when she slipped up for a week and went back to her old diet she felt more anxious within a day, but felt better within 2 days of adding back protein, fats and fiber.

These results are very typical with my clients and getting a handle on stabilizing blood sugar is the first thing I do with all my clients. Believe it or not, for some people this is ALL they need to do. I would add that I recommend making these changes in conjunction with the removal of gluten and caffeine.

I also like to see animal protein (and fat) as part of the snacks: like grass-fed beef jerky, grass-fed beef sticks, boiled eggs or pemmican. AB was allergic to eggs, nuts, and fish so these were not an option for her. Soy is often as issue so would need to be watched.

So this case study supports the fact that we must not forget the basics like blood sugar control. It’s very common for me to get questions like this on my blog: “I’m anxious, which amino acid should I use?” I always reply: focus first on real whole food and eating to balance blood sugar, remove sugar, gluten and caffeine, and then look at doing a trial of one or more of the amino acids

I do like to make things easier for my clients and this is where an amino acid like glutamine is very helpful in terms of providing added blood sugar stability, a calming effect and help with gut healing

Adding the glutamine and also doing a trial of an amino acid like GABA Calm may get the anxiety down a few more notches because we are always aiming for zero.

Addressing adrenal issues (which are closely related to blood sugar issues), and of course addressing all the other possible factors like thyroid health, gut health, other food sensitivities and so on would be the next step.

Have you see the positive impacts of keeping your blood sugar stable? What makes the most impact for you?

If you are a practitioner, how do you help your clients or patients address blood sugar issues?

Glutamine for low blood sugar and calming effects

April 29, 2013 By Trudy Scott 85 Comments

Nicole is an NTP (Nutritional Therapy Practitioner) and fire-fighter paramedic and has problems with blood sugar control. Diabetes runs in her family. We met at the recent 2013 NTA (Nutritional Therapy Association conference) where I had a booth to promote my services and book The Antianxiety Food Solution. I also presented on the Role of Inflammation in Anxiety, Stress and Depression – which covered amongst other factors, the amino acids.

Nicole came by my booth after my presentation and she wanted to try the glutamine because of low blood sugar symptoms. The results she experienced were great!

You can watch this video to hear how powerful glutamine was for Nicole – she saw results in around 5 minutes. I really like to get testimonials like this because when I talk about the profound and quick effects of the amazing amino acids it almost sounds too good to be true! But in this case (and the majority of cases), it really is true!

Nicole says “I get irritable, I get shaky and I get to the point that if I don’t get food NOW I think I’m going to hurt something!”

She tried the glutamine and in under 5 minutes she went from that feeling to: “I’m ok. I feel happy, I feel calm, I feel I can make it longer without needing food right away.”

She finished up by saying “I’m impressed at how well that worked for me” and she plans to share the benefits of this amino acid with her clients who may have blood sugar issues and the associated symptoms of shakiness between meals, irritability, a frantic need for something to eat and often an intense desire for something sweet.

Signs of low blood sugar include:

Irritability, agitation, nervousness
Shaky between meals or when you skip a meal
Poor memory, focus and fatigue
Intense sweet craving at various times of the day
Feeling stressed & overwhelmed
Waking in the night (low blood sugar is one of many causes of insomnia)

When you have stable blood sugar, you will feel grounded, experience less overwhelm and stress and have no cravings – if your cravings are blood sugar related. Cravings can also be due to low serotonin, low endorphins, low catecholamines and low GABA, and even as a result of candida or yeast overgrowth. For many of my clients it may even be a combination of the above.

Naturally, making food changes can help a great deal as you can read in this blog post on low blood sugar and anxiety.