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GABA Calm is in short supply – what other GABA products are there for easing anxiety?

January 22, 2021 By Trudy Scott 67 Comments

Sheila contacted me via the blog asking about Source Naturals GABA Calm ~ I am from Brussels/Belgium. I cannot find the Source Naturals GABA Calm sublingual anymore. The one you recommend. I’ve been recommending this for years to clients since I read your book “The Antianxiety Food Solution.” I already contacted Source Naturals a few times but no response. Do you know why they have stopped selling this in Europe?

After doing some checking around and contacting Source Naturals it seems there is a world-wide shortage of Source Naturals GABA Calm 125mg lozenges. When I reached out to them I was told it’s indefinite (with no reason why) and to check back at the end of January. Two other people were told it would be available mid-January and mid-February so the messages are mixed.

Today I’m sharing some other GABA product options until GABA Calm comes back or in case it doesn’t or if there is another shortage in the future. It’s such a pity since it is so effective for so many folks as you can see in these blogs:

I also posted this message on Facebook to let my community there know and to find out what they were using instead.

This is some of the feedback I received:

Mary ~ Oh my goodness! I just found it in my local Vitamin Shoppe tonight! There was one bottle left.
Diana ~I noticed. My son uses this, I’m a little worried.

I shared that there are other products that will hopefully work as well and asked everyone who was using something else: Do you use it opened onto the tongue or swallowed? And if you’ve used Source Naturals GABA Calm in the past how does it compare for you?

A number of people said they like Thorne pharmaGABA capsules, someone said she like Now GABA Powder and a few people like Natural Factors pharmaGABA chewables:

Tara ~ I’ve only used Thorne PharmaGABA because of how it’s derived [fermented]. I just swallow the capsule and I’m immediately calm within 5-15 mins. I was previously prescribed a benzo & this is much better. 100mg is all I take when I feel a panic attack coming on. I’ve been thru a few years of absolute hell of benzo withdrawal coming off of my klonopin prescription. The GABA feels almost the exact same as the benzo except the benzo would actually cause rebound panic attacks (I didn’t realize it at the time) & the GABA does not.
Jane ~I use Now Foods GABA powder. A little under the tongue works well.I have found both effective. Powder good for rapid effect at home (1/4 teaspoon as needed). GABA Calm good to take out with you.
Meesh ~ I use the Natural Factors pharmaGABA (100mg) and it works great. I use it in combo with L-theanine 250mg (which also contains 20mg of magnesium)… and the combination is magic

I’ve updated the supplements blog with the above products and a few additional similar products so you have many options to select from based on your unique needs and taste preferences, and what’s available at the time:

Thorne PharmaGABA-100: the label says Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) 100 mg but it also states that the product uses Pharma Foods International’s Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (PharmaGABA®). This is also pleasant-tasting when opened on to the tongue and is most effective when used this way.
Thorne PharmaGABA-250: as above but contains 250mg of PharmaGABA®. This is also pleasant-tasting when opened on to the tongue and is most effective when used this way.
Designs for Health PharmaGABA Chewables: gamma-amino butyric acid (pharmaGABA) 200 mg in 2 chewable tablets. It’s quick-acting and convenient like GABA-Calm because it’s chewable. This does contain xylitol, natural flavors, stevia and some other ingredients so taste may be a factor and xylitol can cause gas, bloating and diarrhea when too much is consumed.
Natural Factors PharmaGABA: gamma-amino butyric acid (pharmaGABA) 200 mg in 2 chewable tablets. It’s quick-acting and convenient like GABA-Calm because it’s chewable. However it also contains organic cane sugar and natural fruit flavors so it’s a little too candy-like for my preference, especially if you have low GABA-related sugar cravings. Also 2 chewable tablets – 4g of carbs which is almost 1 teaspoon of sugar!
[January 22, 2021: I’ve included this as a stand-by option for occasional use until Source Naturals GABA Calm is readily available again or if Designs for Health PharmaGABA Chewables are not available.]
Now Foods GABA Powder: 1/4 Level Teaspoon (500mg). This is pleasant-tasting when opened on to the tongue and is most effective when used this way. The only challenge with powder like this is making sure you don’t use too much by mistake. And it’s especially challenging when you only need 100mg.
Quicksilver Scientific Liposomal GABA with L-Theanine: 2ml (4 Pumps) provides (Gamma Amino Butyric Acid) 240mg, L-Theanine 100mg and Phosphatidylcholine 120mg (from purified sunflower seed lecithin). It does contain ethanol so would not be suitable for alcoholics or young children.

I do want to add that Nutritional Fundamentals for Health GABA-T SAP is still a firm favorite of mine: gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) 300 mg, l-Theanine 150 mg. This is pleasant-tasting when opened on to the tongue and works very well when GABA Calm can’t be used (because of the tyrosine or taste or sugar alcohols). It is also often used with GABA Calm – like GABA Calm in the day and GABA-T SAP at night or some combination. I find best results when it is used opened on to the tongue and it offers a feeling of calm focus. It could easily be used as a substitute for GABA Calm in the short-term.

In case you’re new to GABA you can read more about it here: GABA for the physical-tension and stiff-and-tense-muscles type of anxiety.

Is Source Naturals GABA Calm a favorite of yours? And how has it helped you? What have you found works as well – for physical anxiety, tension, insomnia, pain, sugar cravings, muscle spasms – when it’s not available?

If you’ve used a GABA product in capsules, do you use it opened onto the tongue or swallowed? And if you’ve used Source Naturals GABA Calm in the past how does it compare for you?

If you’re a practitioner do you use GABA Calm and/or other GABA products?

Please do share in the comments below and let me know if you found this helpful or if you have questions. And thanks for the questions and contributions so far!

ADHD: 5-HTP melts have been a miracle for one of my adopted kids

January 15, 2021 By Trudy Scott 46 Comments

A mom in my community responded to an ADHD blog sharing how 5-HTP melts have been a miracle for one of her adopted children – after one week! 5-HTP is not where I typically start with ADHD so I quizzed her to get more details and then went looking for the research to understand the mechanisms. This blog shares her rationale for using 5-HTP, the truly wonderful results her son experienced, some of the research and some possible serotonin/dopamine mechanisms. This is what she posted:

5-HTP melts have been a miracle for one of my adopted kids. He had lots of trauma and off the charts ADHD. 5-HTP is better than methylphenidate (Ritalin) and we are now weaning off the non-stimulants.

Just 80mg 5-HTP in the morning is all he needs. He was super ADHD, he had a para (teacher’s aide) in public school for years to keep him on track and this year at a school for ADHD the teachers were complaining that he was never on task.

Now after a week it has changed his life. I am so thankful for the anxiety summit. Thank you Trudy

This is truly wonderful to hear! I responded saying how thrilled I was to hear the impact it was having and asked why this mom decided to try 5-HTP? This amino acid, which is a serotonin precursor, is not typically my first choice for alleviating ADHD symptoms. I consider low GABA (and using GABA) or low catecholamines (and using tyrosine), together with dietary changes, blood sugar control, and assessing for low zinc, low iron and low omega-3s – as a starting point.

I wanted to know if he had low serotonin symptoms such as the worry, ruminating, and obsessive type of anxiety which could have possibly been driving the ADHD symptoms? Were there any other symptoms that were a clue that low serotonin may be a factor: insomnia (with fatigue the next day impacting focus) or sugar cravings in the afternoon/evening (causing blood sugar swings affecting focus and mood)?

Why she used 5-HTP and which low serotonin symptoms he had

This was her response about why she used 5-HTP and which low serotonin symptoms he had:

We have tried all the amino acids over the years. I tried 5-HTP this time because SSRIs were the only class of medication he has not tried. I thought maybe it was worth a try and I also found this study: Comparative study of efficacy of 1-5-hydroxytryptophan and fluoxetine in patients presenting with first depressive episode (where the therapeutic efficacy of 5-HTP was considered as equal to that of the SSRI fluoxetine).

As for cravings or insomnia: he is a kid who loves sugar so I’m not sure if it’s a craving or typical. He takes 0.3mg of melatonin each night because guanfacine, the non-stimulant, prevents the production of melatonin.

She also mentioned that she has followed me for years and that DPA, an endorphin-boosting amino acid, works for her. She is a dietitian and shares my handouts and blog posts with her clients, so she clearly felt comfortable experimenting with the amino acids with her son.

5-HTP products and dosing

I also asked which product they were using and how she landed at 80mg. She wanted a fast-acting supplement that would dissolve in his mouth and purchased Natrol 5-HTP:

They are 100mg but we are breaking off a little because he was falling asleep in class.

I reminded her that 5-HTP (or tryptophan) is typically best used late afternoon and evening so if someone is falling asleep in the day I’d switch to bedtime dosing. If he needs it during the day for the ADHD symptoms then reducing the dose is the smart thing to do.

I love the sublingual/melt aspect of this product for quick results and because children do so well with a product that tastes pleasant.

However, I do not recommend this particular product because of very mixed ingredients information online. I have not seen the bottle of the actual product used but some of the online information states the product is gluten-free and soy-free and yet other information states it does contains gluten and soy. In some places they state it contains sucralose and an artificial flavor and in other places you see xylitol and natural flavor. This is all rather concerning. I’ll update this section as soon as I can confirm.

What does this mean for this mom? Now that she has figured out that 5-HTP helps her son, it’s best to find a better quality product so as not to cause other problems.

There are two chewable products in my online supplement store that come close to this product:

Serotrex Chewable: Two chewables contain 200mg theanine and 60mg 5-HTP. This could be used in the day or at night.
Designs for Health Insomnitol Chewables: Two chewables contain 10mg vitamin B6, 500mg inositol, 200mg theanine, 100mg 5-HTP and 3mg melatonin. This would need to be used at night instead.

Both of these contain theanine. Research shows that theanine reduces anxiety and improves cognition via “improvements in verbal fluency (especially letter fluency) and improvements in executive function (planning, multi-tasking etc).”

The research on 5-HTP and tryptophan for ADHD

This paper, The effects of 5-hydroxytryptophan on attention and central serotonin neurochemistry in the rhesus macaque, shares that

Individuals with depression and anxiety typically experience impaired executive function and emotional cognition, symptoms that are generally studied by examining disruptions in attention.

This study used 5-HTP as an intramuscular injection, rather than using it orally but the authors did report the following:

Our findings provide unique causal and mechanistic evidence suggesting that enhancing central serotonergic function results in categorically distinct changes in fundamental cognitive operations such as attention.

This paper, Does serotonin deficit mediate susceptibility to ADHD? summarizes the role of serotonin in ADHD, the interplay with dopamine and the use of oral tryptophan (a serotonin precursor similar to 5-HTP):

A chronic deficit of serotonin at the synapse may trigger symptoms of childhood ADHD (developmentally inappropriate levels of hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention).
Studies from animal models of ADHD indicate intimate interplay between serotonin and dopaminergic neurotransmission.
Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs)…as non-stimulant drugs acting on the serotonin system are … clinically effective.
Oral administration of l-tryptophan, the amino acid precursor of serotonin, significantly alleviates ADHD symptoms.
Serotoninergic gene variants are associated with increased risk of ADHD.

I appreciate this mom for giving me permission to share here on the blog so we can inspire hope (and I wish for more and more improvements for this young boy):

My son is a 10-year old RAD (reactive attachment disorder) kid that was meth exposed and adopted at 3 years old. 5-HTP has worked so well. He has not thrown a fit in a month. Before fits were a daily occurrence. This might give hope to other parents.

Have you found that 5-HTP (or tryptophan) helps/helped you or your child with ADHD symptoms? If yes, do you feel the ADHD was caused in part because of anxiety and/or fear and/or feeling inadequate and/or perfectionism and/or poor sleep (all signs of low serotonin)? Or were the main symptoms poor focus, low energy, low motivation and depression caused by low catecholamines/low dopamine? Or a mixture of both?

If you’re a practitioner working with children or adults with ADHD, have you had good results with 5-HTP or tryptophan?

Please do share in the comments below.

I am an emotional eater and eat sugar as a reward and find myself craving it when I am fatigued. Do you have clients on more than one amino acid?!

July 24, 2020 By Trudy Scott 22 Comments

This is a question I received from a stressed out mom in my community. She has identified when she craves sugar and the emotion connected to her cravings. Now she has questions about how to trial and use amino acids to stop her cravings, get her energy back and feel emotionally stable:

I know I am an emotional eater, I know I eat sugar as a reward and I do find myself craving it when I am fatigued. I also seem to crave it after a very savory meal; especially one with garlic. What is THAT about?! Do you have clients on more than one amino acid?!

I have been a caregiver for my son (multiple disabilities) for 30 years; he has uncontrolled seizures and my husband has PTSD. It is a stressful household.

This is what I shared with her about the brain chemical imbalances and amino acids:

Many of my clients need more than one amino acid but it’s best to trial one at a time. When I hear my client say they eat sugar as a reward we immediately consider a trial of DPA (d-phenylalanine) especially if they are also overly emotional/weepy and also have physical pain.
When I hear my client say “I do find myself craving sugar when I am fatigued” we consider low catecholamines and a trial of tyrosine especially if they also have poor focus, low motivation and a flat mood. If the fatigue is caused by low blood sugar this can cause fatigue, irritability/crankiness and anxiety and a trial of glutamine may be a better option. If the DPA helps the emotional-reward-eating after a week or two, then we may do a trial of tyrosine and/or glutamine (one at a time) and use them in addition to the DPA.
When I hear “sugar cravings after a savory meal” we consider low serotonin and a trial of tryptophan if it’s after lunch or dinner. Serotonin dips in the afternoon and evening triggering this type of craving. With low serotonin we also see worry, anxiety, depression, anger, PMS, insomnia and irritability. Let’s assume the DPA helps and the tyrosine helps with the fatigue, then we’d consider a trial of tryptophan and add that.

So yes I do have many clients needing more than one amino acid! But we always trial one at a time and find a good baseline before adding the next one or doing a new trial if the first one didn’t give expected results.

With regards to which amino acid trial to do first, I always ask my client which area is causing the most problem or distress in your life and we start there. Since she mentioned emotional eating and then fatigue and then cravings after a savory meal, this sequence may be best for her. But addressing the fatigue with tyrosine first may be a better approach for someone else.

With regards to cravings after a savory meal we also look into how much protein and healthy fats the client has in that meal. I don’t know why garlic would be a trigger other than it’s possibly stirring up candida. Candida is also a big factor when it comes to sugar cravings, fatigue and feeling sad/emotional so we would also possibly need to address this too.

Adrenal and sleep support is also key and I recommend this resource for additional caregiver support for her – The psychological trauma of coronavirus – nutritional support for doctors, nurses and their loved ones.

For her husband’s PTSD I recommend this resource – PTSD from 3 tours in Afghanistan: Can GABA help with the anxiety?

For her son’s seizures I recommend this paper, Ketogenic Diet and Epilepsy: What We Know So Far, and working with a practitioner who could offer consultation and guidance on a ketogenic diet. Another useful resource is this one – Use of Cannabidiol in the Treatment of Epilepsy: Efficacy and Security in Clinical Trials.

If you suspect low levels of any any of the neurotransmitters and are new to using the amino acids and do not have my book I highly recommend getting it and reading it before jumping in to taking supplements: The Antianxiety Food Solution – How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings.

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. If you’re not a reader there is now also an audible version.

Here is the Amino Acids Mood Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution and additional information on Anxiety and targeted individual amino acid supplements: a summary

Please also read and follow these Amino Acid Precautions.

This lists The Antianxiety Food Solution Amino Acid and Pyroluria Supplements that I use with my individual clients and those in my group programs. You’ll find DPA, tyrosine and tryptophan listed here.

Please share your emotional eating and sugar craving success story if you have one using DPA.

And let us know if tyrosine helps with your fatigue and low-energy driven sugar cravings?

And does tryptophan help your afternoon and evening sugar cravings?

Feel free to post your questions here too.

The individual amino acids glutamine, GABA, tryptophan (or 5-HTP), DPA and tyrosine are powerful for eliminating sugar cravings, often within 5 minutes

November 30, 2018 By Trudy Scott 11 Comments

The individual amino acids glutamine, GABA, tryptophan (or 5-HTP), DPA and tyrosine are powerful for eliminating sugar cravings, often within 5 minutes. It seems that this wonderful benefit – over and above the anxiety-reducing and mood-boosting benefits – is often overlooked or poorly understood.

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UPDATE 4/17/20 for coronavirus pandemic:

Keep in mind that in times of added stress – like being in the midst of a pandemic such as the coronavirus – you may find your sugar and carbohydrate cravings have increased, and you may be over-indulging, emotional-eating, comfort-eating and/or stress-eating as a way to self-medicate in order to feel calm and good.

This paper, Nutritional recommendations for CoVID-19 quarantine, published just a few days ago, shares how continuously hearing or reading about the pandemic without a break can be stressful and may be

pushing people toward overeating, mostly looking for sugary “comfort foods”. This desire to consume a specific kind of food is defined as “food craving”, which is a multidimensional concept including emotional (intense desire to eat), behavioral (seeking food), cognitive (thoughts about food), and physiological (salivation) processes.

You may also find you are more drawn to alcohol as a way to calm down and relax. According to this Forbes article, Nielsen reports that online sales of alcohol have increased by 291% compared to the end of March 2019.

You may be surprised to learn that the amino acids also help with reducing alcohol cravings and the need to self-medicate with this “drug-of-choice.” If one glass of wine leads finishing to an entire bottle in one evening or if you’re drinking beer or spirits excessively, know that the words “sweets”, “sugar”, “carbs” can be substituted in the blog post below with “alcohol” and consider trials of the respective amino acids.

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I recently posted this on Facebook: GABA for ending sugar cravings (and anxiety and insomnia) and I’m writing this blog today because it’s clear there is some confusion about this cravings aspect.

Let me first recap Melissa’s experience with Source Naturals GABA Calm during her family holiday trip (the link above has all the details):

I’m glad I bought it before traveling home for Christmas – I was cool as a cucumber at the airport and was much calmer when visiting family and friends compared to last year! I notice a general calmness and am sleeping well.

As well as the calming benefits of GABA, Melissa found this unexpected reduction in cravings for sweets, chocolates, truffles and ice cream after about a week of taking it:

I didn’t even realize this until I was grocery shopping and out of habit walked towards the ice cream – I stopped and realized I didn’t want ice cream. So I walked toward the chocolate – same reaction. For once in my life, I was not craving sweets. I made truffles for a NYE party and only ate two. But what is really shocking is that the leftovers are still in my refrigerator two days later and I haven’t touched them.

This is a very typical response that I see with my clients and when I shared the above blog, others on Facebook shared similar experiences and surprise about the connections. Kim found it fascinating and very timely saying:

I ran out of GABA a month ago. Not only has my anxiety been very difficult to manage but literally I haven’t been able to stop eating. Sugary, high carb, total junk has consumed my thoughts. I never realized the correlation.

April also seemed surprised to learn that GABA was also actually helping with her sugar cravings too:

I think my sugar cravings are down (not looking for something sweet every night after dinner, maybe I treat myself to once a week and not overindulge when I do) and when I think about it, I’ve lost a bit of weight as a result. Most of all it helps me sleep and reduces tension in my neck.

In the above examples, due to low GABA levels in these women, GABA was helped with both the anxiety and the stress-eating, leading to a calming effect and reduced sugar cravings. If you have low blood sugar cravings then glutamine is the amino acid to use; low serotonin cravings then tryptophan or 5-HTP will help; low endorphin cravings then DPA will do the trick; and low catecholamines then tyrosine is the amino acid to use.

The best way to figure it which neurotransmitter deficiency is affecting your sugar cravings is to do the amino acid mood questionnaire and also review this list for further clarification:

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 almost immediately and also helps with the low blood sugar symptoms of shakiness and irritability
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 into the evening) then your sugar cravings are likely due to low serotonin, and tryptophan (or 5-HTP) stops the cravings and boosts mood and reduces anxiety
If you are a comfort-eater then it’s likely due to low endorphins and DPA will stop that feeling of “I deserve-it” kind of reward-eating or comfort-eating and also give you a hug-like mood boost
If you eat sugar for an energy boost or to give your focus then it’s likely due to low catecholamines and tyrosine will stop those cravings and give you a mood and energy boost, and help with mental clarity

It’s not uncommon for my anxious clients to have issues in all these areas and I have them address low blood sugar and each neurotransmitter deficiency one by one (for 2 through 5) and very methodically so they know exactly which areas are problematic for them.

When it comes to low blood sugar, addressing adrenal health is also key. And as always, we need to be making dietary changes, fixing gut health, addressing other deficiencies, removing toxins and more, using a complete functional medicine approach.

However, using the amino acids in a targeted way like this gets you results quickly while you’re figuring out everything else.

You may say “what exactly do you mean by quickly”? When opened onto the tongue and used with the trial method, based on your unique needs, if you have low levels, you can expect to notice effects in as quickly as 5 minutes and sometimes up to 15 minutes in some cases! This is why I like to refer to them as the amazing amino acids! They truly are amazing for eliminating cravings, reducing anxiety and improving mood and even sleep – provided they are needed.

Last year I wrote a series of blog posts on each of the above-mentioned amino acids. If you missed them you may find them helpful for getting a better understanding, even though they are not specific about sugar cravings:

You can find the amino acid supplements that I use with my clients here.

Keep in mind the amino acids are intended for relatively short-term use so the goal is to work on your diet, gut health, adrenals, nutritional deficiencies etc. so they are no longer needed or only needed in times of added stress. My book, The Antianxiety Food Solution – How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings (my Amazon link), covers in-depth how to implement much of what is mentioned in the above article: a real food Mediterranean diet, red meat, oily fish, the importance of zinc, vitamin D, antioxidants and so on, and the powerful role of nutrition in immunity, inflammation, sleep, stress, anxiety and food cravings.

The amino acids help you make those dietary changes with ease, end your cravings and stress-eating or excessive drinking, so no will power is needed and you don’t feel deprived.

Have you found any of the amino acids to help you eliminate your cravings for sweets, chocolate, ice-cream and other high-carb foods? Were you pleasantly surprised to experience this lovely benefit when you were initially looking for anxiety-relief?

Were you / are you drinking more and have you figured out which amino acids help you quit?

If you’re a practitioner, do you see similar cravings benefits with your anxious clients/patients?

Are you still struggling with comfort-eating, stress-eating of carb/sugar or drinking alcohol to “self-medicate” and feel better?

Feel free to ask your questions and share challenges and/or successes you’ve had too.

The Antianxiety Food Solution: This Book Is a Total Game Changer!!

July 21, 2017 By Trudy Scott 7 Comments

I write multiple blogs each week and the website is a wealth of information (be sure to check the comments too – I love the community feedback and questions and learn so much from you!) BUT the foundation of all that I teach and how I work with my anxious clients is outlined in great detail in my book The Antianxiety Food Solution, so I recommend this essential reading to make the basic food changes (for some people that’s all they need to do), and before using any of the nutrients, and especially before using targeted individual amino acids.

Valerie Gangason posted this wonderful review on Amazon recently: This Book Is a Total Game Changer!!

If you have anxiety, panic attacks or phobias, read this book. It’s an eye opener and a complete game changer. It pushed me to re-evaluate the way I eat and to make some serious shifts in my life. FYI-sugar is the devil

I love the comment about sugar being the devil and commend her for re-evaluating how she eats and for making those serious shifts. It’s how you get results and I ever get tired of feedback like this.

Grab your copy from Amazon here if you don’t yet have it. If you already have a copy I’d love a review on Amazon please! And if you have an older copy with no index you can grab a copy of the index here

Feel free to share your great results or ask questions in the comments.

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