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GABA, the calming amino acid: products and results

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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:

  1. do you have an underactive thyroid (amino acids may not be as effective)
  2. did you take it sublingually (it’s often more effective taken this way)
  3. did you take it away from protein (it needs to be taken this way)
  4. how much did you take (amounts can vary by person)
  5. do you have low GABA symptoms/physical anxiety (it will only work if you do) or
  6. 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?

Anxiety and OCD: Inositol instead of tryptophan or 5-HTP?

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inositol for anxiety and OCD
DFH Inositol powder – it’s pleasant-tasting and 1 teaspoon is about 3g

Have you used inositol for anxiety and OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) or even obsessive thinking or behaviors? Have you used it alone or with tryptophan or 5-HTP? I’d like to share an interesting discussion on a recent blog I wrote: Amino acids for anxiety – which ones and for how long? to illustrate how we are all unique and how some nutrients work well and some not so well.

I received this question on the blog regarding the use of amino acids tryptophan or 5-HTP and OCD/anxiety:

I was wondering if this will help with OCD? I did not see any mention of OCD in your articles. Do you feel it can be treated the same way you would treat other anxieties? I was told that since I take serotonin medication that I should not take 5-HTP because it may cause too much serotonin. What are your thoughts?

My answer was as follows (I’ve added a few links because I like to share the research):

OCD can often be related to low serotonin so yes tryptophan and/or 5-HTP can help and is often very effective. If you take an SSRI then tryptophan and/or 5-HTP should only be taken under a doctor’s supervision and at least 6 hours from the SSRI. I would suggest working with a practitioner who knows the amino acids too. And talk to your doctor about doing a taper if that’s what you’d like to do

The other nutrient that helps with OCD is inositol and this is fine to take with an SSRI. I start my clients on 2g/day and go up to 18g/day. Here is one of the older papers on inositol, showing benefits for depression, panic attacks and OCD and a more recent paper discussing OCD and inositol and other nutrients such as NAC and glycine.

With OCD I’d always also look into past strep infections and PANDAs as this could be a factor too.

One of my blog readers, Tracy, responded to the question with some encouragement (how lovely!) and gave us a great example of how we are all different and there is no one size fits all:  

Chiming in with a bit of encouragement here – a bit late perhaps, but wanted to let you know that my teenage son suffers from OCD and anxiety. A number of years ago I found Trudy’s website while trying to find some natural ways to help him. We tried 5-HTP with good success (it also helped lessen the frequency and intensity of his migraines) but it caused stomach upset with him, even when taken with food, so be aware that it may have this effect on you if you try it. After about 9 months of 5-HTP we kind of “forgot” to give it to him and he continued to feel good.

Once my son started high school he started having more stress in his life and his OCD, anxiety and migraines returned. I started him on inositol about 8 months ago. It has had an even greater effect on the OCD than the 5-HTP (remember everyone is different tho!).

I’d highly recommend you try the inositol since 5HTP/tryptophan is not an option for you at this time. My son has had no side effects from inositol at all. Good luck!!

I was pleased to hear that the 5-HTP helped when Tracy’s son was younger. Some people do have digestive issues with 5-HTP. It’s usually in the first week and then typically resolves. This was obviously not the case with this young man.

I was also thrilled to hear that the inositol is helping so much now and wanted to know how much helps so I asked her. Tracy shared how much her son needs (not much at all) and the symptoms it helps with:

My son takes 500mg (NOW brand) daily in the mornings, usually with breakfast. That amount works well for him most days.

When stress is higher and he starts experiencing “breakthrough anxiety” or obsessions, I have him take another 500mg in the evenings as well, just for a couple days or until the stress has diminished.

I should mention that his OCD tends to be primarily obsessive in nature with very little compulsion. His father was actually diagnosed with mild OCD before I met him and he learned to deal with his through counseling and behavior modification. I read about tryptophan (Julia Ross) and asked him to try it. It works well for him when his anxiety acts up (which interestingly tends to have a seasonal component!) It has been an education living with these two!

You can take up to 18g a day of inositol but I suggest starting with 2g a day and building up as needed.  But as you can see above, even 500mg to 1000mg (which is 1 g – I grew up in South Africa and love the metric system!) may be enough.

I happen to use the DFH Inositol powder (pictured above). It has a pleasant slightly sweet taste and is easy to increase the amount based on how much you find helpful. You can find this on the supplements blog here.

As I mentioned above, tryptophan or 5-HTP can help with anxiety, OCD, obsessive thoughts and behaviors (and panic disorders and depression). Adding inositol is an option when the tryptophan/5-HTP isn’t quite enough, or simply use inositol alone.

I also think inositol makes a great addition for mixing into the nasty tasting tryptophan if you find you get better benefits with the tryptophan capsules opened. I suggest starting with 2g inositol per 500mg tryptophan.

I appreciate Tracy giving me permission to share her son’s success with these nutrients. We can all learn so much from stories like this. If you’ve been using any of the amino acids and/or inositol, I hope this has been helpful for you.

Please share how you’re doing in the comments and feel free to ask additional questions.

If this sounds intriguing and you’d like guidance with using the amino acids and other nutrients like inositol, stay tuned for the launch of The Amazing Aminos for Anxiety homestudy group program. This homestudy group program will provide guidance with using each of the targeted individual amino acids, including nutrients like inositol. You can also add your name in the comments if you’d like to be notified when it launches. You’re also welcome to sign up here to be notified when we have more details about the start date.

Targeted individual amino acids: what do we really mean?

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tryptophan
Lidtke Tryptophan 500mg is an example of an individual amino acid

You’ve heard me talking about using targeted individual amino acids with my clients but what do we really mean by targeted and individual?

  • “Targeted” means the amino acids are very specific for a person who may have anxiety, or low mood, or feelings of negativity or worry or overwhelm or experience emotional eating.
  • The big focus is that they’re targeted to a person’s “individual” needs. We each have our own unique biochemistry and therefore our needs are different. There is no one-size fits all.
  • There is another aspect to “individual” amino acids – it means they are not part of a combination product but are standalone amino acids such as tryptophan, 5-HTP, GABA, tyrosine, glutamine and DLPA.   This allows them to be easily titrated up or down as needed based on your individual needs. There is one combination product I really like and use a lot and that is GABA Calm (it has GABA, tyrosine and glycine).   Here are the brands I like.
  • These targeted individual amino acids work really well and are very powerful when you figure out the right amino acids you need. I have all my clients complete the Amino Acid Questionnaire and we start our trials based on this.
  • These targeted individual amino acids also work well when you take them in the correct amounts – doing a trial and starting low is the best way to do this. Most people can start with the typical starting amount. For example, 500mg tryptophan is typical to start with and I like to start my clients on 125mg GABA. However, if you’re very sensitive, you may be what we call a “pixie dust” person and may need a few dabs to start.
  • These targeted individual amino acids also work best when you take them at the right time. Different amino acids are more effective at certain times: like tryptophan/5-HTP later in the day; tyrosine earlier; and GABA, glutamine and DPA throughout the day.

You may have changed your diet to a real whole foods diet, you may be on medications for anxiety or depression, and maybe you’re not getting results or maybe you’re experiencing side-effects from the meds.

Even though you’ve quit coffee and sodas you still feel anxious and overwhelmed and you still stress-eat. You just know intuitively that you’ve got to get to the root cause of the problem.

Maybe you’ve removed gluten, sugar and other carbs but you still feel deprived. You still feel like you need that reward or treat.   Maybe the addictive nature of gluten/sugar/carbs is getting the better of you still can’t quit and there’s something missing.

When there’s this “something that’s missing”, this is when you would consider targeted individual amino acids. We are figuring out if you’ve got this deficiency, and then we are supplementing short-term, for 3 to 12 months, to raise your levels so you can start to feel good, calm, happy and motivated again, with no more cravings.

Please be aware that not everyone benefits from individual amino acids. They only work if you have a deficiency and actually need them. If you don’t need them they won’t make any difference or they may even make you feel worse. For example, if you don’t need tryptophan and take it (or even if you take too much) you may feel more anxious and more emotional. This can happen even if you score high on the low serotonin section of the Amino Acid questionnaire.   There are many other causes of anxiety: low blood sugar, not enough protein in the diet, food sensitivities, poor gut health/low levels of good bacteria, parasites, candida, caffeine and/or sugar consumption, high cortisol and many more. I share the 60+ causes here.

If you do have a deficiency and do find the correct combination of targeted individual amino acids you will amazed at the results and like me, you will soon be calling them the amazing amino acids.

Please do share if you’ve experienced benefits from the amazing amino acids (targeted and individual of course).   If you’ve been using them for awhile you may find some answers to your common questions here: Amino acids for anxiety – which ones and for how long? And here is a blog called Troubleshooting when you are not getting results.

If this is all new to you please share how you score on the Amino Acid Questionnaire.

If this all sounds intriguing and also a little overwhelming, stay tuned for the launch of The Amazing Aminos for Anxiety homestudy group program that will be starting in September. This homestudy group program will provide guidance with using each of the targeted individual amino acids. You’re welcome to sign up here to be notified when we have details about the start date and more.

The Anxiety Summit – 60+ Nutritional & Biochemical Causes of Anxiety and Recommended Supplements

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Trudy Scott, host of The Anxiety Summit, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution presents:

Closing call: 60+ Nutritional & Biochemical Causes of Anxiety and Recommended Supplements

  • 60+ Nutritional/biochemical causes of anxiety and associated solutions
  • 4 degrees/levels of anxiety I see and response to the 60+ causes
  • The unique ability of the body to heal
  • Testing I use with my clients and what tests I’d run if everyone had unlimited funds
  • My recommendations:  supplements
  • My message of hope

I mentioned the speaker blog posts.  You can access them all here: The Anxiety Summit Season 3: All the speakers and topics

I also referred back to speakers and topics from season 1 and 2 so here are those links:

The Anxiety Summit Season 2: All the speakers and topics

The Anxiety Summit: All the speakers and topics (this is summit 1)

If the idea of 60+ causes feels too overwhelming and scary for you here is the Amino Acids Mood Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution. Serotonin support in the form of tryptophan or 5-HTP may help

As Dr. Peter Bongiorno said in his interview: Serotonin and Anxiety, Happiness, Digestion and our Hormones

There can be multiple factors involved as to why someone has anxiety. How you’re going to work through these factors successfully is going to be very different for each person.

Here is the list of the 60+ Nutritional/biochemical causes of anxiety.  (Just click on this link to see all of them)

Here is the list of supplements: The Antianxiety Food Solution Amino Acid and Pyroluria Supplements (Just click on this link to see all of them)

Here is the: Nutritional testing for figuring out the root cause/s of your anxiety (Just click on this link to see all of them)

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

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

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

Anxiety and targeted individual amino acid supplements: a summary

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woman-looking-evening 

The targeted use of individual amino acid supplements will balance brain chemistry to alleviate anxiety, fear, worry, panic attacks, and feeling stressed or overwhelmed. They can also be helpful in addressing other problems that contribute to or exacerbate anxiety, such as sugar cravings and addictions. In addition, they can help with depression and insomnia, which often co-occur with anxiety. When you balance your brain chemistry, not only will you alleviate symptoms of anxiety, you’ll also have a great mood, eliminate cravings, sleep well, and have good energy and mental focus.

This is a collection of past blog posts on the topic of amino acids in preparation for my season 3 interview on the Anxiety Summit: “Pyroluria, Amino Acids and Anxiety: Troubleshooting when you are not getting results”

In season 1 of the Anxiety Summit, I interviewed my hero, Julia Ross, MFT, pioneer in the field of Amino Acid Therapy and the author of best sellers The Mood Cure. The topic was Eliminating Anxiety – Amino Acid Therapy and Adrenal Balancing

I just love this quote from our interview:

On a scale of zero to ten, zero is not an unrealistic goal when it comes to anxiety.  It’s really the human potential and GABA and tryptophan give us access to it

And then this was the topic of my interview on season 2 of the Anxiety Summit: Targeted individual amino acids for eliminating anxiety: practical applications

  • Glutamine: how it’s calming and helps with blood sugar balancing
  • GABA: how it eases physical tension
  • Tryptophan: how it eases anxiety in the head/busy ruminations (and when not to use 5-HTP)
  • DPA and tyrosine: how they help you quit the comfort-eating and coffee
  • Precautions when using individual amino acids
  • Factors that make them more effective and factors that make them less effective

My interview on season 3 will be taking a deeper dive in to this last bullet: Factors that make them more effective and factors that make them less effective, and how to troubleshoot when they are not working.

Today I’d love feedback, comments and questions from you. I want to address your questions. I encourage you to read the blog posts I’m linking to below and learn if this is new to you. Or read them and get a recap if you’ve been following me for awhile. And then PLEASE ASK YOUR QUESTIONS in the comments section below.

Here is the Amino Acids Mood Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution. I encourage you to do and see which sections may be an issue for you (or see how much you’ve improved if you’ve been using amino acids)

There are some precautions to be aware of when taking supplemental amino acids. Here are the Amino Acid Precautions

If you are prone to low blood sugar and have adrenal issues glutamine is wonderful: Glutamine for low blood sugar and calming effects

Of course, if you need them, the aminos are also very effective for eliminating emotional eating and comfort eating. I write about this here:

Of course I have to share some great success stories because the amino acids really are amazing:

The Anxiety Summit: amazing amino acids client success with Meme Grant

Meme had anxiety, had panic attacks, didn’t enjoy speaking in public, had insomnia and was an emotional eater. She found answers with the amazing aminos acids and the pyroluria protocol.

No coffee, adrenal support and amino acids: free of anxiety, high energy and great sleep!

The above great client testimonial shows how a few small changes can make the world of difference; that you don’t have to resort to drugs for anxiety or sleep or energy drinks for fatigue! And that you can feel on top on the world!

Unfortunately not everyone responds as expected when using amino acids. Some people

  • Don’t get any benefits
  • Get some benefits but they are marginal
  • Get an adverse reaction and may even feel more anxious
  • Get benefits that seem to come and go

My troubleshooting interview will be addressing the above scenarios and other related amino acid questions that come up. PLEASE ASK YOUR QUESTIONS in the comments section below.

If you’re not already signed up do join us here: season 3 of The Anxiety Summit