vitamin B1

Tyrosine had an amazing effect: he had more clarity, could interact with people and joke, and he started reasoning in a more organized way

September 20, 2024 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

I tried tyrosine yesterday, and Wow! What an amazing effect!

I answered positively to many of the low catecholamines symptoms and I’m also trying to break my coffee addiction – I take espresso shots throughout the day to get through.

So I gave it a try and took 300 mg of tyrosine yesterday at 4pm.

I had more clarity, I could interact with people, I could joke, I started reasoning in a more organized way.

I can’t believe how powerful tyrosine is. Now I finally understand that my brain fog is a result of low dopamine among other neurotransmitters and me drinking that much coffee is just a symptom of low dopamine and I would not need it otherwise.

Today, thanks to tyrosine, I’m better equipped to break this addiction, although I’m a bit scared about a few things before I can use it more spontaneously.

Steve shared this wonderful feedback in a blog comment. I said how happy I was for him and thanked him for sharing.

He also asked a few questions about his sleep being impacted, the chances of getting dependent on tyrosine and concerns for thyroid health. I addressed his questions (read my feedback below) and links for further reading about the catecholamines and using the amino acid tyrosine as a supplement. I also share some tyrosine research, my tyrosine recommendations for quitting coffee, and a key nutritional deficiency to address (low thiamine/vitamin B1).

Tyrosine impacted his sleep (and how to prevent this)

This was the first of his questions:

I could not fall asleep last night because of tyrosine. I was awake 3 hours after my regular bedtime. Maybe because I took it in the afternoon and I drank 2 cups of coffee that morning? Coffee never kept me from sleeping.

There is a simple way to get the benefits of tyrosine and not have it impact your sleep. Tyrosine is best used on waking, mid-morning and only mid-afternoon (no later than 3pm) if sleep is not an issue. If sleep is an issue we start with using it on waking and mid-morning.

I recommend having the bottle of tyrosine beside the bed especially if an espresso shot (likely in Steve’s case) or cup of coffee is needed to get going first thing. Right away it’s helping with the caffeine addiction and offering energy and clarity or focus. It’s also boosting dopamine and improving mood … “I could interact with people, I could joke”.

He could trial just twice a day and then consider another tyrosine no later than 3pm and see how he feels and watch for sleep impacts.

I mentioned to Steve that all this is explained in my book “The Antianxiety Food Solution” which I recommend everyone reads before using amino acids.

One important consideration with high caffeine consumption like this, is a strong possibility of vitamin B1/thiamine deficiency. I share more about this here. Zinc and other B vitamins can become depleted too.

Will the brain adapt and become dependent on tyrosine?

This is a common question I get about the amino acids and Steve was justifiably concerned about it too:

If I’m taking tyrosine to correct low dopamine in my brain, don’t you think that the brain will adapt and will be dependent on tyrosine to create enough dopamine? What is the real cause behind the brain lacking dopamine? I took psychiatric medication in the past and I know they can affect the brain long term; so isn’t it the same about tyrosine?

Using a foreign substance to hijack the brain’s normal working and chemistry and then be dependent on it to produce the right amount?

How will the tyrosine correct this imbalance and help me heal? Do I go back to low levels when I stop it?

There are no concerns about dependence. Tyrosine is addressing low levels of dopamine, one of the catecholamines. It should be a short-term solution when other nutritional imbalances (like low zinc, low vitamin B1 low vitamin B6, low iron etc) are addressed and the dietary changes (all laid out in my book) are implemented too.

Short-term could be a month to 3 months for one-person and up to 6-12 months for someone else. It really depends on the complexity of health issues and other compounding factors (like Steve’s past use of psychiatric medications).

As you can read below, Steve is already gluten-free and dairy-free so this is a great start.

A question about tyrosine and thyroid concerns

I have a history of hypothyroidism in my family and I’m afraid that tyrosine could trigger that for me? I’m healthy now and I eat Gluten/Dairy free

Tyrosine is actually one of the raw materials the thyroid needs and uses for the synthesis of the thyroid hormone thyroxine so there is no issue with it triggering hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid).

There is, however, an issue with Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder that can cause hyperthyroidism (or overactive thyroid). Tyrosine should not be used in this instance. You can read all the amino acid precautions here.

Tyrosine and the research: cognitive performance

Here are some excerpts from this paper: Effect of tyrosine supplementation on clinical and healthy populations under stress or cognitive demands–A review

Consuming the amino-acid tyrosine, the precursor of dopamine and norepinephrine, may counteract decrements in neurotransmitter function and cognitive performance…

Tyrosine does seem to effectively enhance cognitive performance, particularly in short-term stressful and/or cognitively demanding situations.

The conclusion made by the authors is in line with how I recommend using tyrosine i.e. only when “dopamine and/or norepinephrine is temporarily depleted.” This is the same for all amino acids and we use the symptoms questionnaire as a starting point to indicate the possibility of low levels of each of the neurotransmitters.

Tyrosine can also be calming and help with sugar addiction too

As you can see from these blog posts, tyrosine has many applications:

And this blog is a good introduction to using tyrosine for improved focus, motivation, energy, a good mood and even for easing anxiety

Additional resources when you are new to using tyrosine and other amino acids as supplements

As always, I use the symptoms questionnaire to figure out if low low dopamine/catecholamines or other neurotransmitter imbalances may be an issue.

If you suspect low levels of any of the neurotransmitters and do not yet have my book, The Antianxiety Food Solution – How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings, I highly recommend getting it and reading it before jumping in and using amino acids on your own so you are knowledgeable. And be sure to share it with the practitioner/health team you or your loved one is working with.

There is an entire chapter on the amino acids and they are discussed throughout the book in the sections on gut health, gluten, blood sugar control (this is covered in an entire chapter too), sugar cravings, anxiety and mood issues.

The book doesn’t include product names (per the publisher’s request) so this blog, The Antianxiety Food Solution Amino Acid and Pyroluria Supplements, lists the amino acids that I use with my individual clients and those in my group programs.

If, after reading this blog and my book, you don’t feel comfortable figuring things out on your own (i.e. doing the symptoms questionnaire and respective amino acids trials), a good place to get help is the GABA QuickStart Program (if you have low GABA symptoms). This is a paid online/virtual group program where you get my guidance and community support.

If you are a practitioner, join us in The Balancing Neurotransmitters: the Fundamentals program. This is also a paid online/virtual program with an opportunity to interact with me and other practitioners who are also using the amino acids.

Wrapping up and your feedback

I appreciate Steve for sharing his success with tyrosine and asking these questions. I do hope this information has been helpful for you and for him too.

Now I’d love to hear from you – does any of this resonate with you? Have you had success like this with tyrosine or experienced other benefits?

If you’re a practitioner is tyrosine one of the amino acids you use with your clients/patients?

Feel free to share and ask your questions below.

Fatigue, sleep disorders, depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia and cardiac troubles as the expression of a classic mild thiamine deficiency

October 8, 2021 By Trudy Scott 15 Comments

Fatigue, sleep disorders, depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia and cardiac troubles are some of the symptoms we see as the expression of a classic mild thiamine deficiency. Thiamine deficiency is very under-rated and under-recognized, and can have far reaching ramifications. And a magnesium deficiency and high dose magnesium can actually cause a thiamine deficiency. There are also many other causes of thiamine deficiency that may not be on your radar: a high carb/processed food/sugar diet, coffee, tea, alcohol, genetics, environmental toxins, medications, celiac disease, leaky gut, bariatric surgery and malabsorption.

It’s for this reason that I invited Chandler Marrs, PhD to speak on the Anxiety Summit 5: Gut-Brain Axis. We had so much to cover and it ended up being so long, that we split it into part 1 and part 2.

This is what we cover in Thiamine Deficiency in Anxiety and Gut Health (Part 1)

Excessive carbs, alcohol, medications and genetics as causes of low B1/thiamine
Dysbiosis, dysmotility, constipation, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, low energy
Psychiatric and digestive effects: research, history and other symptoms

This is what we cover in Thiamine Deficiency in Anxiety and Gut Health (Part 2)

The mitochondria, dysautonomia and POTS
Other symptoms: hyperemesis, exercise intolerance, muscle pain, neuropathy
Thiamine supplementation – forms, dosing and paradoxical reactions

Thiamine deficiency is under-rated and under-recognized

We start with why it’s an under-rated and under-recognized deficiency and Dr. Marrs shares that the assumption is that deficiency is not common and even when you test it looks like you are not deficient:

“The assumption is that there is no such thing [as a thiamine deficiency] and that it’s rare unless you are a chronic alcoholic. And even then, it’s missed 80% of the time. Or you have a severe injury or illness that depletes thiamine rapidly.
The presumption is that we’ve solved it, and it’s rare, and it only happens in countries where food availability is problematic.
The reality is that the chemistry of our foods, the chemistry of our environment, the medications that we take all combine and accrue to not only deplete the available thiamine on the basis of intake but to increase the need and to damage a lot of the enzymes involved in the processing of thiamine.
So a lot of folks are functionally deficient in that even though by definition they meet the daily requirement and they may, based upon lab testing, show up as being sufficient and not frankly deficient.
And so, I think that we just have taken our eye off of the ball with regard to this particular nutrient.”

Magnesium deficiency (and high dose magnesium) can actually cause a thiamine deficiency

Dr. Marrs also shares how a magnesium deficiency (which is very common) can actually cause a thiamine deficiency:

“One of the things that’s interesting is it requires magnesium to activate thiamine into its active form.
If someone is thiamine sufficient and magnesium deficient, then they are actually functionally deficient in thiamine because you cannot take the free thiamine and activate it into thiamine pyrophosphate.
So magnesium deficiency itself can cause thiamine deficiency. And there’s a good percentage of the population that doesn’t get enough magnesium.”

And she also shares how when taking high dose magnesium it’s so crucial to also be addressing low thiamine in order to prevent them becoming more thiamine deficient:

“Now, the flip side of that is really interesting. And I think this is important for your audience, in particular, is that magnesium supplementation, when someone has a problem with thiamine, will actually shut down thiamine processing and mitochondrial processing at one of the enzymes. Because if you don’t have thiamine with magnesium, then the enzyme α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase kind of shuts the whole sequence down.
So if you are giving someone high dose magnesium, which is common to supplement, and not tackling the thiamine as well, you risk them becoming more thiamine deficient and reducing ATP output, energy output even further. So everything has to be in balance to some extent or another.”

I can think of one situation where this could be common. You use high dose magnesium due to constipation. Low thiamine may be one of the underlying causes of your constipation and now high dose magnesium is going to make the low thiamine situation worse.

Up to 30% of psychiatric patients have a thiamine deficiency

We talk about how up to 30% of psychiatric patients have a thiamine deficiency but that there hasn’t been enough work on psychiatric disorders which Dr. Marrs says “is strange given the fact that some of the strongest symptoms involve brain function and the most dangerous or some of the more dangerous damage is relative to areas of the brain.”

I share some quotes from a 2019 paper that does actually look at the psychiatric aspects – Neurological, Psychiatric, and Biochemical Aspects of Thiamine Deficiency in Children and Adults:

“The brain is highly vulnerable to thiamine deficiency due to its heavy reliance on mitochondrial ATP production. This is more evident during rapid growth, i.e., perinatal and children.
Thiamine deficiency contributes to a number of conditions spanning from mild neurological and psychiatric symptoms, confusion, reduced memory, sleep disturbances, and severe encephalopathy, ataxia, congestive heart failure, muscle atrophy, and even death.”

This paper also looks at the beneficial effect of thiamine supplementation in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurological conditions.

Below, I share some additional studies that we didn’t talk about in the interview but add value to the topic.

Fatigue, sleep disorders, depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia and cardiac troubles as the expression of a classic mild thiamine deficiency

This paper, High-dose thiamine improves the symptoms of fibromyalgia, states that “It is our opinion that fatigue, sleep disorders, depression, anxiety and cardiac troubles are the expressions of a classic mild thiamine deficiency.”

The authors share 3 cases where thiamine/vitamin B1 improved symptoms in all areas for all these women:

Patient 1: Female, 58 years old, weight 59 kg. From 1998, the patient began to have widespread pain accompanied by severe fatigue, depression, anxiety, irritability, sleep disorders, trouble concentrating, dry skin, general sickness, continuous headache, intolerance to low temperatures and, more recently, episodes of tachycardia and extrasystolia [alteration in heart rhythm].
Patient 2: Female, 37 years old, weight 74 kg. From 1999, the patient has had widespread pain and all the symptoms described for patient 1, with the only exception being that of cardiac symptoms.
Patient 3: Female, 60 years old, weight 65 kg. From 2006, the patient began to have widespread pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders. Trouble concentrating.

As you can see the symptoms can be very varied and this is what makes it challenging to identify low thiamine as being the issue.

Thiamine deficiency after bariatric surgery

Here one case study where thiamine deficiency occurred after bariatric surgery: Wernicke’s encephalopathy mimicking multiple sclerosis in a young female patient post-bariatric gastric sleeve surgery:

We describe a case of Wernicke’s encephalopathy secondary to thiamine (B1) deficiency in a patient status post-bariatric sleeve gastrectomy.

The presenting symptoms of new-onset weakness, diplopia [double-vision], and confusion in a young female patient raised suspicion for multiple sclerosis (MS), but given a history of bariatric surgery, thiamine levels were checked, revealing significant Vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency.

This case highlights the importance of thorough history taking, as a misdiagnosis of MS in this case could have resulted in irreversible neurological deterioration and hematological and infectious consequences associated with the inappropriate administration of disease-modifying therapies.

Bariatric surgery is one of many causes of thiamine deficiency.

Some of the other many causes of thiamine deficiency

Other causes of thiamine deficiency include factors that may not be on your radar: a high carb/processed food/sugar diet (and even consistent smaller amounts of “healthy” sweeteners), coffee and tea consumption, alcohol consumption (excessive consumption and even moderate consumption i.e. social drinking), genetics (we talk about specific genes in the interview), environmental toxins, certain medications, celiac disease, leaky gut and malabsorption etc.

We do a deep dive into all this in the two interviews (and much more).

chandler marrs interview — (As you can see, when I do interviews I take notes throughout for a few reasons: writing consolidates the information into my brain and it allows me to make notes for follow-up questions. It also helps the video editing process later.)

Interviews that dove-tail well with this topic are these ones:

Michael Collins – Sugar/Fructose Addiction: Anxiety, ADHD and Aggression (because sugar and carbs lead to low thiamine)
My interviews, Glutamine, DPA and Tyrosine for Anxiety and Sugar Cravings and GABA & Tryptophan: Gut-Anxiety Connections (because the amino acids help you quit sugar/carbs, coffee and alcohol easily)
Tara Hunkin, NTP, CGP, RWP – Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Anxiety (because low thiamine adversely affects the mitochondria)

I encourage you to tune in if you have:

Anxiety & feel overwhelmed & stressed by little things
Panic attacks &/or obsessive thoughts or behaviors
Social anxiety/pyroluria
Phobias or fears (flying, spiders or even driving on a highway)

And also if you suffer from…

Food sensitivities, IBS/SIBO, parasites or gallbladder issues
Constipation, diarrhea, bloating, gas, pain & other digestive issues
Leaky gut, a leaky blood-brain barrier or vagus nerve issues

Join us if you are also an emotional eater with intense sugar cravings (and know you suffer from low blood sugar), experience insomnia, low mood, PMS, poor focus and/or low motivation.

This is THE online event to learn about the powerful individual amino acids – GABA, theanine, tryptophan, 5-HTP, glutamine, DPA and tyrosine – to quickly ease anxiety and help with gut symptoms while you are dealing with other root causes which take longer to address. (They also help with cravings as with this example, and sleep and immunity).

With research-based anxiety nutritional solutions and practical steps, you can determine your root causes, ease your anxiety and prevent it from coming back so you can feel on top of the world again!

If you are a practitioner, please join us too and find advanced solutions for your clients or patients too!

You’ve heard me say the Anxiety Summit has been called “a bouquet of hope!” My wish for you is that this summit is your bouquet of hope!

I hope you’ll join me and these incredible speakers, be enlightened and find YOUR solutions! More about this summit and other Anxiety Summits here.

Here’s to no more anxiety and you feeling on top of the world again!

Please share if these thiamine deficiency symptoms are new to you.

Also let us know if you’ve benefited from thiamine in the past or are currently using some form of thiamine – and how helped/is helping.

Have you seen this correlation between low magnesium and low thiamine OR taking high doses of magnesium and low thiamine symptoms?

Feel free to post your questions here too.

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