DPA

Balance Neurotransmitters for Pain and Anxiety: The Healing Pain Summit

September 11, 2015 By Trudy Scott 20 Comments

Joe Tatta is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and he is putting on The Healing Pain Summit which is focused on healing pain of all kinds using an integrated approach. Having practiced Physical Therapy for 20 years, Joe knows first-hand that pain is THE thing that will stop you in your tracks … completely. To help people with pain of all kinds Joe has brought together experts on:

Healing joint pain and muscle pain
How the foods you eat can cause you physical and emotional pain
Healing spiritual pain
Healing sexual pain

Here are just a few of the summit topics that may interest you:

Natural Ways To Heal Fibromyalgia
Your Adrenals and Pain: What is the Connection?
Solutions for Cancer Patients and Cancer Survivors

My interview will be: How Balancing Neurotransmitters Can Help Pain and Anxiety. I’ll be sharing new information on pain and the amino acids – something I don’t often talk about but can be a very powerful addition to a pain management program. I’ll cover how GABA, DPA/Endorphigen and tryptophan/5-HTP can help with various types of pain (and anxiety). I’ll also discuss some of the many mood and anxiety side-effects we can see with pain medications.

Here are some reasons for concern when it comes to pain medications:

Glucocorticoid medications like cortisone and prednisone can actually contribute to mood and cognitive issues. A 2014 paper titled Adverse consequences of glucocorticoid medication: psychological, cognitive, and behavioral effects reports that

Severe neuropsychiatric consequences (including suicide, suicide attempt, psychosis, mania, depression, panic disorder, and delirium, confusion, or disorientation) have been reported to occur in 15.7 per 100 person-years at risk for all glucocorticoid courses, and 22.2 per 100 person-years at risk for first courses

NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as ibuprofen are well known for causing injury and bleeding throughout the GI tract, but there now new evidence of an increased risk of a brain bleed when someone is also taking an SSRI. According to a Medscape article

The combination of antidepressants and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) is linked to an early increased risk for intracranial hemorrhage, regardless of the type of NSAID or antidepressant, new research shows.

Most worryingly, conditions requiring NSAIDs and antidepressants commonly coexist; 65% of adults with major depression also have chronic pain, with both morbidities sharing common psychological risk factors and neurobiological processes.

The good news is that amino acids can be a very powerful addition to a pain management program. One example is 5-HTP, an amino acid that raises serotonin levels. Anxiety, depression and increased pain can all be caused by low serotonin.

A paper published in 1998 and called 5-Hydroxytryptophan: a clinically-effective serotonin precursor reports that 5-HTP

easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and effectively increases central nervous system (CNS) synthesis of serotonin. In the CNS, serotonin levels have been implicated in the regulation of sleep, depression, anxiety, aggression, appetite, temperature, sexual behaviour, and pain sensation. Therapeutic administration of 5-HTP has been shown to be effective in treating a wide variety of conditions, including depression, fibromyalgia, binge eating associated with obesity, chronic headaches, and insomnia.

You can register here https://gc182.isrefer.com/go/hpsreg/trudyscottcn/

The Anxiety Summit – Treating Anxiety in an Integrative Medicine Practice

November 14, 2014 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

Rebecca Robb, PsyD clinical psychologist, co-founder of an integrative health care practice, Integrative Primary Care Associates, was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Treating Anxiety in an Integrative Medicine Practice

What is integrated medicine
What are the complexities of building an integrated medical practice
Incorporating neuro-nutrition/amino acids into a psychotherapy practice
Case studies using neuro-nutrition/amino acids and psychotherapy for anxiety, depression, panic attacks, family dysfunction, chronic pain, gut distress

Rebecca Robb incorporates neuro nutrition into her psychotherapy practice. This is what she says about neuro nutrition:

From my standpoint, for me, I think I use those words to describe the way in which I use supplements, specifically amino acids although I’m starting to use lithium orotate, and vitamins and supplements, vitamins and omega-3’s, that kind of thing. How I use those supplements and how I use dietary change and adjustment to affect mental health issues or to tweak mental health issues. That’s what I mean by neuro-nutrition.

I will tell you any therapist can describe to you, and I can go on and on, about what it’s like, for example, to be sitting with somebody who’s quite anxious and spending your time on deep breathing exercises and the kind of tools that I have traditionally been offered as a psychologist, and yet here’s this other tool where we can calm the patient’s body. Once they can get more of their physical symptoms under control, the level that we can go at in a psychotherapy realm is very exciting.

People come in to see a therapist and then kind of push you away because it’s too scary to deal with grief, it’s too scary to deal with the hard stuff, they’re afraid to become more depressed or more anxious or more – but when we can get the physiological symptoms more under control, we can go to really deep places and make wonderful progress from the psychological standpoint. I do it, so that I can do my work better; that’s why I’m so attracted to it. I watched people be able to grow more than I could ever imagine them growing with us just using the traditional tools of psychotherapy.

We discussed the amino acid questionnaire created by Julia Ross, author of the The Mood Cure. Here is the link to the blog from my talk: Targeted individual amino acids for eliminating anxiety: practical applications. You can get a copy of the questionnaire from here and read up more information on GABA. I am a big fan of GABA and find it to be very effective.

Rebecca has found phenibut (and Kavinace – a combo product that contains phenibut) to be more effective than GABA with her patients. This is one of the case studies that has me concerned about phenibut: Phenibut dependence

We present a case of a patient who used phenibut to self-medicate anxiety, insomnia and cravings for alcohol. While phenibut was helpful initially, the patient developed dependence including tolerance, significant withdrawal symptoms within 3-4 h of last use and failure to fulfil his roles at work and at home.

Rebecca mentioned two books: the book that covers a paleo style diet Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle by Diane Sanfilippo and The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter–And How to Make the Most of Them Now by Meg Jay, a guide for 20-somethings.

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

The Anxiety Summit – Targeted individual amino acids for eliminating anxiety: practical applications

November 10, 2014 By Trudy Scott 126 Comments

Host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution. was interviewed by Dr Lauren Noel, host of Dr Lo radio.

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

Here are some snippets from our interview:

You’ll hear some practitioners say GABA molecules are too large to cross the blood brain barrier so GABA won’t work or if it does work you must have a leaky blood brain barrier

Some practitioners are talking about and using a “test” for leaky brain called the GABA Challenge which recommends taking1000- 2000 mg of GABA at night. If the blood brain barrier is intact, you supposedly won’t feel any effect from the GABA. If you do feel a change (drowsiness /feeling drunk or even jittery) then you will need to repair your leaky blood brain barrier.

I have not used the GABA Challenge and only recently learned about it but I am concerned with the very high dose of 2000mg of GABA. That is a lot of GABA for most people and I would expect severe drowsiness for most people or even a reverse effect. I find 125mg (in GABA Calm) is a good starting dose for my anxious clients.

I have also seen research indicating that GABA’s relaxing effect may be due to peripheral effects rather than the effect on/in the brain

Here are some of the papers about there being GABA-receptors in peripheral tissues (these are older papers and I’d love to see some newer research).

“GABA and its receptors are found in a wide range of peripheral tissues, including parts of the peripheral nervous system, endocrine, and non-neural tissues such as smooth muscle and the female reproductive system” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2162457)
“GABA is widely distributed in endocrine tissues including the pituitary, pancreas, adrenal glands, uterus, ovaries, placenta and testis” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16338174)

Here is the research on oral GABA being a natural relaxant for 13 subjects who crossed a suspended bridge as a stressful stimulus

GABA could work effectively as a natural relaxant and its effects could be seen within 1 hour of its administration to induce relaxation and diminish anxiety.

Here is the research on the stress-reducing effect of chocolate enriched with gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in humans

the participants performed an arithmetic task and those that were given the GABA choc made a quick recovery to the normal state from the stressful state.

It has been reported that ordinary doses of GABA by oral ingestion do not permeate the blood brain barrier. Therefore, it has been considered that GABA may act on the peripheral nervous system of the digestive organs and not the central nervous system

Here is the blog post that discusses why I don’t use urinary neurotransmitter testing.

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

Meme Grant shared her success story with the amazing amino acids (and the pyroluria protocol) in season 1. She had anxiety, had panic attacks, didn’t enjoy speaking in public, had insomnia and was an emotional eater.

glutamine allowed her to walk past the gluten and dairy free junk foods

tyrosine helped her flutterby mind, gave her energy, focus and a desire to do things again
DPA stopped her comfort eating for too much of the “healthy” sweeteners
Tryptophan stopped her mind talk, got her sleeping through the night for the first time in 11 years and helped reduce the frequency of her panic attacks
GABA was the best amino acid and how the panic attacks disappeared
zinc, vitamin B6 and evening primrose oil helped her pyroluria symptoms

Enjoy the bonus audio of my interview with Meme. You’ll be able to hear first-hand from someone who experienced amazing results.

Here is a video of Nicole trying some glutamine for low blood sugar

The questionnaires are also on the blog – amino acid questionnaire and pyroluria questionnaire. Both have many comments that are invaluable.

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

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

June 20, 2014 By Trudy Scott 14 Comments

This is day 14 of the Anxiety Summit. Meme Grant is interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

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. Hear how:

glutamine allowed her to walk past the gluten and dairy free junk foods
tyrosine helped her flutterby mind, gave her energy, focus and a desire to do things again
DPA stopped her comfort eating for too much of the “healthy” sweeteners
Tryptophan stopped her mind talk, got her sleeping through the night for the first time in 11 years and helped reduce the frequency of her panic attacks
GABA was the best amino acid and how the panic attacks disappeared
zinc, vitamin B6 and evening primrose oil helped her pyroluria symptoms. Here is the pyroluria questionnaire we discussed.

Here is a great gem from my interview with Meme:

No matter how bad you feel, know that there is a natural solution out there

Natural solutions come naturally so keep looking

Meme is a GAPS Practitioner, Nutritional Therapist, FNTP, and fellow African.

You can find out more about Meme at www.givennewlife.info

~~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~~

UPDATE: the summit concluded on Tues 6/24 – season 2 of The Anxiety Summit will be in November 2014. If you’d like to be on the notification list just sign up here www.theAnxietySummit.com

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