Richard and aminos

As you are about to undertake a programme of amino acids I thought that this might be an interesting post to refer too - from an orthomolecular group.I t makes mention of some of the aminos and vitamins which are normally inhibitory being excitory for some. Eg tryptophan and vit B's. I know that the B's are excitory for me.

I think that Julia Ross, the author of "The Mood Cure", and I are
pretty much in concurrence on how to apply amino acids safely to
oneself. The general rules in the proper application of amino acids
to oneself are as follows:

1. Isolate on each amino acid first, seeing how you feel on each
individual amino acid that you take. I suggest doing this in the
following order in regard to the generally inhibitory amino acids
that I brought up in my recent post; (1) taurine, (2) GABA, (3)
tryptophan with some B complex and vitamin C, and (4) glycine.

2. Dose up slowly on each of the above one capsule at a time. If
any adverse affects are felt, obviously stop. I'd try one, two,
three, and perhaps four capsules of each, assuming no adverse
affects.

Putting points one and two together, I'd try 1,2,3,4 500 mg.
capsules of taurine, 1,2,3,4 capsules of GABA, 1,2,3,4 capsules of
tryptophan, and 1,2,3,4 capsules of glycine, stopping any trial
immediately if you feel any negative affect whatsoever, and also
stopping at the point "you feel you've had enough". If I feel I've
taken a bit too much of a single amino acid, but it was helping me
before, I just back down to the prior lower dosage that seemed to
work well and helped me to do what I intended.

3. Take amino acids on an empty stomach with room temperature
spring or distilled water whenever possible. The less these
nutrients compete for absorption with other nutrients, the better.

However, in a pinch, I take amino acids at any time, full stomach,
partly full, or empty. Under all such circumstances, these
nutrients have helped me, but perhaps somewhat less so and somewhat
more slowly when I have food in my stomach.

4. I have found that it helps to be engaged in some quiet activity
such as reading or watching TV, in order to pick up the sometimes
subtle changes in how one feels when trying amino acids for the
first time. Normally the effect of these nutrients is felt in a
timeframe that is remarkably short, perhaps 15 minutes or so to
within an hour.

5. Once one identifies one's inhibitory nutrients, the best
approach is not simply to take one or two of one's inhibitory
nutrients, but to simply combine them all. This inhibitory
combination should include at least three nutrient inhibitors, if
not four, five, or six.

6. The use of a B complex vitamin is excitatory for some persons.
If so, leave it out. I believe that vitamin B6 and C are necessary
for the conversion of tyrpophan to serotonin. Other nutrients may
be involved as well. Robert Erdmann's book "The Amino Revolution"
lists some of the common cofactors to achieve results. This book,
despite it's flaws, is a very worth read.

7. Please remember that the amino acid tryptophan can act as
excitatory in some persons, in what is called a paradoxical
reaction. Only you can determine this by trial and error.

Any and all amino acids can and do effect persons differently, not
doing what they are supposed to do, or not helping (if not hurting)
one person, but clearly helping another. Trial and error is the
ONLY valid way to find this out.

In my experience, I don't feel the inhibition of the amino acid
glycine much, but I add it anyway, due to the fact it is a known
inhibitory amino acid. For me, I take anyhing that I either feel
inhibition from, or anything that is more or less neutral in it's
effect (from what I can tell), but "the books say" is supposed to be
inhibitory.

Incidentally, I definitely can feel the inhibition of taurine. This
is the inhibitory nutrient that clearly effects me the most, and it
does not need any cofactors in which to work to do so. In the
beginning, if I took too much taurine, I would get a bit of a
headache, but less than too much clearly helped "my brain to shut
down" without any adverse effect whatsoever.... and I could take it
day after day without any problems. Taurine is used up in the
production of bile, amongst other things. All nutrients are
eventually used up by the body, sooner or later, and some much
sooner than others.

I am still of the opinion that raising the acetylcholine level in
the brain is a crucial, if not huge, brain inhibitor for many. I am
also convinced that the best way to do this is to take 500 mg. or
so of L-carnitine in the morning, and then take 3 to 5 capsules of
phosphatidyl choline throughout the day. This nutrient combination
may not work for some persons, but it was a profound "brain speed
inhibitor" for me.

Lastly, although I am posting on amino acids quite a bit, this does
not mean that I ignore the other essential nutrients in my wellness
regime. Vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids are clearly
essential to human health as well, and I take them all. In
addition, a proper diet which avoids allergic foods, dealing with
dysbiosis issues, dealing with a possible lack of digestive enzymes
or HCL, correcting acidosis, etc. are all often crucial issues for
one to recover from lack of physical or mental health as well. I
don't want it to seem that amino acids are the entire answer here,
because they are not. However, amino acids are often invaluable
therapeutic nutrient tools for many persons that suffer from any
mental difficulty whatsoever, especially depression and manic
depression, the illnesses with which I am most familiar.

Thank you so much for posting that, Fran. I think that's an excellent idea to try. My wife bought quite a bit of separate aminos, so I'll try them individually first, one at a time, and see what effects I get from them. I also think I'll try the B vitamins by themselves first, and see what happens. I am a bit apprehensive, knowing about the glutamate issue, but I'll stay in tune with what's going on within my body. I thought I'd let you know, that I was low in glutamic and aspartic acid, however in reading at a site about HIV, they stated that glutamate should be more in the tissues, rather than the blood, and when it's in the blood, it causes problems with the sulfur amino, cysteine, making it less useful. That was very kind of you to take the time to post that information. THANK YOU!!!!!! :~))))))))

Richard