--- In FailsafeNT@yahoogroups.com, "tarinya2" <tarinya2@...> wrote:

> I'll have to look into the milk thistle more...do you do a supplement
> that has a standardized amount of extract?

Yes - about 150mg of silymarin in something like 170? 200? mg of milk
thistle.


> I very rarely remember dreaming, which is supposed to be an indicator
> of B6 deficiency.

I would say that is not an indicator of a deficiency in anything. It
is perfectly normal not to remember dreams. Think yourself lucky, it
probably means you're waking up at the right point in your sleep cycle.


Taking 100 mg of B6 a day does nothing...in the
> past I had good success with getting dream recall if I took 100 mg of
> B6 and ate about 4 oz of chicken liver a couple of times a week,

Clue #1 is that chicken liver contains amines.


but
> I've done that for the last couple of weeks and have only rememberd
> dreaming a couple of times. I also had some pretty vivid dreams
> during/immediately after the amine challenge when I ate loads of
> bananas, which apparently have a usable form of B6.


Amines cause people to have dreams and nightmares, remember them, wake
up at the wrong point in their sleep cycle, have disturbed sleep in
general. It's connected to serotonin, melatonin, GABA and glutamate
levels.


From what I've
> read elsewhere the body needs riboflavin to convert B6 (which would
> explain why the combination of B6+liver worked) so apparently I need
> more riboflavin as well. I'll probably just get the P5P form of B6 if
> the combination of the regular B6 and liver doesn't start helping soon.


I can see how orthomolecular types (I used to be one, very systemised)
would reason that it could be B6 deficiency since some of those
neurotransmitters require B6 for production. If you google
"methylation cycle" you'll come across a few diagrams of the system
we've been talking about. It requires several B vitamins, minerals,
hormones, etc, and all are dependent on enzymes to make them. This is
why I think orthomolecular is too narrow, it doesn't account for the
great variety of genetic differences in enzymes through the population.

Producing those neurotransmitters in the brain is nothing compared to
dosing yourself up on them ready-made with cheese, chocolate or other
amine foods. Hence the reputation of cheese and chocolate for making
you dream. Whenever I eat amines I always dream.