Dear group:

What follows are some older egroup posts that I wrote in regard to
my experiences with inhibitory nutrients.

I sincerely hope that some persons in this egroup might find this
material of interest.

Sincerely,

Allen

Post titled: Nutrients for inhibition, sleep, and hypomania w/note
to Julia Ross

Posted to various egroups on October 22, 2003

Dear group:

I wrote the following post to a person in our sister egroup
safeharbor2 that had just purchased some GABA in which to try for
help with sleep. Although this material is a bit redundant to older
posts that I have made to this group, I thought some might find it
interesting.

Specifically for Julia Ross: I can't thank you enough for your
book "The Mood Cure". In my opinion it is the first published book
that that contains solid advice on which amino acids to use for
inhibition, as well as contains much other excellent material as
well. Amino acids for inhibition are a key part of the equation for
many persons that are struggling with benzo addiction, sleep issues,
anxiety, hypomania, and the like.

My only suggestion to you in regard to using nutrients for
inhibition is to trial the nutrient combination of 500 mg. (or
perhaps 1000 mg. for some) of L-carnitine in the morning and 3 to 5
capsules of phosphatidyl choline (Solgar's sells phos chol caps)
during the day (this can be taken in divided doses or all at once).
This nutrient combination can be unparalleled in regard to slowing
down the spontaneous rate of neuronal firing in the brain, just like
lithium, but without any negative side effects whatsoever. It's
effect on me when I first discovered this nutrient combination in
the fall of 1997 was absolutely profound. I believe that this
nutrient combination of carnitine and phosphatidyl choline is
a "must worthy trial" in almost any person that is hyperactive,
talks louder than normal, talks faster than normal, cannot stay
focused on one task, is bipolar, is anxious, etc. I do admit that
there may be other nutrient factors involved for this nutrient
combination to work, but as any chemically compromised person ought
to be taking nearly the entire vitamin and mineral range for the
most part, these cofactors should be already covered.

Sincerely,

Allen Darman


Dear (xxx) and the group:

Try adding taurine to the GABA. Taurine is generally more inhibitory
than GABA for most. If and/or when this combination of amino acids
helps you, then try adding tryptophan to it. Tryptophan can swing
both ways... for some persons it is excitatory, and for some it is
inhibitory. Only you can determine this yourself (via trial and
error). Glycine is also a known inhibitor as well. Glycine is a
rather weak inhibitory nutrient for me, but I have used it in
combination with tryptophan, taurine, and GABA for sleep for years
with great success.

Margot Kidder, the actress that overcame bipolar disorder in herself
via natural means, once stated that 1000 mg. each of tryptophan,
taurine, and GABA helped her before bedtime with sleep. I commonly
use 1500 mg. to 2000 mg. of each of these aminos before bedtime, as
1000 mg. is often not enough of each of these inhibitory nutrients
for me. Dosage is an individual issue, but this is the general
ballgame (1000 mg. to 2000 mg.) that works for many.

I do suggest that you read Julia Ross's book "The Mood Cure" as
well. Ms. Ross also suggests tryptophan, taurine, GABA, and glycine
for inhibition as well.

The three amino acids of tryptophan, taurine, and GABA helped me to
resolve an 18 month addiction to Klonopin for sleep in the fall of
1997. I got off Klonopin in less than a month quite easily, and was
getting the best sleep of my entire adult life way back in September
of 1997. This has continued since. I have easily taken 1200 or more
doses of these three amino acids since 1997, along with some other
nutrient inhibitors.... however these three amino acids represent
the heart of what I am doing.

I have also played quite a bit with the amino acid histidine as an
inhibitor in the past few years, and it clearly helps me, but for
some persons it may not help them, if not may actually hurt them
(some persons are already too high in histamine, and histidine is a
key nutrient precursor to histamine, an allergic mediator).

I also commonly take methionine with my bedtime nutrient regime as
well. Methionine is neutral in regard to inhibition/excitation for
me, but I take it for other reasons.

The calming minerals of calcium and magnesium are often helpful in
combination with inhibitory amino acids before bedtime as well.
Vitamin D is needed for calcium absorption. Of these two minerals,
magnesium may clearly be the more important in regard to calming and
inhibition.

In addition to these inhibitory amino acids and minerals, I have
found that 3 to 5 capsules (I use Solgar caps, they are fairly
cheap) of phosphatidyl choline really help me to slow down as well.
For some reason that I still don't understand, I need to take 500
mg. of L-carnitine in the morning for this phos chol supplementation
to work for me. This carnitine and phos chol combination acts just
like lithium for me... it has a really profound effect in (1)
slowing down "my brain speed", (2) lowering the volume of my speech,
and (3) slowing down my speech rate as well.

The source www.jomarlabs.com really cuts down on the cost of
taurine, GABA, glycine, and carnitine vs. what you would pay in a
health food store. I highly recommend this source for all amino
acids except glutamine, which can be purchased much cheaper
elsewhere (a whole lb. can be bought elsewhere for under $35.), and
tryptophan, which they do not carry.

I sincerely hope that this helps.

Allen

Title: Detailed advice on how to apply inhibitory nutrients to
oneself

Posted to various egroups on October 23, 2003

Dear group:

I have had a few requests from persons for more information in
regard to my recent post on inhibitory nutrients. The following
information might be of help in this regard.

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. If
you don't achieve enough success with these four amino acids, I
would strongly consider adding a cautious trial of the amino acid
histidine as well.

2. Dose up slowly on each of the above one capsule at a time. If any
adverse affects are felt, obviously stop. I'd cautiously 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 tryptophan 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
its 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 anything 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 affects 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 still have 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
to this, a proper diet which avoids allergic foods, dealing with
dysbiosis issues, dealing with a possible lack of digestive enzymes
or HCL, correcting toxicity, 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.

I sincerely hope the above post helps.

Allen Darman