Neurotransmitter effects

[Slaythefear]

In light of my five days of deep depression in my third week of being AF, I am doing some research as time permits. I will post some links to things I feel are interesting or of interest to others. We can be our own best friend in trying to figure out what is going on in our crazy bodies because we are as close to it as anyone can get. Knowledge can be very helpful. I had added in some supplements and tweaked my meds a bit, so I am hoping to figure out why I fell into such a dark hole to avoid it happening again, if possible. I hope this thread offers something for others here as well. Please feel free to share.

GABA

THE BRAIN FROM TOP TO BOTTOM

Be well.:happyheart:

[patrice]

Neurotransmitter effects

Thanks Slay,
I also fell into a hole of nothingness at the end of the 3rd week AF and had that continued for a day longer, I would have also become depressed..

I'm also very interested in the neurotransmitter/rewiring brain stuff.
I have been reading a lot on amino acid therapy and 3 days ago started a formula with Tryosine, Phenylalnine, Taurine + herbs and vitamins (c + b). Do amino acids kick in immediately or are they like other supplements which need a build up before they start having an effect?? Anyone know?

I'm not sure about you but this time around ( or should I say this Round!) I'm using an integrated approach and using everything I can to stay off the booze. And this time I'm reading carefully the experiences of others' on this forum, and learning from them.

A great thread, I will try and add as well

Take care
Patrice

[porqoui]

Neurotransmitter effects

I too say Thanks Slay........

Just skimmed over "The Brain From Top to Bottom" and can't wait to get back to read it more thouroghly. (No time at the present.)

PPQ

[Slaythefear]

Neurotransmitter effects

Phew...this next one will require your thinking brain, so be prepared. Many or most of us have negative effects from alcohol abuse that can make this a difficult challenge at times. So if you try to read SOME of these links and feel like your brain in smoking, fear not, you are not alone. Take it a piece at a time and let it digest if need be or take what you can from them. I find this all fascinating, but a bit trying on my brain's ability to concentrate and comprehend in big doses because the disruptions, damage and imbalances that are taking place. With that said, this won't be my first journey into the workings of our bodies and minds do to health issues.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Ab1lfObUzN8J:www.benthamscience .com/cnr/sample/cnr5-4/007AG.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESj4m_bdNn AfbmTK4LpuGweysRDDTX70LhtdumJh11_FV5qWErZ4X02IcNvW WBVuBjh-V2bkl9vlyLt4-GGlZ3YFJC0kz72B5oAlhTM4LLlN3LmGS3tJxKpGTMK7mtSHru-Zzvah&sig=AHIEtbTNHmRdBF0Lgt-ho4bfh4Q2Fl4x_A


You're welcome pat and por. I will continue adding links as time permits for anyone to take or leave as they see fit. There is so much available on the internet, so this thread may get quite long.

Pat, I would say that the amino acids are ready for immediate action in the body. I've experimented with them in the past for health issues and they can have a very potent effect. Tyrosine and Phenyl. caused me too much anxiety right away, in the past, when I took them and they both have excitation promoting factors. This last article really knocked home the imbalance we have between inhibiting and excitation neurotransmitters in our bodies due to alcohol usage/abuse. It, also, explains the why of the negative experience in withdrawal from alcohol use and why repeated attempts can become even more negative. This isn't easy, but if there is a way to get the balance back, I want it.

[Slaythefear]

Neurotransmitter effects

HOPE! EXERCISE THE BODY AND THE MIND.

The findings may have significant implications for treatment of alcoholism during recovery. The discovery of regeneration of neurons in recovery opens up new avenues of therapies aimed at regeneration of brain cells. "When animals learn, they make more neurons. When animals exercise, they make more neurons and learn faster, as well," Crews said.

"Pharmacological agents such as antidepressants and behaviors such as running, increased physical activity and learning experiences apparently help regulate the process of neurogenesis," he added. "Our research suggests they could be considered in the treatment of chronic alcohol dependency."

In their report, Nixon and Crews also said that their findings for the first time provide a neuronal regeneration mechanism that may underlie the return of normal cognitive function and brain volume associated with recovery from addiction during abstinence from alcohol.

"This is really the first biological measure of a major change in neuronal structure consistent with changes that are known to occur when individuals are able to stop drinking," said Crews.

For decades, neuroscientists believed the number of new cells, or neurons, in the adult brain was fixed early in life. Adaptive processes such as learning, memory and mood were thought tied to changes in synapses, connections between neurons.

More recently, studies have shown that the adult human brain is capable of producing new brain cells throughout life, a neurogenesis resulting in formation of hundreds of thousands of new neurons each month. "Prior to our work, everyone merely assumed that glia, the supporting cells of the brain, regenerated or that existing brain cells altered their connections," said Nixon. "We have shown a burst in new cell birth that may be part of the brain's recovery after the cessation of alcohol."

New brain cells develop during alcohol abstinence, UNC study shows


MARCH ON SOLDIERS! We can win this war.

[Slaythefear]

Neurotransmitter effects

GABA and depression
Most mental-health medications aim to increase the levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine in the brain, however, scientists are now looking more closely into the effects of another neurotransmitter - GABA. GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) dampens down brain activity and imbalances in GABA are thought to be involved in some of the runaway thoughts characteristic of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anxiety. An inability to stop negative thoughts is also thought to be one of the factors leading to depression and researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto looked into the links between levels of GABA and depression in a study of 85 people. 25 had treatment-resistant depression, 16 had major depression but were taking no medication, 19 had major depression but had been successfully treated and 25 formed a healthy control group. Only in the group who had been unaffected by depression did GABA work normally and the less responsive to medication people were the lower the levels of GABA in their brain were.

GABA a missing link.

Low GABA, Not Serotonin, Contributes to Depression in Some | Suite101.com

[Slaythefear]

Neurotransmitter effects

Dropping this off for mod. board readers and all others.

What Increases GABA? | eHow.com

What Increases GABA?

GABA is the body's natural tranquilizer.

GABA, gamma-aminobutyric acid, is a nonessential amino acid that plays a vital role in the central nervous system and brain functioning. GABA is a primary inhibitory neurotransmitter that decreases brain activity by blocking nerve impulses. The decreased brain activity increases feelings of calm and relaxation. Producing and maintaining proper GABA levels can improve sleep and decrease anxiety.



Food Sources

Found in only two primary food sources, mackerel and wheat bran, directly increasing GABA through food sources presents a challenge. However, GABA is formed in the brain through a chemical process that requires glutamic acid and vitamin B6. Eating foods with glutamine and B6 help your body produce GABA. Foods high in protein, beef, beans, chicken, and fish contain high levels of glutamine. Bell peppers, tuna, spinach, broccoli, garlic, mustard greens and turkey are high in vitamin B6.
Theanine

Theanine, an amino acid, is found primarily in green and black teas made from the Camelia sinesis plant. According to a 2006 article in the Journal of Herbal Pharmacotherapy, theanine not only increases GABA levels in the brain, it also increases dopamine and serotonin levels. This helps explain how tea, a caffeinated beverage, can still have a calming effect.
Herbs

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), two herbs used to treat insomnia and anxiety for centuries, increase GABA levels in the brain. Passionflower, though not as powerful as valerian, may be combined with valerian according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Though much less strong, these herbs work similarly to benzodiazepines, a class of drugs which also increase GABA. Always check with your health care practitioner before taking any supplements.
Yoga

Yoga increases GABA levels, according to a 2007 article in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. In the study performed by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and McLean Hospital, GABA levels increased by 27 percent in yoga practitioners after a 60-minute session. Other study participants who read for an hour showed no increase in GABA levels.



To be cont...

[Slaythefear]

Neurotransmitter effects

Remember though, that Glutamate is an excitation factor. I think you can get a coffee like effect when the pathway to Glutamic acid/Glutamate is stimulated by certain supplements and aminos. That's why Ativan and other sleep inducers work right from the get go. They work directly on GABA without going through the pathway process. It's a tricky balance. Also, alcohol enhances GABA...see earlier articles/links and the second link on alcohol effects on these pathways.

What Is The Difference Between Glutamic Acid & Glutamate? | LIVESTRONG.COM

Alcohol also enhances the effects of the neurotransmitter GABA on GABA receptors in the prefrontal cortex (4). GABA neurotransmitters inhibit the release of other neurotransmitters from post-synaptic neurons. Ethanol co-binds with GABA neurotransmitters to GABA receptors on chloride ion channels (6).

Alcohol and Impulse Control

[Slaythefear]

Neurotransmitter effects

Ativan is a benzodiazepine (Xanax, Valium, Librium, etc.) It acts by binding tightly to GABAA receptors in the brain (the same ones stimulated by alcohol) which potentiates the inhibitory effect of the available GABA, leading to sedatory and anxiolytic effects. GABA is actually an amino acid that is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in humans. It controls excitability/relaxation and also muscle tone (which is why Valium is sometimes prescribed for muscle spasms).

Basically, Ativan wraps tightly around these GABA receptors and elicits a sense of well-being and lowers anxiety mimicking and enhancing the body's neurotransmiiters that control stress and anxiety at these receptors. (Ativan is also used for seizures but I'm not sure about the pharmokinetics there.)



Now watch the video in 'The Brain From the Top Down' above and read the other articles as well and you'll get the picture pretty clear. Alcohol and Ativan(benzo) work by keeping the Gaba receptor open and allowing more cloride ions inside the post synaptic neuron. This keeps the thoughts from going through crazy in your head and allows you to relax. However, alcohol has many other effects as well...of course we know that. Just trying to tie it together so you can see why you want the alcohol, but can solve some of that with GABA promoting products for those issues. These latest three posts were prompted by Zax's reasons for drinking on the mod. board. Hope it helps, Zac and for others who are interested.

[AL Fiend]

Neurotransmitter effects

There are several posts throughout this board that say that the amino acid supplement, L-Glutamine, reduces alcohol cravings. Some people proactively take it on a regular basis and some dissolve it under their tongue for acute cravings. Also, I recall someone mentioning that it works extra well with a fat dose of vitamin C.

All this GABA research sheds a light on why L-Glutamine may work so well, since it is an amino acid precursor to GABA.

[Slaythefear]

Neurotransmitter effects

Your brain on alcohol

Does anyone remember the ?this is your brain ? this is your brain on drugs? commercials from the 1980s? Bold messaging and memorable imagery combined to create an idea that is still sticky today.

Is the brain fried like an egg in a pan? Are there lasting effects after the hangover? Are we really killing brain cells with every beer?

Alcohol makes cells less likely to work. The drug ethanol causes the cells to be less responsive to neighboring cells. It is a sedative. But wait, there?s more.

ALCOHOL BURNS

Before the cocktails even go to your head they have to get past your guts. In fact, the lining of the mouth absorbs some alcohol, but most of it reaches the blood stream via the stomach or intestine. Alcohol is locally toxic to cells by chasing out water. It is processed in the liver where more chemical burning takes place.

At high enough concentrations alcohol can overwhelm the liver?s ability to keep up. The large organ under your right ribcage is charged with clearing the stuff. It does a magnificent job, up to a point.

First the cells of the liver swell. Later they accumulate fat. Eventually they die and are replaced by scar tissue. This process is called cirrhosis. You don?t want to let things get this far because the there is no way to reverse cirrhosis.

TARGET ACQUIRED

The only reason I ever drank alcohol was for the effect on my brain. From pleasantly buzzed to completely wasted the action was all happening between my ears. This is where the addiction specialists get the idea that this is a ?brain disease.? Where else would it be taking place?

Cells communicate with their neighbors. They use a delicate combination of electricity and chemistry. Alcohol is a crappy drug. Very imprecise. It interferes with messages being passed from neuron to neuron in an unpredictable way.

Initially the alcohol suppresses the little voice inside your head that says, ?don?t do that.?

? Don?t tell that joke.

? Don?t flirt with that person.

? Don?t get out there and dance the electric boogaloo.

For a little while you feel calm and brave. The thoughts do not change that much but they won?t bother you so much.

With a few more drinks the brain is suppressed altogether and the sedative effects become more general.

WHAT HAPPENED?

If you keep drinking and manage to stay awake other strange things happen. You can be conscious but not remember what you did. The blackout is failure of your brain to convert short-term memories into long ones. You are doing things but can?t recall them later. Embarrassment and/or terror dawn later as you reassemble the pieces.

With very high or chronic moderate exposure to alcohol even worse things happen to your brain.

The cells can only take so much before they give out[i].

It's in here somewhere

KILLING BRAIN CELLS

Yes. You do kill brain cells when you drink alcohol and no, not just the weak ones. Alcohol has direct effects on the cells themselves, especially on their connections to other cells. The brain scans of long-term heavy drinkers make me sad when I see them.

The thin watery fluid in which the organ usually floats replaces healthy brain tissue. Those cells are gone baby, gone.

If you smoke cigarettes the whole brain-dissolving shuffle goes even faster[ii].

STEM CELLS TO THE RESCUE

The good news is your brain can take a joke ? to a point. Time was science thought that there was no new cells created in the brain once you were born. We now know that not only do new cells form but also they form in two ways.

Stem cells float around in the bloodstream and land in the brain. They are coaxed to transform into brain cells. The neighbors do the rest, hooking up the connections.

More bizarrely, the non-neurons can be changed into nerve cells. That?s right. Supporting cells can change into information-carrying cells. It is like wood and plaster in your house morphing into the phone wires and TV cables in the walls. Not kidding.

AFTER THE HANGOVER

It is clear that alcohol hurts the brain. It is also clear that up to a point the cells will recover just fine from the alcohol toxicity. The problem comes when you use the drink to deal with your thoughts a little too often.

Alcohol works to change your thoughts. That?s the point of drinking it. Don?t be surprised when one of your new thoughts is ?let?s have another drink!?

If you have a strong feeling that you are not okay or that others have something that you don?t then drinking can give you a dramatic sense of relief. The allure of the alcoholic drink can become very powerful. Many of my patients describe the feeling of the first drink as magical. All of the anxiety is washed away in a few swallows.

This is the real risk. Sure, if you drink a lot for a long time you will get brain damage. The trouble is this happens slowly. Insidiously.

HITTING BOTTOM

Hitting a ?bottom? is when your life gets worse faster than you can lower your standards. Each time you drink to get away from yourself you get a little worse and feel a little lower.

Part of why it is so hard to recover is the detox from alcohol. Alcohol suppresses the nerve activity and the nerves try to overcome the sedation. When you stop drinking the now hyperactive nerves are jumpy and irritable. Too sensitive.

The real challenge is dealing with all the feelings and fears that have never really been processed. The problem is only alcohol while you are drinking it or recovering from drinking it. The actual trouble is what you think about yourself and the world around you.

The only thing wrong with you is that you think there is something wrong with you.

Your Brain on Alcohol : Haywire

[Slaythefear]

Neurotransmitter effects

Consequences of Intoxication on Brain Structure & Function

Consequences of Intoxication on Brain Structure & Function

Structural damage to the brain resulting from chronic alcohol abuse can be observed in different ways:Results of autopsy show that patients with a history of chronic alcohol abuse have smaller, less massive, and more shrunken brains than nonalcoholic adults of the same age and gender.1

The findings of brain imaging techniques, such as CT scans consistently show an association between heavy drinking and physical brain damage, even in the absence of chronic liver disease or dementia.

Brain shrinking is especially extensive in the cortex of the frontal lobe2 - the location of higher cognitive faculties.

The vulnerability to this frontal lobe shrinkage increases with age.3 After 40 some of the changes my be irreversible [see below].

Repeated imaging of a group of alcoholics who continued drinking over a 5-year period showed progressive brain shrinkage that significantly exceeded normal age-related shrinkage. Moreover, the rate of shrinkage correlated with the amount of alcohol consumed.

The relationship between alcohol consumption and deterioration in brain structure and function is not simple. Measures such as average quantity consumed, or even total quantity consumed over a year, do not predict the ultimate extent of brain damage.

The best predictor of alcohol related impairment is: maximum quantity consumed at one time, along with the frequency of drinking that quantity. In addition to the toxic effects of frequent high levels of alcohol intake, alcohol related diseases and head injuries (due to falls, fights, motor vehicle accidents, etc.) also contribute.

Although changes in brain structure may be gradual, performance deficits appear abruptly. The individual often appears more capable than is actually the case, because existing verbal abilities are among the few faculties that are relatively unimpaired by chronic alcohol abuse.
The Pattern of Recovery

Despite the grim realities described above, the situation is not hopeless: With abstinence there is functional and structural recovery! Predictably cognitive functions and motor coordination improve, at least partially, within 3 or 4 weeks of abstinence; cerebral atrophy reverses after the first few months of sobriety.5

Indications of structural pathology often disappear completely with long-term abstinence.6

Hyper-excitability of the central nervous system persists during the first several months of sobriety and then normalizes.7

Frontal lobe blood flow continues to increase with abstinence, returning to approximately normal levels within 4 years.8

In general, skills that require novel, complex, and rapid information processing take longest to recover. New verbal learning is among the first to recover. Visual-spatial abilities, abstraction, problem solving, and short-term memory, are the slowest to recover. There may be persistent impairment in these domains, particularly among older alcoholics [over 40]. However, even this population may show considerable recovery with prolonged abstinence.9

Withdrawal symptoms are themselves dangerous.

About 15% of alcoholics experience seizures during withdrawals, and the likelihood of having such seizures, as well as their severity, increases with the number of past withdrawal episodes. The seizures are correlated with shrinkage of both frontal lobes, but it is not known whether the seizures are a cause or an effect of the structural changes.10 Next page >>


Continued...

Alcohol and Brain

[Slaythefear]

Neurotransmitter effects

About Neurotransmitters...simple article

How Neurotransmitters Affect our Physical and Emotional Well-Being

Has anyone ever told you how electrifying you are? Well, they may not be that far from the truth! Every aspect of our being is interconnected by a communication system compromised of neurons (nerve cells), which communicate with each other via electrical impulses and chemicals known as neurotransmitters. The chemical firing that controls our body begins when a neuron creates an electrical discharge that moves down its length. At the far end of the neuron, the electrical pulse stimulates the nerve ending to release chemicals known as neurotransmitters. These messenger chemicals travel through a calcium channel known as a synapse to the next nerve. There, they bind to receptor sites, which either stimulate or inhibit the next nerve from firing another electrical impulse.

The discovery of neurotransmitters has greatly altered our understanding of mental illnesses and other disorders of the brain. We now know that sleep; mood, appetite and behavior are influenced by the different types of transmitter chemicals being released in our brain. Depression, addiction, mania, schizophrenia, Alzheimer?s disease, Parkinson's disease and ADHD are some of the major disorders now known to involve imbalances in neurotransmitters. Understanding these chemical messengers has also given us new insights into how nutrition and herbs affect both our mind and our body. So, in this issue we shall introduce the major neurotransmitters and discuss some of the herbs, supplements and natural therapies that can help them to work properly.


Continued with description of each function:

ABOUT NEUROTANSMITTERS