![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by saw on October 15, 2004, at 6:50:15
Namely Effexor 150mg. I have read somewhere that it is not advisable to take GABA with an AD as it may cause negative effects.
I would like to start taking all the amino acids linked to depression in an effort to reduce the weight gain caused by Effexor and assist in tackling addictive behaviour.
Any advice?
Sabrina
Posted by jujube on October 15, 2004, at 6:50:16
In reply to Can GABA be taken with AD's?, posted by saw on October 13, 2004, at 5:58:38
Yipes! I had not heard that GABA should not be taken with an AD. I had heard that 5-HTP should not be taken with an AD because of the potential for serotonin syndrome. My doctor actually did not have a problem with me trying amino acid supplementation. Perhaps you can check with your doc at your next appointment (I seem to recall you mentionning that you had an appointment soon). I am actually going to be starting a GABA supplement soon. I have heard that GABA alone may not be effective since it doesn't cross the blood brain barrier. It is better, from what I have read, to get a product that combines GABA with niacinimid and possibly inistol to assist the GABA in crossing the blood brain barrier.
Tamara
> Namely Effexor 150mg. I have read somewhere that it is not advisable to take GABA with an AD as it may cause negative effects.
>
> I would like to start taking all the amino acids linked to depression in an effort to reduce the weight gain caused by Effexor and assist in tackling addictive behaviour.
>
> Any advice?
>
> Sabrina
Posted by Bill LL on October 15, 2004, at 6:50:16
In reply to Can GABA be taken with AD's?, posted by saw on October 13, 2004, at 5:58:38
I don't know anything about GABA. I do know that Wellbutrin can be added to Effexor to combat excess eating and addictive behavior. For example, Wellbutrin (aka Zyban) is often used to help stop cigarette smoking.
> Namely Effexor 150mg. I have read somewhere that it is not advisable to take GABA with an AD as it may cause negative effects.
>
> I would like to start taking all the amino acids linked to depression in an effort to reduce the weight gain caused by Effexor and assist in tackling addictive behaviour.
>
> Any advice?
>
> Sabrina
Posted by Daniel Woodfield on October 15, 2004, at 6:50:17
In reply to Re: Can GABA be taken with AD's?, posted by Bill LL on October 13, 2004, at 8:18:02
Its a shame that the medical world have put out a strict message that combining 5HTP with an AD is an absolute no no.
Personally i feel in many cases this could be very advantageous.
When people don't respond to ADs there has to be a reason for it.
1) It could be that the persons serotonin levels are already fine and their depression lies elsewhere.
2) And i find this very interesting and think it maybe many peoples problem is that people simply aren't generating enough serotonin in the first place.
I found an article somewhere that explained it in a very interesting way.
If a car has run out of gas, the owner of the car does not insert a device to keep gas from being used up but instead fills up the tank with gas.
Lets say a depressed person has used up their serotonin stores, putting in a block to stop serotonin from being re-uptaken isn't going to help anything because there isn't any serotonin in the first place. Its a completely pointless excersise.
Using 5-htp on its own pours serotonin back into the brain and in effect fills up the tank.
If the person who is filling up their serotonin tank does not have enough serotonin receptors to recieve their new stores of serotonin, then and only then will blocking the re-uptake of it help the person out.
So in effect if a person has depleted their serotonin stores, they need to refill them. ADs will not do this, 5-HTP will. If then they are still depressed and its a serotonin related issue, the ADs will be able to do the job they were designed for and actually keep the newly delievered serotonin in the synapses and through this mode of action create new serotonin receptors.
The AD could be slowly fazed out and the patient could top their serotonin levels up from time to time with a few weeks of 5-HTP intake.
Unfortunately no medical set ups in any country are prepared to care enough about their pateints (for whatever reason) to actually take the time to evaluate the ACTUAL problem that is going on inside each individuals brain. Its a general feling of what can work for some people, may work for all people regardless of the consequences of getting the disgnosis terribly wrong.
(BTW DO NOT under any circumstances take 5-HTP with your AD, without knowing what is going on inside your own head for absolute certain this combination can indeed be deadly.)
Posted by jujube on October 15, 2004, at 6:50:17
In reply to Re: Can GABA be taken with AD's?, posted by Daniel Woodfield on October 13, 2004, at 8:42:24
I don't know that all doctors and medical professionals espouse this messaging. I presented a list of aminos I wanted to supplement with, including 5-HTP, to my gp and pdoc and neither had a problem with the supplementation. When you think of it, docs combine ADs that affect serotonin often. I would think that as long as the supplementation is discussed with, and supervised to some degree by, the doc that prescribed the AD, it may be worth exploring. In my readings, I have heard of some doctors that will pursue augmenting an AD with 5-HTP if the patient has a good, but not substantial response to an AD. Personally, I would much prefer to try augmenting with something natural before adding a second AD and having to deal with yet another set of side effects.
Tamara
> Its a shame that the medical world have put out a strict message that combining 5HTP with an AD is an absolute no no.
>
> Personally i feel in many cases this could be very advantageous.
>
> When people don't respond to ADs there has to be a reason for it.
>
> 1) It could be that the persons serotonin levels are already fine and their depression lies elsewhere.
>
> 2) And i find this very interesting and think it maybe many peoples problem is that people simply aren't generating enough serotonin in the first place.
>
> I found an article somewhere that explained it in a very interesting way.
>
> If a car has run out of gas, the owner of the car does not insert a device to keep gas from being used up but instead fills up the tank with gas.
>
> Lets say a depressed person has used up their serotonin stores, putting in a block to stop serotonin from being re-uptaken isn't going to help anything because there isn't any serotonin in the first place. Its a completely pointless excersise.
>
> Using 5-htp on its own pours serotonin back into the brain and in effect fills up the tank.
>
> If the person who is filling up their serotonin tank does not have enough serotonin receptors to recieve their new stores of serotonin, then and only then will blocking the re-uptake of it help the person out.
>
> So in effect if a person has depleted their serotonin stores, they need to refill them. ADs will not do this, 5-HTP will. If then they are still depressed and its a serotonin related issue, the ADs will be able to do the job they were designed for and actually keep the newly delievered serotonin in the synapses and through this mode of action create new serotonin receptors.
>
> The AD could be slowly fazed out and the patient could top their serotonin levels up from time to time with a few weeks of 5-HTP intake.
>
>
> Unfortunately no medical set ups in any country are prepared to care enough about their pateints (for whatever reason) to actually take the time to evaluate the ACTUAL problem that is going on inside each individuals brain. Its a general feling of what can work for some people, may work for all people regardless of the consequences of getting the disgnosis terribly wrong.
>
>
> (BTW DO NOT under any circumstances take 5-HTP with your AD, without knowing what is going on inside your own head for absolute certain this combination can indeed be deadly.)
Posted by JLx on October 16, 2004, at 17:44:29
In reply to Re: Can GABA be taken with AD's?, posted by Daniel Woodfield on October 13, 2004, at 8:42:24
> Lets say a depressed person has used up their serotonin stores, putting in a block to stop serotonin from being re-uptaken isn't going to help anything because there isn't any serotonin in the first place. Its a completely pointless excersise.
>
> Using 5-htp on its own pours serotonin back into the brain and in effect fills up the tank.
>
> If the person who is filling up their serotonin tank does not have enough serotonin receptors to recieve their new stores of serotonin, then and only then will blocking the re-uptake of it help the person out.That makes so much sense to me; it's almost crazy making isn't it that most of the medical establishment ignores such basics as where is the serotonin coming from in the first place that the drugs are manipulating? 5-HTP and tryptophan might help but let's not forget food either. I read "The Serotonin Solution" by MIT researcher Judith Wurtman some years back and it was very enlightening. She says, for instance, that protein and carbs are to be eaten in a 1:5 ratio if you want the serotonin boost. And it has to be starches and sugars, not fruit. This can be problematical in view of hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, and so forth, but making sure the carbs are complex mitigates that somewhat. Wurtman has been speaking out against the no/low carb diets for this reason -- lack of serotonin repletion.
When I was on SSRIs, at first I would feel less appetite but later I would be carb crazy. All I wanted to eat was sugar. It was one reason why I quit them.
> Unfortunately no medical set ups in any country are prepared to care enough about their pateints (for whatever reason) to actually take the time to evaluate the ACTUAL problem that is going on inside each individuals brain. Its a general feling of what can work for some people, may work for all people regardless of the consequences of getting the disgnosis terribly wrong.
Yes, and now that they are saying that ADs only work for about 50 percent of those that stick with them, what else have they got to offer but more of the same.
I don't see why GABA can't be taken with ADs. I was taking it with Prozac at one time and mentioned it to my pdoc saying I thought it helped with insomnia. She just looked thoughful for a minute and said, "Makes sense".
JL
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Alternative | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.