Posted by Larry Hoover on May 19, 2006, at 6:20:52
In reply to How can I calm down?????, posted by UgottaHaveHOPE on May 18, 2006, at 21:34:31
> I am absolutely ravaged every day by anxiety. Its like my body is still and my motor (energy) is going 100 miles per hour. It's a overwhelming sense of fear and I don't even know what I fear.
>
> I've tried Klonopin (still taking), Xanax, Buspar, and most of the SSRI's. The only thing that touched it at all in 10 years was Seroquel. Anyone know why? Anyone have any suggestions on what else to try? Thanks MichaelWith such a history, the chronicity alone suggests that medication alone isn't going to work. I apologize for recycling something I posted earlier, to someone else, but I didn't sleep worth a darn last night, and I don't feel like reinventing the wheel this morning.
I am sorry to hear how burdensome this all is. You're ready to do nearly anything, to find relief. But thinking, and treatment decisions, can become disconnected from the biochemical process which seems to have been disturbed. The underlying dysfunction could be treatable in other realms than pharmacology. The physical environment occupied by receptors influences receptor conformation as much as do ligands, agents which bind at the receptor complex. Yet medical attention tends to focus on agonism or antagonism, rather than in augmentation of the natural brain environment.
Prolonged stress, such as your anxiety state, can cause the body to maladapt. As one example, magnesium ions are essential for the GABA-A receptors to be in the receptive conformation that then is activated by some agonist molecule. Attempts to agonize the receptor, without sufficient magnesium, simply fail. The self-perpetuating characteristic of this scenario is that stress hormones cause the kidneys to become less efficient at retaining magnesium ions. Repeated or chronic stressors cause depletion of magnesium from all tissues, and a viscious circle results. When common anxiolytics fail, or provide only weak response, then it makes sense to see if the biochemical machinery is properly supplied with essential nutrients. {Addendum: over 90% of Americans have diets deficient in magnesium to begin with.}
Another self-perpetuating anxiety loop can develop in the trans-sulphuration pathway that forms a variety of essential molecules from the amino acid methionine. The end result is a deficiency in taurine, one of the most powerful neuromodulators. I don't know why taurine doesn't get more attention; there are dedicated reuptake pumps for taurine in every synapse yet examined (I'm pretty sure). Taurine readily crosses the blood/brain barrier (unlike GABA), and it has similar effect, completely antagonizing glutamate excitation.
Also, the amide of nicotinic acid (B3), called variously niacinamide or nicotinamide, is both a conformational promoter at the GABA-A receptor, but it also mildly agonizes that same receptor.
These ideas directly address fully supporting innate receptor function. The "defect" may not be in agonism/antagonism, at all.
Food for thought. Back after babblefest.....
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:645701
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060515/msgs/645813.html