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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by LOOPS on August 25, 2004, at 15:48:28
Hello -
been following the previous thread on taurine, and having had a bit of success with this amino, need a few questions answering for anyone who is in the know, or has anecdotal evidence as well.
Basically, this stuff HITS THE MARK for my anxiety, especially in the morning. I suffer from depression, anxiety, insomnia and have really bad eczema.
I take a lot of vitamins plus mag and zinc, also B vits, also St Johns Wort and 2 tabs lithium orotate. I also take tryptophan/5htp alternating.
The lith works a bit, but if I up my dosage to more than two per day, I start to get seriously sluggish, unmotivated and put on weight. Also it did not seem to really address the underlying anxiety, just the overlying mood swings.
Well, the weird thing with the taurine is it *feels* as if it gets right to the root of my anxious hyperactivity - bang! I feel normal after taking around a gram of this.
However if I overdo it, I feel very flat, so what's going on there? Pretty obvious I suppose - too much inhibition of norepinephrine (but hang on - doesn't it normalize this?).
Whilst using taurine, I can tolerate other things I have found useful in the past but had to give up due to my sensitive anxiety-ridden nature (like ginkgo and gotu kola for example).
The thing is, I've searched over the web and can't find hardly anything on this seemingly amazing amino acid.
The other problem is, despite being calming, and also taking away any desire I have to drink alchohol in the evenings (always a plus), it doesn't seem to be helping my insomnia. How something can be calming and yet not conducive to sleep is strange.
Can anyone tell me, is there an opposing 'balancing' amino to taurine as concerning its use in the brain? I know 5htp / N-A-tyrosine are opposing - I was wondering if the same is true with taurine.
Also could it be its effects on dopamine that is not helping my insomnia?
Anyone? Larry, are you there? Can you help me figure this out???
Thanks
Loops
Posted by Larry Hoover on August 25, 2004, at 21:57:47
In reply to TAURINE experiences/questions, posted by LOOPS on August 25, 2004, at 15:48:28
> Can anyone tell me, is there an opposing 'balancing' amino to taurine as concerning its use in the brain? I know 5htp / N-A-tyrosine are opposing - I was wondering if the same is true with taurine.
>
> Also could it be its effects on dopamine that is not helping my insomnia?
>
> Anyone? Larry, are you there? Can you help me figure this out???
>
> Thanks
>
> LoopsJust a quick reply...I'm very busy.
As far as I know, the opposing neurotransmitter is the amino glutamate. I think the insomnia link is via histamine. I'm planning on giving taurine a real good research effort in a couple of weeks, if you'll bear with me on that.
Lar
Posted by LOOPS on August 26, 2004, at 16:09:59
In reply to Re: TAURINE experiences/questions » LOOPS, posted by Larry Hoover on August 25, 2004, at 21:57:47
Does taurine increase histamine?
Funny, I take what I said back about the taurine - yesterday I took 2.5g taurine spread into three doses, ~600mg tryptophan morning and afternoon, 100mg 5htp at 8pm and another 100mg 5htp (I have a tolerance for this stuff) at around 11pm, managed to only drink 1 small beer (hoorah, very boring evening), and slept like a log.
So I don't think the taurine adversely affected my sleep at all after all.
I have to take it on an empty stomach though or it doesn't seem to work as well.
Seriously great stuff though - and it goes very nicely with tryptophan for me. Hope I don't grow tolerant to it!
Loops
Posted by Larry Hoover on August 28, 2004, at 10:19:36
In reply to Taurine, posted by LOOPS on August 26, 2004, at 16:09:59
> Does taurine increase histamine?
I was thinking out loud. I shouldn't do that, before my own understanding is complete. I'll come back to this another time.
Lar
This is the end of the thread.
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