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How do we kickstart neuro-transmitters naturally


historygal

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Hi guys (this is long sorry)

 

I just wanted to post some findings of research that I have done. I was helped a lot by Excuse so I would like to say thank you for pointing me in the direction of researching. Excuse posted his success story in which he was very pro-active in studying neuro-science, neurogenesis, the human body and the sleep circadian rhythym etc (check out his story)

 

Whilst I am not healed and I am 3.5 years with little change and to be honest with you I have done very many wrong things (hence why I am where I am) I have had an epiphany and if only I had gone down this route sooner. This is why I am trying to put this message out to help everyone. This is my research below which very much backs up Excuse.

 

For many of us we look at our symptoms and we are looking for anything to help alleviate them whether this be supplements etc. Whilst I agree you need to address as best you can. You really need to work backwards. 

1. Start researching the neuro-transmitters that produce symptoms (log your symptoms and look at the neuro-transmitters that are responsible for those symptoms 

2. Start understanding that your body has stopped producing neuro-transmitters or the levels of neuro-transmitters are out of whack because the drug (doesn't matter which one) started "manufacturing and stopping chemicals"

3.  Understand that all your neuro-transmitters work in tandem to keep your body functioning (so you can't just address one)

4. Look at how to stimulate these neuro-transmitters, food groups seeds, nuts etc eating omega 3 foods, vegan diet etc (this will vary from person to person)

5. Understand that stress depletes the brain of minerals and it is unable to produce neuro-transmitters under chronic stress which is why stress coping tools is so important otherwise your cortisol and adrenaline levels will be high and your symptoms will be worse.

6. Understand that your brain can and will get back to its original state, you just need to kickstart the chemicals again just like you jump start a car

7. Start researching the brain (I have chronic brain fog and poor memory and concentration issues but I am fighting through this to research) 

8. Start understanding the role your circadian rhythym plays (body clock) in sleep, your body clock works with the chemicals in the brain to induce sleep and wakefulness but they are two different systems that  function together for you to have proper sleep

9. Start looking at  WD as a Mind, body and soul thing.You cant just eat healthy food, you need to stimulate the chemicals by activities such as walking, yoga and meditation. These all work on releasing toxins (which does play a part in the WD process) they also work to produce neuro-transmitters

10. Don't take any mind altering substances. The reason is because of Neuro-plasticity your brain will adapt to other chemicals that you are adding in, much like that scene in Alien.

11. Research positivity, like the dancing toaster in ghost busters that reacts to slime, your brain responds to positive thinking like that. It loves happy thoughts and creates new neural pathways and releases neuro-transmitters. Give yourself permission to laugh as much as you can. Every time you laugh or smile that causes a reaction and stimulation.

12. Understand that your environment around you is also responsible for creating chemical connections. Which is why it's important to try and live as positively as you can

13. This is going to be hard because it involves a lot of effort and work to put forward a strategy, but you really do need a 4 pronged approach to this. We didn't ask for it no, but it's a small price to pay to get our health back on track

14. Don't sit indoors all the time. Your brain needs  at least 1 hour of day light to activate your internal body clock. When people say you need sunlight. They mean you need sunlight. We need it everyday to regulate sleep.

15. Visualisation and repition is a must. The more you are able to visualise good health (work on images) everytime you think about your symptoms. You are re-wiring your brain to think differently.  Research this as well

16. I have spent days researching all these things and just trying to put it into lay man's terms for every one who is struggling. Like it or not we have to put a plan together. I have just put mine together and will try and post updates. Things won't happen over night but you can re-wire your brain in 6 months to 12 months. It is possible it's not just some pseudo-science.

 

Thanks Guys

 

 

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Good morning,

 

well I tried tryptophan and had an horrendous reaction though its supposed to help produce serotonin...

Now I started a gluten free diet because i read gluten has an influence on the brain but my brain fog is worse.

I tried about 60 different supplements and they all made me worse even fish oil which is supposed to be good.

what supplements do you use ?

Thank you

1996-1997 Elavil 150 mg, tapered slowly as per doctor's advice - 1999-2005 Prozac 20 mg then 10 mg for a long time then nothing - was not aware of SSRI withdrawal I was told there was no withdrawal with Prozac due to long half life and thus always considered rebound anxiety and insomnia as relapse- 2007 Lexapro 10 mg then 20 mg, anxiety too bad to work, then merry go round of Paxil, Effexor, Xeroquel, Risperdal, any drug on the market even drugs for bipolar ... back to Lexapro 10 mg but pooped out + tinnitus (head ringing) problem appeared in 2010 on any ssri- Anafranil 75 mg Jan-March 2017 at 75 mg better then crashed after 6 weeks (poop out)  stop CT  and switch to Brintellix 10 mg in March 2017 + Nozinan 20 mg and zopiclone 7,5 mg (these two taken for a long time). Extreme anxiety, sleeplessness, depression, panic, social anxiety, derealisation,professional disability lost home job marriage everything. I had to stop Brintellix due to a very bad reaction to it and reinstate Anafranil 75 mg then 37.5 mg since May 2017 because of severe constipation (can't go at all to the toilet) My general problem and the reason why I could never drop meds is because of ocd about sleep, severe GAD social anxiety unable to work since 2012, as a result of chronic use of anti depressants I believe my serotonin is completely depleted and my receptors are dead! Sorry the dates are confusing/ since august started slow taper by 10% every 4 weeks so current treatment is anafranil 60 mg/Nozinan 13 mg/zopiclone 3.75 mg and lexomil 1/4 as needed but try not to take it

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I don't use any supplements. Food is best because a) it releases small amounts of chemicals B)supplements can be filled with additives and other chemicals which can make things worse for you.

 

You can't just rely on supplements, you have to adopt a whole approach to it. Depending on your symptoms you need to figure out by researching and I mean don't just Google one thing cross reference with lots of articles, once you start reading around you start to understand more about the brain

 

See my point above as most people don't know what neuro-transmitters have been stopped, it's no good trying one thing for Serotonin. The brain doesn't work like that, all the neuro-transmitters work together to help your body functioning.  So you have to address it all. Which is why you need to be active, get in the sunlight and read around how you can jump start the chemicals again

 

Get wheat, dairy out of your diet, they cause inflammation in the body which can make your symptoms worse. Certain neuro-transmitters won't work when the body is highly inflamed and under stress. Yes your body stops producing chemicals under stress even under food stress 

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Also by eating the right things you won't stop the windows and waves pattern, so you will still have periods of when the brain fog will be worse but when you address your diet properly it will be less

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2 hours ago, Laetitia said:

Good morning,

 

well I tried tryptophan and had an horrendous reaction though its supposed to help produce serotonin...

Now I started a gluten free diet because i read gluten has an influence on the brain but my brain fog is worse.

I tried about 60 different supplements and they all made me worse even fish oil which is supposed to be good.

what supplements do you use ?

Thank you

 

It's very important to develop a plan and a tool kit, and to avoid "magic bullet" thinking, which leads us to try scattershot approaches. I know what you are talking about and how you are feeling about supplements. I tried everything all at once in the beginning of recovery also.

 

A suggestion for you - and keep in mind that I am NOT a doctor - is to stop the supplements for a week. Let your body find an equilibrium (though yes, I admit, that equilibrium for now might be pretty rife with symptoms). Then begin with one supplement at a low dose and see how you are doing after a week. That is what I did. I let my body relax from the supplement assault, and then I added 100mg of Magnesium-Glycinate (Magnesium seems to be the agreed upon best starting point, but avoid the Oxide and Citrate forms, which tend to aggravate the stomach).

 

The more important point here is to avoid "magic bullet" thinking - mainly because there is no magic bullet and because everybody's body is different anyway.

 

Also, research is key. Use the search function here on SA to find threads about various supplements for advice and to learn about other users' experiences.

 

Finally - I mentioned above a "tool kit." Your tool kit needs many tools, not just supplements: mindful breathing, an exercise level you can tolerate, sunshine, prayer, contact with other people, and so on. Build your personal tool kit!

 

SJ

 

Main thread: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/14472-shakeyjerr-say-hello/

History: Prozac & Lithium from 1999 to 2003. Ended up back on after 4 months because taking a beta-blocker caused immediate depression (just 2 doses - turned out I didn't even need it; I had no other withdrawal symptoms - I might have ended up med and withdrawal-free otherwise :(). - Switched to Effexor (75mg 3/day) and Seroquel (50mg 3/day) in 2010. - Did a self-taper during 2016. - Developed Discontinuation Syndrome 02/17.

Supplements: Magnesium-Glycinate 400mg split into 4 100mg doses throughout the day. Vitamin C 500mg - once per day. Fish Oil 1360 mg (950 mg Active Omega-3) - twice per day.

I'm not a doctor. I use the internet, experience, and trial & error. Seek medical advice if necessary.

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I agree with SJ you need to find things that work for you that's why you need to research as much as you can. 

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Exercise, even if it hurts or is hard:

 

https://www.google.se/amp/www.livestrong.com/amp/article/96493-exercise-brain-neurotransmitters/

 

There is no magic bullet, but I have found that small amounts of CBD keeps me from getting to depp into the anxiety spiral that WD produces.

Started Sertralin the spring of -13 and got up to 150 mgs (which was a mistake by my GP)

Decided to taper it form 150 mgs in sep -13 by reducing the dosage by 12.5 mgs every other week.

Got off Sertraline in Feb -14 and started noticing withdrawal after about 15 days off the meds.

Still experiencing withdrawal after 2 years and 5 months off the medicine.

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On ‎13‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 10:37 PM, historygal said:

Hi guys (this is long sorry)

 

I just wanted to post some findings of research that I have done. I was helped a lot by Excuse so I would like to say thank you for pointing me in the direction of researching. Excuse posted his success story in which he was very pro-active in studying neuro-science, neurogenesis, the human body and the sleep circadian rhythym etc (check out his story)

 

Whilst I am not healed and I am 3.5 years with little change and to be honest with you I have done very many wrong things (hence why I am where I am) I have had an epiphany and if only I had gone down this route sooner. This is why I am trying to put this message out to help everyone. This is my research below which very much backs up Excuse.

 

For many of us we look at our symptoms and we are looking for anything to help alleviate them whether this be supplements etc. Whilst I agree you need to address as best you can. You really need to work backwards. 

1. Start researching the neuro-transmitters that produce symptoms (log your symptoms and look at the neuro-transmitters that are responsible for those symptoms 

2. Start understanding that your body has stopped producing neuro-transmitters or the levels of neuro-transmitters are out of whack because the drug (doesn't matter which one) started "manufacturing and stopping chemicals"

3.  Understand that all your neuro-transmitters work in tandem to keep your body functioning (so you can't just address one)

4. Look at how to stimulate these neuro-transmitters, food groups seeds, nuts etc eating omega 3 foods, vegan diet etc (this will vary from person to person)

5. Understand that stress depletes the brain of minerals and it is unable to produce neuro-transmitters under chronic stress which is why stress coping tools is so important otherwise your cortisol and adrenaline levels will be high and your symptoms will be worse.

6. Understand that your brain can and will get back to its original state, you just need to kickstart the chemicals again just like you jump start a car

7. Start researching the brain (I have chronic brain fog and poor memory and concentration issues but I am fighting through this to research) 

8. Start understanding the role your circadian rhythym plays (body clock) in sleep, your body clock works with the chemicals in the brain to induce sleep and wakefulness but they are two different systems that  function together for you to have proper sleep

9. Start looking at  WD as a Mind, body and soul thing.You cant just eat healthy food, you need to stimulate the chemicals by activities such as walking, yoga and meditation. These all work on releasing toxins (which does play a part in the WD process) they also work to produce neuro-transmitters

10. Don't take any mind altering substances. The reason is because of Neuro-plasticity your brain will adapt to other chemicals that you are adding in, much like that scene in Alien.

11. Research positivity, like the dancing toaster in ghost busters that reacts to slime, your brain responds to positive thinking like that. It loves happy thoughts and creates new neural pathways and releases neuro-transmitters. Give yourself permission to laugh as much as you can. Every time you laugh or smile that causes a reaction and stimulation.

12. Understand that your environment around you is also responsible for creating chemical connections. Which is why it's important to try and live as positively as you can

13. This is going to be hard because it involves a lot of effort and work to put forward a strategy, but you really do need a 4 pronged approach to this. We didn't ask for it no, but it's a small price to pay to get our health back on track

14. Don't sit indoors all the time. Your brain needs  at least 1 hour of day light to activate your internal body clock. When people say you need sunlight. They mean you need sunlight. We need it everyday to regulate sleep.

15. Visualisation and repition is a must. The more you are able to visualise good health (work on images) everytime you think about your symptoms. You are re-wiring your brain to think differently.  Research this as well

16. I have spent days researching all these things and just trying to put it into lay man's terms for every one who is struggling. Like it or not we have to put a plan together. I have just put mine together and will try and post updates. Things won't happen over night but you can re-wire your brain in 6 months to 12 months. It is possible it's not just some pseudo-science.

 

Thanks Guys

 

 

this is great ,I must print it out and put it on my wall,I'm pretty much in a horrid state, and everyone around me is loosing patience but I have to keep fighting ,because I'm the one that wants to put my head through the wall from all the mental anguish .

thanks

PB

Alcohol free since February 2015 

1MG diazepam

4.5MG PROZAC.

 

 

 

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