Adequate vitamin B6 levels are absolutely essential for proper neurotransmitter production and function. This is especially true if someone has previously taken a medication or substance that binds irreversibly with B6, such as carbidopa. Thus vitamin B6 supplementation is often needed to address B6 deficiency or insufficiency.
(more…)When a person is working with a provider using amino acid therapy, periodic testing provides vital information to optimize neurotransmitter function as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, many providers misuse or misinterpret neurotransmitter assays, which can cause a great deal of confusion.
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I recently had a client come in with restless leg syndrome (RLS), anxiety, depression and insomnia. She was having some success keeping her RLS symptoms under control with medications, but still suffered from the anxiety, depression and insomnia and she was coming to us for help with those. We had to start with re-framing the problem, as that was the only way we could get to the proper solution. (more…)
Neurotransmitter testing gets a bad rap; unfortunately, it is well deserved, as many labs, and many providers, have misused it in a ill-fated attempt to help people achieve proper neurotransmitter function. In order to understand how it is possible to use urine testing to help with the clinical determination of optimal amino acid dosing, we have to first look at what is really being measured. (more…)
Amino acid therapy is based on the fact that transporters regulate the flow of neurotransmitters and neurotransmitter precursors in the human body. However, most people don’t understand what transporters are or what they do. Here is the science behind what transporters are, what they do and why they are so important to the success of amino acid therapy. (more…)
According to a recent account in the British Medical Journal, the answer to that question is probably “yes”. In this review, Professor Peter Gotzsche explains that “psychiatric drugs are responsible for the deaths of more than half a million people” and that their benefits “are minimal”. (more…)
