[friedgreymatter]

Has anyone tried L-Theanine for anxiety?

nope. and i had a good one this morning. i had my last nursing school test today and i woke up with a good attack........if you try it, let me know.......i know i owe you a letter, but i've had my head in books.....you'll hear soon....p

[Rubylizard]

YES! it is good stuff. my pharmacist suggested it to me when i was coming off klonopin. it is amazing!

[friedgreymatter]

Hello, Rubylizard.

Thank you for your reply.

I ordered some off the net. I hope it helps.

I went to a few vitamin shops and pharmacies around town, but no one knew what I was asking about. "L- what? Huh? You sure you spelled it right?"

Oh, god. Anything to alleviate this anxiety. I just hope I don't end up devouring these things like candy. Must be cautious with herbal supplements, etc.

Goodbye.

- Ray

[Larry_Hoover]

There are other options, too.

Two that could really help are niacinamide and taurine.

Niacinamide is one form of vitamin B3. Do not confuse it with niacin (nicotinic acid). They are completely opposite in effect. NiacinAMIDE acts at the GABA receptor complex, and does two things there. It sensitizes the receptor, making your natural GABA work better. It also is a mild to moderate agonist, which means it activates the receptor, even in the absence of GABA.

Individual responsivity to niacinamide varies widely. Dose can range from 100-500 mg, and you can take it four times a day. Maximum daily dose is 2000 mg.

Taurine is an overlooked neurotransmitter/neuromodulator. Its activity is very similar to GABA. But unlike GABA, it readily crosses the blood/brain barrier.

Taurine directly antagonizes glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter that often suppresses GABA function.

Some people have amazing results with taurine.

You can take up to 2000 mg at a shot, as needed. Warning, though, too much can make you irritable, and make the positive effect fade away. Same goes with the niacinamide.

You should be able to get niacinamide at any drug store or health food shop. Just make sure of the -AMIDE suffix.

Taurine might be a little harder to find, but body-builders use it. So, find out where the gymrats buy their stuff, and you should find taurine.

Best,
Lar

[friedgreymatter]

Hello Larry.

Thank you for the information regarding Niacinamide and Taurine.

Hmmm. Interesting.

My alternative medicine book mentions Taurine, but only for the use of preserving eyesight in combination with other substances.
No info. about niacinamide in there. Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide.

Thank you again for the information.

- R a y

[Larry_Hoover]

I'm not surprised you don't see taurine listed in that book. All the relevant research is quite recent. Here are a couple of Pubmed references:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=11746381

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=15757628

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=15240184

There is no real toxic issue with respect to taurine. You can over do it, as it is a neurotransmitter. But your body is totally designed to manage taurine. The problem is that there are a number of different ways your taurine synthesis mechanism can get screwed up, and they're all mediated by stress. It's one of those sucky vicious circle things.....you become more vulnerable to stress because you're stressed.....yada yada.

Now, those references may not mean much, or may leave you skeptical. But I can assure you, I have had some solid feedback from people who've tried taurine. It works. (most of the time) It also happens to be an excellent treatment for MSG exposure (Chinese food syndrome).

The evidence for niacinamide all comes from research done in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during the Cold War years.....late 70's and early 80's. They took a totally different approach to treating mental illness than did the Western world. They looked at augmenting natural processes, rather than finding novel drugs. They came up with niacinamide (and derivatives), whereas we came up with benzodiazepines.

Niacinamide acts at the GABA receptor. It also reduces allergenic response, and asthmatic reactions. I could provide references for those ideas, but as I said, they're all old and from the former Eastern Bloc and Soviet Union.

These aren't drugs. They're better thought of as food concentrates.

Lar

[friedgreymatter]

Thanks for the information, Larry.

Just checked out the links. The stuff kinda goes over my head. Are you well versed in chemistry, pharmacology? Wish I could comprehend this kind of info.

I just heard about M.S.G. on a radio program last night. Sounds like really bad stuff. Something to think about the next time I order Chinese food.

-Ray

[Larry_Hoover]

I'm a special kind of chemist, an environmental toxicologist. Pharmacology is not so very different. They overlap quite a bit.

Is there anything in those abstracts you wanted to learn how to understand? I might be able to help with that, too.

MSG is in all kinds of foods, not just restaurant Chinese. It's sometimes listed as "natural flavouring". More commonly, though, as hydrolyzed something-or-other. Or something-or-other extract. E.g. hydrolyzed vegetable protein. Yeast extract. Stuff like that.

Lar

[friedgreymatter]

Hello, Lar.

Eeek. That MSG stuff is everywhere. There's also a product called Accent. Some kind of salt substitute. Oh, it was Coast to Coast AM that had a segment on MSG, the other night. It does concern me to hear such information on the radio , but then again, they talk about spaceships and stuff on that program, too.

Thanks for the offer to help with the pubmed info. I always have questions and so little knowledge.

Well, the L-Theanine arrived in the mail today. Just popped 100mgs. Maybe not a good idea for me to take it today, since I already took 6 mgs of melatonin this morning. Eh, if there's a lesson to be learned, I'm sure my body will teach me soon enough.
Don't know if the two will interact. Don't know how fast melatonin leaves the system. Too many don't knows and too little knowledge.

Well, anyways, I'm babbling.

Thanks, Lar.

- Ray

[MeDiCaTioN_TiMe]

As Lar says, MSG is in lots of things. Food manufacturers have to list ingredients, but they don't have to list the ingredients of ingredients. Hydrolyzed animal or plant proteins always contain MSG or a very close cousin to it & it's very hard to avoid eating it. IMHO MSG is fine for most people & it's one of those things that has been blown out of proportion.

[Raynaadi]

bump