GABA has changed my life :)

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I keep my brain here:

Yes, B19! The body wouldn't make GABA in the gut if it was unable to make use of it!

Just an update, and something I noticed recently about the stuff that is helping me . . .

Burdock Root - helps my pain; and it's turned into a short chain fatty acid by 'good' bacteria in the colon.
GABA - helps my pain, relaxes muscle spasms; and butyrate (the "B" part of GABA) is a short chain fatty acid.
Organic Coconut Vinegar with the mother - helps my pain, relaxes muscle spasms, normalizes sleeping/dreaming patterns; and Acetic Acid (in the vinegar) is a short chain fatty acid.
Valerian - works well for me when I can't sleep; and Valeric Acid is a short chain fatty acid.
5htp - greatly helps my depression by increasing serotonin; and short chain fatty acids normally modulate serotonin.

For some reason, I'm having a lot of luck trying herbs and supplements that either are short chain fatty acids, or are converted to short chain fatty acids after ingestion, or are supposed to be regulated by short chain fatty acids. As was already discussed, though, not everyone's body chemistry is the same, and will respond the same way to the same medicines and treatments. It's very nice, after asking doctors for a solution for more than 30 years, to finally be finding a pattern that seems to be working for me!

For anyone suffering with painful muscle spasms, I've learned that the brain is kind of a hog, when it comes to these fats. And if it isn't getting enough of them, the brain will steal them from the muscles, which can lead to spasm and pain. You can learn more about that if you study starvation. (No! I am not starving! But I have digestive problems, as many people with autism do. So supplementation makes sense!)



I forgot to mention:
Arnica Gel - I use topically sometimes for pain; and guess what? It contains a short chain fatty acid!

A look back through the history of medicine illustrates fallacious dogmatism in science (aka scientism):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semmelweis_reflex

The first doctors to claim the existence of germs as vectors of disease were hounded out of the profession and some were institutionalised because of the prejudice against their suggestion.

good to know! I won't make any jokes about men washing their hands! ha ha.

I read through this thread but I'm still confused about the benefits of GABA. Does it basically increase productivity and decrease social anxiety? I was kinda bummed to read that it doesn't help with noise sensitivity.

Hi, ResilientBrilliance.

While GABA gave me a sense of peace and well being, along with some sleepiness the first time or two that I used it, those feelings quickly dissipated. What has been a consistent effect of taking GABA, for me, is pain relief in my neck, wrists, and hands, so that's why I take it. (Also, my fingers and toes were frequently subluxing, and that has stopped, now!)

I suppose that you could say that I'm more productive now, because I'm in less pain.

Different medicines affect different people differently, depending on things like metabolism, body chemistry, stage of life, conditions and other medications, allergies, etc.

Hopefully, B19 can tell you about the probiotic she mentioned! I'm sensitive to noise, also. Anyone who has info on reducing noise sensitivity, I also would appreciate any advice on that!

L. Rhamnosus has been mentioned in the research literature as possibly ameliorating autistic symptoms. I don't know of any human studies with it, though. I first became aware of this a couple of years ago in a book written by Rob Knight, a kiwi scientist now living and working in America.

He works at the centre in this link, you can have your gut microbes analysed there. No doubt they are keenly interested in samples from people on the spectrum:

http://www.colorado.edu/today/2013/12/1 ... r-authored

(Personally, unlike some, I don't think this or theories like this represent a "cause" of autism; they may represent an effect of autism. That is a distinction made far too rarely, IMO, and perhaps because it is easier to get research funds if proposed research is framed within a curebie framework. Alas.)

What brand of GABA are you all taking?

Swanson's has been somewhat ineffectual.

How much and how often were you taking it? There is a post about dosage earlier in the thread which may be helpful to you.

Solgar is the company with the best reputation for supplements made to a high and authentic standard without undue fillers and so on.

The suggested safe dose in many websites is cited as up to 3 grams.

I assume you are taking it on an empty stomach? Like all amino acid formulations, this promotes utilisation.

So you could try taking the dose you were on twice a day, the second before bedtime perhaps.

Theoretically, if you reach a level too high for you, you will notice excessive sleepiness.

The amino acid Taurine assists GABA to be utilised, so you could also try adding that (as well not instead of).

"Some very convincing evidence has outlined functional inter-relations between taurine and GABA in the brain at transporters and receptors of specific neuronal networks. From this it appears that GABA plays a major role as an inhibitory transmitter while taurine acts as a modulator of GABAergic function (Kuriyama & Hashimoto, 1998)."

Thank you plainjane and B19 for your answers.

Thank you, B19.

I will heed your advice by increasing my GABA dosage and by purchasing some taurine tonight.

You're welcome. I hope it assists.