Posted by franco neuro on February 25, 2005, at 22:57:27
In reply to Re: CES » franco neuro, posted by Elroy on February 24, 2005, at 20:40:39
Wow! You said a mouthful with that last post. Some great links too. We're definitely on the same page with this. I'll have to try and pick Braverman's brain this coming visit regarding the selegiline. I've also been reading up on the Lyrica and think that may be a good combo. I wasn't sure if it was approved for use in the U.S. yet but I guess it is. Since I fell into a nice natural sleep on the Neurontin the Lyrica should work just as well if not better. I still may try Wellbutrin but I'm a little worried because nobody seems to know what the mechanism of action is. I have read that some believe it may increase dopamine in some parts of the brain but lower it in others. Even people who should be "in the know" aren't sure what the heck it's doing:
I wish I had been on this site a few years ago. I was coming to all the same conclusions regarding the HPA axis and the "fight or flight" response. My f-or-f response has always been over the top since I was a teanager. I think if I had a small amount of an SSRI then or even some talk therapy I would have been alright. I certainly didn't have a problem with depression or sex drive or enthusiasm for life back than!
Of course trying to find a doc who would listen to this stuff without smirking or who gave me more than 3 minutes with him/her proved to be a fruitless search. I hit plenty of specialists. First my GP. Than endos. Than neuros. Than alternative/complimentary types. I must have seen 50 doctors. My whole experience with these docs caused me so much frustration that i think it actually speeded my phycical decline. I probably don't have to tell you but frustration and anger are killers. Particularly in people who are already anxious or under a lot of stress, as I was during that whole f-ed up period. Which is why I think Braverman will be my last one. After him, it's basically buy meds from overseas and experiment on my own.
You know I've been thinking about the role of PEA too, since I had my neurotransmitter urine test about 4 months ago. (Before the neurotransmitter blood test.) I got it through a complimentary doc who uses NeuroScience labs. I found them on the net and thought they might be on to something. But the thing is my urine PEA levels were really high! As were my histamine and also GABA to a lesser extent. I'm still not sure what this means. The NeuroScience people (they do this by mail and through the doc only) seem to think it means my brain is in a hyper-excited state and I need to push the GABA and seratonin to calm it down. Of course they have their own line of supplement formulas designed to take care of this. I'm still not sure if they're even for real. But the test only cost $126 so I figured what the hell. The Zoloft and Klonopin combo i'm taking don't seem to be doing the trick for me now.
I should be talking to Braverman about all this but believe me he's not easy to talk to. He admits this himself. Me and a couple of his other patients that I know seem to feel he may be bi-polar or have ADHD himself. Which may be why he got into all this brain stuff in the first place. Which is not to say the guy isn't brilliant. During the 1980's he worked at the Princeton Brain Bio-center with Dr. Carl Pfeiffer who is one of the Godfathers of orthomolecular medicine. As a matter of fact I have a couple of his books too: "Mental and Elemantal Nutrients" and "Nutrition and Mental Illness" They are both pretty interesting. He talks a lot about B6 and Zinc and Copper etc.
Right now I'm waiting for "Tuning the Brain" by Dr. Jay Goldstein. This guy probably knows the brain and brain/body connection as well as anybody. He also wrote "Betrayal by the Brain" a few years back. I can't wait until it gets here. It should be really interesting. Be sure to check out the Dr. Preskorn link I attached too. That guy knows his stuff too and has some really good info on various AD's. Maybe I should email him a question about selegiline...
poster:franco neuro
thread:458455
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050222/msgs/463490.html