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Serotonin, anxiety and diet

Posted by emil on January 12, 2004, at 15:12:50

Hi, I have a question about the relationship between anxiety disorders, serotonin, and diet. I am a healthy, thin, 51 year old male. I have suffered with anxiety problems for about the last 4 years. It all started with a vague "not right" feeling in the morning, which got worse over the next few months, eventually lasting all day. I felt disoriented, "drugged" and anxious. I had trouble staying asleep at night, and was occasionally awakened by an anxiety attack. My doctor prescribed Paxil, which made me feel much worse, so I stopped taking it. I thought that maybe changing my diet could help. The most common advice for anxiety that I could find suggested eating a lot of carbohydrates and high tryptophan foods to boost my serotonin levels. Apparently, serotonin is the "feel good" chemical. Well, after high carb, high tryptophan meal I felt worse. I found an old book describing the symptoms of hypoglycemia, and tried that diet (no white sugar, few carbs, plenty of protein and fat, etc.). It actually made me feel better (although I'm not really convinced that I have hypoglycemia). I've been eating this way for about a year, and my symptoms are now very much reduced. Usually, the only time I feel bad is when I eat something that I learn later was full of tryptophan, melatonin, or other "feel good" chemicals. From trial and error I have learned to avoid high-carb foods, turkey and chicken, tuna, bananas, cherries, pumpkin seeds, aged cheese, etc. My question is this: Is my problem too much serotonin, rather than too little? Is this a known condition, with a diet or drug specifically meant to treat it? Thnx.


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poster:emil thread:299897
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040110/msgs/299897.html