Posted by JLx on October 17, 2004, at 17:40:04
In reply to Re: L-glutamine dosage » JLx, posted by tealady on October 16, 2004, at 21:29:08
> Hey JL,
>
> Just came across your old post where you mentioned your suicide feeling reactions to glutamine.
> http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20030903/msgs/261515.htmlHmm...interesting. Thanks for finding that. I hadn't remembered it being that bad, just as a bad day. But now I do remember that it scared me to be feeling suicidal again as I have not had that ideation otherwise since supplementing with magnesium (2 years now). I still marvel at that and wonder how many other people might benefit in the same way if they only knew.
What do you think it means that I am so sensitive to the excitoxicity potential of these things? The James South article says,
"Also, excessive free radicals can prevent glutamate uptake by astrocytes, thereby significantly (and dangerously) raising extra cellular glutamate levels (18). (18)."
I take Vit C, selenium, and Vit E every day. And other things like alpha lipoic acid too, though not as diligently. I also eat a fair amount of fruit.
This is what I'm worried about:
"Similarly, excitotoxin pioneer Olney has recently shown that there is a long, slow development of excitotoxic brain damage in Alzheimer's disease that occurs before the dramatic Alzheimer's symptoms of memory loss, disorientation, cognitive impairment, and emotional lability arise (10). So you must not assume that just because you don't notice any obvious symptoms when you consume MSG/aspartame -containing foods, there is no excitotoxic damage occurring. "
I did drink diet sodas for years. Whenever I quit I didn't notice feeling better so I'd start again thinking I didn't have an aspartame sensitivity. Now, since taking magnesium, I DO notice that drinking diet soda makes me irritable (so I don't usually). More magnesium seems to help that. Was it happening before and it was masked somehow, or did taking magnesium enable that glutamate to get in the cell where before it was blocked? Maybe by calcium? Boy, talk about flailing around in the dark! ;)
Besides magnesium, South recommends:"Thus the basic pro-energy anti-excitotoxic program consists of 50-100 mg of B1, B2, B3, B5; 500-10,000 mcg of biotin; 100-300 mg alpha-lipoic acid; 50-300 mg CoQ10; 45-90 mg Idebenone; 10-30 mg sublingual ATP; 500-2000 mg acetyl l-carnitine; and 300-600 mg Magnesium; and 5-20 mg NADH."
I noticed on another thread you and others saying that the best kind of CoQ10 was in oil. I didn't know that. That stuff is so darn expensive. I have some dry stuff that I bought on sale and I thought I noticed that it did make me feel more energetic. B vitamins don't seem to make much difference to me, though I take them anyway. I haven't tried NADH, Idebenone, acetyl l-carnitine, or sublingual ATP. I can't afford a lot of new things but maybe I will buy some Idebenone given what he says here:
"Idebenone has also shown great power in protecting various types of neurons from free radical damage and other excitotoxic effects. Idebenone is able to protect neurons at levels 30-100 times less than the vitamin E levels needed to protect neurons from excitotoxic damage (33-37). One of the many ways excitotoxins damage neurons is to prevent the intracellular formation of glutathione, one of the most important cellular antioxidants. The combination of E and Idebenone provided complete antioxidant neuronal protection in spite of extremely low glutathione levels caused by glutamate excitotoxic action (33,34)."
I wonder if any of those would give me any zip? I've been fooling around with trypophan this week and it does make me feel pretty good, but almost too mellowed in a way, so then I take tyrosine but then I start craving carbs and get cranky too. And don't feel any more energy either.
He says further that NADH will also promote breakdown of glutamate excess, so maybe I should try that.
At the beginning of the article he says,
"Wheat gluten is 43% glutamate, the milk protein casein is 23% glutamate, and gelatin protein is 12% glutamate. (5)
I didn't know that about wheat and milk. Besides my former diet soda habit, I've eaten a lot of wheat and dairy too. Pizza is the perfect food, imo. :) I'm trying to avoid them now again, after falling off my "no grains, no dairy, no sugar" regimen this winter. I did feel good when I managed it and it didn't seem hard until I got stressed. Now it's been a real hard climb back. Right now I'm doing ok with no wheat and no sugar, but it doesn't feel easy and I'm still working on no dairy. Reading that Dr. Kaslow article had me thinking, "Ack, no nuts either?" That's really going to be a tough one as I eat cashews when I am feeling sorry for myself for not being able to eat hardly anything else that I really like. And cashews have that great magnesium/calcium ratio.
"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not." -- Mark Twain
> Another user Ame ? posted this
> ~~AMINO ACIDS
> 1. Glutamine
> g.) Helps reduce cravings for sugar and alcohol, probably by providing energy for brain function.
>
> DOSAGE: 500mg two to three times dailyIt does really work for sugar cravings. Joan Matthews Larson recommends it for those who are hypoglycemic, in "Depression Free Naturally" along with chromium, magnesium, B3, panthothenic acid and Vit. C, all of which I take. She says, take 2 capsules before lunch and dinner so that's 2 grams a day. She says alcoholics who use glutamine in this way do stop cravings for alcohol (she has a rehab clinic). In my family, both my brother and sister are alcoholics. And I am a sugar addict. I do best when I avoid it altogether.
Ran across an interesting article from your neck of the woods recently:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/serotonin_connection.html
I've never seen that site before, tons of stuff on there once you start clicking on the links.
JL
poster:JLx
thread:403538
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040928/msgs/404210.html