Posted by LOOPS on February 7, 2005, at 8:24:09
In reply to Re: fsih oil - other brands? » LOOPS, posted by KaraS on February 5, 2005, at 15:45:29
Hi Kara -
right now I am not taking the sjw and taurine, because I feel that the oils are getting more to the bottom of my mental problems/anxiety. If things get bad again, I may give the sjw another shot - but I never find it a totally smooth ride with that stuff, and I have to be careful of hypomania. Also I tend to slouch into apathy after a few months, although I can't be sure this was entirely the sjw as I was taking lithium orotate at the same time.
So for me sjw can be a bit hit and miss. Also it has differing actions on my sleep. It seems to help after a few weeks, but at first it does somewhat interfere with my sleep and occasionally raises my heart rate as well (which isn't conducive to getting to sleep).
Well, the 5htp I still take at night, and occasionally in the day when I recognise signs of very low serotonin. I only take it at night usually, but have to take a sufficient dose to get the benefits (150-200mg). I am not convinced of its effectiveness in keeping me asleep as it seems to wear off early in the morning (4am?) and I have to either take another dose, or take something else (valerian etc) to get back to sleep. I sometimes wonder if adding back in the sjw will help with this, as it did seem to help with 'keeping the serotonin levels up' as before. I love my sleep and feel getting plenty is a big step in recovering mental 'normality'.
I also feel with 5htp it can upset the serotonin/dopamine balance if taken in big doses all the time, throughout the day etc. I don't know if this is a fact of course, but my guess is that things can also get bad if dopamine is low (thrill-seeking etc). Now I really think the fish oil has done a lot to help me with low dopamine. I am an addictive person, and find bad habits very hard to break, but recently have been noticing subtle changes in my 'attitude' towards these habits; not giving up smoking yet, but I can go for more extended periods of time without one, and not be feeling deprived.
Anyway that is a bit off track. As regarding panic - yes, I have suffered from this on and off since my teenage years. I once got to the point where I was obsessing about 'thinking about thinking' to the point I could not do anything else. I got so anxious and upset I started having panic attacks. NObody understood or wanted to help me. I think high stress and family problems really set me off. So I totally sympathize.
I don't know if the sjw would help you with panic - I think it might 'eventually', but if you're anything like me, it might increase anxiety to start with (I think this is because it raises norepinephrine). I think in this respect, 5htp might be better for immediate calming, but again, for me the initial effects of 5htp were VERY DIFFERENT to those experienced after taking it awhile.
I noticed at first with 100mg pharm-grade 5htp it made me a bit hypomanic. This stopped after awhile and now I can take 100mg no probs and it calms me.
Other things I really have found most useful for panic, are lecithin combined with B vit complex (with fish oil even better), and surprisingly Holy Basil extract (blocks cortisol) - surprising because it seems to have quite a powerful effect on me, even with one cap. Lecithin in big enough doses can calm down mania, but I have also found it useful in anxiety. I don't take too much because it can make one depressed after a while of taking it all the time. Eggs of course might have the same effect - and combined with B5 (which they contain a bit of anyway) works even better for stress.
SJW will work on GABA to some extent and this may help you - probably why so many people feel a bit 'spaced-out' on it.
Loops
poster:LOOPS
thread:445077
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050131/msgs/454243.html