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Amino Acid Chronicles

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I've started taking Amino Acids and decided to write about my experiences with them. This will be an ongoing thread. Feel free to comment or ask me questions about my experiences.

I started taking l-glutamine in an attempt to curb my cravings. I have multiple food sensitivities which could possibly be linked to "leaky gut" and l-glutamine supposedly helps heal a leaky gut. It seems to fit as my food sensitivities have decreased since I started taking l-glutamine. (An unexpected side effect!) Anyway, my anxiety has dramatically improved, too. (Another unexpected side effect!) I am to the point of being BORED. That never happens because I'm always preoccupied with anxiety.

I was feeling so good that I actually decided to go see my mom whom I had gone no contact with 6 months ago. My anxiety spiked for a day, but now I'm ok. A HUGE victory in itself as past contact has spun me off into horrible weeks long episodes.

An old therapist suggested amino acids to me years ago, but I didn't listen. She gave me a lot of healing advice, but I guess I needed to come into it all on my own terms. So, after the improvement I made with l-glutamine, I decided to try other amino acids as well.

I added in l-tryptophan but that didn't go well. I was exhausted and irritable. I decided to stop taking it. L-tryptophan is used to help anxiety and sleep issues, but I guess it's too much for my system. I shouldn't be too surprised as seratonin meds give me rage and tryptophan is a precursor to seratonin.

At this point I need to adjust my l-glutamine dose as it can elevate my heart rate if I take too much. I am guessing that my blood levels have evened out so perhaps I don't need as much on a daily basis? I have a low heart rate (that qualifies as bradycardia) and elevating it into the normal range is uncomfortable at best and painful at worst. I am taking FAR less than what bodybuilders take (as it helps build muscle mass, so that's why they take it). It would be nice if I had a holistic doctor who could help me with this stuff, but I can't afford one, unfortunately.

So for now I'll continue to tweak my daily l-glutamine intake. I'll be adding in l-tyrosine to see if that helps, and then I'll possibly try l-theanine. Both can help with anxiety.

Oh, and I did reach a milestone! A few days ago my physical anxiety was a bit high while my mental anxiety was quite low. That has NEVER happened! (I do attribute it to the amino acids, as nothing else in my life has changed.) Hallelujah, praise the Lord! Lol. You have no idea how wonderful this felt. Usually it's my mental anxiety that is bad, and if it gets bad enough, the physical anxiety kicks in. Of course in a perfect world, they'd both be low/gone, but I figure this is a step in that direction. My obsessions can be bad, and I finally felt that I was able to have them under control while being anxious. (Usually I have to calm all of my anxiety to make the thoughts stop.)

And my sleep is much better too! I'm actually dreaming! (I used to only have nightmares.) I'm able to get up early and function.

Oddly, the l-glutamine seems to be energizing, which would make me think it wouldn't be good for anxiety. Then again, I'm not sure how these amino acids work, and I know I shouldn't question it too much.

I'm going to do some more research on amino acids. There are a few good books out there on the subject and I need to get my hands on them!
 
I've done a little more research. Dr Julia Ross has written two books, "The Diet Cure" and "The Mood Cure" which both talk about how supplementing with amino acids can improve your health.

She has a website, www.moodcure.com which has a number of tests you can take to determine which amino acid may be most beneficial to you. The only problem is that many of the symptoms under each category can also be PTSD symptoms. For example, I could say "yes" to many of the symptoms under the seratonin deficient category, but past experience has told me that supplements/medications that alter my seratonin levels just aren't good for me. It was interesting to see that I have a number of the symptoms under the hypoglycemic category which indicates possible blood sugar instability. I then searched for info (elsewhere) on unstable blood sugar, and of course, unstable blood sugar can be a result of STRESS! Ahhh, its all linked in one way or another.

I tried taking the l-tyrosine and had a whopper headache today. I then found out that it isn't recommended for those who suffer from migraines as it can possibly trigger migraines in those prone to them. Well, live and learn.
 
Right now I'm just staying the course with my l-glutamine and trying to figure out the right dose. I'm aiming for 1000mg/day. Much more than that, and my sleep is bad, but too little, and I'm exhausted. I backed off of it for a few days, and it was hard to stay awake!

I'm also taking "Theanine Serene" which is a combination of theanine, GABA, taurine, and holy basil. It seems to be helping, too.

I think I'll tinker around with these doses a bit more until I find the right daily doses. At some point in the future I may try to add in another Amino Acid, but for now, I'l like to just stick with these two pills.

I'm still shocked at how much more "level" I am. Food cravings are almost gone (but I still have the physical eating habits to contend with), and my mood isn't all over the place anymore. I can't tell if I'm in a normal mood fluctuation or not.....because I have no idea what a normal mood fluctuation is! (How's that for weird?!?)

I used to deal with food making me anxious, but not in a disordered "I don't want to eat because I don't want to gain weight" sort of way. Rather, I noticed that when I didn't eat, I didn't feel as anxious, but when I did eat, afterwards the feelings of anxiety would set in. I never talked about it with anyone, because I didn't want to deal with professionals telling me that it was a mental thing that I needed to fight through. Well, after my experiences with l-glutamine, I think the anxiety was related to fluctuations in blood sugar. And I know that EVERYONE around me could see it, too. Unfortunately, my symptoms were chalked up to being mental when it had a very physical component as well.

Of course this is just my guess, but I can't help but sit here and wonder if amino acid supplementation would really help others who have eating disorders, "disordered eating" habits, or struggle with food issues. I am simply AMAZED at how much its helped me over the last few weeks. But, most professionals want patients to be in therapy or put them on psych medication, when perhaps a supplement would be a better healing aid? (Of course, I know that there is no one cure for all, but I do believe that if its helped me this much, that there must be others out there who could benefit from it as well.) My cravings were off the wall, and difficult to deal with. It was hard putting it in a "mind over matter" frame of mind.
 
I had looked up a few brands of completed sets of amino acids, however they appeared to contain high levels of sodium or included soy (to which I am allergic). What brand do you use? Your try out seems to be working!!!
 
I've used Source Naturals brand and Now Foods/Now Sports brand. I have had success with both of these brands. I am also sensitive to soy. One of the reviews for Jarrow brand mentioned how some of their pills have soy in them, so I steer clear of that particular brand.

i am so sensitive to supplements and meds that I chose to try the amino acids one by one.....well, for the most part. I opted to try the "theanine serene" even though its a mix of different supplements because I've already tried GABA, and taurine, and tolerate them well.
 
I hope you have success with them, too! I'll keep updating this thread as things progress. I just hope that they continue to help me into the future and don't stop working. I've heard that some people taper of their use of l-glutamine after taking it for awhile, but I'm not sure if that is going to be possible for me. I guess that only time will tell. I have no real issues with taking it indefinitely, as its not giving me unwanted side effects and it is something that the body uses (even though its not considered an essential amino acid).
 
@itsKismet - can you share a bit of what your overall dietary pattern is? I'm wondering specifically about how much animal protein you consume, on average-ish (including dairy, if you have dairy in your life).
 
I am to the point of not wanting to eat at all because no matter what I eat, I get SOOOOO agitated. If I could never eat again, I probably would, sad to say. I try to get in enough protein, but sometimes I know I don't get in enough. I eat lots of chicken, but no other meats, really. I eat cheese occasionally, and milk, too.

I really do wish I could see a holistic doc. I sort of overdid it with the l-glutamine. My blood pressure was HIGH, my veins were popping out of my hands, and I broke a blood vessel.....not good, I know. The thing is that my BP is quite low, so I have a feeling that the tone of my blood vessels isn't as strong as it would be in someone who has a naturally higher baseline BP. Yes, I did lower the dose of l-glutamine. I decreased it quite a bit. Maybe I'll be ok at this lower level, or maybe my body is just saturated right now, I'm not sure.

But, overdoing it for me is still taking a small dose. It seems that my med sensitivity has kicked in once again. I know body builders take 5-10 times the dose I was taking. It did take me over 3 weeks to get to that point, though.

Yes, I learned my lesson! Unfortunately with the lower dose, my agitation is a bit higher. I hate playing around with this stuff so much because it isn't perfectly safe. I hate to say it, but with those effects I was having, I could probably OD on l-glutamine and really hurt myself. No worries, I have no plans to do that, rather its just scary to have those sorts of effects.

Oh, and I do have an irregular heartbeat that kicks in from time to time. My heart rate is super low at only about 55 beats a minute. Last time I was at the doctors office, the nurse thought the HR monitor was malfunctioning. Oops. I also have low blood pressure as well. So yeah, this isn't something I should be overdoing, not in the least! I just know that I need to take smaller doses from here on out.
 
Amino Acids helped me a lot for 2-3 months (then major triggers --- back on medicine) Currently in the process of switching back to Amino acids to get off daily medicines that are making me worse. Also restarting Lemon Balm (Melissa Leaves) for anxiety that I was on same time period.

I was on L-Arginine & L-Ornithine

Right now trying L-Arginine & L-Lysine mix.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17510493

@Recovery4Me check out brands TwinLabs or Solgar. They try to keep out all the unneeded ingredients. You can get at stores like WholeFoods, Vitamin Shoppe, or online.
 
So apparently I hit tilt with the l-glutamine....Oops. My sleep was a bit poor and I was waking up extremely agitated. It was the physical kind of anxiety that feels like its shooting through your veins. Ugh. So I did a bit more research and discovered that there is a conversion between l-glutamine and glutamate in the body. Glutamate is bad for your system (ie mono sodium glutamate). Of course, a lot of the other info I found on l-glutamine said that it is different from glutamate and there were no issues with taking it because they are different compounds. Argh. So no more l-glutamine for me!

I'm now just taking the Theanine Serene and doing ok. I am taking less than the daily recommended amount as I know that I need to start out slowly since I'm sensitive to supplements and such. I read that theanine can also be beneficial for intestinal/digestive health, so I hope that holds true.

I'm a bit agitated, but I hope it lessens as the l-glutamine gets out of my body.

I really wish I knew a health professional who could help me with all of this! The trial and error process is maddening, coupled with so much conflicting info online. Its enough to drive you batty! But, lesson learned.....do as much research as i can, and start out slowly!

I'll update again after I've been taking the theanine awhile.
 
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