I am so incredibly pissed right now!
As I continue to work on managing my illness by improving my medication regimen I have found myself confused by what my doctor says. You see, the theory is that my illness is caused by a deficiency of serotonin in my brain. For the last 10 years we have been treated this with various types of SSRI which work by making sure there is seratonin in the brain to work with by inhibiting seratonin's reuptake into presynaptic cells. So the medication doesn't actually produce seratonin, it just prevents my body from taking the chemical apart so I can use it again latter. This has always seemed like an indirect method to me and I asked why I couldn't just take seratonin. My doctors were amused and told me that it wouldn't get to me brain if taken orally.
Anyway, SSRIs are causing some annoying side effects at the moment. So the doctor wants me to take MAOIs. This drug also works in an indrect manner by inhibiting the activity of monoamine oxidase preventing the breakdown of seratonin and so increasing the available stores. The part that confused me was the dietary restrictions. The list of food I am not supposed to eat seemed odd becuase they are all foods that chemically increase seratonin in the brain based on what I have read. So I asked the doctor why I should avoid these foods and he told me the goal was to avoid tryptophan. Apparently, if I take a MAOI and eat foods containing tryptophan I am at risk for something called a hypertensive crisis.
So, I leave it at that and don't carry my inquiry any further with the doctor. But I get home and I start to research! Now I am pissed! Tryptophan, an essential amino acid, is a natural chemical which my brain naturally metabolizes into seratonin! Taking seratonin orally doesn't work becuase there is a memebrane around your brain which keeps shit out of your brains blood supply. Not all things can pass through this membrane but tryptophan can! Once there it can be metabolized into seratonin. The only way this thing fails is if my problem is caused by my body not being able to metabolize tryptophan. The coolest thing is since this is a natural thing, no one holds a patent on it and it is much more cost effective than the crap I am taking. PLUS it would be a natural, baby safe regimen!
ANYWHO! Check this out if you have time!
The FDA Ban of L-Tryptophan:
Politics, Profits and Prozac
The only problem now is that I am soon going to have health insurance. I don't think a doctor can get a prescription kick back on this stuff so the doctor might want to prescribe something else. Plus the FDA banned it on false pretensis a few days before Prozac was released in 1990. It is legally available again, however, and popular amongs nutritional MDs. So I may have to argue with a doctor. Or I can just take it myself and refuse to let him change it. Provided, of course, after I try it it seems to work!
So, I am PISSED and OPTIMISTIC at the same time. Odd huh?
Anyway, SSRIs are causing some annoying side effects at the moment. So the doctor wants me to take MAOIs. This drug also works in an indrect manner by inhibiting the activity of monoamine oxidase preventing the breakdown of seratonin and so increasing the available stores. The part that confused me was the dietary restrictions. The list of food I am not supposed to eat seemed odd becuase they are all foods that chemically increase seratonin in the brain based on what I have read. So I asked the doctor why I should avoid these foods and he told me the goal was to avoid tryptophan. Apparently, if I take a MAOI and eat foods containing tryptophan I am at risk for something called a hypertensive crisis.
So, I leave it at that and don't carry my inquiry any further with the doctor. But I get home and I start to research! Now I am pissed! Tryptophan, an essential amino acid, is a natural chemical which my brain naturally metabolizes into seratonin! Taking seratonin orally doesn't work becuase there is a memebrane around your brain which keeps shit out of your brains blood supply. Not all things can pass through this membrane but tryptophan can! Once there it can be metabolized into seratonin. The only way this thing fails is if my problem is caused by my body not being able to metabolize tryptophan. The coolest thing is since this is a natural thing, no one holds a patent on it and it is much more cost effective than the crap I am taking. PLUS it would be a natural, baby safe regimen!
ANYWHO! Check this out if you have time!
The FDA Ban of L-Tryptophan:
Politics, Profits and Prozac
The only problem now is that I am soon going to have health insurance. I don't think a doctor can get a prescription kick back on this stuff so the doctor might want to prescribe something else. Plus the FDA banned it on false pretensis a few days before Prozac was released in 1990. It is legally available again, however, and popular amongs nutritional MDs. So I may have to argue with a doctor. Or I can just take it myself and refuse to let him change it. Provided, of course, after I try it it seems to work!
So, I am PISSED and OPTIMISTIC at the same time. Odd huh?