Dear all!
I was reading this forum for a while, now it's time for me to post because I still have a lot of questions.
Long story short:
I'm 23 years old female, always very slim and with problems with appetite. Never had any mental illnesses, I was a very happy person with normal life, never felt something like anxiety or anything like that, only wanted to gain weight. The whole life I had a constipation and probably IBS.
At the end of February 2018 (22nd exactly) I bought a nutrient for mass making with a lot of amino acids in it (tryptophan, tyrosine, a little of BCAA, EAA, etc.). When I first took it (as a drink, a high amount, about 800 kcal - it was also 22nd of February), I had a headache almost immediately, but I thought that my organism needs to get used to that, so next day I also drank this and also in next days. During this period, I had a lot of stress (connected with private relationship), but I was always doing well with stress. This time was different. After 4-5 days of stress + a lot of protein nutrient (daily about 800-1000 kcal), I loss my appetite, I was feeling really bad - my muscles were shaking very hard, I was filling really cold, I was blaming myself about everything (connected with relationship) so it was huge feeling of guilt, also I was in really bad mental condition - not crying, but had a HUGE ANXIETY day by day. I thought it's maybe connected with all stress situations (I changed my job, have problems in relationship) so I bought Rhodiola and some calming medications, but it still didn't help (I was also drinking this protein drink every day...). It only got worse. After that I decided to go to psychiatrist first time in my life (8th of March). She didn't know that I'm drinking any protein drinks or taking Rhodiola, so she prescribed me SSRI (Sertraline). She said that I have to take 25mg in first few days, then 50mg. First day of Sertraline was awful, I had goose bumps, huge anxiety, intrusive thoughts, I was afraid of everything, had nightmares, but my doctor said it's normal in first days. Next 3 days were the same, even worse - dry mouth, no appetite, intrusive thoughts, huge feel of guilt, huge anxiety, trouble sleeping, chills, feeling really cold. I had one day of break, I drank protein drink before sleeping, then in the morning I took 50mg of SSRI. This day was a nightmare - 30 minutes after taking SSRI I almost lost my consciousness - largest anxiety I've ever had in my life, suicidal thoughts, huge feel of guilt, headache, pulse 120, tremors, chills, billion thoughts per second. It lasted about 3 hours, I was looking for something connected with serotonin and found that something like serotonin syndrome does exist. After that I realized that I have to go to the doctor. She said it could be serotonin toxicity and gave me propranolol and told me to not take anything connected with serotonin. So I put all medications/protein drinks away. First week was terrible. Huge anxiety, diarrhea, headache, tremors, nightmares, trouble sleeping. I went to the neurologist and he prescribed me Propranolol, which did not help. After that I went to other doc and he prescribed me Cyproheptadine. I was taking this for about one week, it helped a little, but still had headaches, tremors, goosebumps and anxiety. I was looking for medications and solutions so I tried Magnesium + B6, vitamin D, B1, C, Omega 3, phosphatidylserin and Ashwagandha. After almost one month past SS (so after Cypro, vit B6 + Mg, Omega 3 treatment), I did a lot of labor tests.
My results (some of them) in serum from 05.04.2018:
TSH - 3,39 uIU/ml (norm: 0,27 - 4,20)
Cortisol - 28,47 ug/dl (norm: 5,27-22,45 at 7-9:30 AM and it was took about 9AM) - above norm
Prolactin - 12,9 ng/ml (norm: 2,8-29,3)
Serotonin - 98,7 ug/l (norm: 117,5-193,3) - below the norm (!)
Ca - 9,99 mg/dl (norm: 8,1-10,4)
Tryptophan - 13 mg/l (norm: <10) - above norm (!)
Tyrosine - 8 mg/l (norm: <17) - maybe to low?
GABA - <1 mg/l (norm: <5) - maybe to low?
Cystine - 5 mg/l (norm: <34)
Isoleucine - 5 mg/l (norm: <20)
Valin - 23 mg/l
Leucine - 16 mg/l (norm: <25)
If you need more results from amino acids test, I can give them.
Now I'm taking all of the vitamins (B1, D, C, Omega 3, B6, Mg) + BCAA (for last 4 days). I tried also phenylalnin and l-tyrosine, but it made me worse (more chills, anxiety, goosebumps). I decided to take only BCAA.
Today I took BCAA before breakfast but still have everyday symptoms: diarrhea every morning, strong headache, feel of guilt (I must to admit to my all lies from my whole life, I wasn't like that before!), anxiety, small appetite, tremors, chills - I still feel cold, goosebumps, a lot of thoughts, hard to focus, somnolence. The good thing is that I sleep very well without breaks, but I wake up anxious and stressed - I think those two symptoms are much stronger in the morning. I'm not sad, I don't cry, sometimes I laugh and I don't have problems with humor, I'm just anxious and it's hard for me to focus and motivate, I still feel stressed.
I try to eat regularly, I drink coffee (1-2), work every day, but it's really hard.
Could you please somehow help me and advice what to do? Doctors in my country do not know how to treat this, even they told me that they didn't know if serotonin or amino acids can be tested.
I'm just thinking if it's some type of chronic serotonin toxicity or maybe it is caused by to low serotonin (looking at the test)? Also I'm thinking about my diarrhea and IBS, if my whole life I had a constipations, could it be somehow connected with serotonin metabolism in my whole life?
It's weird that I have excess tryptophan and to low serotonin... Please advise!
If you have any questions, please ask. I'll be very grateful for help because I'm really tired of this and I'd like to back to my normal life. Thanks.
I was reading this forum for a while, now it's time for me to post because I still have a lot of questions.
Long story short:
I'm 23 years old female, always very slim and with problems with appetite. Never had any mental illnesses, I was a very happy person with normal life, never felt something like anxiety or anything like that, only wanted to gain weight. The whole life I had a constipation and probably IBS.
At the end of February 2018 (22nd exactly) I bought a nutrient for mass making with a lot of amino acids in it (tryptophan, tyrosine, a little of BCAA, EAA, etc.). When I first took it (as a drink, a high amount, about 800 kcal - it was also 22nd of February), I had a headache almost immediately, but I thought that my organism needs to get used to that, so next day I also drank this and also in next days. During this period, I had a lot of stress (connected with private relationship), but I was always doing well with stress. This time was different. After 4-5 days of stress + a lot of protein nutrient (daily about 800-1000 kcal), I loss my appetite, I was feeling really bad - my muscles were shaking very hard, I was filling really cold, I was blaming myself about everything (connected with relationship) so it was huge feeling of guilt, also I was in really bad mental condition - not crying, but had a HUGE ANXIETY day by day. I thought it's maybe connected with all stress situations (I changed my job, have problems in relationship) so I bought Rhodiola and some calming medications, but it still didn't help (I was also drinking this protein drink every day...). It only got worse. After that I decided to go to psychiatrist first time in my life (8th of March). She didn't know that I'm drinking any protein drinks or taking Rhodiola, so she prescribed me SSRI (Sertraline). She said that I have to take 25mg in first few days, then 50mg. First day of Sertraline was awful, I had goose bumps, huge anxiety, intrusive thoughts, I was afraid of everything, had nightmares, but my doctor said it's normal in first days. Next 3 days were the same, even worse - dry mouth, no appetite, intrusive thoughts, huge feel of guilt, huge anxiety, trouble sleeping, chills, feeling really cold. I had one day of break, I drank protein drink before sleeping, then in the morning I took 50mg of SSRI. This day was a nightmare - 30 minutes after taking SSRI I almost lost my consciousness - largest anxiety I've ever had in my life, suicidal thoughts, huge feel of guilt, headache, pulse 120, tremors, chills, billion thoughts per second. It lasted about 3 hours, I was looking for something connected with serotonin and found that something like serotonin syndrome does exist. After that I realized that I have to go to the doctor. She said it could be serotonin toxicity and gave me propranolol and told me to not take anything connected with serotonin. So I put all medications/protein drinks away. First week was terrible. Huge anxiety, diarrhea, headache, tremors, nightmares, trouble sleeping. I went to the neurologist and he prescribed me Propranolol, which did not help. After that I went to other doc and he prescribed me Cyproheptadine. I was taking this for about one week, it helped a little, but still had headaches, tremors, goosebumps and anxiety. I was looking for medications and solutions so I tried Magnesium + B6, vitamin D, B1, C, Omega 3, phosphatidylserin and Ashwagandha. After almost one month past SS (so after Cypro, vit B6 + Mg, Omega 3 treatment), I did a lot of labor tests.
My results (some of them) in serum from 05.04.2018:
TSH - 3,39 uIU/ml (norm: 0,27 - 4,20)
Cortisol - 28,47 ug/dl (norm: 5,27-22,45 at 7-9:30 AM and it was took about 9AM) - above norm
Prolactin - 12,9 ng/ml (norm: 2,8-29,3)
Serotonin - 98,7 ug/l (norm: 117,5-193,3) - below the norm (!)
Ca - 9,99 mg/dl (norm: 8,1-10,4)
Tryptophan - 13 mg/l (norm: <10) - above norm (!)
Tyrosine - 8 mg/l (norm: <17) - maybe to low?
GABA - <1 mg/l (norm: <5) - maybe to low?
Cystine - 5 mg/l (norm: <34)
Isoleucine - 5 mg/l (norm: <20)
Valin - 23 mg/l
Leucine - 16 mg/l (norm: <25)
If you need more results from amino acids test, I can give them.
Now I'm taking all of the vitamins (B1, D, C, Omega 3, B6, Mg) + BCAA (for last 4 days). I tried also phenylalnin and l-tyrosine, but it made me worse (more chills, anxiety, goosebumps). I decided to take only BCAA.
Today I took BCAA before breakfast but still have everyday symptoms: diarrhea every morning, strong headache, feel of guilt (I must to admit to my all lies from my whole life, I wasn't like that before!), anxiety, small appetite, tremors, chills - I still feel cold, goosebumps, a lot of thoughts, hard to focus, somnolence. The good thing is that I sleep very well without breaks, but I wake up anxious and stressed - I think those two symptoms are much stronger in the morning. I'm not sad, I don't cry, sometimes I laugh and I don't have problems with humor, I'm just anxious and it's hard for me to focus and motivate, I still feel stressed.
I try to eat regularly, I drink coffee (1-2), work every day, but it's really hard.
Could you please somehow help me and advice what to do? Doctors in my country do not know how to treat this, even they told me that they didn't know if serotonin or amino acids can be tested.
I'm just thinking if it's some type of chronic serotonin toxicity or maybe it is caused by to low serotonin (looking at the test)? Also I'm thinking about my diarrhea and IBS, if my whole life I had a constipations, could it be somehow connected with serotonin metabolism in my whole life?
It's weird that I have excess tryptophan and to low serotonin... Please advise!
If you have any questions, please ask. I'll be very grateful for help because I'm really tired of this and I'd like to back to my normal life. Thanks.
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