Need Help Increasing GABA

[lampofred]

I've tried pretty much everything I know, but my focus is still bad, my speech is still ridiculously rapid, my circulation is poor, and my sleep is not refreshing (I saw a doctor for the poor sleep but he said he would only prescribe a stimulant to be more awake during the day but not any sleep aids, so that was no help)... Really hope people might have some ideas on how to increase GABA.

What I've tried:

-Eating a high fat diet with lots of whole milk, ice cream (helps relative to high sugar diet but not enough)
-Eating high calories (helps a bit but I just don't have the appetite to eat more than ~2500 calories daily on a consistent basis)
-Eating high salt, energy rich food (McDonalds, pizza made with no PUFA, Indian food, Italian food). Helps slightly but still not enough.
-Quitting aspirin (helped a bit but not drastically)
-Upping Vitamin D, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Vitamin E (no effect)
-Taking thyroid (no effect).
-Bag breathing (only a mild effect).
-Methylene blue (helps but like everything else, only mildly & not enough)
-Gelatin is pretty helpful thing but I have to take ridiculous doses like 80-100 g a day...
-Niacinamide is also pretty helpful but again, I have to take very high doses like 1 g a day, which at that point, just makes it a drug instead of a vitamin.
-Zinc also helps but I get nauseous if I supplement it too consistently, plus I can't seem to retain it because I always have stretch marks. I think low zinc might actually be the root of the issue but supplementing zinc, eating beef and milk isn't really working. I don't drink alcohol and my sex drive is pretty low, so I don't lose zinc via those two routes. So not sure how to fix the issue.

-Even taking extremely large doses of pregnenolone (2 grams) and progesterone (150 mg) has had no effect.
This is the thing that really worries me because progesterone doses that high are supposed to knock people out, but I feel virtually nothing...

-Also tried completely going off the Peat diet for stretches of 1-2 weeks at time at a time because I thought maybe I had vitamin deficiencies due to a prolonged restricted diet. Slightly helpful (but still not even close to perfect) but I don't know how much of the benefit is due to actually improved GABA production versus lowered metabolic rate due to reintroducing PUFA intake. Eating liver, more eggs, more shrimp doesn't really make a difference, so I think the slight pro-relaxation effects of a regular diet might be due to increased prolactin because of lowered metabolism, not better GABA function.

-Recently I was pretty desperate and tried 7 hours of meditation daily for a few days. More helpful than anything else but 7 hours of meditation daily is for obvious reasons not sustainable. It did completely eliminate my need for sleep, so it's not so much an issue of time, but rather that it takes tremendous willpower...

I think EMF sensitivity and it resulting in my body to be unable to increase zinc stores might be the main issue, but I'm still working on finding a second income source so moving to a low EMF area is not feasible right now because of my job, plus I don't really want to run away from society...

Besides just completely sabotaging my metabolic rate to slow my system down by gorging on fried chicken and french fries, the only other thing I can think of trying is cholesterol powder or supplementing DHEA. But I was wondering if anyone had any ideas not related to hormone supplementation because I'm pretty tired of already having thyroid, pregnenolone, progesterone, and various vitamins, and really don't want to add anything else.

I realize this is pretty long, so thanks for reading.

 

[Captain_Coconut]

Here is a somewhat unpeaty list of what has been working for me. I started focusing on raising my gaba last week and am noticing good changes: less bloated feeling, less pain, no more urge to take aspirin for pain relief, greater relaxation throughout the day, increased optimism and focus, better sleep.

What I’m doing to raise gaba:
- Taking a break from dhea (antagonizes gaba)
- Drinking magnesium bicarbonate water
- No more supplemental salt (indirectly lowers gaba by raising cortisol)
- Taking straight gaba supplements, along with bioperine
- Drinking skullcap tea
- Taking 20mg lithium a day (upregulates gaba receptors)
- Niacinamide and thiamine with a multi b vitamin
- 2 to 4 grams vitamin c daily (sodium ascorbate)

The skullcap feels the most significant of these to me. The gaba supplement is also good but I feel more physical effects from it than mental. The rest all have minor effects.

 

[lampofred]

Here is a somewhat unpeaty list of what has been working for me. I started focusing on raising my gaba last week and am noticing good changes: less bloated feeling, less pain, no more urge to take aspirin for pain relief, greater relaxation throughout the day, increased optimism and focus, better sleep.

What I’m doing to raise gaba:
- Taking a break from dhea (antagonizes gaba)
- Drinking magnesium bicarbonate water
- No more supplemental salt (indirectly lowers gaba by raising cortisol)
- Taking straight gaba supplements, along with bioperine
- Drinking skullcap tea
- Taking 20mg lithium a day (upregulates gaba receptors)
- Niacinamide and thiamine with a multi b vitamin
- 2 to 4 grams vitamin c daily (sodium ascorbate)

The skullcap feels the most significant of these to me. The gaba supplement is also good but I feel more physical effects from it than mental.

Thanks for the reply, will try the skullcap tea and also the magnesium bicarbonate

 

[Insaneacinamide]

Try high dose gaba powder around 3g-10g+, drank in fruit juice or water, take 20-60 mins to finish it depending on dose.
Don't finish that drink in a few minutes or you gonna have very heavy upper body/breathing.

Could also try sleep apnea/cpap machine.

 

[Captain_Coconut]

Try high dose gaba powder around 3g-10g+, drank in fruit juice or water, take 20-60 mins to finish it depending on dose.
Don't finish that drink in a few minutes or you gonna have very heavy upper body/breathing.

Could also try sleep apnea/cpap machine.

I have experienced minor flushing / tingling from 1 gram with bioperine. I can’t imagine taking more than 1 gram in an hour period. I guess everyone has a different tolerance. Do you ever get the flushing effect?

 

[Insaneacinamide]

I have experienced minor flushing / tingling from 1 gram with bioperine. I can’t imagine taking more than 1 gram in an hour period. I guess everyone has a different tolerance. Do you ever get the flushing effect?

I think the flushing/tingling effect you mention is probably similar/same as when I wrote heavy upper body/breathing.
Though one should dose accordingly, and gradually move up in dose.
Unless perhaps they do a dose to start(example: 3 grams) every night, and get flushing for let's say a week, which does not bother them, then after that week then not much flushing effect.
I've got that feeling on 2 grams when I started, but now can handle 5 grams with minimal flushing type feeling. Lasts around 5 mins.

 

[Mito]

I've tried pretty much everything I know,

Have you tried L-Theanine and magnesium?

 

[Frankdee20]

GABA is made from Glutamine with the help of P5P and the GAD enzyme.

Try that with a transaminase inhibitor - to prevent it’s breakdown. Lemon Balm, Gotu Kola.

Try Theanine and Magnesium Glycinate.

Try Magnolia Bark, Valerian, and Kava.

Inositol can also function as a secondary messenger system that helps with anxiety

 

[lampofred]

Thanks for all the responses. I've tried various herbs and isolated amino acid supplements in the past, and they helped moderately, but I was hoping to fix the issue at a more fundamental level. For anyone who might be interested, I'm currently finding red light exposure to be very helpful.

 

[golder]

Thanks for all the responses. I've tried various herbs and isolated amino acid supplements in the past, and they helped moderately, but I was hoping to fix the issue at a more fundamental level. For anyone who might be interested, I'm currently finding red light exposure to be very helpful.

Could you explain more about your red light setup and how it’s positively affecting you mate? How long do you use it, when do you use it, what fixture, what bulb etc?
Thanks!

 

[Ashoka]

my focus is still bad, my speech is still ridiculously rapid, my circulation is poor, and my sleep is not refreshing

Is this the basis for determining the problem is GABA?

Why not consider these parts independently? Sleep not being refreshing.. isolate everything related to sleep. Focus is bad.. isolate everything related to why that could be.

Gelatin and glycine have a positive effect on sleep. I’ve temporarily gotten a deeper sleep from those, but I never did it consistently. Sunlight exposure might help.

As for focus, I would continue the meditation. Sleep may be at least partially responsible for this lack of focus. And to be clear, this is about focus and not brain fog? Do you ever experience a sense of mental peace? Do pregnenolone and progesterone have any effect on you whatsoever?

 

[lampofred]

Is this the basis for determining the problem is GABA?

Why not consider these parts independently? Sleep not being refreshing.. isolate everything related to sleep. Focus is bad.. isolate everything related to why that could be.

Gelatin and glycine have a positive effect on sleep. I’ve temporarily gotten a deeper sleep from those, but I never did it consistently. Sunlight exposure might help.

As for focus, I would continue the meditation. Sleep may be at least partially responsible for this lack of focus. And to be clear, this is about focus and not brain fog? Do you ever experience a sense of mental peace? Do pregnenolone and progesterone have any effect on you whatsoever?

I approach all the problems together because if I find something that helps one of the problems, all of the issues get better, so I think everything is related. The only two things that ever help are very high coffee consumption and cigarette smoking. Drinking 3-4 cups of coffee before bed is the only thing that will allow me to get at least a few hours of decent sleep (also helps with focus a little bit), and smoking a cigarette is the only thing that will allow me focus for some time (also helps with sleep as long as I make sure to not smoke on an empty stomach which will make adrenaline go up). Gelatin does help, but I get nauseous from too much, so it's not really practical. Meditation does help but only if I do it for about 2 hours, and it's a catch-22 because I'm only able to do it for that long if it's already a good day and my focus is above-average that day, so that's not really practical either...

Gelatin and meditation directly decrease serotonin and increase GABA, cigarettes and coffee indirectly decrease serotonin and increase GABA because they lower estrogen and increase testosterone/progesterone. Coffee and cigarettes... essentially I am just a drug addict...

Everything just points to simple hypothyroidism, but yes, that is correct, for some reason I feel nothing from thyroid and progesterone (unless I take extremely ridiculous amounts, same with lisuride), which makes me realize my estrogen & serotonin dominance is extremely severe/mitochondrial health is extremely poor. I had a very high PUFA diet as a child and so did my parents, my mom is definitely very estrogen-dominant with PCOS symptoms, as my awareness is increasing I'm realizing my dad is very serotonin dominant with clear Asperger's symptoms, so I'm essentially still just recovering from a poor environmental start (not hating on my parents though). Sorry that this reads more like a wall of text than like a proper response to your questions...

 

[Frankdee20]

Coffee and Cigarettes are stimulants, so more power to you, LOL. What about alcohol ?

 

[lampofred]

Coffee and Cigarettes are stimulants, so more power to you, LOL. What about alcohol ?

Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants but they increase GABA because they are the only stimulants that act like thyroid/progesterone. Other stimulants like amphetamine are estrogenic/don't increase GABA.

Alcohol is relaxing but I never liked it for some reason, and I know the "technical" reason for it now. It increases GABA by lowering vitality, which is no problem for people who have naturally great metabolisms, but I'm not one of those people lol. The only thing that increases both calmness and vitality at the same time is thyroid.

 

[Ashoka]

I approach all the problems together because if I find something that helps one of the problems, all of the issues get better, so I think everything is related. The only two things that ever help are very high coffee consumption and cigarette smoking. Drinking 3-4 cups of coffee before bed is the only thing that will allow me to get at least a few hours of decent sleep (also helps with focus a little bit), and smoking a cigarette is the only thing that will allow me focus for some time (also helps with sleep as long as I make sure to not smoke on an empty stomach which will make adrenaline go up). Gelatin does help, but I get nauseous from too much, so it's not really practical. Meditation does help but only if I do it for about 2 hours, and it's a catch-22 because I'm only able to do it for that long if it's already a good day and my focus is above-average that day, so that's not really practical either...

Gelatin and meditation directly decrease serotonin and increase GABA, cigarettes and coffee indirectly decrease serotonin and increase GABA because they lower estrogen and increase testosterone/progesterone. Coffee and cigarettes... essentially I am just a drug addict...

Everything just points to simple hypothyroidism, but yes, that is correct, for some reason I feel nothing from thyroid and progesterone (unless I take extremely ridiculous amounts, same with lisuride), which makes me realize my estrogen & serotonin dominance is extremely severe/mitochondrial health is extremely poor. I had a very high PUFA diet as a child and so did my parents, my mom is definitely very estrogen-dominant with PCOS symptoms, as my awareness is increasing I'm realizing my dad is very serotonin dominant with clear Asperger's symptoms, so I'm essentially still just recovering from a poor environmental start (not hating on my parents though). Sorry that this reads more like a wall of text than like a proper response to your questions...

Yeah, well I've taken thyroid and I have no discernible response to it either. But I also don't eat nearly enough and the supplement I take isn't what I would consider ideal. I'm a mess myself with basically worse issues than you so I'm not really one to give advice lol.

I can speak to cigarettes increasing focus to some degree, that's true, but I remember when I used to be healthy and would meditate, it would sharpen my perception in a real way after about half an hour to an hour.

I'm not sure this will be helpful at all, but I remember Chris Masterjohn did this piece on sleep: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2017/07/29/my-recommendations-for-better-sleep/

He also just posted on Facebook about GABA supplements today: Chris Masterjohn, PhD

Is the focus/sleep issue something you've had for a really long time?

 

[bdawg]

Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants but they increase GABA because they are the only stimulants that act like thyroid/progesterone. Other stimulants like amphetamine are estrogenic/don't increase GABA.

Alcohol is relaxing but I never liked it for some reason, and I know the "technical" reason for it now. It increases GABA by lowering vitality, which is no problem for people who have naturally great metabolisms, but I'm not one of those people lol. The only thing that increases both calmness and vitality at the same time is thyroid.

Are amphetamines estrogenic?

 

[cyclops]

Everything just points to simple hypothyroidism, but yes, that is correct, for some reason I feel nothing from thyroid and progesterone (unless I take extremely ridiculous amounts,

Wouldn't you be better off taking "extremely ridiculous" amounts then? Better than smoking maybe.

 

[Frankdee20]

Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants but they increase GABA because they are the only stimulants that act like thyroid/progesterone. Other stimulants like amphetamine are estrogenic/don't increase GABA.

Alcohol is relaxing but I never liked it for some reason, and I know the "technical" reason for it now. It increases GABA by lowering vitality, which is no problem for people who have naturally great metabolisms, but I'm not one of those people lol. The only thing that increases both calmness and vitality at the same time is thyroid.

Caffeine unregulates GABA - which is not the same as increasing it. It blocks GABA so the brain compensates. It’s primarily an adenosine blocker, allowing more Norepinephrine and Dopamine to flow unchecked due inhibitory blockade. Too much will also inhibit the breakdown of acetylcholine- which sucks.

 

[Frankdee20]

Are amphetamines estrogenic?

Amphetamine does inhibit the reuptake of Serotonin along with Dopamine and Norepinephrine. Meth amphetamine is unique because it will also release stored DA from the vesicles, unlike cocaine. Regardless, that affinity for Serotonin, however secondary, may be estrogenic like.
Methylphenidate (Ritalin) has no affinity for Serotonin reuptake and is considered cleaner than regular speed.

 

[Frankdee20]

Cranial Electrical Stimulator devices also change brain waves