nycgirl said:
WOW, thanks for recommending the book.
Is it possible to ever find the right balance? Can you take something (drug, supp)? Does genetics determine our deficiencies and we should just deal with that?
I would say that the "right balance" comprises of that state where someone who exhibits the symptoms and evidences of a transmitter deficiency, namely "feels better". Genetics - we all have them, they are an interaction between us and our environment.We can influence our genetics by lifestyle, behavior and of course what we consume. But anyways, an example where genetics plays an obvious role, is in phenylketonuria (PKU) there is a deficiency of an enzyme (phenylalanine 4-monooxygenase) that metabolizes phenylalanine to tyrosine, which if it is not paid attention to can progress to cause brain damage due to the excess build-up of the amino acid. Consequently, untreated PKU sufferers have shown lower tyrosine levels. The things we do also impacts our transmitter levels - deficient or excess: Exercise, sex, drugs, alcohol, food, music - all increase dopamine and endorphins. People who are hypersexual are high in dopamine (like some drugs cause in treatments for people suffering from Parkinson's disease, or people who just boink too much).
Depressed people have been found to have low serotonin (but it is not the sole factor), that's why there's the drugs used to treat depression, one type known as "selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors" (SSRIs) -- which allow a better use of serotonin. In schizophrenia there are excess levels of dopamine seen (whereas overstimulation of the dopamine receptors is a thought of etiology of schizophrenia, read:
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/14/7673). I remember this Swiss guy I knew who was taking medication for his schizophrenia, yet here he was juggling three girlfriends (none of them knew about each other, I even saw one of them wrapped around a blanket once) and doing drugs. There is also a link between recreational drugs and schizophrenia, one of the drugs I know this guy was doing was cannabis, consequently long-term cannabis use (he was in his 30s) can increase the risk of schizophrenia: Chronic cannabis abuse raises nerve growth factor serum concentrations in drug-naive schizophrenic patients. J Psychopharmacol. 2003 Dec;17(4):439-45. Jockers-Scherubl MC, Matthies U, Danker-Hopfe H, Lang UE, Mahlberg R, Hellweg R. Excess stress is known to deplete neurotransmitters, we influence our mind, e.g.: "Not surprisingly, alterations of 5-HT receptor activity have been shown to occur in many psychiatric diseases including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, schizophrenia, personality disorders, and many drug-induced psychotic states." (Multiple serotonin receptors: clinical and experimental aspects. Ann Clin Psychiatry. 1994 Jun;6(2):67-78. Roth BL). Recreational drugs also affect neurotransmitters, like MDMA (ecstasy) which yields long-term serotonin reductions (Recreational use of "ecstasy" (MDMA) is associated with elevated impulsivity. Neuropsychopharmacology. 1998 Oct;19(4):252-64. Morgan MJ). Like already mentioned above, nutrients play a significant role, e.g. folic acid is used to produce serotonin and dopamine (you can read more on folic acid, nutrition and neurotransmitters here: Can nutrient supplements modify brain function? Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Jun;71(6 Suppl):1669S-75S). People suffering from depression for example, have been found to have low folic acid. So deficiencies can certainly have a nutritional aspect.
You can take drugs, and although he does recommend them also, Braverman makes a good point in that book: "Learning to make better dietary choices based on your nature can help you maintain better, balanced health, but you won't see changes in a matter of minutes, as you do with medication, or in a matter of days, as is the case with hormones. Altering your nature through diet requires weeks. But diet is far gentler on your body, supports your body's natural mechanisms for neurotransmitter production, and results in a stable, long-term balance." (Ibid, p. 37). Additionally, drugs aren't necessarily much better than a more natural approach, for example, in a double-blind study comparing the SSRI fluvoxamine to 5-HTP (precursor to serotonin) in depressive patients there was found a significant and almost equal reduction in depression (A functional-dimensional approach to depression: serotonin deficiency as a target syndrome in a comparison of 5-hydroxytryptophan and fluvoxamine. Psychopathology. 1991;24(2):53-81. Poldinger W, Calanchini B, Schwarz W). Finally, as we see, genetics alone do not determine nor control our deficiencies or excesses. And a knowledge of the genes that do carry great potential predispositions, does us little good until we find those, the potentials get tested to see if they actually have them, and then apply the respective method of an available treatment strategy. Until then all things in moderation, don't fry your brain with drugs and alcohol, and feed yourself right.
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