NEUROTRANSMITTERS
-They run more than your emotions-

Parkinson's, Restless Leg, Obesity, PMS, Migraines, Fibromyalgia, Menopausal Symptoms, Chronic fatigue, Chronic pain, Irritable bowel , Crohn's disease, Ulcerative colitis, Dysfunctional stress reactions, Low cortisol, Traumatic brain injury, Alcoholism, Addictions and certain cases of Dementia.. These are all conditions that have responded to amino acid (AA) therapy that increases and balances out the neurotransmitters (NT). 183 NTs have been found in the brain-and every NT they have found in the brain they have found in the gut. In fact 85% of the body's serotonin is found in the gut. Parts of your immune system are responsive to serotonin and dopamine. So we need to expand our ideas of NT disorders, more accurately, deficiencies, beyond the well known more "emotional" symptoms of depression, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorders, panic attacks, phobias, bulimia, anorexia, bipolar, and inappropriate anger and aggression.

Neurotransmitters are defined as a substance that transmits nerve impulses across a synapse (the space between the sending nerve and the receiving cell). If there is not enough NT in the system to cause an impulse, the signal doesn't get sent. Your nerves are actually bundles of nerve cells or nerve bundles. You can have partial nerve damage-i.e. some of the nerve cell or nerve functions are destroyed or damaged but not all of them and the nerve will still have some degree of function. Damaged nerve bundles need higher than normal levels of NT's to send a normal signal.

Neurotransmitter deficiencies can be due to genetics, nutritional deficiency and trauma to the nervous system. Other causes of (perhaps) permanent dysfunction in the nerve bundle include drugs such as amphetamines (Ecstasy), Fen-Phen (Fenfluramine, Phentermine) heavy metals, like mercury, and environmental toxins such as herbicides and pesticides.

Dr. Marty Hinz, MD has observed hyper excretion of the kidneys as perhaps the major mechanism contributing to NT deficiencies. In hyper excretion, the kidneys, for unknown reasons, are excreting inappropriate amounts of NT into the urine. This causes depletion of NT throughout the body. A person with a neurotransmitter deficiency can have plenty NT in the urine-but not in their nerve bundles where they need it. This is why urine testing for NT levels pretreatment is of no value diagnostically or therapeutically. (Blood levels of NT change too much from moment to moment to be of much value)

Dr. Hinz runs a weight loss clinic. He began by using the appetite suppressing drugs with his clients. Obesity is a NT disease because the appetite control centers of the brain are controlled by serotonin and nor epinephrine. The drugs, since they deplete the NT they are trying to affect, would stop working. (Drugs that work on the neurotransmitters do not increase the overall amount of NT's in the system. Drugs affect the neurotransmitters by rearranging where they are, generally increasing them in the synapse. Then your body up regulates the breakdown of the NT in the synapse, leading to a net overall depletion of NT).

In order to get the drugs working again, he had his clients take the amino acids (AA's) that are the precursors to the NT. Pretty soon he discovered that the AA's worked better than the drugs, without the drug risks and side effects. Through research and trial and error he discovered which NT precursors and cofactors he needed to be using to get predictable results. He also came to realize that serotonin, epinephrine, dopamine and nor epinephrine were the master neurotransmitters and if they were in the proper amount and ratio, then all the other NT's-GABA, PEA, Acetylcholine, melatonin, Histamine, glutamate and glutamine would be in line too. He also discovered that the master neurotransmitters regulate cortisol, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and dihydrotestosterone and the autonomic nervous system (which regulates your organs). Seems to me, the NT's are running the show!

When using AA therapy, the serotonin and dopamine must both be treated as one system. Increasing the levels of just one will lead to the decrease in the other. The same decarboxylase enzyme that changes 5HTP into serotonin also changes L-Dopa into dopamine. If you load the system with L-Dopa, as in done in Parkinson's treatment, you increase the dopamine but crowd out the enzymes ability to synthesize serotonin, which will eventually lead to serotonin depletion (and depression). As the serotonin becomes depleted the dopamine stops working. This is a known consequence of Sine met.

I began using Dr. Hinz' s system of NT balancing largely because he had worked out a lot of the pitfalls in AA therapy-like the paradoxical reactions that might occur as the NT levels are increasing, avoiding the depletion of the sulfur cycle which raises the homocysteine. And there was a urine test I could use to find out if the NT had reached a balanced therapeutic level. If not, the results would guide me in how to adjust the AA dosing for optimal outcomes for my clients.

The timing of sample collection is critical. NT levels vary throughout the day being highest in the morning. Urinary testing, although not a direct measurement of NT's, gives an idea of what the NT levels have been over the past few hours. Blood levels of NT's change too much from moment to moment to be of much help. My clients collect their sample when the NT's are at there lowest-5-6 hours before the regular bedtime. Is late afternoon when your food cravings kick in or you're low in energy?
In the treatment and testing for therapeutic levels of NT, there are three phases of neurotransmitter response. Phase one-the kidneys are still inappropriately excreting NTs and adding more AA's to the system increases the NT excreted in the urine. Phase two- the kidneys have stopped excreting the systemic NTs (again we don't know why) and any added AA's are being used to increase the amount of NT's in the peripheral and central nervous systems -therefore you will see a low level of NT's in the urine. Phase three-the systemic levels of NT have increased enough so that the kidneys begin appropriately spilling NT's into the urine. At this point adding more AA's will increase the NT's in the urine-This is the phase where the systemic NTs are in the therapeutic range and symptoms resolve-the anxiety is gone, the depression has cleared, moods and motivation are good, the food cravings are nonexistent, FM, chronic pain, insomnia resolves (there is a 2-6 week lag time between NT getting balanced and insomnia resolving). Parkinson's patients have the tremors under control. Restless legs are still. When the NT's are dialed in just right you will feel better than you ever did on the drugs (studies have shown that the benefits of drugs are at best equal to that of placebo.)

A client of mine had a history of adult ADD. When she first came to see me she was on Stratera and Lexapro and exercising regularly. She was still bouncing around all over the place in her conversation, couldn't follow a thought through. We switched her to the amino acid therapy. During this time she was also preparing to testify in court (stressful situations deplete NT's). We got her levels stabilized and in balance right before the trial. During one of the last meeting before the court date one of the lawyers stopped and said 'I don't know what you're doing, but keep doing it'. She was that composed and on task even under great stress. It is gratifying as a physician to see people transform from weepy and lifeless(or tense and anxious) to feeling so-so to becoming relaxed, vibrant, animated and able to take on life again as they respond to the AA's The change is palpable and visible. The sparkle is back in their eyes.

Except for a rare type of melanoma, there are no contraindications for this type of AA therapy. It is safe to begin while the client is still taking most medications.

Dr. Hinz and the physicians he has trained are still discovering other conditions that respond really well to balancing NT's. One of the most exciting and relevant to our aging population is the discovery that some cases of dementia are NT deficiencies. He strongly recommends a therapeutic trial of AA therapy for all cases of dementia without a definite cause. The risk is very low and the possible benefits enormous-People with dementia need lots of care and looking after to make sure they don't hurt themselves or burn the house down-often times this care is done in an expensive facility setting. A trial of AA therapy, even ongoing AA treatment, will be far less expensive than the cost of facility care---an important piece of information for baby boomers and those of you taking care of older people.

The protocol for amino acid therapy is as follows: You start out at the first dosing level. The amino acids take about 5-6 days to stabilize in your system. You come back in a week and we see how yesterday was and if we have any start up reactions to deal with. If you are doing great we leave you on that dose. If not, we go to level two dosing and you return in a week. We may need to go to level three dosing and have you return in a week. If the third level dosing does not have everything resolved, we send in a urine sample to DBS Labs so we can get some objective information and change your amino acid dose according to your specific needs. The protocol varies a bit with kids and Parkinson's and restless leg syndrome.

As a naturopath I appreciate the complexity of each individual and recognize many factors play a role in how people feel. Low NT's are not the only cause of the conditions listed. But if increased and balance NT's are what you need, AA therapy can tremendously improve how you feel.

You can contact Dr. Rivers at 253-572-0939.