Lately I've been obsessed with NMDAr for 2 reasons:
a. I have many neurological and psychiatric symptoms of CFS/ME which hint at NMDAr activation (or as Hip put it in one of his posts, the mental "Tired by Wired" phenomenon) in his post which discussed NMDAr extensively. For years I thought it was primary fatigue, but I'm beginning to think it's a mental sensory exhaustion in response to a dysfunction in sensory input filtering process. I've also noticed mornings after I dream a lot I have more mental fog/anxiety, indicating REM sleep is somehow involved in NMDAr excitotoxicity.
b. My 2.5 year old son has begun displaying signs of autism spectrum, which has been viewed as NMDAr hypo-function, as it is also in case of schizophrenia. Lately I've begun wondering if there is a connection between the two conditions.
I've been reading many posts on this site that discusses NMDAr and getting very confused. My sources of confusion are:
1. Caffeine is likely an NMDAr agonist? In which case why does coffee improve CFS mental symptoms?
2. Glutamine. Why does supplementation help some CFS patients if it converts to the neurotransmitter that excites NMDAr? And by the same token, shouldn't it help people with Autism?
3. Acetyl L Carnitine (ALCAR) has been known to help both CFS and Autistic people. I'm getting the indication it's an NMDAr antagonist, so it makes sense that it would help CFS, but why would it improve Autism?
4. Some people on this site have come out and said they had CFS because of Anti-NMDAr antibodies. Would they not develop more autistic or schizophrenic symptoms rather than CFS?
5. Alcohol is an NMDAr antagonist, and should help CFS patients (also because it's a vasodilator). Why is it so detrimental then to most CFS population? (I find helps me though)
6. Curcumin appears to be an NMDAr agonist, so it should make CFS mental symptoms worse. It seem tumeric has helped many (including Hip), but that may be because curcumin bioavailability from straight tumeric supplements is low.
7. Ketamine helps many CFS patients. This makes sense, because it is a strong NMDAr antagonist. This one doesn't confuse me.
I was hoping the NMDAr knowledgeable folx here can weigh in and clear up some of the confusion here?
I think there is something to NMDAr dysfunction that would help our community immensely if we dug more deeply.
Thanks!
a. I have many neurological and psychiatric symptoms of CFS/ME which hint at NMDAr activation (or as Hip put it in one of his posts, the mental "Tired by Wired" phenomenon) in his post which discussed NMDAr extensively. For years I thought it was primary fatigue, but I'm beginning to think it's a mental sensory exhaustion in response to a dysfunction in sensory input filtering process. I've also noticed mornings after I dream a lot I have more mental fog/anxiety, indicating REM sleep is somehow involved in NMDAr excitotoxicity.
b. My 2.5 year old son has begun displaying signs of autism spectrum, which has been viewed as NMDAr hypo-function, as it is also in case of schizophrenia. Lately I've begun wondering if there is a connection between the two conditions.
I've been reading many posts on this site that discusses NMDAr and getting very confused. My sources of confusion are:
1. Caffeine is likely an NMDAr agonist? In which case why does coffee improve CFS mental symptoms?
2. Glutamine. Why does supplementation help some CFS patients if it converts to the neurotransmitter that excites NMDAr? And by the same token, shouldn't it help people with Autism?
3. Acetyl L Carnitine (ALCAR) has been known to help both CFS and Autistic people. I'm getting the indication it's an NMDAr antagonist, so it makes sense that it would help CFS, but why would it improve Autism?
4. Some people on this site have come out and said they had CFS because of Anti-NMDAr antibodies. Would they not develop more autistic or schizophrenic symptoms rather than CFS?
5. Alcohol is an NMDAr antagonist, and should help CFS patients (also because it's a vasodilator). Why is it so detrimental then to most CFS population? (I find helps me though)
6. Curcumin appears to be an NMDAr agonist, so it should make CFS mental symptoms worse. It seem tumeric has helped many (including Hip), but that may be because curcumin bioavailability from straight tumeric supplements is low.
7. Ketamine helps many CFS patients. This makes sense, because it is a strong NMDAr antagonist. This one doesn't confuse me.
I was hoping the NMDAr knowledgeable folx here can weigh in and clear up some of the confusion here?
I think there is something to NMDAr dysfunction that would help our community immensely if we dug more deeply.
Thanks!