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Glutamine side effects

zzz0r

Senior Member
Messages
181
While for many people glutamine plays multiple helpful roles for other (including myself ) glutamine does not help at all.

Glutamine is supposed to assist with gut healing, increase GABA or clear ammonia.

Now, I know that glutamine is not good for people that have elevated levels of glutamate or their glutamine tends to convert to glutamate ( I also think that there is a connection with high glutamate and pathogenic bacteria in the body)

For me just 1g of glutamine (sometimes less) causes severe depression which (for me) is translated to increased inflammation. The symptoms ofcourse can be different for every person

Did anyone ever found anything that can help to overcome this problem?

(I mention people in the post that have talked about glutamine before in this forum)

@heapsreal @Viking @msf @Ema
 
Last edited:
Messages
3
I had a weird experience with glutamine, I was taking about 10g/day. At first it was awesome, I was able to exercise and sleep just fine, although I would wake up very early in the morning but refreshed. That effect lasted for about 4 weeks, then it just disappeared and started to slug me down and my insomnia came back.
 

msf

Senior Member
Messages
3,650
While for many people glutamine plays multiple helpful roles for other (including myself ) glutamine does not help at all.

Glutamine is supposed to help the gut heal, increase GABA or clear ammonia.

Now, I know that glutamine is not good for people that have elevated levels of glutamate or their glutamine tends to convert to glutamate( I also think that there is a connection with high glutamate and pathogenic bacteria in the body)

For me just 1g of glutamine (sometimes less) causes severe depression which (for me) is translated to increased inflammation. The symptoms ofcourse can be different for every person

Did anyone ever found anything that can help to overcome this problem?

(I mention people in the post that have talked about glutamine before in this forum)

@heapsreal @Viking @msf @Ema

No, but I believe my problem with it is due to a Yersinia infection, which I do not seem to have managed to clear yet.
 

PeterPositive

Senior Member
Messages
1,426
I may sound like a broken record (sorry :D) but have you tried starting at a dose where no side effects are experienced?

I had a ton of problems with almost any supplements and for me the trick was simply to be patient and take it one step at a time, starting from where no harm is done, so to speak.

With glutamine I started by cutting in 1/2 a 250mg capsule, so ~125mg. That dosage I could tolerate without getting anxiety or feeling wired. From there I upped dose over the course of many months and these days I can tolerate several grams a day without side effects.

Might not work for everybody but it's worth a shot.

Good luck
 

sregan

Senior Member
Messages
703
Location
Southeast
Glutamine is used in bodybuilding circles to bind up cortisol. Bodybuilders don't like cortisol because it is "catabolic" and will break own the muscle they are trying so hard to build. If you are already low in cortisol you want to be very careful taking it.
 

flybro

Senior Member
Messages
706
Location
pluto
I'm pretty sure glutamine increased aching for me, but I also have this with D3, and sitting in the sun.
 
Messages
22
I know this post is old but thought I'd reply anyway....

I've been nervous about taking L-Glutamine due to the fact that it can convert to Glutamate and cause anxiety etc... I am an undermethylator and have pyroluria. The treatment for both has worked well and I started feeling MUCH better. I had severe anxiety, panic, depression, insomnia. I felt like a new person. But.... about two months ago I got brave and thought I'd try glutamine to help heal my gut (assumed I had issues), and I've read it helps with detoxing ammonia which is something I can benefit from.

I actually started out taking 5g and some times 10g. I thought it helped my gut, and seemed to actually help me feel slightly more calm if that was possible, and my insomnia improved at times although was worse other times so hard to tell about that. Anyway, so the last couple of months I've been taking 10g per day some times more, and now I've been having some strong nervousness, anxiousness, feeling ill, cold, etc...

Could glutamine seem b9 for a while then after you build it up in your system that it can have negative effects?

I'm also under the impression that glutamine use B6 and possibly zinc for conversion and am thinking that all this glutamine might be burning up my B6 and Zinc that I need to make serotonin and dopamine.

Anyway, I'm going to go off Glutamine for now and see if things settle down.

Soccer
 

Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
I've been nervous about taking L-Glutamine due to the fact that it can convert to Glutamate and cause anxiety etc...
There have been a couple of trials in the past few years that have found that IV glutamine does not have an effect on glutamate levels.

Crit Care. 2014 Jul 2;18(4):R139. doi: 10.1186/cc13962.
Prolonged continuous intravenous infusion of the dipeptide L-alanine- L-glutamine significantly increases plasma glutamine and alanine without elevating brain glutamate in patients with severe traumatic brain injury.
Nägeli M, Fasshauer M, Sommerfeld J, Fendel A, Brandi G, Stover JF.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION:
Low plasma glutamine levels are associated with worse clinical outcome. Intravenous glutamine infusion dose- dependently increases plasma glutamine levels, thereby correcting hypoglutaminemia. Glutamine may be transformed to glutamate which might limit its application at a higher dose in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). To date, the optimal glutamine dose required to normalize plasma glutamine levels without increasing plasma and cerebral glutamate has not yet been defined.

METHODS:
Changes in plasma and cerebral glutamine, alanine, and glutamate as well as indirect signs of metabolic impairment reflected by increased intracranial pressure (ICP), lactate, lactate-to-pyruvate ratio, electroencephalogram (EEG) activity were determined before, during, and after continuous intravenous infusion of 0.75 g L-alanine-L-glutamine which was given either for 24 hours (group 1, n = 6) or 5 days (group 2, n = 6) in addition to regular enteral nutrition. Lab values including nitrogen balance, urea and ammonia were determined daily.

RESULTS:
Continuous L-alanine-L-glutamine infusion significantly increased plasma and cerebral glutamine as well as alanine levels, being mostly sustained during the 5 day infusion phase (plasma glutamine: from 295 ± 62 to 500 ± 145 μmol/ l; brain glutamine: from 183 ± 188 to 549 ± 120 μmol/ l; plasma alanine: from 327 ± 91 to 622 ± 182 μmol/ l; brain alanine: from 48 ± 55 to 89 ± 129 μmol/ l; p < 0.05, ANOVA, post hoc Dunn's test).

CONCLUSIONS:
High dose L-alanine-L-glutamine infusion (0.75 g/ kg/ d up to 5 days) increased plasma and brain glutamine and alanine levels. This was not associated with elevated glutamate or signs of potential glutamate-mediated cerebral injury. The increased nitrogen load should be considered in patients with renal and hepatic dysfunction.

TRIAL REGISTRATION:
Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02130674. Registered 5 April 2014.

If the pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency theory is correct, then supplemental glutamine is an excellent alternate way to power the TCA cycle as well as to heal the gut.

I've personally found 10-30g/day quite helpful.
fullsizeoutput_795.jpeg
 

bertiedog

Senior Member
Messages
1,738
Location
South East England, UK
Glutamine is a no go for me as I end up getting too much glutamate which my body cannot clear. I have some major SNPs in the conversion of Glutamate-Gaba so I guess this is the reason it gives me horrendous daily migraines.

I am able to tolerate small doses that are in the digestive enzyme I take with meals but anymore than that I am in trouble. However, recently I had to start Zonisamide to prevent the daily migraines I was getting and it is helping so I can also take small amounts of a hydrolysed beef collagen powder that was helping with other stuff like arthritis and sciatica. Again it is high in glutamic acid so I was having the daily migraine problem which was disappointing but with the anti-epileptic drug which is supposed to help with lots of aspects of brain functioning I can carry on adding it to my daily yoghurts.

Pam
 

Runner5

Senior Member
Messages
323
Location
PNW
I've taken L-Glutamine for ten years now because of my bad GI. I've had no nervousness or anxiety resulting from it, however I do have heavy duty "brain noise" and background noise in my head all the frickin' time. I suspect it's from glutamate or something not clearing my system, and lately have worried it's the L-Glutamine converting to glutamate and not getting flushed out. I use gentle yoga and meditation to help but gosh, it drives me crazy. Sometimes my brain will get quiet and it's so nice. Even in my sleep it's like I'm in a city square with people yelling or there is a small snippet of music looping over and over again very loudly.

I don't really know what causes it. I know if I go long enough without eating it goes away. It messes with my ability to think clearly and remember. My first trip to the doctor for CFS was about my memory loss and inability to retain information. I used to be smart. Alas... Now I just try to keep a lot of notes.

I've always had a high level of anxiety so I'm sure I would notice if L-Glutamine made it worse. L-Tyrosine and aminos in general have really helped with my anxiety and depression. But I still hate crowds and can't do stress, but it's something I guess. It keeps my imagination from making monster threats about to get me.

edit --> L-Glutamine really does help the GI repair. It makes a 3 week flare into a few days for me and I would have been in the hospital probably a few times by now without it. They do not know what is wrong with my GI, I have a trash can diagnosis of IBS and Gastritis.
 

Nanni

Senior Member
Messages
148
I know this post is old but thought I'd reply anyway....

I've been nervous about taking L-Glutamine due to the fact that it can convert to Glutamate and cause anxiety etc... I am an undermethylator and have pyroluria. The treatment for both has worked well and I started feeling MUCH better. I had severe anxiety, panic, depression, insomnia. I felt like a new person. But.... about two months ago I got brave and thought I'd try glutamine to help heal my gut (assumed I had issues), and I've read it helps with detoxing ammonia which is something I can benefit from.

I actually started out taking 5g and some times 10g. I thought it helped my gut, and seemed to actually help me feel slightly more calm if that was possible, and my insomnia improved at times although was worse other times so hard to tell about that. Anyway, so the last couple of months I've been taking 10g per day some times more, and now I've been having some strong nervousness, anxiousness, feeling ill, cold, etc...

Could glutamine seem b9 for a while then after you build it up in your system that it can have negative effects?

I'm also under the impression that glutamine use B6 and possibly zinc for conversion and am thinking that all this glutamine might be burning up my B6 and Zinc that I need to make serotonin and dopamine.

Anyway, I'm going to go off Glutamine for now and see if things settle down.

Soccer
I I found this very helpful. I have leaky gut and first glutamine helps and then after a few days i get anxious. How do you measure glutamate to know if it’s a problem.
 
Messages
366
I I found this very helpful. I have leaky gut and first glutamine helps and then after a few days i get anxious. How do you measure glutamate to know if it’s a problem.

There are tests that measure neurotransmitter levels in the urine. Some tests include glutamate and GABA.

I tested high for glutamate in those tests at times when I had some symptoms which might have been associated with high glutamate.