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Confusion with dopamine/anxiety/epinephrine and SNP results

Messages
17
Location
Northeast US
Hi All,

I recently got my 23andme results, trying to figure out issues I've had since childhood, first a little about me:

32 old male, born and raised on the northeast coast of the US. Athletic build, 6'2", 178 lbs, avid gym workouts, healthy organic eating since I was 18. Kept abreast to most nutrition studies and findings over the last decade, raised vegetarian, however pescatarian for the last 12 years.

Childhood sensitives to chemicals, bleaches, pine oils, household cleaners, just the smell would trigger discomfort, these have mostly subsided. Started getting gray hairs at around 6 -7 years old, however it never took over completely, have a nice salt/pepper look now 25 years later; perhaps this is a catalase / glutathione issue? Too much H2O2?

Food allergies since onset of puberty (still trying to figure out the difference between sensitives and allergies), the following fruits/nuts/root veggies trigger closing of my air passage ways, minor swelling of the lips, itchy throat (all appear to be histamine type reactions): apples, peaches, pears, plums, dark cherries, almonds, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, carrots, celery, guava, soy protein powder (tofu, edamame etc. is fine). All the foods listed above cause no issue if cooked/steamed, apparently that deactivates the protein triggering my allergies. From my research these could have started at youth due to overuse of antibiotics, excessive vaccinations, awful sugar/HFCS/hydrogenated fat laden diet common with 80's - 90's children.

Perhaps candida, leaky gut type issues may have caused these food particles to pass out of the gut, triggering a lifelong immune response, not sure...But regardless how healthy I feel I am getting, they are still there. Currently on a gut-healing / powerful probiotic regimen (VSL3).

I believe I have an issue with either way too much histamine production or histamine intolerance, perhaps histadelia. Mosquito bites swell immensely, always have itchy skin in the winter (saw a post where a study found that mice produce more histamine at the skin when there is low moisture in the air), pimples swell quite a bit more than I've seen with others etc.

I have cystic acne in my teens, seemed to be a mixture of oily skin/hormones and my body pushing toxins from an awful diet through my skin, combined with anxiety during those formative years. I had lesions on the face, chest, and upper back. Would have adult acne now, but I keep a clean diet, supplement with cal / mag citrate, and food based multi, pharm grade fish oil, and 5000 IUs D3 daily. Eating a large green organic (kale/romaine) salad daily and mostly organic foods / produce / eggs helps. My skin scars fairly easily, I have a feeling the histamine and H2 production has something to do with my stomach acid and issues absorbing vitamin A and zinc, both crucial for skin tissue repair.

I believe I have some level of ADD, get bored easily, learns quickly, overall have excelled quite a bit when I stay engaged and control my anxiety. I feel the anxiety and excitation is dopamine / epinephrine driven. Can appear very calm and collected when I out-think my anxiety, if that makes any sense. Can get tired easily in a low oxygen room, i.e. too many poeple in a room and doors closed, start yawning within 5-10 minutes. However, can perform quite a bit of work, heavy weight lifting, running (as long as I don't get bored), swimming etc

After initially reading into MTHFR/glutathione/mB12/mfolate, I thought I had this issue for sure. but my anxiety/excitation/duration of acne make me think its something different. I really want to figure this out, my results from genetic genie are below, please let me know if you have any thoughts regarding the histamine, anxiety, tissue scarring etc.; any help is much appreciated:

COMT V158M rs4680 AG +/-

COMT H62H rs4633 CT +/-

COMT P199P rs769224 GG -/-
VDR Bsm rs1544410 CC -/-
VDR Taq rs731236 AA +/+
MAO A R297R rs6323 G -/-
ACAT1-02 rs3741049 GG -/-
MTHFR C677T rs1801133 GG -/-
MTHFR 03 P39P rs2066470 GG -/-
MTHFR A1298C rs1801131 TT -/-
MTR A2756G rs1805087 AG +/-
MTRR A66G rs1801394 GG +/+
MTRR H595Y not found n/a not genotyped
MTRR K350A rs162036 AA -/-
MTRR R415T not found n/a not genotyped
MTRR A664A rs1802059 GG -/-
BHMT-02 rs567754 CT +/-
BHMT-04 not found n/a not genotyped
BHMT-08 rs651852 CC -/-
AHCY-01 rs819147 CT +/-
AHCY-02 not found n/a not genotyped
AHCY-19 rs819171 CT +/-
CBS C699T rs234706 AG +/-

CBS A360A rs1801181 AG +/-


Thanks!
 

sillysocks84

Senior Member
Messages
445
I'm an 80s/90s kid and was just discussing the diet I grew up on today! Ironix. I lived off kraft Mac and chef boy. I'm trying to counter the effects. It was a vaccine that finally noticeably knocked me down. Maybe set up by diet? Can you explain the probiotic and cultures in it? Effects noticeable yet?
 
Messages
17
Location
Northeast US
Hi sillysocks, poor diet during formative years is only part of it IMO, I think I was susceptible vis genes that were expressed

VSL3, 450 billion bacteria in the packets (there is also a double strength, but I would imagine that is for the really ill); strains are:

Bifidobacterium breve
Bifidobacterium longum
Bifidobacterium infantis
Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus paracasei
Lactobacillus bulgaricus
Streptococcus thermophilus

Due to my persistent acne (which can only be controlled with a clean diet, controlling demodex, enough sleep, and controlling the # of orgasms I have to once / twice a week, which I believe is linked to DHT/prolactin production after having sex / ejaculating) and anxiety, I believe that I might be an over-methylator. I have taken mB12 before, only for 2-3 days before, and dont know if it was linked to my increased anxiety during that same time.

My questions are, does my SNP profile above look like that of an over-methlyator?
Is acne a sign that my body is getting rid of toxins too efficiently, and sending it out from my skin?
Also, since I am VDR TAQ +/+, does that mean I do not make enough vitamin D or that even if I supplement with it, the receptors will not take it in?
I get bouts of sadness/aloofness from time to time, but overall am emotional and have anxiety, any thoughts on what could be causing that? I though anxiety and depression were opposites in light of methylation.

Thanks again!
 

caledonia

Senior Member
Have a look at the 4R Gut Rebuilding Program linked in my signature link. You can't just hope to crowd out the bad but bugs with probiotics. You have to do stool testing to identify them, then kill them off. There are 4 steps in total - those are just two.

I would guess the gray hair is from being B12 deficient due to vegetarianism + the two worst B12 SNPs. There are other deficiencies linked with premature gray hair, just google something like "premature graying and deficiencies".

MCS can be due to low reduced glutathione, and also mercury + arsenic. The low glutathione can be from B12 deficiency, CBS expression, lacking cofactors to convert oxidized glutathione into reduced glutathione, etc.

You could also have glutathione SNPs - run your 23andme through the Detox Panel at Genetic Genie and see if you have any GST SNPs.

DAO is the SNP associated with histamine. GAD is associated with anxiety (GABA/glutamate balance). You can pick those up on Sterling's report at MTHFRsupport.com. You might be eating high histamine or high glutamate foods which are aggravating things.

In general, high histamine = low methylation. I used to get the huge mosquito bites too, but that has subsided with methylation treatment. My high glutamate has also improved. I don't need medications for anxiety any more.

The COMTs can also be associated with anxiety.

You might get anxiety if CBS is expressed and you get too much sulfur via diet or supplements. Mercury can cause CBS to express.

I'm not sure about the acne. Edited to add - just remembered - I used to have acne when I ate gluten. When I stopped eating gluten, the acne cleared up. It returns if I eat enough gluten.

Some functional testing would be good to do as you need to see what's actually going on in the body. Genes are just potentials and may or may not be expessed - something like the Nutreval test or an organic acids (OAT) test. (Nutreval includes OAT info.)

#1 - work on the gut first. Get as far as you can with that, then try methylation or whatever else seems right. You might not get complete healing until you apply several types of therapies. It's like peeling back layers of an onion.

ps. there is an energy therapy called NAET that might be useful for the food allergies if nothing else helps.
 
Last edited:

caledonia

Senior Member
Hi sillysocks, poor diet during formative years is only part of it IMO, I think I was susceptible vis genes that were expressed

VSL3, 450 billion bacteria in the packets (there is also a double strength, but I would imagine that is for the really ill); strains are:

Bifidobacterium breve
Bifidobacterium longum
Bifidobacterium infantis
Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus paracasei
Lactobacillus bulgaricus
Streptococcus thermophilus

Due to my persistent acne (which can only be controlled with a clean diet, controlling demodex, enough sleep, and controlling the # of orgasms I have to once / twice a week, which I believe is linked to DHT/prolactin production after having sex / ejaculating) and anxiety, I believe that I might be an over-methylator. I have taken mB12 before, only for 2-3 days before, and dont know if it was linked to my increased anxiety during that same time.

My questions are, does my SNP profile above look like that of an over-methlyator?
Is acne a sign that my body is getting rid of toxins too efficiently, and sending it out from my skin?
Also, since I am VDR TAQ +/+, does that mean I do not make enough vitamin D or that even if I supplement with it, the receptors will not take it in?
I get bouts of sadness/aloofness from time to time, but overall am emotional and have anxiety, any thoughts on what could be causing that? I though anxiety and depression were opposites in light of methylation.

Thanks again!

Get your vitamin D tested, and if it's low, supplement with D3. That's one test that seems to be accurate. My doc says to get it to at least 50 (whatever the units are, not sure). It may help with sadness.

Since you have COMT SNPs, methylcobalamin could be a bit much and cause anxiety. You can try hydroxycobalamin or methylcobalamin + niacin.

Don't try any methyl supplement without having some nicotinic acid form of niacin on hand in case you get a bad reaction. You can take 50-100mg of the niacin to dampen methylation and stop a bad reaction.
 
Messages
17
Location
Northeast US
Thanks for the very informative posts caledonia! I am curious about one thing, regarding the 4R protocol, I am doing most of it, glutamine/slippery elm, probiotic, and fungal/microbial (its a candida cleanse, but apparently also knocked out most of my gut flora). I have tried going on a gluten free diet, but saw almost no benefits besides weight loss (I was around 11% bodyfat, so I did not need to lose anymore weight)

A few observations, I do not believe I need any more stomach acid, in fact due to what I feel is a histamine abundance, I have too much stomach acid, my body is a food inferno, and I see it in my 1 year old daughter too, she is lean and out eats all other babies in daycare. I eat and get hungry soon after, can eat a ton and maintain the same body fat, although I do eat clean and exercise/weight lift. As for glutamine, I think it makes me overactive and excited, I think it is over-converting into glutamates, while on it, I get weird ticks and feel like I am on caffeine even though I am not, also irritability is an issue, not sure if its the glutamine, something seasonal, lack of the correct B12.

Regarding potential overmethylating, if that's the case, should I not have much lower histamine? I thought extra methyls would counter the histamine

On my COMTs, does that automatically mean methyl sensitivities or overmethylation? If I take niacin with the mB12, won't it negate the methyl portion and render the B12 useless for people with B12 issues like me?

I will get my Vitamin D tested, currently taking 5000 IUs daily

Regarding sulfur and CBS, I am hetero, would that mean sulfites are an issue, sulfates, or just any type of sulfur period? How on earth would the utilize glutathione if thats the case? Sounds like a horrible genetic curse, I eat many eggs, free range organic, and do not seem to have any issues so long as my gut flora is good...regarding anxiety, I feel glutamates, dopamine, and adrenaline are causing it in me; with my genetic profile above, do you think I may have too much dopamine and not enough serotonin?

I will have to get the sterling report to check up on my DAO and GAD SNPs, as for eating high histamine/glutamate foods, it pretty much knocks out everything..I would only be able to eat the freshest meats and greens all day. Being that I put a lot of work into my diet to maintain my size, muscle mass etc, I would prefer to address the issues through supplementation. I do however consume much less alcohol, aged cheeses, etc.

Do you think overmethylators are prone to acne due to excess toxins being pushed out of the skin? Is there a way to confirm OM?

I apologize, I know there are quite a few questions and discussion points in my message, I really do appreciate your support, this has been a life long puzzle I have been trying to figure out