So I asked some questions on the Dr Amy (Yasko) forums, and perhaps it's just not frequented enough (only 11 views in 5 days), but I haven't received any response yet, and it's an extremely urgent matter. It may be kind of obvious what I did wrong here, but I still need some clarification. It's very important that I get this right and understand it as soon as possible.
So I've had leaky gut and and all kinds of gut related, liver related, digestional, and neurological issues for my entire life... the list of symptoms would basically fill up this entire page, and they've gotten to a point where they're dangerously bad. I've tried to recover for so many years and have been concerned for my life for a while now, but it's gotten to the point where I'm being pushed over the edge... not to mention being allergic to like 60+ things, making recovery very difficult.
I've had ammonia symptoms and sulfur intolerance for half my life, and am just now realizing my body isn't having a hard time getting rid of ammonia itself... it's not CBS or my kidneys or gut bacteria or whatever... it's the leaky gut itself, drawing in basically only proteins (nitrogen) and very little actual nutrients - as well as a leaky blood brain barrier causing all kinds of neurological damage/problems, which adds to that. It's essentially just a nitrogen imbalance and inflammation caused by the leaky gut itself.
And after reading about GABA, I was convinced that this was something that could help... especially if by taking GABA I can convert all the excess glutamate back into glutamine and heal my gut - which is by far the #1 issue I have right now. However, I've done everything under the sun, and nothing I've taken my entire life has ever helped this or any other symptoms... most things make me worse, and I suspect it's because of this GABA/glutamate imbalance just making it so that my intestines are so irritated and "leaky" that no matter what I try it just causes further damage, and once again... doesn't absorb correctly.
But I'm also concerned that it may in fact be entirely my adrenals... and that that's the reason why I can't seem to heal my gut - which would basically be the worst case scenario because nothing adrenal related has ever helped.
Well assuming for a second that it's the GABA/glutamate imbalance... I started taking GABA and IMMEDIATELY felt so much better I couldn't believe it... my stomach and liver pain went away, my anxiety was GONE, body aches gone, I slept amazing, my stomach was emptying appropriately (which it never has in my entire life), magnesium actually did its job when I used it, among other things, I felt so relaxed instead of tense all the time, and the list goes on.
For about 2 1/2 days... and then like anything else I've ever taken in my entire life, that stopped working too. And suddenly I got much worse. And anytime I'd take it after that it would ramp my anxiety up worse than ever after a few hours, and all my gut issues went through the roof.
So I immediately went on to Yasko forums since it was one of her posts or articles I can't remember that convinced me that I needed GABA more than anything... and lo and behold, she actually recommends taking a sprinkle of it at first. Whereas I was taking roughly 400-600 mg per day... I should be taking closer to 30mg I guess?
Which makes sense, since it seemed to burnout my adrenals... and perhaps that's the reason why taking such a large amount suddenly stopped working... but at the same time it just doesn't make sense to me to take only a sprinkle at first, like how can that possible be enough? Would something like that really help to recover enough, in a VERY SEVERE case, to continue taking more and more?
So the bottom line is... I'm asking those of you who are either on a Yasko protocol, or any ammonia protocol at all, or have extremely bad adrenal fatigue, or even just took GABA for whatever.
1) Have you needed to start with a sprinkle, as Dr Yasko recommends? Has it helped? Did you recover this way, by going slow and gradually increasing it?
2) Is it because of, as I said, adrenal burnout making it harder to digest/process said GABA? Or not well tolerated because of it? Has this ever improved for anyone who deals with both problems? Or would a lack of cortisol or insufficient adrenals make it impossible for GABA to work?
3) Or is it because it's actually too much GABA for the brain, and the amounts you can take increase as you start to recover? If so does that mean it's converting the extra into glutamate and making me worse?
4) How slowly do you increase the GABA, and do you take several sprinkle doses a day, instead of just one?
5) Can this be enough to help improve severe severe leaky gut and neurological inflammation/damage? Or more specifically help other things for leaky gut finally start working?
6) Is there possibly some other reason, or factor involved in why this may not be working for me? Being that just like everything else in my life - its either never worked, or worked briefly for a couple days too, and then stopped or made it worse after? Or something else, maybe not enough of something I need to activate the GABA or absorb it better? (can't tolerate the suggested herbs either - valerian especially, passion flower, etc and even chamomile stops working after the first dose, my whole life)
Absolutely any advice anyone can offer would be extremely appreciated. I know this was a long post but I really need the help ASAP.
So I've had leaky gut and and all kinds of gut related, liver related, digestional, and neurological issues for my entire life... the list of symptoms would basically fill up this entire page, and they've gotten to a point where they're dangerously bad. I've tried to recover for so many years and have been concerned for my life for a while now, but it's gotten to the point where I'm being pushed over the edge... not to mention being allergic to like 60+ things, making recovery very difficult.
I've had ammonia symptoms and sulfur intolerance for half my life, and am just now realizing my body isn't having a hard time getting rid of ammonia itself... it's not CBS or my kidneys or gut bacteria or whatever... it's the leaky gut itself, drawing in basically only proteins (nitrogen) and very little actual nutrients - as well as a leaky blood brain barrier causing all kinds of neurological damage/problems, which adds to that. It's essentially just a nitrogen imbalance and inflammation caused by the leaky gut itself.
And after reading about GABA, I was convinced that this was something that could help... especially if by taking GABA I can convert all the excess glutamate back into glutamine and heal my gut - which is by far the #1 issue I have right now. However, I've done everything under the sun, and nothing I've taken my entire life has ever helped this or any other symptoms... most things make me worse, and I suspect it's because of this GABA/glutamate imbalance just making it so that my intestines are so irritated and "leaky" that no matter what I try it just causes further damage, and once again... doesn't absorb correctly.
But I'm also concerned that it may in fact be entirely my adrenals... and that that's the reason why I can't seem to heal my gut - which would basically be the worst case scenario because nothing adrenal related has ever helped.
Well assuming for a second that it's the GABA/glutamate imbalance... I started taking GABA and IMMEDIATELY felt so much better I couldn't believe it... my stomach and liver pain went away, my anxiety was GONE, body aches gone, I slept amazing, my stomach was emptying appropriately (which it never has in my entire life), magnesium actually did its job when I used it, among other things, I felt so relaxed instead of tense all the time, and the list goes on.
For about 2 1/2 days... and then like anything else I've ever taken in my entire life, that stopped working too. And suddenly I got much worse. And anytime I'd take it after that it would ramp my anxiety up worse than ever after a few hours, and all my gut issues went through the roof.
So I immediately went on to Yasko forums since it was one of her posts or articles I can't remember that convinced me that I needed GABA more than anything... and lo and behold, she actually recommends taking a sprinkle of it at first. Whereas I was taking roughly 400-600 mg per day... I should be taking closer to 30mg I guess?
Which makes sense, since it seemed to burnout my adrenals... and perhaps that's the reason why taking such a large amount suddenly stopped working... but at the same time it just doesn't make sense to me to take only a sprinkle at first, like how can that possible be enough? Would something like that really help to recover enough, in a VERY SEVERE case, to continue taking more and more?
So the bottom line is... I'm asking those of you who are either on a Yasko protocol, or any ammonia protocol at all, or have extremely bad adrenal fatigue, or even just took GABA for whatever.
1) Have you needed to start with a sprinkle, as Dr Yasko recommends? Has it helped? Did you recover this way, by going slow and gradually increasing it?
2) Is it because of, as I said, adrenal burnout making it harder to digest/process said GABA? Or not well tolerated because of it? Has this ever improved for anyone who deals with both problems? Or would a lack of cortisol or insufficient adrenals make it impossible for GABA to work?
3) Or is it because it's actually too much GABA for the brain, and the amounts you can take increase as you start to recover? If so does that mean it's converting the extra into glutamate and making me worse?
4) How slowly do you increase the GABA, and do you take several sprinkle doses a day, instead of just one?
5) Can this be enough to help improve severe severe leaky gut and neurological inflammation/damage? Or more specifically help other things for leaky gut finally start working?
6) Is there possibly some other reason, or factor involved in why this may not be working for me? Being that just like everything else in my life - its either never worked, or worked briefly for a couple days too, and then stopped or made it worse after? Or something else, maybe not enough of something I need to activate the GABA or absorb it better? (can't tolerate the suggested herbs either - valerian especially, passion flower, etc and even chamomile stops working after the first dose, my whole life)
Absolutely any advice anyone can offer would be extremely appreciated. I know this was a long post but I really need the help ASAP.
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