Have you learned anything else about your flexure/MAOA combination? I have a similar problem. Do you have pain in your flexure? Mine gets a bit better with castor oil packs and marshmallow root (demulcent). I also can sleep fine if I sedate enough (phenibut). My guess is that healing/not aggravating the gut and increasing calming neurotransmitter are the way forward for us.
I have learned new things!
TL;DR at the bottom
I had an x-ray CT of the colon done, a virtual colonoscopy. On it a flexure is visible but it is too small for the doctor to be alarmed. It does explain the "bulge" I often feel on the right lower side of my stomach. Also many twists and bends at the start of the colon. This is where bacteria live and produce gas. Any gas or fibre that gets stuck there causes a stress reaction in the night.
This stress reaction is prolonged because of the MAO A and MAO B deficiency. I lie wide awake for 1,5 hours. Which is the time between the large bowel movements (BMM), the sweeping motility that runs the whole colon to try and empty it. After 3 fruitless tries (=4,5 hours) the system bucks and wakes me up. With a hard and painful belly (right side).
Here is a link to the CT pictures of the abdomen:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/snorrepot/34474316004/in/photolist-UwnT5G
It looks normal until you try and follow the twists from the exit of the small intestines all the way up to the splenic flexure. Especially on the small picture, which is a side view, you see how the twists are stacked, often bending back on itself. Nothing can pass when this person is lying down.
The colon expert in the hospital said the twists and bends are not uncommon at all. That's why he couldn't phantom how they cause my insomnia. But then he knows nothing of MAO A.
He did say that humans only eat fibre for colonic function. You do not need it for health or vitamins or shaving down the villi in the small intestine. If you poop regularly you do not need fibre. Is what he said.
Since this consult I have experimented with trying to prevent the build up of bulk and gas in the start of the colon. I do this by diet and by lying down and pressing the gas along my colon with my hands. This has done wonders. I am no longer bloated (posture has improved beyond belief!). I am way less tired! And I now sleep through the night. No stress reaction, no surge of excitatory neurotransmitters.
As a result of sleeping through the night I can lower my hydrocortisone supplements during the day. My bodily stress levels are way lower.
little tangent about pressure points: the colon has pressure points on the inside and at the ascending colon it's the breathing organs. When air or food is trapped there and expands the colon these pressure points are activated. This may explain why I am troubled by dust allergies at night on nights that my colon is bloated. I have no trouble at nights that it is lean.
Allergies invoke a stress reaction too (hello MAO A and B). But they also have to do with histamines. Salt is a powerful anti-histamine. I take lots of salt to aid my adrenals and boost my low blood pressure. I have found that salt also helps when I am sniffling or have head aches from bodily stress reactions such as allergies or "cheese head ache" (when you have eaten too much tyramine and your MAO A is already busy dealing with other neuro transmitters).
Besides no bulk and no gas my diet also has to be low tyramine and no sulphur rich foods. I mainly eat chicken stock, chocolate and cream and I eat this before noon. Stop eating at 2 o 'clock in the day. Have a little snack at 4. No more drinking after 6 o 'clock in the evening. Keep everything small in size, both the eating and the drinking. This routine sucks a bit yes. But I feel great, much energy and sleep through the night.
I also twist and turn on the bed to coax gas along. Gas rises to the top, I figure, so I try to follow the way the tubes bend to get it to the exit. This prevents hepatic flexure. Repeatedly.
I poop regularly but stools are a bit sticky now. For colonic function it is important that I am upright during parts the day. A little stroll in the evening works wonders. I've also started to do sit ups before sleep (start with 1. It took me weeks to get to 2.) And I need to be in bed 20 minutes before sleep, just to massage my belly. Passing gas (and also burping!) is now a sign of victory.
TL;DR various triggers hinder my MAO A and MAO B shortage. The biggest is colonic expansion because I have many twists in the tubes.
See this picture. I prevent expansion by not eating bulk (= no fiber and all meals the size of a hamster) and not eating gas producing things (= FODMAP). No more stress, I am in better health.
