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Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
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i love glutamine but don't want more glutamate... does the former result in the latter?
I read that glutamate creation requires an extra ion, but I don't know how easily this happens.. not good at chemistry!
@ChrisD i feel great on it... in fact it's one of the few things that clears my brain fog ..not completely, but it makes my head feel calmer, oddly enough... which is confusing, based on what I've read about glutamate! Your reaction sounds more likely than mine
Please proceed very carefully.. I had severe excitotoxicty issues after taking supplemental L Glutamine. Dr Martin Pall feels excess glutamate is a key part of CFS and chemical sensitivity.
I don't think taking glutamine has been shown to increase glutamate in the brain.
When they gave it to the TBI patients in high doses in this study IV, it did not increase glutamate levels.
I've taken up to 30g a day during times of increased activity and I feel like it helps me recover better. It has never made me feel worse.
Except that study...Emma, unfortunately Glutamine CAN increase Glutamate in people who have an unbalanced Gaba:Glutamate ratio.
When the balance is tipped to one side, the body usually compensates by increasing one slightly over the other. That is why some people who take GABA report worse anxiety (due to leaky blood brain barrier, as well). You would assume that by taking GABA one would feel calmer, right? Wrong. What happens is that the body converts that GABA into Glutamate.
When the body sees an excess, it will ALWAYS try to balance itself even if we feel far far worse afterwards. The body does this type of conversion for different processes all the time. It's not just neurotransmitters.
It seems you did not have this unbalance, so you did well. Others however should proceed with caution. People with sleep problems and anxiety may have too much Glutamate to begin with... Again, experiment but be cautious.