Serotonin Deficiency Syndrome

From the symptoms it sounds like I could be a candidate for low serotonin levels, and in fact my naturopath told me a couple months ago that was the case (in addition to low testosterone, but doing a little bit of weight lifting appears to be helping that).

My problem is I'm hypertensive...high blood pressure...my doc used to have me on meds for it, but for better or worse I left them behind. I do paleo now, *try* to exercise (walking, not as often as I'd like).

But certainly my anxiety is an issue. Thankfully I don't get full blown panic attacks like I used to, but if I feel the slightest bit of pain somewhere in my chest (gut, heart, lung, etc.) I freak out, basically, and think "Oh God, what is it now! I don't want to go to the hospital and be out of control!" (Okay, I'm paraphrasing here, but you get my state of mind!) Usually it's just gas.

If 5-htp can cause problems with blood pressure, is there an alternative?
 
FWIW, 5 HTP should not be a problem with blood pressure issues.

How does your paleo diet look like? It might be the case that you are having too many carbs? A lot of the symptoms describe the ups and highs of blood sugar.
 
My only weakness is alcohol. I'll have a glass or two of vodka once in a while, or a couple of low carb beers (2.9g each!).

Other than that, eggs, meat (beef, chicken, fish, shrimp), veggies (broccoli, limited amounts of carrots and peas and green beans, cabbage), and nuts (cashews, almonds and brazil nuts).

I have been known to sneak a couple of french fries on the weekends (from family, literally a couple).

In the morning I have tea with almond milk (unsweetened). Very tasty actually. I used to drink coffee, but coffee was only good with cream, and it's terrible with almond milk, where the tea and almond milk actually seem to complement each other.

Avoid wheat like the plague...it does nasty, nasty things to me now, and I find that on those rare occasions when there is a "carb binge" I get quite uncomfortable, so I haven't had one of those in a few months as well.

As a diabetic, I'm pretty careful about the blood sugar, though in truth I now consider myself "a reformed diabetic". My doctor even wrote that it was well managed now. Even said it was a waste of money testing it once a week (and it was always good).
 
Beer has lots of gluten regardless of the carb content, it is the most toxic food among what you listed. Gluten free beer hardly counts, it still has gluten.

So there is still room for improvement with the diet alone, but 5 HTP could help you get off from alcohol though.
 
It was amazing to find this post about Serotonin Deficiency, it opened my eyes of what may be the cause of this things happening right now in my life. I've been struggling with bulimia nervosa for the past couple of years, and almost 4 months ago I've not been binge eating and purging :) i found out a group of therapists that are helping me with this, but in the other hand they stress me a little bit, my nutritionist says i have to eat gluten an food I'm afraid off, I've been doing what she tells, but i also think i need to speak up when i don't feel right with the foods I'm eating. I decided to quit on gluten and dairy cause i was experiencing a lot of mental fogginess, i also read about Candida yesterday, and many symptoms relate to what I'm feeling.

The therapist ordered me to have a brain scan, which I'm waiting for the results that will be coming in this days, the other thing is that they sent me to a psychiatrist in order to know what type of medication will be more suitable in my situation, reading all this in the forum i realize maybe medication will not be the best answer to the problem, but taking supplement, vitamins and having a right diet. I think for now i will wait to see what were the results of the brain scan and hoping my psychiatrist doesn't send me any type of anti depressive. Yesterday also listening to the Dabrowski radio talk on SOTT i realized this struggles are the ones that make us rise and go on with life in a better way. The other thing my therapist said is that i over think a lot, and we have to quiet my mind a little, made me think that with medications they will have me MIA from reality... don't think medications of this type are the best response... it's another way to evade issues.

It's also very scary how a lot of teens or young adults suffer from this eating disorders, which i also found out it has nothing to do with our bodies, but with a lot of psychological things we have going on, and we punish ourselves by purging or not eating. Maybe tough childhood or even social environment are triggers for this type of issues...
 
Padme90 said:
It was amazing to find this post about Serotonin Deficiency, it opened my eyes of what may be the cause of this things happening right now in my life. I've been struggling with bulimia nervosa for the past couple of years, and almost 4 months ago I've not been binge eating and purging :) i found out a group of therapists that are helping me with this, but in the other hand they stress me a little bit, my nutritionist says i have to eat gluten an food I'm afraid off, I've been doing what she tells, but i also think i need to speak up when i don't feel right with the foods I'm eating. I decided to quit on gluten and dairy cause i was experiencing a lot of mental fogginess, i also read about Candida yesterday, and many symptoms relate to what I'm feeling.

The therapist ordered me to have a brain scan, which I'm waiting for the results that will be coming in this days, the other thing is that they sent me to a psychiatrist in order to know what type of medication will be more suitable in my situation, reading all this in the forum i realize maybe medication will not be the best answer to the problem, but taking supplement, vitamins and having a right diet. I think for now i will wait to see what were the results of the brain scan and hoping my psychiatrist doesn't send me any type of anti depressive. Yesterday also listening to the Dabrowski radio talk on SOTT i realized this struggles are the ones that make us rise and go on with life in a better way. The other thing my therapist said is that i over think a lot, and we have to quiet my mind a little, made me think that with medications they will have me MIA from reality... don't think medications of this type are the best response... it's another way to evade issues.

It's also very scary how a lot of teens or young adults suffer from this eating disorders, which i also found out it has nothing to do with our bodies, but with a lot of psychological things we have going on, and we punish ourselves by purging or not eating. Maybe tough childhood or even social environment are triggers for this type of issues...
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First off, it's very good to hear of your progress :).

You are following the correct lines of research to progress even further. It is never easy and our psychological problems never seem to truly go away, but it is much easier to cope when you are nutritionally stable and have cleared out some toxins and pathogens. It does get better, but it is a long journey. Don't listen to that BS the nutritionist is talking about gluten and dairy, cut it out! If pressed, I would say something like "a lot of people have said it has helped them, so I intend to try it".

My thoughts are on medications: You would do much better to never start on them, than to try to quit them later when you are addicted. Of course I'm not a medical expert or anything, but IMO it should be a last resort.
 
I also recently was found to be low in serotonin & dopamine precursors - once I started going to a naturopathic physician. Funny how, although patience is required, one finally starts to get to the root of things with the help of the integrative medical professionals.

For the moment, supplementing those precursors seems to be helping, though I do hope that the 'root cause' will eventually turn out to be something that I'll be able to have a personal influence on (with a suitable application of Will, naturally). There's still a feeling of not wanting to need a 'crutch' permanently.
 
Carl said:
First off, it's very good to hear of your progress :).

You are following the correct lines of research to progress even further. It is never easy and our psychological problems never seem to truly go away, but it is much easier to cope when you are nutritionally stable and have cleared out some toxins and pathogens. It does get better, but it is a long journey. Don't listen to that BS the nutritionist is talking about gluten and dairy, cut it out! If pressed, I would say something like "a lot of people have said it has helped them, so I intend to try it".
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Im thinking that i will better not say anything to her, i wont see her for the next fifteen days so that will be a relief in my stress with all the food BS she's telling me... it also makes me feel "bad" in a way, cause since my therapist and her work together its like team work that they say without the nutritionist i won't be able to 'heal'. I don't believe this like they say, but maybe instead of arguing with them i'll start speaking up. They sometimes forget we are people who think and feel in different ways, they just label us as 'patients of bulimia or anorexia'.
 
kalibex said:
I also recently was found to be low in serotonin & dopamine precursors - once I started going to a naturopathic physician. Funny how, although patience is required, one finally starts to get to the root of things with the help of the integrative medical professionals.

For the moment, supplementing those precursors seems to be helping, though I do hope that the 'root cause' will eventually turn out to be something that I'll be able to have a personal influence on (with a suitable application of Will, naturally). There's still a feeling of not wanting to need a 'crutch' permanently.
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I think the most important thing is you're feeling right with the supplements, and that whenever you start feeling something off about them you could be able to speak up and say what you think to ur physician. As you say Will is one of the most important things we need to continue our path for healing, and since we are in constant research for learning and acquiring self consious thing will start getting 'easier'. It requires loots of patience, and for me i have to say it is one of the things troubling me more with the process, im everything but patient jejeje, but im also realizing taking baby steps is waay much better than trying to take huge leaps in life.

I do hope your serotonine and dopamine levels get balanced, with well nutrition, and also EE will help us a lot with that!
 
Im thinking that i will better not say anything to her, i wont see her for the next fifteen days so that will be a relief in my stress with all the food BS she's telling me... it also makes me feel "bad" in a way, cause since my therapist and her work together its like team work that they say without the nutritionist i won't be able to 'heal'. I don't believe this like they say, but maybe instead of arguing with them i'll start speaking up. They sometimes forget we are people who think and feel in different ways, they just label us as 'patients of bulimia or anorexia'.
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Exactly. That really makes me mad. Like they understand that nutrition might just be an important factor (duh) and then take it in completely the wrong direction! The whole thing about labelling healthy eaters with an eating disorder is really insidious and messed up. You are in a bad position because, psychologically, they will not be able to separate your history of bulimia/anorexia with your current desire to eat paleo and avoid certain foods that are known to cause issues for people. But there is a big, obvious difference (to us, anyway).

Best thing to do would be to just eat a lot of safe veggies such as green beans, carrots, parsnip etc along with meat/fish. "Look how many vegetables I'm eating!".
 
Carl said:
Exactly. That really makes me mad. Like they understand that nutrition might just be an important factor (duh) and then take it in completely the wrong direction! The whole thing about labelling healthy eaters with an eating disorder is really insidious and messed up. You are in a bad position because, psychologically, they will not be able to separate your history of bulimia/anorexia with your current desire to eat paleo and avoid certain foods that are known to cause issues for people. But there is a big, obvious difference (to us, anyway).
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That's exactly it! When i first arrived with them i told them about my thought on gluten and dairy, and they also said i was orthorexic by thinking this way... Im grateful with them cause mostly my therapist has helped, nutritionist not a lot... i was experiencing a lot of bloating, headaches and recently i had rashes in my hand.. so i guess it was another lesson to learn how to speak up and not be labeled, cause recently i've been feeling more stressed with the "im bulimic" thought than with who i really am
 
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