GABA has changed my life :)

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I just started it a couple weeks ago and it has been very, very helpful to me too. It has helped with my anxiety a lot and I've noticed my OCD symptoms have lessened. My psychiatrist was the one who recommended it. It has also helped me with my seizures.

Unable to source GABA legally here, I have been experimenting with more alternatives, and this is to report my own experience only.

The most useful alternative by far was melatonin - which has many biophysical and brain function effects. One of them is increasing the availability of GABA within the brain, by slowing its reuptake. I was surprised as how marked the positive effects were - not only on anxiety. Having had gut problems all my life (coeliac disease, allergies and born with compromised immune function), it had a profoundly positive effect on digestive processes for me, and this possibility has been noted in the research literature.

The other remarkable effect was that I slept soundly and woke so refreshed, with much more energy than usual. This self experiment and others are an ongoing work in progress! The only thing equal to the effect of melatonin for me has been low dose Clonazepam (Klonopin) which people are understandably wary of, being one of the biodiazepines. Melotonin is not; it's an amino acid, which is a protein. Well documented as affecting multiple sytems (mitochondrial function too, and also functions physiologically as an anti-oxidant)? The scientific research on mitochondrial dysfunction in ASD samples is an intriguing body of work too.

NatureMade, the product is "Melatonin+" which combines 3 mg of Melatonin with 200mg of L-Theanine. (Have tried L-Theanine in the past though it had no effect on noticeable anxiety by itself for me despite reports of its efficacy). Will be really interested to hear how this goes for you and hope you get the same very positive outcome.

(This was written in response to a question from someone which now seems to be deleted)

Yes sorry I just bought some from a similar company.

I bought the solgar brand. I just need to check it was legit.

Got to try something.

The Zoloft takes the panic attacks away. The really, really bad days still come. But I can keep my mouth shut about it, or keep a calm and polite tone in my voice if I have to talk. I don't even get angry enough to yell when my husband runs on for 15 minutes and won't let me finish a sentence.

Too bad it takes everything else away too. I just. Don't. Care.

I hope it has some benefit for you.

I got some because of this thread and I'm loving it. I've been taking it for about 2 or months, along with the rest of my stack; probiotics, potassium, magnesium, SAM-E, Theanine, 5-HTP, B-12, and I wash it down with a sugar-free Rockstar. At night, I take another dose of magnesium, theanine, 5-htp, along with some melatonin. Admittedly, I'm still refining my stack. I know there's a few things I can get to compliment the other things, while taking some stuff out and just fixing my diet.

It's not quite where I want it to be, but I do have a lot more energy now, while keeping my anxiety in check. Getting things done is a lot more manageable now. At work, I find myself being less anxious and I'm able to participate in conversation more.

That's interesting, as I have noticed an improvement in executive function too.

I'm going to be trying this for sleep. Melatonin doesn't seem to work for me and I would like to keep myself off pharmaceuticals if possible.

Because neurobiochemistry is so fluid and also so individual, no one substance will ever work for everyone. That's true of GABA too. I will be interested to hear of your response to GABA though.

I don't know of any melatonin studies at the moment which focus only on AS adults. (There are a number of double blind studies on austistic children that demonstrate benefit).

Melatonin levels (for everyone) do fall with age, so it is possible that older adults like myself get more of a positive response from supplementation.

Melatonin seems to keep me awake if anything; however, it doesn't surprise me because I often have the converse reaction to many medications, supplements included.

I'll update on my progress after I've take GABA a couple weeks. I will state outright that many of my NVLD/ADD symptoms are already helped by Dexedrine, but I'm always on the look out to improve things further.

This sounds like an excellent way to jumpstart Alzheimer's disease.

I have only discovered this 2005 article today, (once again showing up the misleading claims of some recent researchers promoting their own work as a "startling breakthrough discovery" of the GABA hypothesis!):

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1226204/

Definitely worth a read for those who like me see definite merit in the GABA hypothesis, I think it is a partial explanation for particular aspects of AS, particularly the predominance of anxiety across the AS population.

Here's a somewhat later review that cites that paper -- don't know if you've posted it before:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4477717/

"Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are neurodevelopmental syndromes characterised by repetitive behaviours and restricted interests, impairments in social behavior and relations, and in language and communication. These symptoms are also observed in a number of developmental disorders of known origin, including Fragile X Syndrome, Rett syndrome, and Fetal Anticonvulsant Syndrome. While these conditions have diverse etiologies, and poorly understood pathologies, emerging evidence suggests that they may all be linked to dysfunction in particular aspects of GABAergic inhibitory signalling in the brain. We review evidence from genetics, molecular neurobiology and systems neuroscience relating to the role of GABA in these conditions. We conclude by discussing how these deficits may relate to the specific symptoms observed."

Thank you, it is a very interesting summary article.

This paragraph raises some core issues for future researchers which I think are likely to become important:


In summary, there is extensive evidence of abnormal patterns of expression of GABA-A receptor genes, the GABA synthesis enzymes GAD65 and GAD67, and other genes known to be expressed in GABA interneurons, in idiopathic ASD. However, little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms which are responsible for these differences. Gene expression in the brain is controlled by numerous regulatory pathways and epigenetic influence (REFS). Research should examine this…

And this:

However, despite the growing interest in the GABA hypothesis of autism and related disorders, there have been very few studies to directly examine the GABA system in the brain of living human patients. We believe that such studies are urgently warranted as, if these abnormalities are present and measurable in humans, this would have important implications both from a purely scientific perspective and also for future drug development.

I have often wondered why there are so few studies. Has it been bypassed by Big Pharma because they see no future commercial benefit? (Gaba is a naturally occurring substance and formulations of it for ingestion can't get exclusive patents maybe?)