I’ve seen a few preliminary studies re: celiac disease that suggest it isn’t nutrient absorption that causes bipolar/epilepsy/schizophrenia in celiacs, it’s because of autoimmune attack on brain proteins that are similar to the proteins in the gut lining.

Why should we avoid to raise glutamate ?

I’m bipolar and agoraphobic (panic attack) a great package

By the way, did you guys looked on gluten sensitivity?
A lot of people with bipolar got celiac disease even if they don’t have clinical symptoms, because there are also the silent type too hard to diagnosed.
Basically, the gluten inhibit the absorption of nutrients to function properly.
So even the vitamins you get in your food or suplement are not well absorbed.
In the end the synthesis of gaba is alterated and inhibited.
You got the symptoms we all know.

Thanks for your post, very instructive.

Interestingly, low levels of glutamate seems to increase dopamine in the “wrong” places, while high levels of glutamate increases levels of dopamine in the profrontal cortex.

Kynurenic Acid binds to the Alpha 7 nicotinic and NMDA-receptors, which decreases the effect of glutamate and possibly causes the negative AND positive symptoms of schizophrenia…

Uhn, I’m too groggy to write right now actually, perhaps too low levels of glutamate?
I’ve written more about it here! http://subtlepangs.blogspot.com/2009/02/schizophrenia-kynurenic-acid-stress-and.html

I am going through a high dopamine phase at the moment (not excessive) but I feel “powerful” and very antisocial. At the same time I sleep extremely well for me and i’m almost groggy in the morning. I think its high GABA, high dopamine. Makes you feel a bit flat though but I tend to ramble a lot more to my partner. Glutamate really makes it hard to talk!

I’m sure it will all change around again in a week or so, lol.

Anyway.

I have to agree this winter has been harsh. I have the light on from dawn until dusk. I think my degree really helps me to keep going. If I remained at home all the time I would become depressed very quickly – I suffer really badly from withdrawal after exam periods. Don’t worry about the emails! : D

Goat milk used to help me clear my head in the past when I was on eggs but now it doesn’t seem to make much difference. Dropping the eggs has really made a huge difference to my health and especially to the aspie side of me so that I tolerate people pretty well.

Vit K actually makes me cramp quite badly. I broke my SAD lamp the other day but to be honest that kind of clear light is really unappealing and overstimulating!

The last time I took calcium, I had such a bad migraine, I never took it again. I get bad effects off magnesium too but not as badly as I used to. I don’t really have the sensitivity anymore (what happened? lol – I guess eating nothing but rice, chicken and goat milk has really helped). Vit D – euphoria to be honest, I know its dopamine, gives me backache too slightly. Vit E – just like MeB12 – overstimulated, ADD like action but clears brainfog.

Actually I just remembered that choline gives me a distinctly uplifiting feeling to my mood compared to b12 or folate. I can’t take too much or I get brainfog. I should try some PC/PS some day (expensive…)

I’m finding theanine very useful in helping me sleep. Although i’m still a crazy dream suffer. If I sleep the whole night, I seem quite groggy the next day. Ahh the balance at hand!

I’ll have to investigate more into coeliac over christmas. My mum (the coeliac) is very dopaminic but my dad has the glutamate/bi-polar issues.

I know all about people self-medicating with coffee. It’s probably a good idea to wean yourself off it. I get massive rebound brainfog from consuming caffeine, so I can get easily addicted to coffee to clear my head every morning.

Folate/B12 have a similar effect on the brain to caffeine. You may need them, or you may need to avoid them! It depends on your genetics.

Vinegar is not really failsafe as it’s supposed to contain amines and/or salicylates depending on what it’s made from. If you can get either malt vinegar or distilled spirit vinegar made from barley malt it is the safest. Often vinegars are made from grapes, and are a bad idea.

I personally would recommed failsafe above vinegar, as the effect of vinegar is so short lived (though I’ve managed to take off a few amine-induced headaches with it).

Heavy cream is totally failsafe and won’t do you any harm (unless you turn out to be incredibly sensitive to cow’s casein). One big improvement you can make to your diet is to avoid deli meats, game, and find a good meat supplier who doesn’t hang their meat for more than a couple of weeks. Try to buy fresh meat rather than vac-packed meat, and don’t store it in the fridge, freeze it as soon as you get home from the shop, and defrost in warm water right before eating.

When you find someone who is food chemical sensitive, it really is eerie to see their symptoms matching your own, isn’t it? It’s amazing how all the pieces will start to fit together.

Have you considered MAO in this? I think it might fit better than COMT to explain the rapid-cycling. However, you could well have the low COMT version because of your ability to experience delusions.

In my eyes, low activity COMT would cause high dopamine (delusional highs), and low adrenaline (lack of aggression), whereas high activity COMT would cause lower dopamine (lack of delusion), and higher adrenaline (anger/aggression).

Short/rapid cycling of moods makes me suspect you may have very efficient well-functioning MAO, that is able to get rid of excess dopamine, adrenaline and serotonin, but not able to prevent the moods in the first place, as GABA would.

ADD/ADHD… low dopamine certainly, and there are many, many different polymorphisms implicated that produce the same effect – transporters/receptors/production and destruction enzymes, probably including high COMT. I probably have high COMT myself, as the closest I get to delusions is feeling smug about myself! I have also been slightly paranoid my whole life, which predates the cyclothymic progression of the last few years as my GABA levels have fallen.

I’m not sure dopamine is affected hugely by carb eating or lack of it, as I was low carb for years without being failsafe, and I still had awful ADD, though my mood levelled out a lot and I did feel happier. Only on failsafe was I finally able to focus my brain, however I still have huge problems getting my dopamine up, though calcium does seem to help. ADD/ADHD sufferers have a tendency to self-medicate with cocaine and caffeine. Glad I didn’t go that route! I thank my lucky stars I have ADD combined with cyclothymia, as I would hate to lose a grip on reality.

Very interesting the interaction you describe between serotonin and dopamine. I suspect I do have low serotonin levels, as they’re also implicated in asperger’s syndrome and fit well with my paranoia/OCD symptoms.

Me: low serotonin, low dopamine, high(er) adrenaline, low GABA, massive fluctuations of glutamate.

You: ? serotonin, high dopamine, ? adrenaline, low GABA, massive fluctuations of glutamate.

I’m not surprised I get on with calcium and you get on with magnesium.

My cyclothymic relative also believes in the importance of sleep to keep her highs in check, though as she is ADHD, she never gets delusional when she’s high, just a bit rash. Low carbing has always suited her well, as it suits me. In our case, the glutamate is waaay more important than the dopamine, and I’m pretty sure the glutamate controls the dopamine.

Winter has not been great for me. In fact, I’ve not been right since late August. I totally withdrew into myself and went underground. Couldn’t communicate (hence, I still owe you emails, don’t I?). The relative with cyclothymia really brought things home for me and I’ve spent most of my energy thinking about her. Bipolar tends to be progressive, and I got very very depressed about the idea of getting even worse. At one point I actually considered going and getting myself diagnosed in case I have a really bad day and do a Sylvia Plath. LOL. What a conversation with the doctor that would be: “I have self-diagnosed Asperger’s syndrome with complicating cyclothymia and attention deficit disorder…” Somehow I think not, I’ll probably get diagnosed with Munchausen’s instead!

But I’m back to normal now. I’m not taking medication or official diagnosis off the agenda, but it’s on hold. To be honest, I think I’ve progressed to the maximum level of “how bad can this get” and levelled out. I don’t think I will ever be able to eat a normal diet again, but if I can carry on indefinitely without medication, that’s a plus. But it’s horrible watching someone you know go through what you went through at exactly the same age, but failing to make the self-preservation decisions you yourself made at the time. Good news is she’s giving ketogenic/failsafe a go and has evened out a lot – for how long, I don’t know, as she doesn’t have the same iron discipline as me.

I think the K2 might have made my introversion worse (low calcium?). It could also be the totally depressing weather and absence of sunlight this year. I’ve started drinking a LOT of goat’s milk, using a UVB light, and spend most of my time sat in front of a halogen (infrared) heater, which has made a hell of a difference to my ability to cope/socialise. I recommend a cheap halogen heater! £15 from B&Q, and you feel like you’re sat in the sun all day. I’m sure it’s helping my neurotransmitters and keeping SAD at bay, and I think the effect is BETTER than the sad light we have, which usually overstimulates me.

I wonder why magnesium gives you insomnia? What happens when you take calcium? I don’t get on with magnesium at all (feeling weird, zombie, breathing problems), but I have to use it as an antidote when I’ve drunk a lot of milk and can’t sleep because of the calcium. I hate being so sensitive that vitamins actually affect my neurotransmitters. LOL.

What do you get with vitamin D and E? I can predict, but I’m interested to hear first.

The symptoms you describe sound a lot like both glutamate and dopamine fluctuations. If I can give you a direction to go in, it would be to work on raising your GABA levels. Hard when celiac has damaged your ability to digest fat, I know!

I wonder more and more whether celiac might tie in with your problems. There seem to be a number of papers in pubmed studying possible connections between celiac and bipolar/schizophrenia. I wonder if the autoimmune condition destroys more than just gut mucosa.