Posted by Shawn. T. on July 21, 2002, at 18:57:21
In reply to Re: Information overload on depression, bipolar, etc., posted by cybercafe on July 21, 2002, at 1:29:47
Fish oil helps to prevent mania. It is a mood stabilizer. It shares a common mechanism of efficacious action with lithium and sodium valproate (decreases the activity of protein kinase C, PKC). I have stated that these drugs increase the activity of PKC. They actually decrease PKC activation in chronic doses. Too much PKC activity makes postsynaptic neurons
send extra signals to presynaptic neurons (using nitric oxide according to many researchers). This enhances neurotransmitter release from the presynaptic neuron. So you become manic. I have heard that Paxil negatively affects nitric oxide, so that would help explain why it makes you numb and forgetful.B vitamins increase the absorption of magnesium, which has been shown to help children with ADHD. Some are very involved with magnesium.
"Since magnesium has so many different actions in the body, the exact reasons for some of its clinical effects are difficult to determine. For example, magnesium has reduced hyperactivity in children in preliminary research. Other research suggests that some children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have lowered levels of magnesium. In a preliminary but controlled trial, 50 ADHD children with low magnesium (as determined by red blood cell, hair, and serum levels of magnesium) were given 200 mg of magnesium per day for six months. Compared with 25 other magnesium-deficient ADHD children, those given magnesium supplementation had a significant decrease in hyperactive behavior."
http://www.gnc.com/health_notes/Supp/Magnesium.htm
Note that magnesium is needed to form ATP, which is important in intracellular processes. It also serves to block calcium channels (NMDA channels specifically). That means it is implied in preventing overactivity in the brain. A lack of magnesium probably leads to long term potentiation (LTP) between neurons that should not have their connections strenthened. Lack of magnesium also leads to increased nitric oxide release, which leads to increased neurotransmitter release. That also explains why my multivitamin only includes 25% of the RDA of magnesium. Using some reductionist tactics when trying to understand some of these mental health disorders helps a lot. I'd like to get everything squarely reduced to the level of genetics and gene expression. That's the big goal. Understanding consciousness definitely requires some reductionism; I think everything just might. Understanding brain function on a macro level usually isn't very helpful to me. I hope all of this makes sense; you can't exactly put this stuff in layman's terms. Perhaps someday portions of this will be taught in high schools. I'll probably try to right a top down explanation of major depression and bipolar disorder today or tomorrow. Sometimes I wonder if Keith at biopsychiatry.com or myself reads more abstracts everyday. He's really went crazy after I gave him a link to an abstract that really showed the LHPA axis link to depression. I am really beginning to get a much clearer view of the big picture. I'll definitely be able to better recommend treatments once I get a few more answers.
http://biopsychiatry.com/omega3.htm
Shawn
poster:Shawn. T.
thread:112842
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020718/msgs/113190.html