Posted by janejane on January 2, 2010, at 21:19:24
In reply to What if I just don't have neurotransmitters?, posted by inanimate peanut on January 2, 2010, at 20:24:48
Amino acids like tryptophan, tyrosine, phenylalanine, etc. are the substances that our bodies use to make the neurotransmitters we think of as being implicated in depression (serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, etc). (Note that there are some people who don't believe neurotransmitter deficiency is responsible for depression, though.) You get aminos from food, especially proteins. For some people, supplementation (there are strategies for this) seems to relieve their depression. I couldn't really get it work consistently myself.
As for your worry about not having enough neurotransmitters... one study showed that a low tryptophan diet can cause depression. (Interesting, isn't it?) So yes, it seems like it's possible to not have enough. This might happen if you don't eat enough protein. Drugs often work by recycling the neurotransmitters you do have, but it's probably also helpful if your body has the building blocks to create them in the first place. It's also important that you get enough other nutrients that your body needs for the conversion of the precursors. For example, these would include some of the B vitamins. It's all a bit too complicated for me to explain well (I barely grasp it myself), but there's a lot of good info out there about it. Again I will mention the Ross book as one source. There's a lot of stuff in the archives here, too.
poster:janejane
thread:932194
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091227/msgs/932207.html