Posted by Tooooja on August 10, 2004, at 5:19:35
Hi guys,
You may remember about a month ago I posted on here with some questions about whey protein and how it helped with depression. I found it to be really usefull and the best thing I've tried so far for smoothing out my moods and calming my mind down, i even found myself spontaneously bursting into laughter at people when they were behaving like arse holes, where previously these things would help me sink. After taking the whey daily for little over a month I noticed my skin starting to dry out, my nose began running and i got a tickleish/sore throat. So I posted on here to see if anyone knew what was likely to be causing these effects - thanks to everyone who posted back by the way.
It was suggested that it may be some kind of allergy to the whey, it being dairy and all and that being a major source of allergies. So to test this out I bought and tried some Soya protein, and to my surprise the soya protein also helped with my mood, the effect wasn't as noticeable as with the whey, but it definately was pushing in the same direction. Unfortunately the same is true of the dry skin effect which after several days on soya also began to reappear!!
I had read previously that it is the tryptophan component of the whey and soya proteins that give the mood lifting effects, I eventually managed to track a seller down on the web. It's almost impossible to get here in the uk. I took 500mg the first night about an hour before I went to bed. It definately had an effect, and it wasnt such a nice one, I can only describe the sensation I had, when going off to sleep that night - like I was falling off a cliff. The pull of sleep was so great that it really felt like that, not that i was gently drifting off to sleep but being sucked into it. I tried it again the next night, and had the same result, so I began trying it in the morning instead. The effect it had on my mood though was not dramatic, maybe a slight improvement, but nothing like the whey protein had, so it can't be the tryptophan that's having the positive effect on me.
After some more reading around I found another possible source of the effects in whey - L-Glutamine. This is another amino acid and is converted into an excitory neurotransmitter - Glutamic Acid, and an inhibitory neurotransmitter - GABA. I got some from my local health shop, tried it out and had a very positive result. The effects off this are very close to what I was noticeing from taking the whey, a nice calm mellow mood with a sharp focus, and a fast memory. Alas this also dries my skin out, and gives me the tickleish/sore throat.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to why this may be so??
I have read that excessive protein and amino acids increases the nitrogen levels in your blood, making it more acidic. Your body tries to maintain a ph balance by leeching calcium from your bones to neutralise the acidic blood. Could the increase in plasma calcium levels cause this dry skin effect?? Or is it due to an overly acidic blood ph??
Any ideas gratefully received.
poster:Tooooja
thread:375897
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040718/msgs/375897.html