Effects of beef eating

 I cooked Indian beef and eat daily at lunch and dinner for 4 days.

Positive effects:

1. Increased focus and concentration

2. Increased ability to think deeper and take action

Negative effects:

1. Feeling cold - unable to tolerate cold

2. mildy increased stuttering

Effects of Ashwagandha

I took ashwagandha tablet (Himalaya) containing 250 mg of Ashwagandha extract in the night after dinner. After few doses, it appeared to have reduced serotonin and dopamine as evidenced by lowered the mood, motivation and initiative. It appeared to have GABA mimicking effect. However, it was stimulatory and did not give me deep sleep. The next day I was not able to focus and concentrate on work. Also, I felt short of breath. While I was climbing stairs and walking uphill, I felt short of breath. However, while speaking, not much of shortness of breath was observed. I could start the sentence easily and maintain the conversation which was slow. An interesting improvement was observed. If one night's dose was skipped, the speech was more fluent and no shortness of breath next day. It appears that GABA inhibits dopamine and serotonin and ashwagandha enhances GABA tone. 

My view on atypical depression

Since I am suffering with atypical depression, I just analysed the mechanism of neurotransmission probably responsible for the observed symptoms like hypersomnia, hyperphagia and leaden paralysis.

The serotonergic neurotransmission may be normal in some areas of the brain (may be ascending 5-HT neurotransmission) and low in some parts of the brain (may be descending 5-HT neurotransmission which may be from prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex).

Noradrenergic neurotransmission may be normal (if the person is not having trait anxiety) or may be excessive (if the person is having trait anxiety).

Dopamine neurotransmission may be significantly impaired (both D1 and D2 type).

I feel it is the serotonin to dopamine ratio which is critical in some areas of the brain which is responsible for the observed symptoms.

High serotonin and low dopamine condition (improper ratio) might be leading to hypersomnia. Actually hypersomnia is not a condition of motivated willingness to remain in sleep. Rather it is a condition of unable to motivate oneself from getting up from the bed. So, I feel it is a condition of high serotonin and low dopamine. Because, when the sleep is not refreshing much, nobody will be willing to remain in bed for long period of time. It is the low dopaminergic neurotransmission which might be accountable for this.

The same high serotonin to low dopamine ratio would also be responsible for the hyperphagia. Because, serotonergic drugs induce carbohydrate cravings. So, increased serotonin levels would be leading to carbohydrate cravings thus leading to more food intake and weight gain.

The same high serotonin to low dopamine level would also be responsible for the fatigue, tiredness and heaviness in the legs. I suspect a low dopaminergic neurotransmission in basal ganglia.

Phobias, panic attacks and chromium

Today I had a shock given by a cat. It is a open restaurant located in a hilly area. Cats are roaming around that area and they survive on the waste food from the restaurant. The cats are freely roaming inside the restaurant. I always have an inhibition to touch an animal and if an animal touches me, I used to have hypersensitivity. I was eating fast and i heard a miaw sound from below the table. I saw a cat between my legs and looking at me making the sounds. Last week, I had a big shock. That event came to my mind and immediately my anxiety became very high and I could not sit at that place. I got up and moved away. Last week, at the same restaurant, a cat was below my table and made the sound. With some sounds I was chasing a away the cat. The cat was reluctant to go away. Then another big cat came. These two cats touched their noses and made a different kind of sound. Suddenly they started fighting vigorously and they both entered into my leg area which made me to have heightened hypersensitivity and panic. I started screaming. The people at the surrounding table looked at me strangely at my sounds and actions. Since cats are harmless in general, they might have thought that I was doing something unusual.

So, this incident came to my mind today and I became restless and I could not continue sitting there.

Similar incidents happened to me with stray dogs.

These kind of heightened sensitivity and panicking seems to be related with increased noradrenaline, adrenaline levels as well as low serotonin and GABA levels. The shock reaction was persistent for some time today. It subsided after I took GTF chromium 200 microgram.

GTF chromium seems to increase serotonergic neurotransmission.

Stomach bloating - causes and cures

For the past few weeks, I stopped taking any non vegetarian foods except eggs. During the last week, my stomach bloated (increased in circumference ~ 2-4 inches) made me unable to put on my pants. My belly bulged like a pregnant woman gave me heavy embarassment. Then one day, at lunch and dinner I took two drum stick pieces of chicken. The next day morning, my stomach bloating went away and I was able to put on the same pant without much difficulty. I am suprised to know that my stomach is the root cause of many problems.

I realized that I have stomach bloating when I was 24 years old. I used to have stomach bloating almost throughout the day. But I used to defecate every morning mostly after taking milk tea. No constipation. After defecation, my stomach bloating used to decrease. After taking the breakfast, it used to increase slowly reaching the maximum after lunch, bulging out visibly. In the evenig after taking tea, I used to fart loudly and continuously. The gases in my colon made me to fart loudly. If I didn't fart loudly, I used to feel incompleteness.

From the scientific literature, I understand that, gas formation is responsible for the stomach bloating. However, more than gas formation, it is the hypersensitivity of the intestinal tract to the formed gas matters most. This type of behavior was observed in crohn's patients. So, I checked for symptoms of the Crohn's disease. I never used to have stomach or abdominal pain or constipation. So, I may not have Crohn's disease. I thought I may have inflammatory bowel disease (IBS). So, I checked for IBS symptoms. The Rome III criteria states that abdominal pain or abdominal discomfort is the main symptom and it should be relieved by defecation. I never used to have abdominal pain or discomfort. I used to have only stomach bloating.

Serotonin, dopamine and stomach bloating

I used to feel increased stomach bloating when I used to take serotonergic enhancing formulas like 5-HTP, Magnesium amd chromium. I have to check the effect of fluoxetine on this. When I was taking bupropion, my stomach bloating decreased very much and also farting. No loud farts I did. These observations suggest that my intestinal tract is deficient in dopamine and have relative abundance of serotonin. Improper  serotonin/dopamine ratio exists in my intestinal tract. So, the serotonin produces its maximum effect. Without enough dopamine, my intestinal tract bloats. The fried chicken that I took, might have enhanced the dopamine levels in the intestinal tract thus reducing stomach bloating.

It is also mentioned in the below reference that the abnormal sensitivity of the stomach muscle wall in response to the expansion of intestinal tract may also contribute to stomach bloating.

Suggestions to cure stomach bloating

• Ensure regular consumption of foods that increase dopamine neurotransmission
• Do exercises to strengthen the stomach muscles so that their hypersensitivity can be blunted.
• Consume curd/yoghurt with bacterial cultures such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus (probiotic preparations)  

Reference and for more information, please visit:
http://www.med.unc.edu/medicine/fgidc/abdominalbloating.pdf