Folic acid, folinic acid and depression

Today I saw a research paper on folic acid accidently while searching for some literature on antidepressant experiment protocol in animals. The research paper [1] states that the folic acid exhibits antidepressant property through opioidergic mew and delta receptors. Delta opiod receptor agonists are reported to be potential antidepressant agents [2].

The dosage of folic acid mentioned in the clinical trials is between 500 microgram - 800 microgram per day [3].

On the basis of current data, we suggest that oral doses of both folic acid (800 µg daily) and vitamin B12 (1 mg daily) should be tried to improve treatment outcome in depression [3].

References:

[1]. Evidence for the involvement of the opioid system in the antidepressant-like effect of folic acid in the mouse forced swimming test. Behavioral Brain Research. 2009 Jun 8;200(1):122-7.
[2]. The Antidepressant - like Effects of Delta-Opioid Receptor Agonists. Molecular Interventions. June 2006, 6:162-169;doi:10.1124/mi.6.3
[3]. Treatment of depression: time to consider folic acid and vitamin B12. Journal of Psychopharmacology. January 2005 vol. 19 no. 1 59-65.

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

Effects of serotonergic neurotransmission enhancers

After the treatment with lot of nutraceuticals and drugs for the past 1.5 years, I feel that my serotonergic system is unable to buffer itself against even little variations. If I take any food/drug which has effect on serotonergic system, my serotonergic system has a profound effect thereby suppressing the dopamine and noradrenaline systems. If I don't take anything, I used to feel worthlessness and anxious indicating the relapse of depression.

The foods/nutraceuticals which produced profound effect on my serotonergic system are given below.

Food/Nutraceutical	Positive Effects	Negative Effects
Instant Oats - Morning breakfast	Less anxious but not much when I started stutter	Tiredness, stomach bloating, increased stuttering
Supradyn recharge multivitamin capsules - 1 capsules per day	Less anxious, Alertness while driving	Tiredness
GTF (Glucose tolerance factor) chromium 200 - 400 micrograms per day	Great reduction of anxiety, music is enjoyable, can do tasks if already programmed like a robot	Tiredness, unable to focus or concentrate on a particular task (concentration dependent jobs required more time to finish), less clarity in thinking, mental cloudiness, unable to pursue reward oriented tasks even though the reward is known already, confusion in decision making

I feel that the enhanced serotonergic system suppresses the dopamine and noradrenaline systems thereby affecting my focus, concentration and reward circuitary. But I feel that the combination of Supradyn recharge and GTF chromium is very much suitable for reduction of stuttering and reducing anxiety. However, to increase the focus, attention and reward seeking behaviour, either vitamin C (500mg-1g/day) or DL-phenylalanine can be added.

Effect of Supradyn recharge + GTF Chromium + Liv 52

For the past few days, I am taking Supradyn recharge (a multivitamin capsules) + GTF Chromium 200 micrograms (Glucose tolerance factor) + Liv. 52 (Himalaya)

Supradyn Recharge	1 capsule in morning after breakfast
GTF Chromium  200 microgram	1 capsule in morning after breakfast
Liv. 52	2 tablets in morning after food 2 tablets in night after food

Positive effects	Negative effects
No negative thoughts, sense of well being	Slight confusion in doing things
Less anxiety (Palpitations are less pronounced)	No improved concentration and focusing
Less stuttering and more fluent speech	No improvement in self-motivation
Increased libido	No improved energy, unable to get up from sleep

Less sweating, less stuttering and increased loudness of voice with moisturizing cream

Yesterday night, I applied POND"S cold cream on my face and neck before i went to bed. I slept like that and I didn't wipe the cream. Today morning I got up and felt somewhat refreshed. My voice today is louder and I stutter less. The most important thing is my immunity againt perfumes. I applied nivea deodarant spray today morning. Earlier, whenever I use certain perfumes, soaps, shower gels and talcum powders, I used to get either headcahe or worsened stuttering. Today, I am not getting any of that kind. It looks like a miracle that my stuttering is less today. Also, I sweat less today. When I was taking multivitamin capsules, 5-HTP, DL-phenylalaline and other supplements, I used to sweat profusely. I observed really a floody sweating (my handkerchief was fully wet and smelled like fungus in the evening) last week even though the climate was normal and I was not having any pronounced anxiety, when I was taking multivitamin+ginseng (Pharmaton capsules). Today also, I took mutivitamin+ginseng and expected me to sweat like flood. But, not much sweat. I sweat only normally.

Positive effects:

• Louder voice
• Less stuttering
• No effect of perfumes
• Generally good mood
• No excessive sweating - very significant effect.

Negative effects:

• None so far

Discussion:

• It could be the effect of the moisturizing cream on the sinus cavities below the face. By an unknown mechanism, the sinus cavities produced more resonance to the voice thereby increasing the loudness.
• It could be the effect of moisturization (water retaining capacity). So, the throat and neck muscles might have got more water by this process and the flexibility of muscles might have got increased (reduced muscle stiffness) thereby increasing the fine vibration in speech.

Update on 2-12-2010:

• Yesterday night I applied the same Pond's cold cream but only on my face (either side of nose and forehead targeting the sinuses) and not on the neck and throat area.
• Today morning, I observed that the loudness of voice is not that much and stuttering is there to some extent.
• This indicates that the effect observed was due to the effect of cold cream on the neck and throat area.
• So, it could be either the hydrating property of the cream on the neck and throat muscles or the effect of the constituents of the cream. The cream may contain fatty substances (omega-3/omega-6/omega-9, saturated fat etc.,)

Update on 7 June 2012:

• Apart from my stuttering, I used to have other kind of voice problems like hoarseness of voice, cannot speak louder, reduced range and breathy voice, gasping for breath while speaking, unable to complete the words and no audible sound while trying to say some words. Sometimes, I felt air leaking into my throat while inhaling through nose. I remember these issues started appearing from 2000 year onward only. Before that I used to have stuttering only.
• I think these issues compounded my vocal problems and caused me heightened persistent anxiety and depression.
• All these issues may stem from a possible structural anomaly of vocal card or may be due to the presence of nodules or polyps in the vocal card. These extra grown tissues might be causing improper closing and opening of vocal cards and thus causing all these problems. I need to check with a otorhinolaryngologist for anything like that.
• These extra grown tissues may undergo inflammation and swell due to stress. Also, the inflammation may get relieved by some medicines. I think the Pond's cold cream might have reduced the inflammation in this manner. I need to explore this concept further.

Update on June 2016:

• I had checked with a ENT specialist and he did a live camera scan of my throat and vocal cards. He said there is no structural abnormality or polyps there. So, I need to find out reasons for hoarseness of my voice and other related symptoms.

My libido

I have observed that my libido is of two types.

First type characteristics:

• Desire to touch a female, kiss her and penetrate her.
• Flashing images of female genitals appears in mind. Imagination appears for a brief period but frequently.
• Moderate to good erection.
• I feel that this type is mediated by the serotonergic and dopaminergic neurons. Increased serotonin and dopamine levels are responsible for this effect. I have observed this effect when I took flouxetine and bupropion together. Here, the libido was not sustained. Once the drugs are stopped, no libido the next day.

Second type characteristics:

• Desire to see a particular female and be with her. Longing for her company.
• Desire to talk with her.
• Burning desire to penetrate her.
• Good erection.
• I feel that this type is mediated by oxytocin and associated increase in the testosterone effects. This type produced sustained libido with good bonding but needed more incubation time.