Effect of atorvastatin (statin) on serum cholesterol level, mood, stuttering and energy

For the last three and half months, I have been taking atorvastatin 10 mg (Lipivas). I used to take it after dinner as recommended. Overall, the effect is good in terms of total cholesterol and LDL reduction. It reduced both total cholesterol and LDL-C to 40% of its previous levels.

Negative effects:
1. Increased anxiety and low mood
2. Increased stuttering
3. Increased sleepiness
4. Lack of focus and concentration

Positive effects:
1. Slightly increased libido with more lubrication
2. Slightly more strong erections

Sometimes, I have to take tryptophan 500 mg to increase fluent speech. Also, I have to take it in the afternoon to dampen its effect next morning. When it is combined with a multivitamin tablet/capsule, the stuttering was more pronounced. Lack of sleep increased the stuttering in this set up.

Food items and their impact on neurotransmitters

Whenever I consume the following foods items, I experience the following feelings.

1. Refined sugar - increased stuttering
2. Brown sugar/Jaggery - slightly increased stuttering
3. Full cream milk powder - reduced anxiety
4. Roasted ground nut with/without skin - Reduced anxiety/slightly increased energy/Slightly reduced stuttering
5. Roasted green peas - Increased stuttering
6. Butter consumption at dinner - slightly increased energy next morning, reduced stuttering next day
7. No sugar consumption - wrinkles on nails, dry skin, easy bruisability of skin, increased vocal blocks, reduced loudness of voice, good initiation to start a work, good concentration and focus to remain in a task

Sore throat and runny nose cured - acid reflux

15 March 2018

I had a sore throat yesterday. I felt like something is cutting my throat. Also, I had running nose and felt mildly feverish. I had taken chicken (shawarma chicken+ curry cooked chicken) 3 times from day before yesterday until yesterday lunch. Also, I had taken thalisaadi vadagam tablets (1 tablet 3 times a day) from yesterday morning. Today morning, I am surprised to find no running nose and no sore throat and cutting feeling in throat. The same condition persisted until today evening indicating the curing of sore throat and runny nose. Thalisadi vadagam (syn: thaaleesaadhi vadagam) tablets is a Siddha formulation consists mainly ginger powder and long pepper.

Update on 1 Aug 2021:

Whenever I visit India, I eat spicy home cooked food. This increases acid reflux. Also, I sleep with different pillows which enhances acid reflux. This time also, it happened. I got sore throat and runny nose. I was afraid of Covid-19. I took azithromycin 500 mg once daily for six days. But, I had no fever and no body pain. Even after 3 days, the sore throat and runny nose did not decrease significantly. Also, whenever I bow down for prayer, I get cough. I consulted  a doctor. She suspected upper respiratory tract infection and asked to continue  azithromycin and prescribed cough syrup and antihistamines. I realized that the sore throat could be due to acid reflux and not due to infection. But, still, I continued the azithromycin tablet until its 6th day. I took Gaviscon gel after each meal. This helped fast curing of sore throat. This is clearly indicating that my frequent sore throat perhaps due to acid reflux and not due to infection. The treatment for acid reflux is taking proton pump inhibitors for long term. However, this may lead to dysbiosis in intestine. Hence, it is recommended to take Gaviscon gel after each meal to protect the throat from acid reflux. 

Recommendations:

1. Never eat full stomach

2. Avoid foods that can increase belching and acid reflux (oily food, onion etc)

3. Sleep with raised pillows always.

4. Do regular exercise to improve the tone of all muscles

Effects of niacin (Inositol Nicotinate)

No multivitamin was taken during the last 10 days to have washout period. I took inositol nicotinate 125 mg (500 mg tablet was broken into 4 pieces) once daily in the morning.

Positive effects:

1. Overall positive mood
2. Manageable stuttering

Negative effects:

1. Profuse sweating and feeling of increased body heat
2. Mild headache occurred after three days of dosing (probably due to vasodilation). After stopping inositol nicotinate, the headache disappeared.

Effect of modified paleo diet on insulin resistance, brain fog and stuttering

For the past few months, I have been taking the following diet and medications. It appears to clear my brain fog and increase my working memory.

Morning coffee:
Coffee with milk powder without any sugar

Breakfast:
Two eggs as omlette
or
one patty of burger chicken/beef fried with vegetable oil
1 tablet of centrum multivitamin + 25 mg of benfotiamine

Lunch:
Two chapathis or rice mixed with ghee or fried rice with fish/chicken/mutton with vegetables

Evening coffee around 8 pm:
Coffee with milk/milk powder without any sugar

Dinner:
Two chapathis or dosas made from wheat and little bit of ghee or butter followed by one apple.
If I consume protein in night, it severely affects the neurotransmitter levels and after 5 days, I got mild headache throughout the day. If i consume butter or ghee in night, it gives good mood, good focus and concentration next morning.
25 mg of benfotiamine

Positive effects:

Good stress handling capacity
Able to juggle between complex and demanding works with less perceived stress
Good focus and concentration
Slightly increased libido
Slightly reduced stuttering
Less argumentative


Negative effects:
Increased cholesterol levels in blood (increased LDL-C and total cholesterol) - Also, in the blood heamogram, increased RBC (7.56 x 10¹² /L) and heamoglobin (20/g.dL) levels were observed. The doctor suspected that some dehydration is occurring in the body. I did not tell the doctor that I had been avoiding sugar for past couple of months. Due to these effects, I had to discontinue following this diet.


Update on 24 March 2017:
Due to the hypercholesterolemic effect of modified paleo diet, I had to discontinue that although i got some benefit out of that. However, I decided to implement a lighter version of paleo diet. So, I cut down refined sugar (white sugar) fully. Earlier, I used to add white sugar to my morning and evening coffee/tea. From September 2016, I stopped adding any sugar to my tea/coffee.

Positive effects:
Slightly increased energy, focus and concentration


Negative effects:
Increased stuttering - stuttering is more characterized with vocal blocks during middle of conversation. The vocal blocks happen as a sudden inability to produce the intended syllable for 3-5 seconds. If the other person disturbs with some prompting or other words, then the fluent speech is resumed. It is highly embarrassing when it happens in middle of an argument.

I sensed that the increased stuttering may be due to increased dopamine. So I tried to decrease the dopamine by using fluoxetine 20 mg once daily at night. But, not much of use. Although fluoxetine increased mood but did not reduce stuttering. I took GTF chromium (200 mg) once daily in the morning. It reduced stuttering in the first week. But, after a week, it increased stuttering. I took 5-HTP 50 mg once and twice daily for two weeks. Not much of improvement in stuttering. All of these medications worked effectively for me in the past. So, I was curious to find out what went wrong. To my knowledge, it appears that no sugar intake for the last 6 months might have resulted in improved dopaminergic tone especially the tonic release of dopamine. So, I searched the references. To my surprise, I could find a research study supporting my hypothesis.

https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=111548 

Therefore, it appears that abstinence from sugar increases dopaminergic tone. Increased dopaminergic tone is very good to have as it can increase mood, focus, concentration and libido. Unfortunately, it increases my stuttering problem. So, I need to find ways to solve this. I assume that the increased dopaminergic tone might be causing a decrease in serotonergic and GABAergic tone. This also might be contributing to my increased stuttering. So, I may have to increase serotonin and GABA to balance the increased dopaminergic tone. I don't want to take sugar again. I have to try with folic acid and thiamine. Currently, I am taking centrum silver Men50+ multivitamins (once daily in the morning) and 50 mg 5-HTP once daily in the morning.

Update on 3 June 2017:

I am still continuing the "no white sugar" approach. Still the stuttering problem is there. The 5-HTP as usual reduced stuttering and improved fluent speech a little. Not much of fluent speech. With folic acid 1.25 mg at night, Mega-3 1 capsule at night, thiamine mononitrate 25 mg b.i.d. at night and morning and Multi B+C 1 tablet in morning, the stuttering was manageable. But, still stuttering occurs severely if protein is consumed. However, the benefits of this "no white sugar" approach is very much visible.

Benefits of avoiding white sugar:
1. Abdominal fat is selectively reduced (face fat is not reduced) and my hip size is reduced to 2 inches in 8 months time. No active exercise was done during this period.
2. Muscle strength is very much improved. I could lift 20 L water can in my office at one shot and can mount it without any noticeable discomfort. Earlier, I could not do it. Earlier, I needed to put the water can on top of the dispenser and with one more effort to place it properly. Now, I am able to fully maneuver it at one shot.
3. Better clarity in thinking and decision making
4. Increased affection towards family
5. Increased muscle flexibility with reduced muscle stiffness

Negative effects: 
1. Music is not enjoyable as before
2. Increased anger and irritability
3. Increased disagreeableness in office
4. Generally increased anxiety and displeasure - possibly due to increased stuttering


The increased stuttering is most likely be the result of increased dopaminergic tone and possibly by decreased serotonergic tone. Decreased serotonergic neurotransmission could be probably due to decreased serotonergic synthesis subsequently due to decreased transport of tryptophan into the brain. After a protein meal consumption, the individual amino acids are released from the protein and the released amino acids circulate in the plasma. All amino acids compete at the large neutral amino acid transporter through which tryptophan is also transported into the brain. Due to the competition, usually, less amount of tryptophan can only enter into the brain. Insulin, secreted as a response to increased plasma glucose levels, enhances the uptake of large neutral amino acids into skeletal muscles, thereby reducing the competition at large neutral amino acid transporter. The relative abundance of tryptophan at the large neutral amino acid transporter increases the tryptophan uptake into the brain and subsequently increased the serotonin synthesis in brain. This process happens efficiently in the presence of insulin and with more abundance of skeletal muscle mass. But, if insulin release is muted, then, this process would not be efficient. Hence, the serotonin synthesis in the brain would be less. I think this might be the reason for my increased dopaminergic tone and increased stuttering. This could be the reason for failure of fluoxetine. But, I don't know the reason for failure of 5-HTP. Because, 5-HTP should increase serotonin in serotonergic neurons and 5-HTP may not be affected by the competition at large neutral amino acid transporter. However, there can be changes in the dopamine receptor density as mentioned in the website http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-give-up-sugar-10081689.html

Like drugs, sugar spikes dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. Over the long term, regular sugar consumption actually changes the gene expression and availability of dopamine receptors in both the midbrain and frontal cortex. Specifically, sugar increases the concentration of a type of excitatory receptor called D1, but decreases another receptor type called D2, which is inhibitory. Regular sugar consumption also inhibits the action of the dopamine transporter, a protein which pumps dopamine out of the synapse and back into the neuron after firing.

Quote from Wikipedia:

It has been demonstrated in both animal^[28] and human tests^[29][30][31] that ingestion of a meal rich in carbohydrates triggers release of insulin. Insulin in turn stimulates the uptake of large neutral branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), but not tryptophan into muscle, increasing the ratio of tryptophan to BCAA in the blood stream. The resulting increased tryptophan ratio reduces competition at the large neutral amino acid transporter (which transports both BCAA and aromatic amino acids), resulting in more uptake of tryptophan across the blood–brain barrier into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).^[32][33] Once in the CSF, tryptophan is converted into serotonin in the raphe nuclei by the normal enzymatic pathway.^[28][30]

Strategies to try to increase serotonin synthesis in the brain without consuming white sugar or increased carbohydrate intake.
1. Aerobic exercise - Running or jogging - particularly in the evening
2. Consumption of infant milk formulas with high tryptophan content
3. Consumption of whole or full cream milk daily in the night or in the evening
4. Consumption of yogurt daily in the evening or night

Update on 24 July 2017:

From the above choices to increase serotonin synthesis and serotonergic neurotransmission, I selected consumption of infant milk formula. I purchased an infant milk formula from Nestle that contains Lactobacillus reuteri as a probiotic and used as a milk powder to make my tea/coffee. Also, I added palm sugar (sugar obtained from the sap collected from Palmyra palm tree) to my tea/coffee. This combination improved my mood and reduced my stuttering especially vocal blocks. I am not taking any multivitamin or any other supplements during this time. I have stopped multivitamins around three weeks before.

Positive effects:
1. Improved mood
2. Reduced anxiety - I feel calm and quiet
3. Reduced stuttering and improved loudness of voice and diction - no gasping for breath; significant reduction in vocal blocks especially starting first syllable blocks
4. Music is enjoyable as before
5. No throat clearing
6. Reduced angryness
7. While singing, the voice hits the pitch easily with good loudness in the starting syllable


Negative effects:
1. Slightly increased lethargy in initiating things
2. Reduced focus and concentration

Possible mechanism:

The palm sugar consumption might have caused enhanced tryptophan transport into the brain and resulted in increased serotonin synthesis. Likewise, Lactobacillus reuteri might have resulted in increased production of GABA. But, as this GABA cannot cross blood-brain barrier, probably other mechanisms may exist. I could sense increased GABAergic and serotonergic tone in my brain. I need to further explore on this.

Update on 18 Feb 2018:




 

Natural dopamine antagonists and stuttering

Excessive dopamine in the brain appears to be the causative factor for stuttering in me. As of now, I do not know which part of my brain has excessive dopamine. It may not be really excessive, but may be a relative high level of dopamine compared to other antagonistic neurotransmitters such as serotonin, GABA and acetyl choline in specific parts of the brain which are involved in speech production. Hence, either decreasing dopamine or increasing serotonin, GABA and acetylcholine in those specific parts of the brain may be beneficial in reducing stuttering and achieving fluency. However, as of now, it is not clear exactly in which parts of the brain of stutterers, dopamine is relatively excessive.

In my experimentation with various supplements and drugs, I have observed that the following supplements increase dopamine and worsen stuttering and other issues of speech dis fluency in me. I tried to put them in the order of their effect (descending order). The first supplement causes more stuttering than the second supplement.

Supplements that increase dopamine and increase/worsen stuttering:

1. Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) above 100 mg per day
2. Ginkgo biloba
3. Zinc above 6 mg per day
4. Ginseng
5. Vitamin B6 above 6 mg per day
6. Coffee


Supplements that decrease dopamine and reduce stuttering: I tried to put them in the order of their effect (descending order). The first supplement causes maximum reduction of stuttering than the second supplement.

1. Ashwagandha (250 mg extract two times a day; one in morning and one in evening; can feel the effect after 2-3 doses; but it decreases serotonin also; hence, I get negative thoughts)
2. Vitamin C instant release above 250 mg per dose (100 mg taken at night gives better effect next morning)
3. Butter (taken at night gives better effect next morning)