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Why is GABA Making My Anxiety Worse?

Posted By Gratitude (Northeast, Usa) on 04/12/2016

Horrible anxiety, fear, panic attacks, heart racing, inner shaking feeling...all for years but got much much worse about 2 yrs ago after a traumatic incident. Since then like stuck in a ptsd loop. Attacks happening all day long, at night, can't sleep, wake up with heart racing etc.

Above along with severe breathing problem dx, depression, low body temperature, constant post nasal drip, seb derm rash, adrenals are wiped out, chemical sensitivities, Multiple food allergies, thyroid problems (improved with iodine and cosupps), horrible digestion = guessing from looks and symptoms is SIBO (made much worse last year from probiotics), probably candida too. All began 8 yrs ago after antibiotic, and most likely c diff which nearly killed me.

Have tried so much in all this time (natural, herbs, supps, gluten free, dairy free, mostly soy free, try mostly vegetables, meats, stevia. Been on low fodmaps dieat since last summer with stuff to help sibo but....... But now with the anxiety/fear/panic/feeling like will die in 5 min....is incapacitating me completely. Cant' leave house. Hydrogen peroxide for breathing, oregano oil, peppermint oil, betaine hcl, digestive enzymes, andrenal tincture, ashwaghanda, msm before the sibo got worse now I cant, pau d arco, iodine/selenium with cosupps.

L-theanine and hawthorn have been helping but not solving problem. Tried gaba powder (1/4 tsp which is 500 mg which is the recommended dose on package). About 15-20 min later tingling in arms, cold feeling in all torso, breathing constriction for a min or two, and anxiety off the charts! This has happened the 3 times I've treid it. Is the dose too high for me?? Should I try like 1/3 or 1/2 the dose? I don't understand why something that is suppose to help anxiety is causing such a bad reaction with me?

Also read that certain probiotic is probably missing from my gut....but I've had bad experience with them cause of the sibo so now trying primadophilus for kids which has only lactobacillus rhamnosus, bifidobacterium longum, lactobacillus acidophilus. Would this be ok? Terrible reaction to a soup recently that had innulin (sp?) which made sibo worse again.

Sorry for the length of this. I'm just at the end of my rope and coping skills are gone. If anyone recommends anything, please keep it cheap since in bad way financially. I can't focus on my breathing issues cause of all this other. And just began serrapeptase a week ago which is going fairly well....up to 140,000spu daily. How much should daily? Thank you.

Replied by Timh (Ky) on 04/14/2016

One possible problem which would need addressing is the dirty colon and/or leaky gut. A whole slew of bad symptoms can arise in this case scenario. Your taking lots of good supplements w/ minimal results and the negative with GABA suggest this.

To clean the colon, in a simple manner, double the oregano (i like oil of oregano softgels) and take with a spoon of Milled Flax Seed once daily. Aloe Vera is also indicated as it both cleans & heals affected tissue.

For the anxiety, try some relaxing music, especially binaural or isochronic tones to force a GABA-like effect in the brain. YouTube has many good healing harmonics free for the listening and many have options for purchasing if you find a certain tract that helps.

Magnesium is very good first choose for your symptoms. Foot Baths of Epsom Salts or Magnesium Chloride Spray or rubbed onto skin would be preferred over oral tablets until you are sure on a healed gut.

Lastly, try an Homeopathic Calm Formula, which again, needs no digestive function and gets into the bloodstream where it belongs.

Replied by Jan (California) on 04/14/2016

You sound as bad as I got in my early 20's. I was in your state of mind then and I was eating loads of chili and my main problem was stomach acid that wasn't helping my anxiety problem. I stopped eating chili for awhile and that helped. Antacids helped me as well as baking soda in water. Strong coffee will cause stomach acid. Also I stopped watching the news and stopped reading newspapers. This will depress a person. What helped my mind was reading childhood books that made me feel good. (I'm not joking) and watching childhood programs that put me in a good state of mind as my childhood was very nice. Stop viewing depressing news or films until you get better! You need to improve your state of mind. At this time stay away from acidity foods. I hope you get better! I did and I was near total mental collapse.

Replied by Gratitude (Northeast, Usa) on 04/15/2016

Timh, Sorry it's hard to remember/write all that I take when feelinglike this. Yes, I try to take 500 mg of magnesium a day and feeel worse if I don't take it a day or two. ES baths and borax baths too. I will try the flax but hope it doesn't constipate me (am fine as long as I take the magnesium usually). Will also try your other recommendations. Like you say, probably leaky gut as I can't tolerate sio many things. I've never understood though....to treat candida first then leaky gut or both at same time? And much of what to take for leaky gut is said to not be taken for sibo. The anxicty is so bad it's interfereing with my thought process.

Jan, you're right. I havne't watched the news in years (shameful but I just can't handle it). I do still have one small cup of coffee a day (6 oz), herbal tea, clean water, lemon water. I was taking baking soda and haven't been so thank you for the reminder; can only take it at night cause my digestion is so poor. I try to watch old family shows like andy griffith, and try to stay positive but the anxiety/fear is getting the better of me...all day long, nights, is just wearing me down so bad. But it's good to hear you got over yours and give me hope.

Thank you Timh and Jan so very much!!

Replied by Timh (Ky) on 04/16/2016

G: OMG so much stress from the modern lifestyle, and it comes from several different sources.

About the Milled Flax Seed, it not only will not constipate but is one of the best mild laxatives in the herb category; quite effective yet gentle.

It's so difficult to be specific in so many cases including this one as there is a general decline of health with a variety of symptoms. In my personal battles w/ severe health challenges, no matter how much intervention I did and still not getting better; until I did an effective gallbladder cleanse, parasite cleans, and colon cleanse, then I got back on my feet again. All three of these remedies are necessary for the flow of fluids, nutrition, blood, etc.

More general thoughts, take as much time educating yourself as possible, take notes and carefully monitor what works and what doesn't (as you already are doing to some degree). Because many cases of healing are so elusive it is necessary to broaden treatments and rotate.

Improving indoor air quality is a very overlooked cause of degenerative illnesses as breathing unclean air hrs-on-end, depletes Glutathione in the body. Be sure to take Selenium, Broad Spectrim Vit-E, and 3mg Melatonin (at bedtime) to improve GTH levels.

Lipospheric Vit-C + MSM, Colloidal Silver, and Zapping are must items for recovery of degenerative conditions.

Let us know what's working for you.

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