Posted by PamS on April 28, 2008, at 19:57:40
Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone has heard of Zenbev for increasing serotonin levels naturally. Apparently, it is natural Tryptophan derived from pumpkin seeds developed by Dr. Hudson, a psychiatrist in Ontario, Canada.
I am trying to decide between L-Tryptophan supplements or this Zenbev (which is quite pricey). Dr. Hudson states that Zenbev does not cause sedation, unlike L-Tryptophan, if taken during the day when melatonin is not circulating. He states that synthetic L-Tryptophan you buy in the capsules overrides the natural body chemistry producing too much serotonin which is what causes it to be more sedating than the natural Trytophan from his Zenbev product. He states that while using Zenbev, your body only uses what it needs as opposed to synthetic L-Tryptophan. This confuses me as I thought Trytpophan is Tryptophan. Wouldn't your body metabolize it the same?
Also, I would like to add that I have a pretty severe case of panic disorder which has been under control with Clonazepam for the past 12 years, although I still feel anxiety lurking in the background. I tried numerous natural products for an entire year before going on Clonazepam 12 years ago, and nothing worked, but I see there are some natural products out now that I did not know existed at that time.
I am looking for something natural so that I can slowly lower my Clonazepam dose back down to my maintenance dose of 2 mgs daily (I'm now on 2.5 mgs per day - 1.25 mgs b.i.d). I'm not sure if serotonin is an issue with me, but assuming that doctors like to prescribe SSRIs for panic disorder (which I cannot tolerate nor care to take due to nasty side effects), I thought a natural serotonin raising supplement would give the same outcome, minus the nasty side effects.
I've also heard about Niacinamide in higher doses being good for anxiety; however, I'm not sure if it would be good for panic attacks because I've heard that it only binds to GABA receptors A(1), similar to Valium, which does not have any anti-panic properties. A Chemist along with my prescribing doctor explained to me that Clonazepam and Xanax are the only two benzos that have anti-panic properties as they have a higher affinity towards GABA receptors A(2) and A(3) which are the anti-panic sites. Other benzos such as Valium and Lorazepam don't even touch my panic disorder, so I'm not sure if Niacinamide would work for panic or not as it only binds to GABA A(1), which is a sedation site mainly for nervous tension, so I was told. Anybody have experience with this?
My other concern with Niacinamide or L-Taurine to increase GABA production is that if I decide to use these during my slow wean from Clonazepam, will my brain still have a chance to produce GABA on it's own? I understand that the idea of a slow wean is to allow your brain time to create it's own GABA, but if there is something there acting similar to a benzodiazepine, is your brain still able to do this?
I would love to hear from anybody who has had any experience with this, and/or any advice on Zenbev as opposed to L-Tryptophan.
Thanks,
Pam
poster:PamS
thread:826129
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20080326/msgs/826129.html