Depressed & Super-low in Amino Acids - Page 2

[Gale Force]

Hi all. It’s been a year and I thought I should give a quick update.

I took the full doses of the supplements from February of 2004 through September. At that point, I began to cut back gradually to half. By November I was on half doses and did not notice a difference. By the beginning of December I went to ¼ doses and was off by Christmas. I didn’t tell my family about the weaning until around the new year – they would have panicked. Since then, I have felt better than I have ever felt. My energy has remained fairly consistently high. I tend to have super high-energy times – those are longer. The down times in between are shorter.

In the past year I have stayed on the diet focusing on nutrient rich foods, based on the Weston Price school.

And happy birthday to me once again. LOL. 36 tomorrow.

I have made Sally Fallon's "Orange Cake" recipe -- a pound cake but with soaked flour, so more of a sourdough cake. Once cooled it gets covered in a sauce of honey, orange juice, lemon juice, and brandy. It's now stewing and will be ready to taste tomorrow. We rarely get grains around here, so this is a huge treat.

[Gale Force]

Hey everybody. It's been over 18 months now and I'm still supplementing and still working on some other deficiencies. While the work continues, at least I can be a productive member of the household again.

I was reading a book by Sherry Rogers "Depression: Cured at Last" and she talks about the importance of working on other deficiencies first and then addressing amino acids after the others are fixed. Basically, it's usually more underlying deficiencies that cause your body not to absorb the amino acids. In general, this is all complicated stuff, but I figure I'll come out of the end of all of this a much healthier person. It takes these crises to get the priorities all worked out.

And I noticed in one of the posts here I said that I was planning on writing two books. I can't remember what those books were going to be, but I am working on a book now and trying to juggle our house and my job. I am trying to do it all in a more reasonable fashion and allow myself time off if I need it or I allow myself to work on my book when I should be doing something else. The writing has been therapeutic.

[Pepper]

Thanks so much for the updates, Amanda. I'm so happy that you are feeling better. Thanks also for sharing your story. I'm 4 months post-partum and have been dealing with ppd for the past 8 weeks or so....I'm looking at all angles to help.

[Gale Force]

It's now been two years.

Happy birthday to me again tomorrow.



I'm still supplementing and still chasing a magnesium deficiency. There's nothing about any of this that's easy, but my mental clarity is better than it has ever been.

I had a follow-up amino test a few months ago and was surprised at how low my results were after nearly two years. My supplementation has been spotty at times, but still. My chiropractor says she has seen that in people who start out as low as me. Blood levels stay pretty low because the aminos in your food and supplement get scooped up immediately by your body. I'll report back should my test ever turn into anything approaching normal.

Amanda

[JaneS]

:

I thought of you when I was just reading how enzymes are useful for splitting proteins from peptides into amino acids. The proteases specifically.

So perhaps there is still a glitch there, that your food is not being utilized correctly.

[Pookietooth]

Happy Birthday, Amanda! My ds's birthday was just a couple of days before yours!

I wondered about the whole amino acid thing -- not that w could afford the test anyway -- just felt like it was one piece of a whole puzzle. A huge puzzle!

[Gale Force]

Hi ladies! I missed your posts earlier. I missed Jane's because I was busy eating a very fine piece of chocolate cake. I may still be in recovery. :

Interesting info Jane. I've got some enzymes in my hydrochloric acid, I'll have to look into that a bit more.

I hear you Jen on the cost. It is out of control what all of this stuff costs.

[DarkHorseMama]

: Hmmm, interesting thread. Thanks for bumping GF. Definitely something to look into there.

[JaneS]

I thought I remembered something specifically about this so I went back and checked...

To paraphrase Karen DeFelice's book, proteins are constructed of amino acids in chains:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Enzymes split them up so the body can utilize them:

a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a

So it makes sense if a gut is damaged and not producing adequate enzymes, the amino acids are not being absorbed in their proper amounts.

This was one explanation for the "Happy Child/Happy Adult" effect that appearing when her enzyme group saw when starting an all around enzyme plus a high protease enzyme with all meals and snacks.

Proteases are strong, go slow, they make me and DS hyper. And I still don't know what that's all about.

[JaneS]

I keep seeing references to amino acids...

Low levels of hydrochloric acid have an adverse impact on the availability of dietary amino acids, even in a higher protein diet, so stimulating the pancreas using lacto-fermented foods is crucial.

http://www.westonaprice.org/envtoxins/mercury.html

[Gale Force]

The plasma amino acid test at Doctor's Data is another option for people:

Plasma amino acids test

[JaneS]

[BeingMe]

Just found this thread and wondering how you are doing?

[JaneS]

Check her blog, good reports so far but no baby yet...