Depression and Neurotransmitters
Far too often we talk with people dealing with depression, anxiety and/or insomnia. The problem may have many components including some current situational issues or past trauma. It is always good to work with different healthcare professionals, each having its particular strengths when helping people work through these issues.
We like to look at things from a biochemical point of view. By this I mean that even if you have current or past life difficulties, you won't get the help you need without a good neurotransmitter balancing program.
Some Neurotransmitter Basics
I am going to make the assumption that you know something about neurotransmitters and have heard of serotonin, dopamine, GABA and maybe even PEA. It is important to know that with current technologies, we can't measure serotonin or dopamine levels directly in the brain. Current technologies are too crude and would alter the very thing we are trying to measure. Also the gut also shares a neurotransmitter system with the brain. We can get a pretty good idea of the body's ability to maintain a healthy neurotransmitter balance by looking at the spillover from the kidneys into the urine. Again this isn't a direct measurement of the brain's neurotransmitters but it does give us important clues about the general state of key neurotransmitters in the body and that does include the brain.
Gut and Brain Neurotransmitters Linked
We really don't have to be concerned about separating the neurotransmitter levels of the gut and the brain as more and more research is showing that they are intimately linked physiologically anyway. You can't affect one without the other.
Quite often, people who describe a state of depression test low for serotonin and they feel better once they get some serotonin support. Serotonin and dopamine tend to inhibit each other so often we need to support dopamine at the same time.
Recently headline news followed the case of a celebrity who struggled with depression, drug abuse, early onset Parkinson's and finally suicide. One must wonder about the state of serotonin and dopamine in such a case.
We Have Trust NeuroScience For Decades
We tend to start any neurotransmitter imbalances with NeuroScience products. Which ones will depend on the specific case but over the year we have used a lot of Serene, Balance D, TravaCor and Adrecor (links below!) with excellent success.
Don't let depression have the last word. Work with your psychologist or psychiatrist but also get a neurotransmitter evaluation and see if some basic neurotransmitter support will make the difference for you.
