Over the last 6 years, I've been diagnosed with : GAD, dysthymia and ADHD (I wasn't told which subtype though).
Last year, through very difficult life events, I met with the same psychiatrist whom 5 years ago had made the initial ADHD diagnosis - this time, he removed this diagnosis after I told him I'd been completing a bachelor degree in nursing science and had tried Adderall XR to no avail - actually it made me even more anxious and the OCPD worse off. He replaced the former ADHD Dx by that of OCPD (there's no doubt I have OCPD) and possibly GAD as well. Like many here already know, psychiatric Dx tend to overlap to a significant extent.
The above was just to give a brief yet complete wrap-up of my situation.
Green tea has been of significant help : I've tried a LOT of high-end Japanese green tea and the one I've found to be of most benefit to me is Kebusecha Takamodo - Matcha is a close second and some sencha teas also do a good job.
The main reason I post about this is to find out whether I might have missed some key information about green tea catechins, mainly EGCG. I'm somewhat confused about how EGCG imparts it's benefits - through searching these forums, I've found out about EGCG's anxiolytic action, YET it is also a COMT inhibitor. Some report decreased anxiety from GTE, while others find their anxiety to be significantly increased - how could we reconcile these discrepancies ? What I've found through searching Longecity's supplement forum (in no particular order) :
Neurosci Lett. 2010 Jul 1. [Epub ahead of print]
(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG) reverses caffeine-induced anxiogenic-like effects.
This study was designed to determine whether (-)-epigallocatethin-3-O-gallate (EGCG) could reverse caffeine-induced anxiogenic-like effects in animals. In mice, EGCG antagonized the caffeine-induced reduction in both the open arm entry number and time-spent in open arm on elevated plus-maze. In addition, EGCG also antagonized the caffeine-induced reduction in both the central zone distance and central zone time-spent on an open field apparatus, respectively. Electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from the rat anterior cerebral cortex. Caffeine increased the power density-ratios of fast (FW: 8.00-20.00Hz) and slow (SW: 0.75-8.00Hz) frequency spectrum bands in these EEG recordings. However, EGCG reduced the caffeine-induced increase of FW/SW ratios. Thus, EGCG reverses caffeine-induced anxiogenic-like effects. We also provide additional evidence that the EEG FW/SW (or SW/FW) ratios can be a useful tool for the prediction of anxiogenic and/or anxiolytic effects in an animal model. Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
(-)-Epigallocatechin gallate attenuates acute stress responses through GABAergic system in the brain.
(-)-Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a flavonoid, is the principal catechin found in green tea and is distributed in the brain after tea consumption. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of EGCG in the chick brain under an acute stressful condition and to clarify the mechanism by which EGCG attenuates stress behavior with special reference to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of EGCG (50, 100 and 200 microg) suppressed the vocalization which normally occurs during social separation stress. EGCG decreased the time spent in active wakefulness and induced sleep-like behavior in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, i.c.v. injection of EGCG attenuated plasma corticosterone release under social separation stress. These effects of EGCG on distress-induced vocalization were significantly attenuated by the GABAA receptor antagonist picrotoxin but not by the GABAB receptor antagonist CGP 54626 (3-N-(1-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)ethylamino)-2-hydroxypropyl cyclohexylmethyl phosphinic acid hydrochloride). These results indicate that EGCG has sedative and hypnotic effects in the brain, partially through GABAA receptors, and consequently moderates an acute stress response.
PMID: 16457806
Anxiolytic properties of green tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG).
Naturally occurring polyphenols are potent antioxidants. Some of these compounds are also ligands for the GABA(A) receptor benzodiazepine site. This feature endows them with sedative properties. Here, the anxiolytic activity of the green tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) was investigated after acute administration in mice, using behavioral tests (elevated plus-maze and passive avoidance tests) and by electrophysiology on cultured hippocampal neurons. Patch-clamp experiments revealed that EGCG (1-10 muM) had no effect on GABA currents. However, EGCG reversed GABA(A) receptor negative modulator methyl beta-carboline-3-carboxylate (beta-CCM) inhibition on GABA currents in a concentration dependent manner. This was also observed at the level of synaptic GABA(A) receptors by recording spontaneous inhibitory synaptic transmission. In addition, EGCG consistently inhibited spontaneous excitatory synaptic transmission. Behavioral tests indicated that EGCG exerted both anxiolytic and amnesic effects just like the benzodiazepine drug, chlordiazepoxide. Indeed, EGCG in a dose-dependent manner both increased the time spent in open arms of the plus-maze and decreased the step-down latency in the passive avoidance test. GABA(A) negative modulator beta-CCM antagonized EGCG-induced amnesia. Finally, state-dependent learning was observable after chlordiazepoxide and EGCG administration using a modified passive avoidance procedure. Optimal retention was observed only when animals were trained and tested in the same state (veh-veh or drug-drug) and significant retrieval alteration was observed in different states (veh-drug or drug-veh). Moreover, EGCG and chlordiazepoxide fully generalized in substitution studies, indicating that they induced indistinguishable chemical states for the brain. Therefore, our data support that EGCG can induce anxiolytic activity which could result from an interaction with GABA(A) receptors.
PMID: 16859659
I experienced significant anxiety when I first went on LEF's decaffeinated GTE, but my erectile function also benefited a good deal and so did my libido to an extent. Then I tried AOR's GTE : I experience less anxiety on this one - mood and sexual functioning improve while on it. Because of the OCPD Dx, which is anxiety based disorder (even though it is not a psychiatric Dx per se since it is classified as a personality disorder) I would think that EGCG's benefits to my condition are mostly through it's anxiolytic property, but then it is also a COMT inhibitor and this is exactly where I get sort of confused, since there's a significant anxiety component to my situation. From the top of my head I seem to recall reading norepinephrine may be anxiolytic to an extent under certain conditions, but I don't know through which exact mechanisms or under which conditions - would anyone be so kind as to help me make sense of that ?
I'm asking mainly because green tea has almost restored me to my former self, which is nothing to spit at - it's been this way for more than four months now and it keeps working.
Now, which supplements have I found to be of significant help other than GT or GTE ? Here's an accurate list :
fish oil + phosphatidylserine (very significant help from this one)
vitamin C
zinc
Magnesium (Now Food's magnesium citrate softgels)
maca
rhodiola
myo-inositol
milk thistle (there's at least one Pubmed study showing silymarin has anxiolytic action among other benefits)
Of note : I stopped the above supplements while I was assessing GTE - otherwise there's no way to know what substance does what.
L-theanine calms me down and puts me in a good mood, but kills my sex drive each time, when dosed at 220 mg/day - mucuna pruriens also kills libido for me - I've tried this mucuna product thus far : http://www.himalayau...erbs/mucuna.htm
I often mention sex drive, but low sex drive alone, I'm fully aware is merely a symptom of an underlying condition ; as far as my case is concerned, this condition definitely seems to be rooted in anxiety. So, decreased anxiety leads to better mood, decreased perception of stress and thus restored sex drive.
P.S. Not all Japanese green teas are of benefits to me - only those with high catechins content do - I get this from trying GTE which is of definite benefits.
