53 replies to this topic

[normalizing]

hmm NSI being anxiogenic, could it be related to dopamine influence?

[ketogeniclongevity]

A ketogenic diet would've yielded the same benefits without the looming side effects of N-acetyl-glucosamine.

[tintinet]

A ketogenic diet would've yielded the same benefits without the looming side effects of N-acetyl-glucosamine.

Which "looming side effects"?

[Fluttergoat]

hmm NSI being anxiogenic, could it be related to dopamine influence?

From what I have read NSI-189 does seem to have some affinity for the dopamine transporter.

I did not intend to derail this thread, let's keep the discussion going on Hip's stack

A ketogenic diet would've yielded the same benefits without the looming side effects of N-acetyl-glucosamine.

What looming effects are you thinking of? Have you tried it?


@Hip - how long did it take for you to notice benefits?

[Hip]

@Hip - how long did it take for you to notice benefits?

 

Myself and everyone else I know who has tried NAG for anxiety find its effects kick in fast, within an hour or so. When NAG works well, you can be in a state of terrible anxiety and mental tension, and then after an hour or so of taking NAG, that tension has melted away into calm. When it works, it can be quite dramatic.

 

NAG's anti-anxiety effects are further augmented by taking it with some of the other anti-anxiety medications on my list of 29 supplements anti-anxiety supplements, such as flaxseed oil, turmeric.

 

NAG does not work for everyone though. On my original thread detailing NAG, I found around 50% of people got good or very good results from NAG, but the other 50% got no effect at all. 

 

I suspect that NAG will work if your anxiety symptoms are underpinned by brain inflammation (neuroinflammation is increasingly be linked to mental symptoms, and my personal theory is that some subsets of generalized anxiety disorder may be caused by brain inflammation). However, if your anxiety symptoms are not underpinned by brain inflammation, then it may not work. 

 

If you have chronic inflammatory conditions in the body such as chronic nasal or sinus cavity inflammation (sinusitis) or gut conditions such as IBS which involve gut infection / inflammation, that may be an indicator that you could also have brain inflammation (because inflammation in these body peripheries is now known to trigger brain inflammation). So if you have a chronic inflammatory conditions in the body, I think that may increase the chances that you have chronic neuroinflammation (which I hypothesize might cause anxiety in some cases), and thus increase the chances that NAG will work for your anxiety. 

 

I would say that if NAG has not start working for you after a few days, it's probably not going to work for you at all.

 

NAG I think is best taken on an empty stomach. 

Edited by Hip, 26 February 2017 - 06:39 PM.

[ketogeniclongevity]

 

 

I did not intend to derail this thread, let's keep the discussion going on Hip's stack

A ketogenic diet would've yielded the same benefits without the looming side effects of N-acetyl-glucosamine.

What looming effects are you thinking of? Have you tried it?

 

Yes. After 7g/day, I developed chronic insomnia.

[Sciencyst]

hmm NSI being anxiogenic, could it be related to dopamine influence?

 

It probably metabolizes into BZP, which is a monoamine releasing and reuptake-inhibiting agent. I'm also doing some research into proving that it's a D4 agonist. Seems likely so far. Neuralstem claims its neurogenic activity is not related to BDNF or neurotransmitters, so it probably has a few MOAs.

[Panthau]

Hey Hip and everyone else. Just registered here, as phoenixrising (despite my rather long introduction post) didnt accept me as a member. Probably because i have no CFS.

Just like for you, NAC & curcumin work for my general anxiety disorder. Not sure about flaxseed oil, tried it twice but cant say it did something. 

 

Im just concerned about the long term impact of substituting NAC & curcumin (currently with pepper though i have some longvida as well). The first time

i took curcumin (~100mg capsule) it was like someone switched on the light. It was like someone lifted a curtain and i could finally feel some happyness again.

Now about 2 weeks later and im not sure if curcumin is still doing anything (at least i cant feel any effects) and wondered if there is some tolerance issue. NAC, on the other hand,

works every time but i dont take it daily atm.

 

Also wonder about dosages... that one is probably hard to find out for curcumin, because of the different ways of their bioavailability.

 

Anyway, thanks for sharing your findings and glad youre doing fine now. Maybe one day we´ll find the underlaying issue as well.

 

Edited by Panthau, 19 April 2017 - 02:14 PM.

[Hip]

@Panthau, I take it you meant to say NAG (N-acetyl-glucosamine) rather than NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) in your above post. It is NAG I found to have potent anti-anxiety effects.

 

Curcumin has the problem of poor oral bioavailability. It is better absorbed when you have a fat or oil in your stomach, and lecithin helps absorption as well. So curcumin is best taken with a fatty meal. Could it be that you started taking curcumin with a meal, but then later switched to taking it on an empty stomach, and that's why it lost its effect?

 

Longvida curcumin is more bioavailable, but note that Longvida only contains 20% curcumin. 

 

 

 

Incidentally, I found turmeric (rather than curcumin) more effective as an anxiety treatment.

 

A lot of people seem to confuse turmeric with curcumin (possibly because turmeric's botanical name is Curcuma longa). However, turmeric only contains around 3% curcumin. And turmeric contains other compounds that have anti-anxiety effects, such as ar-turmerone, which has several anti-neuroinflammation effects. You don't get the benefits of thesecompounds like ar-turmerone if you take curcumin.

Edited by Hip, 19 April 2017 - 02:28 PM.

[Panthau]

Oh dear, i confused NAG with NAC! As i still had a bottle of NAC at home. LOL

Though i found it calming and creating kind of a clear head for me. But maybe that was all in my mind.

One thing is for sure with NAC, its setting up my stomach. Gonna order some NAG right now from amazon and try that.

 

Will try curcumin with some oil in the future, thanks for the suggestion.

Maybe its still working but im just not aware as im atm better anyway. I was aware of you taking tumeric, but as i had curcumin at home, i just

tried that. Seems to work for me... next purchase will be a mix of both. Just not sure if the pepper thing is a good idea or rather the BCM-95.

 

I have quite some psoriasis as well and its getting better with curcumin. Though im also dealing with brainfog (especially after orgasm), while im not sure, i

think it didnt touch that area much.

 

Thanks again for your input, this time highly appreciated. lol

[Hip]

Oh dear, i confused NAG with NAC! As i still had a bottle of NAC at home. LOL

Though i found it calming and creating kind of a clear head for me. But maybe that was all in my mind.

 

NAC may well have had a calming effect for you: some people with chronic fatigue syndrome find that NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) reduces the "wired" over-aroused mental state often found in CFS. This "wired" state is probably due to excess glutamate in the brain (the glutamate derived from chronic neuroinflammation), and NAC can help reduce glutamate. See this thread for more details:

 

Five Ways To Reduce Your ME/CFS "Wired But Tired" Hyperaroused Brain State

 

 

 

I have quite some psoriasis as well and its getting better with curcumin. 

 

I had some psoriasis, and various supplements would improve it substantially, but when I stopped taking those supplements, the psoriasis returned.

 

Then by chance I decided to try the spin-trap antioxidant tempol (available here and here), at a sublingual dose of 20 mg once daily, to see if it would help my ME/CFS. It did not help the ME/CFS, but I noticed it totally cleared up my 3 inch diameter patch of psoriasis within a week; but moreover, tempol cleared it up permanently, as when I stopped the tempol, the psoriasis never came back. I had this patch of psoriasis for several years, and nothing cleared it permanently, except tempol.

 

Tempol needs to be kept refrigerated, else it gets damaged. It is a bright orange color normally, but the color changes if heat damaged. 

Edited by Hip, 19 April 2017 - 03:19 PM.

[Panthau]

Oh dear, youre quite a source of useful knowledge. Looks like you tried a lot. lol

 

Going to research tempol. Quite astonishing that you cleared it permanently with that. For me, like probably everyone with psiorasis, when a spot

forms, it stays there forever... it can be surpressed with some means, but surpressing it on one end and it comes back on another. The old psiorasis game.

 

Funny, i know exactly what you mean with that over-excited feeling. The more im emotionally unstable, the more often i have a feeling as if my inner engine

is going to fast, although im not doing anything. 

 

If you happen to know or stumble on anything regarding POIS (post orgasmic illness syndrome https://www.reddit.com/r/POIS/),im a happy listener. Oh well, i guess

theres an end to everything... lol

 

[Panthau]

Just as a personal update, my NAG finally arrived yesterday. Took a capsule today, cant say i felt much. Then again im anxiety free since taking curcumin (with peperin). On the other hand, NAC has quite some positive effects. Cannot even pinpoint it exactly, i just feel more at ease with it. Will take NAG for a while as well, as it might be helpful for stomach issues.

While NAG seems to be quite safe long term, i wonder if that counts for NAC as well.

One more thing... after curcumin freed me of my severe anxiety and my rested mind opened up, it became clear to me how much damage anxiety does to your brain and how important it is, to give it some rest. I would even take standard medications for anxiety now, just to give my brain some rest and get back to a better baseline.

[Panthau]

Yet another update: curcumin stopped working, tried higher doses to no avail. Flaxseed oil & NAG dont work for me in that regard. Back to baseline, i guess.

[jack black]

tried tumeric again today. this time mixed with pepper and flaxseed meal. just like the first time, it made me gag a few times (and i never do that!).

is there a way to take it without buying capsule making equipment?

[Hip]

I don't find the taste of turmeric bad at all. It's a cooking spice, so you would not expect the taste to be bad.

 

To take turmeric powder, I just place a level teaspoon of powder in my mouth, take a gulp of water from a glass, swish the water around my mouth to wet the powder, and swallow.  

[jack black]

I don't find the taste of turmeric bad at all. It's a cooking spice, so you would not expect the taste to be bad.

 

To take turmeric powder, I just place a level teaspoon of powder in my mouth, take a gulp of water from a glass, swish the water around my mouth to wet the powder, and swallow.  

 

that's what i did the first time. the thing is it maybe working for me as my motivation went up and i got up from my butt and did some yard work today.

i'm thinking about this turmeric tea, but missing the other ingredients: https://www.meghante...-with-turmeric/

[jack black]

I don't find the taste of turmeric bad at all. It's a cooking spice, so you would not expect the taste to be bad.

 

To take turmeric powder, I just place a level teaspoon of powder in my mouth, take a gulp of water from a glass, swish the water around my mouth to wet the powder, and swallow.  

 

that's what i did the first time. the thing is it's maybe working for me as my motivation went up and i got off my butt and did some yard work today.

i'm still belching with this awful aroma. i'm thinking about this turmeric tea, but missing the other ingredients: https://www.meghante...-with-turmeric/

[kurdishfella]

@Hip

.

Hmm Tumeric could it be that the curcumin in tumeric is what helps? Curcumin Inhibits ACTH- and Angiotensin II-Stimulated Cortisol Secretion which should help with anxiety. ginkgo Biloba also inhibits ACTH.Hibiscus Sabdariffa somewhat.

Have you tried curcumin alone and seen the same benefits?

 

Flax seed oil, can someone tell me the mechanism of action of this? What have the studies shown this to do? Its like Omega 3 right? why not just take omega 3s

 

N-acetyl-glucosamine  Im wonder what the pharmalogy of this is also... 

 

  did you just try random stuff and this is what worked best ? or did you look into like studies then try them? do you take anything else or just these 3 and have you found any other supplement that helped you?

Edited by farshad, 23 March 2018 - 03:55 PM.

[Hip]

Curcumin was not as effective as turmeric for reducing my anxiety.

 

For N-acetyl-glucosamine, the possible anti-anxiety mechanism of action is detailed in this post.

 

Flaxseed oil anti-anxiety mechanism may be via the alpha linolenic acid content (47% of flaxseed oil is ALA).

 

 

The anti-anxiety effect of supplements were sometimes discovered by accident. The potent anti-anxiety effects of NAG I discovered by accident: I originally took NAG to see if it would benefit my IBS. But while I was taking NAG, I observed it had powerful anti-anxiety effects. 

[kurdishfella]

oh cool. I will give this a shot. Do you take any other supplements for anxiety or just these 3? I have very bad social anxiety which I relate to Cortisol/ACTH problems hopefully this can help me but I doubt it nothing ever works  for me. 

Stupid question but is  N-Acetyl-D-Glucosamine the same thing as N-acetyl-glucosamine? Im getting the Jarrows Forumla.

Edited by farshad, 23 March 2018 - 04:42 PM.

[Hip]

 I have very bad social anxiety

 

Do you have proper social anxiety (which is different to having generalized anxiety disorder which may be exacerbated in a social context)? Generalized anxiety disorder involves general worry and/or mental tension.

 

Social anxiety (social phobia) involves a  more specific worry, namely an intense worry and anxiety over how other people may perceive, evaluate or judge you, or what you say.

 

For example, if after socializing with friends, your mind starts going over all the things you said in conversation, and I starts to worry intensely if certain things you said might be hurtful to your friends, or would portray you in a bad light, or would be misinterpreted in a negative way by your friends, then that is social anxiety.

 

 

I have actually experienced both type of anxiety at different times, and so I know that social anxiety disorder and generalized anxiety disorder are quite different. Anyway, these anti-anxiety supplements like NAG, turmeric etc I don't think will work for social anxiety, but they frequently work very well for generalized anxiety disorder.

 

For social anxiety, what worked very well for me was choline bitartrate 500 to 1000 mg.

 

 

 

Is N-Acetyl-D-Glucosamine the same thing as N-acetyl-glucosamine?

 

Yes, they are the same.

Edited by Hip, 23 March 2018 - 05:06 PM.

[kurdishfella]

I dont know if you can classify my anxiety but my anxiety is due to my genetics, Its not as much as my thoughts/thinking causing my anxiety . But like I said I dont expect this to work but I might aswell put them in my order and try it out got nothing to lose.

Edited by farshad, 23 March 2018 - 05:12 PM.

[Hip]

I dont know if you can classify my anxiety

 

I'd suggest reading a good article about the different types of anxiety, and seeing if you can pinpoint which type you have.