Currently viewing the category: "serotonin"

Something Exciting About Anti-Depressants

By On · Add Comment · In antidepressants, Lexapro, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin, spinal cord injuries

Finally, something to get excited about selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)–they might just have a future in spinal cord injury rehabilitation. That’s right, your regular ol’ run-of-the-mill antidepressants have been shown to get people with spinal cord injuries walking faster. Now that’s exciting!

A study conducted at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago built on previous studies showing that giving animals serotonin-like drugs after spinal cord injuries promoted recovery of walking when paired with an intensive training program. It looked at 50 patients with partial spinal cord injuries, 34 of which could walk, albeit slowly, previous to the study. All 50 went through an eight-week rehabilitative walking program on a treadmill, assisted by a robot or physical therapist. Up to 40 percent of their body weight was supported in a harness.

Five hours before training, some were given 10 mg of Lexapro, and some a placebo. Although both groups showed overall improvement, the Lexapro group did so faster. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors–like Prozac, Lexapro, Luvox and Zoloft–work by preventing the reuptake of the neurotransmitter serotonin by the nerve cells of the brain. In so doing, they allow the concentration of serotonin to remain elevated in the neural synapses, regulating mood (debatable but the reigning theory, anyway).

In this case, the drugs appear to work by increasing muscle spasms that people with spinal cord injuries typically experience, says George Hornby, a research scientist involved in the study. Most doctors consider these spasms negative, but Hornsby and colleagues believe that they mimic reflexes, which spinal cord injury patients “rely on [to walk].”

The volunteers only received the antidepressants on the day of training, yet the benefits continued long after the drug was out of their systems. Hornby thinks the drug is strengthening the residual connections between the brain and the spinal cord. “It helps you drive that muscle harder, and it’s easier for the brain to activate the muscle,” he said.

I find this research exiting because, along with the obvious, I pretty much think antidepressants are more hype than help. Oh, they change brain chemistry, no doubt; and these changes lead to mood alteration, but is this type of mood alteration ultimately what’s best for the person taking them? Not as far as I can see.

But I also acknowledge that all coins have a flip side; and in the gold-standard antidepressant therapy, we now have a tails to the “we cure depression” heads of the biochemical theory of mental “illness”. With these latest findings, I hail the possibilities of helping people with spinal cord injuries walk again–sooner, and maybe even better than the current recovery rate and results. So hang on tight people because you may never hear this out my brain again, but bravo! to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Sleep Disturbances lead to Suicide Risk

By On · Add Comment · In serotonin, sleep, sleep disturbances, suicidal thoughts, suicide

Think burning the candle at both ends has no consequences? Think again. Not getting enough sleep increases the risks of suicidal thoughts, planning a suicide, or attempting it, according to researchers.

The more types of sleep disturbances a person has, the more likely he or she will think about ending the misery–literally. Waking up too early, not being able to fall asleep (insomnia), or lying awake at night are all associated with suicidal thoughts. Researchers set out to determine how much so–they looked at the which sleep disturbances were linked to greater thoughts of suicide and found that waking up too early was the worst.

People who consistently woke up two hours earlier than desired were twice as likely to have had suicidal thoughts or have planned a suicide, and were nearly three times more likely to have actually tried to kill themselves. The researchers believe that the lack of sleep leads to cognitive dysfunction and a sense of hopelessness, and that the hormone serotonin likely plays a role.

Well, this is no surprise to me, as I know exactly what I feel like when I get no sleep. Any parent of young children can probably relate to being dead tired. My feeling is that if it weren’t for the love of the kids–and an enormous sense of responsibility–perhaps I’d feel the desire to end it all, too, when the sleep evades me. Not getting sufficient sleep sucks! It’s enough to drive you batty. And it’s exactly that need for regular, adequate sleep that makes it one of my Six Keys to Optimal Health. This study proves what I’ve learned the hard way–lose enough sleep and you’ll eventually lose your mind. It’s that simple.

Weight Loss: All in the Mind

By On · Add Comment · In appetite, brains, calories, eating habits, nerve cells, nervous system, neurotransmitter, nutrients, regulation, serotonin, weight loss
Weight loss is all in the mind, you know. Well maybe not all in the mind, but mostly in the mind, it’s true. According to some fascinating new research, your nervous system, not your eating habits have the biggest role in determining whether you are fat or thin.The study conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, looked at serotonin levels in the nervous systems of worms. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, which means it conducts messages across and among nerve cells. The researchers found that serotonin regulates feeding and calorie burning independently of each other. In other words, serotonin regulates not only how much you eat and want to eat (your appetite), but also what your body does with food once it has been consumed.

In worms, serotonin levels are a function of food availability. When resources are low, serotonin levels decrease and the worms go into fat storage mode. Interestingly, low serotonin also leads to decreased appetite in worms. Makes sense, when food availability is tight, worms get less hungry–after all, no food, no need to eat. They also become more efficient at storing energy as fat for the long haul. A perfect feat of optimized neural regulation. On the other hand, when food resources are high, serotonin levels increase and worms get hungrier and become more efficient at burning fuel. If we could only all be so lucky. Humans actually experience the opposite effect: when food resources are low, serotonin levels decrease, which causes appetites to go up and, unfortunately, fat to accumulate.

So why does this matter? This study shows is that although our eating behaviors–what we eat and how much of it–are important, they do not tell the whole story. The body actually has a very sophisticated neurological regulatory system which is more instrumental in our propensity to take in and store fat. The nervous system gauges nutrient availability (really folks, you’ve got to read The Six Keys To Optimal Health, it’s all in there) and determines whether to burn when in excess or hold on to when deficient in nutrients. In plain language, you can starve yourself on tofu shakes all you want, if you are not getting the right nutrients in the proper amounts, your body will increase your appetite–through lowered serotonin levels–to ensure that more nutrients come in.* And low serotonin means increased fat storage.

What makes these findings interesting to me is that I am certain that we have direct control over our neurology. And we have this control through our minds. How is uncertain right now, but findings like these only strengthen my convictions. If the nervous system is the information superhighway between our brains and our bodies**, and if we can find a way to influence serotonin regulation–and I don’t mean through the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, either–through specific mental processes, then weight management could be under our individual control in the near future. I do believe it’s possible, naysayers. Just a matter of time before we figure out how. Findings like these always get my intellectual juices flowing, and I can’t help but imagine what future innovations lie ahead in this regard. Whatever that may be sure looks promising to me.

*Your body just wants nutrients; it can only get those nutrients from food, and doesn’t know whether you’ll be feeding it broccoli or Cheetos; all it can do is increase the appetite and wait.

**And don’t forget that the ultimate way to optimize and maintain your delicate nervous system is through safe, natural chiropractic care.

LSD Helps Scientists ‘Tune In’ to Schizophrenia

By On · Add Comment · In delusions, glutamate receptors, hallucinations, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), schizophrenia, schizophrenics, serotonin
Timothy Leary might have been right after all–LSD does hold some keys in the world of pharmaceutical research. A new study shows that lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) changes the brain chemistry in a similar way that occurs in schizophrenics. And these findings may eventually lead to improved treatments for schizophrenia.

According to the research, LSD affects the same serotonin pathways that are imbalanced in schizophrenics, both leading to hallucinations and, at times, delusions. In the experiment it was found that LSD works simultaneously on serotonin and glutamate regulating receptors, and these two complexes together create the effects of the drug. When mice under the influence of LSD were given a second drug–one which inhibited the binding of LSD to the glutamate regulating receptors–it neutralized the hallucinogenic effects (how they figured that one out I’ll never know).

The importance of this study is that previous treatments for schizophrenics concentrated on regulating serotonin levels by acting solely on the serotonin receptors. But now there is evidence that attacking both the serotonin and glutamate receptors are important when treating hallucinations and delusions common to both schizophrenics and acid heads.

Nice work out of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The scientists conducting the study have pointed out that they were not originally looking at schizophrenia at all, but, as you may or may not know, LSD does have a way of opening up doors to the unexplored. Doh! Did I just say that? Oh well–tune in, turn on, and drop out, hippies. See you in San Francisco.

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Nick Campos - All Rights Reserved.