Neurotransmitter Balancing / NeuroAssist Program

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A few of you asked what the NeuroAssist Program is in posts over the past week.

Sorry for not responding sooner I've been super busy and haven't had time to

respond.

NeuroAssist is a company that works on using Amino Acids as a therapy to balance

the neurotransmitters in your brain. For those of us who have taken SSRIs we

were taking a drug that worked directly on the Serotonin neurotransmitter. It

did not replenish it in our brains, it instead just kept recycling it (hence the

name " re-uptake " in Serotonin Re-uptake inhibitor). The problem with drugs such

as SSRIs, or any other drug that focuses on a single neurotransmitter is that it

does so at the risk of messing up all of the others. The 4 main

neurotransmitters -- Serotonin, Dopamine, Norepinephrine, and Epinephrine --

need to stay in balance in order to keep us physically and emotionally healthy.

Serotonin and Dopamine kind of work like a seesaw. If you boost one, the other

can drop, and vise-versa. Using SSRIs can cause Dopamine to become

significantly depleted. Dopamine is the " pleasure & reward " neurotransmitter

which is responsible for feelings of pleasure & love, sexual function, libido,

etc. Deplete it and these abilities go away. If dopamine becomes depleted then

Norepinephrine and Epinephrine typically follow suit since dopamine is a

precurser to both. These 3 neurotransmitters together make up the

catecholamines which are responsible for hormone function. Again, when they

(dopamine, norepinephrine & epinephrine) are depleted so are, typically, your

hormone levels. Hence why most of us are suffering from things like low T.

The Amino Acid therapy (and NeuroAssist's) theory is that if you balance the

neurotransmitters then the light switch will come back on and things will begin

functioning properly again. In addition, hormones will likely also increase.

It is believed that the key problem with PSSD is strongly linked to a dopamine

deficiency. Those that appear to be seeing results have been taking drugs that

are knows at dopamine agonists (i.e. Dostinex, Requip, Sinemet...) They are

synthetic drugs that boost dopamine levels. They appear to work however they

are not without risks.

First of all, there are side effects such as dyskinesis (motor function jerks)

than can happen after taking long term. In addition, based upon the

neurotransmitter balance theory, if you work only on the dopamine

neurotransmitter, you will eventually deplete Serotonin (and possibly others)

which can result in problems which many of us had that led us to take the SSRIs

to begin with.

I have chosen to take the natural, NeuroAssist route of balancing my

neurotransmitter levels using natural amino acids. There are no side effects,

the benefits are widespread beyond just the PSSD, and my general emotional and

physical health will benefit. It is not a quick fix but I am hoping for a long

term, solid fix. It is also not cheap, however I believe the costs are high

initially and once I am able to determine the correct balance / dose of amino

acids I will find less expensive aminos to use or will have a compounding

pharmacy mix me up the required amount and at that point my insurance will cover

it because it will fall under the category of a prescription.

I have been doing the program for about 2 mos. I just sent in my 3rd lab test

yesterday. I will speak with the Dr. next Thursday to get another adjustment in

the dosage. So far I am not yet where I want to be however I have seen some

flickering of a libido and I've seen other benefits such as better sleep, a more

calm and sunnier mood, I have stopped craving crappy food, and my hormone levels

are starting to improve.

If anyone is interested here is a link to the NeuroAssist website. There is a

lot of information there if you click around to the different links.

http://www.neuroassist.com/