@actuallyautistic
Have any of you tried L-Tyrosine and/or L-Theanine to improve anxiety and memory with AuDHD? If so, how much did you take and did it help?
Any other supplements you can recommend?
L-Theanine, isn't that like from green tea? How do you respond to green tea?
Gives me headaches.
I knew someone who believed small quantities of ceremonial-grade green tea 4 times per day were really helpful for her. She was a different type of neurodivergent.
In this small study, decreased vitamin D concentrations were found in 18 out of 23 autistic men. That's not enough for a huge change of lifestyle, but it might be enough to warrant having your vitD level tested in, say, September and March, or making an effort to get more exposure to the sun, or taking a modest, safe vitD supplement to see what happens.
The NHS doesn't usually recommend supplements, but vitD is an exception:
older people may need as much as 4 times the sun exposure to get the same amount of vitamin d.
If you can get a lab test, 50-80 is supposed to be the optimal range. The lab test will tell you something like 30 is good enough. But there's a difference between "meh, we don't need to put out your fire" and "you're in good shape here"
My highest score, after spending a summer outside all day most days AND taking a supplement with plenty of D in it, was 56. That's going into winter.
There's diminishing returns for making D from sun exposure. You don't need to burn!
If anyone can find a paper that goes into the details on exactly how long people need to be in the sun at various skin colors and latitudes and times of year, I'd love to read it.
wikipedia: "One minimal erythemal dose of sunlight UV radiation provides the equivalent of about 20,000 IU of vitamin D2, taken as an oral supplement.[citation needed] If an adult's arms and legs are exposed to a half minimal erythemal UV radiation, it is the same as taking 3,000 IU of vitamin D3 through an oral supplement.
but this quote from wikipedia doesn't specify skin, latitude, or time of year. so presumably it's talking about a white person somewhere in the US during summer.
@bike@brainpilgrim@marenf@actuallyautistic
redheads tend to have elevated Vitamin D. We tend to produce more than most, presumably to allow us to not be in the sun too much.
This is interesting because I know there's an above average overlap with redheads and EDS and autism, and someone earlier was saying EDS might mean it's harder to get D.
I have EDS (which at least one paper thinks is a subset of autism) and reddish hair as a child (part of me wonders if that was associated with undernutrition) and with a lot of effort I can get my score into the optimal range. It would be interesting to read a study.
@bike@brainpilgrim@marenf@actuallyautistic
Being a redhead or autistic and undernutrition is unrelated. I ate well. Full on very bright red hair since birth. Unless you are referring to EDS and I know nothing about that.
I didn't have kwashiorkor but that would be the redhead + deficiency thing taken to an extreme.
I'm not saying all redheads are malnourished!
Autism is definitely associated with a higher likelihood of picky eating and bad reactions to food in at least some people. I personally have worked very hard to not be a picky eater with limited success.
@bike@brainpilgrim@marenf@actuallyautistic
I am very atypical of most autistics it seems sometimes. I am sensory seeker and used to be able to eat just about anything as a kid. Loved trying new things, very adventurous, love most food. I used to joke I could eat klingon food. I've become a bit more picky as an adult. Mostly because I don't like wasting money & want to be sure I get to eat what I like.
I think we all are, in different ways. but also, i would say that hyposensitivity to food could be just as much a marker as hypersensitivity to food. Except awesomer! That is a pretty handy social skill, the ability to eat any food is an really useful way to bond with people, and in pop culture it's usually used as a way to show "this character is beloved and accepting of others"
@bike@JoBlakely@brainpilgrim@marenf@actuallyautistic Thank you for solving a mystery for me! My brother, who passed away over 2 decades ago (meaning I couldn't ask him to clarify), used to joke that he wanted to name his first kwashiorkor. I have tried to tell people this story many times over the years but I had no idea how to spell it, and couldn't remember what vitamin was involved. Hooray!
@brainpilgrim@marenf@actuallyautistic I take a once a week supplement & get into trouble with my doctor if I forget & my levels drop. I do this because of my age, bone density etc, but probably important for all. A healthy diet & gut biome has got to be good for all of us in lots of ways.
@marenf@actuallyautistic A high protein diet has been vital to my brain recovery and my body healing. Every time I check what I feel is a comfortable level for me, it's always on the high end of the recommendations.
I have come to believe that possibly our neurodiverse nervous systems actually need more amino acids.
@brainpilgrim@marenf@actuallyautistic
Same re: high protein diet. Especially as I age (late 40s), I find I need more protein to maintain my energy. My current baseline is ~120g protein daily, before adjusting for activity.
@marenf@actuallyautistic I tried L-Tyrosine to counter brain fog, and it seemed to work, although the 500ug capsules were way too strong for me. Like drinking a dozen cups of coffee. I think 120 to 150 would be fine.
So, not an anxiety cure for me! Of course other folks might have a different reaction. I tried vitamin B-12 and it was even worse.
@marenf@actuallyautistic Yes! And I'm really not one for fad supplements. For me, as an AuDHD, L-Tyrosine really works. Not so sure about memory, but certainly for clarity and alertness. This after, being unable to continue with any of the prescribed amphetamine based drugs, or antidepressants, as even sub-therapeutic dosages produce intolerable side-effects. The L-Tyrosine gives me about half the benefits, with none of the downsides
@marenf@actuallyautistic@pathfinder There's a book and website, The Mood Cure, that will help you figure out what sort of neurotransmitters and neurohormones you might want to look into. I recommend it highly.
Last but far from least, Dr. Abram Hoffer and associated doctors have brought out a second edition of his Niacin book, which has been absolutely invaluable for restoring my moods and mental stability. Check my Home page for links.
@marenf@brainpilgrim@actuallyautistic@pathfinder
Anecdata: brewer's yeast is full of all sorts of B-vitamins. Helen and I both found, when we used it in the 90s, that it lifted our mood almost immediately. You can get it from the health food shop or your local billionaire's flea market.
@marenf@brainpilgrim@actuallyautistic@pathfinder
Sorry! A flea market is (normally) a street full of small stalls where cheap, low-quality items are sold. Imagine an online marketplace full of items of dubious quality, sold by people you've never met and will never meet again, and all owned by a billionaire. You've probably worked out which website I mean.
@marenf@actuallyautistic@pathfinder L Tyrosine uses a different pathway. That pathway worked fine because when I tried that, nothing happened.
Highly recommend looking into more magnesium. Because so many soils are depleted, most people are deficient. It powers 300 electrical processes in the body, and I think we need them all.🤣
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