So this past August it appears my pineal gland became healthy enough that most nights I no longer need melatonin supplements to sleep well.
Sounds good, right?
Well yes, but unfortunately my pineal was also healthy enough to overproduce melatonin while I sleep, and then the excess was inhibiting dopamine production in the daytime - as I've previously discussed.
Then my sister sent me an interesting video by Mars / Venus author John Gray:
http://youtu.be/tibPjgHsFi8
So he's presenting an interesting anti-PD approach, which I'm looking into, but it got me thinking about serotonin, melatonin, and dopamine.
And I realized there's a common denominator, the enzyme called "aromatic amino acid decarboxylase" (AAAD), also called "dopamine decarboxylase" (DDC).
AAAD converts 5-HTP (from tryptophan, ala turkey, walnuts, etc.) into serotonin, and AAAD also converts L-DOPA (from tyrosine, ala eggplant, lima beans, etc.) into dopamine. Serotonin in turn is neatly converted into melatonin if MAO is inhibited.
I've attached Figures 1 - 3 below to show these observations.
So then I observed that if my pineal is overproducing melatonin, it's not only inhibiting daytime dopamine, but it's draining my serotonin, and may also be driving a shortage of AAAD by over-demanding serotonin production - further limiting dopamine production.
I tried 50mg of 5-HTP before bed, but had horrible cramps interspersed with periods of paradise relaxation. Too much I thought. So instead I started having a few slices of turkey every evening before bed, and boosted my turmeric (and black pepper) intake (an MAO inhibitor).
It worked, and I reduced my medication and juice both by about 40%.
God Bless,
Glen
Figure 1 - Synthesis of Serotonin from 5-HTP by AAAD
Figure 2 - Synthesis of Dopamine from L-DOPA by AAAD
Figure 3 - Synthesis of Melatonin in the Pineal from Serotonin when MAO inhibited
