Melatonin, Serotonin, Dopamine and Their Common Denominator: AAAD

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