First off I never said that the levels of neurotransmitters or neurosteriods in my urine are guaranteed to reflect exactly what’s going on in my CNS. I literally never made this statement. Here is a creditable looking source that discusses this in more detail:
“Studies have demonstrated a link between central nervous system neurotransmitter activity and urinary transmitter output”
“A study in rats examined the effects of oral ingestion of the serotonin precursor, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), on specific brain regions. Serotonin levels were measured using brain tissue immunoreactivity and urinalysis”
“The researchers noted maximum serotonin immunoreactivity in the serotonergic dorsal raphe nucleus within 2 hours of administration”
“Urinary analysis of serotonin, 5-HTP, and 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid (the major metabolite of serotonin) mirrored the changes observed in immunoreactivity, suggesting a positive correlation between CNS and urinary serotonin levels”
“Another study in rats investigated the effect of induced hemiparkinsonism on the metabolism of catecholamines, as well as the relationship between cerebral catecholamine content and urinary catecholamine excretion”
“A positive correlation between urinary and striatal dopamine concentrations was demonstrated. Interestingly, the researchers concluded that measurement of urinary catecholamines and their metabolites is a prospective test for evaluating the status of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal system of the brain in experimental parkinsonism”
Secondly,
The only lab that tests these values like you already acknowledge is ZRT lab. Your acting like there are several options and I’m promoting one of them. Sorry that you are offended that as a PFS patient and regular guy I’m simply using the one resource that I have available to me to check these values. And that I have seen values that are “out of wack” in my own results and others. And that there may be a pattern we are seeing that could end up leading to a path for the researchers to explore further. Values that are known to be low in the CNS of PFS patients per Melchangi’s study from 2013. I’m not going to ignore this simply because you don’t like it and you are looking for an argument.
As for any supplement that I tried in response to these results I ordered them from what ever website site I could find that offers the best price. I don’t even necessarily think it’s a good idea to take any of the supplements that I tried while attempting to adjust neurotransmitters because I got worse doing this. So I’m clearly not encouraging anyone to take anything specifically that I took or purchased. I’m clearly not pointing anyone towards a specific website to purchase amino acids from. I have simply named specific amino acids that I tried based off my own results and what happened to my condition in response to taking them. As for the ZRT lab testing itself I have spent hours of my own time on ZRT labs website search provider function trying to find providers that offer the testing at the lowest price. All I’m doing is trying to see if others will have the testing done so that we know if this is a pattern in several of us or if it’s just something exclusive to me. My only agenda is trying to get my life back.
Sorry that there is no other way to have the Allopregnanolone and 3a-diol tested and that you view this in your mind as “me mentioning a theory alongside a lab”
When you should be looking at it like:
“Wow this guy took the initiative to find a lab that tests for these things, spent the money to do it, seen high values in key metabolites linked to PFS, put his own thought into why I have high Allopregnanolone and 3a-diol in my urine and gave my own opinion, found others who had the test done, seen the same high values in their urine and wants to explore this further”
Let’s just keep this simple because having PFS makes life complicated enough
We have seen a few of us with high Allopregnanolone and 3a-diol in our urine in spite of Melchangi finding low amounts of these metabolites in the spinal fluid of PFS patients . And I want to explore this a little more to try to figure out if there is anything to it. Don’t take any supplements… are we good now ?
Edit:
Another valid point to put your mind at ease. If ZRT lab was a fly by night untrustworthy scam you would be able to order their tests I’m talking about directly from their website. You can’t. Why can’t you ? Because they only provide the tests directly to doctors. What does this tell you ? Are thousands of doctors around the United States forming partnerships with ZRT lab to purposely scam patients. Don’t think so. Stop assuming everyone is up to no good. It’s not a good way to live life