The Biochemistry of Bliss

Natural neurotransmitter optimization for healthy brain

What are neurotransmitters?

Let's relate them to hormones; most of you are familiar with hormones. You know if your hormones are low, you can balance them by taking personalized Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy.. Hormones are the chemical messengers by which the endocrine system communicates, or talks. Similarly neurotransmitters are the way our nervous system communicates between the central nervous system to the end or target organs. If you don’t have balanced neurotransmitters, you don’t feel good, just like if you don’t have enough hormones, you don’t feel right. The core system of our body consists of Neuro-Endocrine Immune Axis. We are as old as these systems get. If they are in sync and balanced appropriately the aging process slows down. All the systems of our body are supposed to talking to each other with the help of the Neuro Endocrine and Immune axis using Neurotransmitters, hormones and immune mediators.

How do antidepressants work?

To know how the antidepressants work its important to know the mechanism of the neurotransmitters functions. Neurotransmitters are stored in the presynaptic vesicles or storage bubbles of neuronal ending which gets message from the brain. They stay in this location till they are needed or a signal is received from the brain. Once the impulse arrived from previous neuron or the central nervous system it will induce the rupture of these vesicles and releasing the neurotransmitters in the space between the two nerve endings filling the gap and making the two nerves connection complete hence traveling the impulse from one end to the other like an electrical cable.

If our bodies lack the necessary amino acids responsible to produce these neurotransmitters we will not have enough of storage form in the pre synaptic nerve ending and thus there will not be enough release of them in the space between two nerves endings which we call synapse. So the space will not have enough neurotransmitters and the message cannot propagate eventually causing the symptoms of feeling low or depression.

Anytime the neurotransmitters go into this synaptic cleft they either reabsorbed by the previous neurons, some of them have the effect, some float away, some are broken down, and some are recycled. When they have their effect that is how your nervous system is communicating. Then they get sucked back up with the help of reuptake transporter and used again in the future, because not all of them make it across and have an effect, and your body is trying to be efficient and save them for next time so you don’t have to work as hard to make more. If you don’t have enough, the antidepressant medications like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRI will turn off the recycling and increasing the local concentration in the synaptic cleft resulting in the happy feel good mood. Well if you aren’t recycling them, the Neurotransmitters are going to stay in the synapse longer even longer, and have a better chance of having the effect on the other side.

This good effect is only possible in first place if we have enough neurotransmitters to begin with , just like wealth management . A wealth manager or an investment banker can only help you if you have enough wealth or funds to invest. In this case prolonged use of the antidepressants exhausts the resources by not letting the neurotransmitters recycle. Once the neurotransmitters are depleted, no antidepressant can increase them in the synaptic cleft.

In this scenario its not only wise but also logical to increase the production of neurotransmitters in the nerve ending in storage vesicles by proving essential amino acids and raw material to the body to synthesize these life saving neurotransmitters .Either way, it will make the antidepressant work better plus it may even take care of the root cause of depression which was that your body was not making enough serotonin at the first place.

There are many more functions of the neurotransmitters based upon the balance of the excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters. The imbalance of neurotransmitters may result in ,Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia, Irritability, Attention Deficit, Increased heart rate, Stress, Bowell complaints, Racing Mind, Fatigue, Lethargy, Slow Thoughts, Weight Gain , Cravings, Low Libido, Hot Flushes, Night Sweats, Urges, Headaches, Lack of focus, Learning difficulties etc

If you would like to know more about the body mind connection and how balancing of neurotransmitters can help you prevent or even reverse brain aging, Alzheimer’s, Weight gain, Insomnia, Stress, Low Libido, Sexual issues or attention problems, feel free to call us on 713-772-7887 in Cinco Ranch/Katy, Sugar Land /Houston Tx and ask for more information about Brain Antiaging program, Neurotransmitter testing and balancing.