SarahA33 Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 Hi there,Have you had your serotonin levels checked through a 5-HIAA 24 urine? Getting a really accurate number is almost impossible because most of your serotonin is made in the gut.. I'm sure a blood sample would be a good base line. http://www.mayomedicallaboratories.com/test-catalog/Clinical+and+Interpretive/84395Is anyone familiar with their serotonin #'s or if they feel that it plays a role into how they feel on a daily basis? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nymph Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 I actually had an AHA moment about a week ago. I have had POTS for several years, but for a while it was not bothering me very often at all. About a year ago in May I suddenly got way worse and much more frequent. I realized that I had stopped this supplement called Neurolink. Anyway, it has 5-htp in it and I wonder if it was increasing my serotonin. I haev ordered it and will start it again and see what happens.Interesting. I had not thought of testing my serotonin levels. I guess that if you thought is that my serotonin levels could get too high, if I am producing more rather than blocking reuptake, that could be a problem. I do not know but I would guess based on my history that I have low circulating serotonin levels. I was depressed much of my life from age 13 to 22 (and some as a younger child), and struggled for periods of time after that for several years. I have never been diagnosed by a psychiatrist, but I would say that dysthymic disorder described me during much of that time. As an adult I am much better and only have very brief periods of the blues, not even long enough to count as depression. However, from what I understand, prolonged depression permanently alters serotonin levels. I could say a lot more about this and the effect it had on me physically at the time (age 21, major depression). Sometimes I wonder if my autonomic system was altered at that point (hypoglycemic symptoms, ulcers) although I did not develop proper POTS until a decade later.All that to say, I had not thought of testing it but I will call and ask if that's recommended. I have an amazing pharmacist here who specializes in bioidentical hormones and so forth. She would be the one to ask. My doctor told me a log time ago that he thought that supplement was a good idea. I don't think that understood exactly what it was, though, since he compared the ingredients to an energy drink! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahA33 Posted July 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 A few months back, my POTS neurologist tested serum serotonin. The interesting thing about my results is how very different they are, the first set was done at 7:30am, and the second set was done at 1pm on the same day. (Lab ranges are in parenthesis) Serotonin (Serum - 101-283) 1.569 2.332Serotonin, as most of us know, is really hard to get a good reading as most of it is stored in the gut. But did you also know that it's also stored in the blood platelets and in the central nervous system? I think the most accurate way is the 5-hiaa urine, what about you guys?I know its often linked to feelings of happiness, contentness, etc. But I just recently found out that its thought to regulate mood, sleep, and appetite. Also, the following articles talk about serotonin and how it regulates GI motilityhttp://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2012.00016/fullhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2694720/ Low serotonin is often linked to migraines. However, I have migraines on a daily basis and clearly my numbers are too high . I don't take any supplements or anything. They've always tested higher,. http://www.neurology.org/content/65/4/E9.full Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancer65 Posted July 22, 2015 Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 Sarah thanks for posting this, it is of great interest me as I suffer with migraines frequently Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nymph Posted July 22, 2015 Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 Interesting! I am a little confused that you said that your numbers are high. There must be a decimal missing in there. Look up serotonin and blood pressure on ncbi, too. It is highly involved in it's regulation. Makes sense... serotonin is used by all nerves to communicate. Mess up the communication, mess up the function. I should hear from the pharmacist/hormone specialist today and see if she recommends testing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelloz Posted July 22, 2015 Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 I am 100% certain my severe migraines are somehow connected to my serotonin levels. I keep wanting to PM you and ask some questions about this and see what you think. When I have a good day I will do so!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nymph Posted July 22, 2015 Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 Here's one that I looked at. If anyone can find an article that's more reader-friendly, let me know:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22407614 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahA33 Posted July 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 Dancer, your welcome for posting this. Ive also been wanting to post about Dopamine and Norepinephrine and Gaba also. Shame you experience migraine headaches also, they are brutal and exhausting.Angeloz, I'm sorry that you get really bad migraines too. Feel free to drop me a line anytime What confuses me regarding my migraines and serotonin link is that my levels are always testing high. I'm not sure how that plays a role into pain. My neurologist has said that it could play into my anxiety and memory less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahA33 Posted July 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 Thanks for sharing that Nicole. I wonder if when I have major BP spikes my serotonin could also be inclining. I think a good way to know would be to do the 5H Urine and check with my BP cuff at home so that I could attempt to catch an episode. I'll see what my doctor thinks, and if he thinks there is anything we can do with the results, as the high serotonin has actually been going on for years. We've tried changing all meds, certain foods, environmental triggers. This just seems to be my body's baseline.Hopefully your call went well with the nurse and you got testing approved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nymph Posted July 22, 2015 Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 Hi Sarah,Yes, that's very interesting about your high serotonin. It makes sense to me that might be an issue.I did speak with the pharmacist and she thinks that it makes sense for me to try the Neurolink again and see how it goes. She says that regular MDs do not usually test serotonin, and that testing by alternative docs would likely be very expensive. As I had no ill-effects from the supplement before it makes sense to try it for a while and see if there is sustained improvement. After that, I can test my progesterone levels, which is my other prime POTS alleviator due to my good week in my cycle.Yes, please let's talk about Dopamine and Norepinephrine and Gaba. Neurolink not only increases serotonin, but has GABA and a dopamine precursor - tyrosine, I think? So it's possible that it was also the combo that helped me. However, I just do not know very much about these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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