anxiety sufferers have too much glutamate and serotonin, they tend to be disagreeable and analytical while their responses to stress and their homeostatic mechanisms are all out of whack.
This is why amphetamines are prescribed to ADHD patients and SSRIs to anxious individuals. They boost these neurotransmitters, counter-intuitiely, but the net long-term effect is in the opposite direction of what you're thinking. Taking blood pressure medicine may relieve your heart, but on the other hand leaving a slight wound exposed to the environment may stimulate the immune system when most would assume a bandage is prudent.
Half of these medicines have a greater effect on the receptors on the part of your brain that does the sending, not the receiving. The main purpose of these guys is a volume switch, the receivers communicate back with secondary messengers, basically hey I'm not getting much of a signal, or hey shut the f*ck up for a minute dawg. The "auto-receptors" on the presynapse then either upregulate or downregulate, more of them means more self-inhibition on the receiver's side. But less auto-receptors mean more neurotransmitter can get out before the quiet signals register. Either way, medicines alter the situation not always in a way you can predict.
A lot of things used around here for anxiety have a mixed effect on both sides. Magnesium, lemon balm, ginseng and others probably target the presynapse a bit more while Valerian, GABA, and taurine are mostly post-synaptic. You want the former
Edited by gamesguru, 20 June 2018 - 10:32 PM.