9 replies to this topic

[nupi]

I'm trying to figure out what is going on. On two separate occasions I have noticed the following after taking serotonergics:
1) In my early time taking bacopa (seemed to fade later on, although I rarely took bacopa before beer later on) about a year ago
2) Now after 17 days of Escitalopram

Low doses of alcohol (think 1 beer) combined with the serotonergics give me a feeling of being totally at peace with the world and pretty good mood (far better than my usual, dysthimic self). This is in stark contrast to my usual reaction to alcohol: it significantly reduces my baseline anxiety (thus relaxing me) and gets me drunk but hardly does anything for mood neither does it disinhibit me to any significant degree. Which neuro-transmitter is it playing with when combined with the serotonergics? And more importantly, can I hit it with something more sustainable?

[unbeatableking]

GABA.

[RS3RS]

^ Yup.

Low doses of ethanol have great effects on GABA(a). I'm talking "sub-threshold" amounts, well below the amount you can feel (even less than 1 "drink").

I read a few papers about this after becoming curious about the alcohol contained in Nyquil. I think I worked out that a small dose of no more than around 0.4 oz of vodka (based on my bodyweight) would potentiate and increase the duration of effects of endogenous GABA without toxicity / tolerance issues.

The research is out there if you're interested (Google low dose ethanol), or I can dig it up if anyone's interested.

[nupi]

But why does it only happen in combination with the serotonergics?

[unbeatableking]

Potentiates the effects. GABA and Serotonin are both inhibitory neurotransmitters that bind to different receptor sites.

[The Immortalist]

I'm trying to figure out what is going on. On two separate occasions I have noticed the following after taking serotonergics:
1) In my early time taking bacopa (seemed to fade later on, although I rarely took bacopa before beer later on) about a year ago
2) Now after 17 days of Escitalopram

Low doses of alcohol (think 1 beer) combined with the serotonergics give me a feeling of being totally at peace with the world and pretty good mood (far better than my usual, dysthimic self). This is in stark contrast to my usual reaction to alcohol: it significantly reduces my baseline anxiety (thus relaxing me) and gets me drunk but hardly does anything for mood neither does it disinhibit me to any significant degree. Which neuro-transmitter is it playing with when combined with the serotonergics? And more importantly, can I hit it with something more sustainable?

What dose of alcohol are you taking? I never drink but I'm interested in trying alcohol in very low doses to see if it reduces my annoying mild anxiety.

Edited by The Immortalist, 24 September 2012 - 11:18 AM.

[nupi]

I guess 1 beer translates to roughly 10-15g of Ethanol though the effect might be noticeable at 5g even but as I mentioned, it only seems to work together with serotonergics in my case and it's one of these things you can't discuss with a shrink or GP lest they will acuse you of drug-seeking behavior and what have you (or give you benzos, lol).

Also, while it removes my baseline anxiety, it sadly does nothing to counter avoidance or task specific anxiety (maybe that's better, not sure how sustainable a solution that would otherwise be)

Edited by nupi, 24 September 2012 - 12:09 PM.

[kevinseven11]

Could everyday use of alchol mouthwash cause gaba receptor down regulation? I know its semi good for testosterone.

[ta5]

^ Yup.

Low doses of ethanol have great effects on GABA(a). I'm talking "sub-threshold" amounts, well below the amount you can feel (even less than 1 "drink").

I read a few papers about this after becoming curious about the alcohol contained in Nyquil. I think I worked out that a small dose of no more than around 0.4 oz of vodka (based on my bodyweight) would potentiate and increase the duration of effects of endogenous GABA without toxicity / tolerance issues.

The research is out there if you're interested (Google low dose ethanol), or I can dig it up if anyone's interested.

Hi RS3RS,

I'm interested, if you could provide some references...if you're still around.

Maybe you're referring to this study?

For instance, the discriminative stimulus effects of low doses of ethanol (1.0 g/kg) are predominantly mediated by GABAA receptor positive modulation, while higher doses (2.0 g/kg) require other systems such as N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors (Grant 1999).

I'm trying to figure out if long-term very-low-dose alcohol is good for GABA receptors, anxiety, mood, etc., or not. Any opinions?

Thanks.

[Dissolvedissolve]

Could everyday use of alchol mouthwash cause gaba receptor down regulation? I know its semi good for testosterone.

I know this is an old thread, but since it's already bumped, I just wanted to mention that there are no GABA receptors in the mouth, so there should not be any effect.