Four Brain Chemicals, Four Brain Programs...For Life

Four Brain Chemicals, Four Brain Programs...For Life


January 18, 2003
Total Health In The 21st Century
Eric R. Braverman, M.D.

The good news from the world of medicine is that in the very near future you can expect to live to be 100 years old or maybe even longer. The bad news is, the odds are that if you reach that age you won't even know you're alive.

Unless you do something about it now.


Modulation Is The Message

Alzheimer's and sexual dysfunction don't have to be the punishment for getting old. Weight gain, fatigue, anxiety, cognitive impairment, insomnia, and the blues isn't the price for attaining middle age. And attention difficulties, nervousness, acting out, and frailty shouldn't be the stigmas suffered by many of our children.

How are we to treat all of the above? Not with Ritalin, which creates generation after generation of drug addicts; not with fad diets, fat burners, and sleeping pills which address symptoms, not causes; and not with the old-age homes which consign our parents to strangers for whatever time they have left. We treat them by using our heads.

Eighty percent of the complaints that cause us to seek primary medical care are directly related to deficiencies in one of the four primary brain chemicals. Initial brain chemical deficiencies exhibit themselves as mild symptoms that, if properly recognized, can be self-treated with specific diets, over-the-counter supplements, and lifestyle/ environment changes. To restore your health, restore your brain chemistry.

And when you do something about your early deficiencies, you'll not only feel better now-without resorting to drugs and surgery-you'll postpone or avoid the ravages of aging later.


New Body, New Brain

Cloned and manufactured body parts, gene therapies, nanotechnology, and miracle drugs will deliver the promise of increased life expectancy. But studies have shown that 50% of those reaching the age of 85, and virtually all of those reaching the age of 120, will be senile. So what good will it be living longer, if you can't enjoy your restored body?

The last organ to be duplicated, if it ever is, will be the marvelous human brain, so it is incumbent upon us to take good care of the one we already have. Medical Science has given all of us the means to do so.

Each of the four primary brain chemicals, called neurotransmitters, is responsible for a specific brain function. When deficiencies first occur, specific functional symptoms related to the deficient neurotransmitter present. Ignored, or treated superficially, initial deficiencies will develop into full-blown conditions that demand serious medical intervention with concomitant risks, side effects-and poor prognoses in many cases.

Alzheimer's doesn't occur overnight; as with heart and vascular disease, it progresses over twenty years. If you keep your bad cholesterol low, you reduce the likelihood of heart attack and stroke; if your first lapses in memory are effectively addressed, you won't totally lose your mind later on.

Effective treatment of deficient neurotransmitters requires a two-prong approach:

1. Because each of the four primary brain chemicals has amino acid or vitamin precursors, specific nutrients can be obtained from diet and natural supplements to replenish it;

2. Behavioral and environmental changes can reduce, or totally halt, stresses to the brain that deplete its chemical stores.

A summary of the brain's four primary neurotransmitters, with their related deficiency symptoms, conditions, and treatments, follows:

Dopamine
Function: brain energy, or power.
Deficiency Symptoms:

*

Sugar/caffeine cravings
*

Fatigue
*

Lightheadedness
*

Weight gain
* Diminished libido


Deficiency Conditions:

*

Obesity
*

Addictions
* Sexual disorders


Natural Treatments:

*

Protein-rich diet (beef, fish, legumes)
*

Tyrosine, Phenylalanine, Rhodiola, and L-Methionine supplements
*

Weight-bearing exercise
*

Elimination of environmental lead and cadmium toxins
* Avoidance of electromagnetic fields (EMF) and microwave radiation


GABA
Function: brain rhythm, or calm
Deficiency Symptoms:

*

Carbohydrate craving
*

Trembling, twitching
*

Hyperventilation
*

Palpitations, fast pulse
*

Cold or clammy hands
* Ringing in ear, lump in throat, butterflies in stomach



Deficiency Conditions:

*

Anxiety
*

Hypertension
* Gastro-intestinal disorders


Natural Treatments:

*

Complex carbohydrate diet (whole grains, brown rice, halibut, broccoli, spinach)
*

GABA, Inositol, and Glycine supplements
*

Aerobic Exercise
*

Increased sleep
*

Elimination of environmental lead toxins
* Avoidance of EMF and microwave radiation


Acetylcholine
Function: Brain speed, or memory
Deficiency Symptoms:

*

Fat cravings
*

Memory lapses
*

Difficulty concentrating
*

Dry mouth
*

Urinary dysfunction Deficiency Conditions:
*

Dyslexia
*

Senility
* Alzheimer's


Natural Treatments:

*

Choline-rich diet (eggs, wheat germ, blueberries, cabbage, cauliflower)
*

CDP Choline, Huperzia serratea leaf extract, Phosphatidyl Choline, N-acetyl L-Carnitine supplements
*

Aerobic exercise
*

Elimination of environmental aluminum toxins
* Avoidance of EMF and microwave radiation


Serotonin:
Function: brain balance, or mood
Deficiency Symptoms:

*

Salt cravings
*

Backache
*

Headache
*

Shortness of breath
*

Sleep disorders Deficiency Conditions:
*

Insomnia
*

PMS
* Premature ejaculation


Natural Treatments:

*

Tryptophan-rich diet (turkey, cottage cheese, Swiss cheese, blue fish, mackerel, beets)
*

Thiamin, Niacinamide, Folic acid, B-12, Pantothenic Acid, 5-Hydroxy Tryptophan, St. John's Wort supplements
*

Aerobic exercise
*

Increased sleep
*

Elimination of pesticide and plastic environmental toxins
* Avoidance of EMF and microwave radiation


Life Studies
Neurotransmitter deficiencies can be correlated to the deterioration of health over a lifetime. As mentioned above, left untreated, early deficiencies will evolve into serious illnesses. Listed below are the neurotransmitter-specific health decline timelines:

* The Path of Dopamine Deficiency: attention difficulties at 10 years old; fatigue in the 30s; obesity in the 40s; sexual dysfunction in the 50s; heart attack in the 60s.


* The Path of GABA Deficiency: the anxious teenager hyperventilates; develops trembles and twitches during the 20s; palpitations in the 30s; hypertension in the 40s; gastro-intestinal disorders and/or severe menopause in the 50s; stroke in the 60s.


* The Path of Acetylcholine Deficiency: histrionic as a teenager; underachievement during college; confused thinking and lack of job and career stability during 20s and 30s; detachment and isolation in the 40s; memory lapses in the 50s; Alzheimer's in the 60s.


* The Path of Serotonin Deficiency: anxious youth develops multiple aches and pains as a teenager; migraines in the 20s; backaches and slipped disks, alcohol dependency, in the 30s; liver/kidney ailments, enlarged heart, insomnia, 40s; depression, alcoholism, 50s; liver disease, 60s. The above health declines can be reversed in the 30s, 40s, and 50s-as long as one knows how to correctly identify, and restore, the appropriate brain chemical.

Your Brain Prescription

While each us has all four primary neurotransmitters, each of us has one that is dominant over the others. We call this your nature. Your dominant brain chemical, together with a unique combination of the other three brain chemicals, defines who you are and why you are good at what you do. And its deficiency is the cause when you don't feel well, or just feel out of sorts.

The manuscript includes a test for identifying your dominant neurotransmitter and neurotransmitter deficiencies. Four natural treatment programs are presented to address a deficiency in any of the primary neurotransmitters. Also included are typical patient case studies, correlated to brain chemical deficiencies, that review the most common complaints that result in primary care visits:

* Dopamine: 34-year-old male with chronic fatigue and weight gain;
* GABA: 46-year-old female with anxiety and peri-menopause;
* Acetylcholine: 52-year-old female with detachment and memory loss;
* Serotonin: 41-year-old male with insomnia and premature ejaculation.


Using Your Head, Your Health Is In Your Hands

Books abound with diet prescriptions, with the connection between the mind and the body, with exercise programs, and with information about the latest supplements available both here and abroad. Most have some value, but all circle around the essential issue without hitting the mark-the four primary brain chemicals.

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates ascribed symptoms and behaviors to four temperaments; Galen, an ancient Roman physician, further developed this early theory and classified behavior into four humors; anatomical study in the 18th and 19th centuries identified four primary brain lobes; brain chemicals were part of pharmaceutical discoveries in the century leading up to the 1950s; neurologists then discovered four primary brainwaves; in the late 20th century, psychologists and psychiatrists classified four behavioral temperaments, thus completing a well-rounded circle with the first physicians.

21st-century medicine unifies all previous theory: four brain chemicals in four brain lobes generate four electrical brainwaves which explain four types of behavior, four groups of physical symptoms, four classes of medical conditions-and four paths for the effective restoration of health.

But can brain chemicals, and health, really be restored by an individual using natural means? Yes, they can be.

The simple solutions are often the best ones. Think how much better you feel after a good night's sleep. Why is that? Because the brain naturally restores its chemicals during restful sleep; what could be simpler than that?

When sleep alone is insufficient to restore health, what we are doing with natural approaches is helping the brain do what comes naturally.

The fact of the matter is, serious medical conditions, which must be addressed with powerful drugs or invasive procedures, originate as common minor ones. When one treats the latter as soon as they present, one can avoid the risks and complications of the former, and enjoy a longer life in total health. Tweet