Posted by Ame Sans Vie on October 15, 2003, at 18:43:03
In reply to Gaba safety and interaction question, posted by Seti on October 15, 2003, at 17:02:10
The problem with GABA is that it doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier in sufficient amounts in supplement form, and so is mostly useless as a mental health supplement. It may be beneficial to levels of human growth hormone throughout the rest of the body, however. If you want to supplement with GABA, try picamilon. Currently, you can really only find it online, but it's wonderful. It's a form of GABA and niacin that crosses the blood-brain barrier -- taking GABA together with niacin will not produce the same effect, just to avoid any confusion.
GABA supplements and picamilon should both be safe enough taken with Effexor, though I have no research to back this up. I can attest that I've taken picamilon with many medications, and still do take it -- never had a problem with any one of them. As for your initial reaction to the GABA + valerian root, I'd have to say that your sleep that night was much more plausibly due to the valerian.
poster:Ame Sans Vie
thread:269744
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20031003/msgs/269777.html