Correcting the neurotransmitter imbalances by optimizing levels with neurotransmitter precursors improves the overall signaling within the neurons and results in systemic improvement of symptoms

Neurotransmitter checklist-Would you benefit from Neurotransmitter therapy
General Diagnosis's that result from imbalances
_____Insomnia/sleep Disorder
_____Chronic Fatigue
_____Fibromyalgia/Chronic Pain 
_____ADD or ADHD
_____Autism
_____Migraines
_____Depression
_____Panic Attacks
_____Stress related illnesses
_____"It's All in your head" Diagnosis
_____Chemical Imbalance
_____Diabetes
_____Weight problems
_____Hormonal imbalance
_____PMS
_____Hypertension

Section One Serotonin
Low Serotonin -

Carbohydrate craving
Migraines
PMS
Depression
Insomnia-Problems falling asleep
Obsessive-compulsive behavior
Panic attacks

High Serotonin
sedation 
decrease in sexual drive
heart valve problems
altered mental status 
agitation 
confusion/delirium
neuromuscular hyperactivity (restlessness, incoordination, hyperreflexia, myoclonus, rigidity, and tremors)
autonomic dysfunction (abdominal pain, diarrhea, diaphoresis, fever, elevated and fluctuating blood pressure, flushed
          skin, mydriasis, tearing, salivation, shivering, and tachycardia)

Section two Dopamine-

Low Dopamine
Sugar/caffeine cravings
Fatigue/lightheadedness
Pallor
Diarrhea
Decreased libido
Routine-task difficulty
Decreased physical activity
Low mood
Sleep disorders
Alcohol/drug abuse
Neurotoxity

High Dopamine+
Autism
ADD ADHD
Hyperactivity
Parkinson's Syndrome
Abuse victim
Can be caused by high carb diet

Section Three-Norepherine

High Norepherine +

High blood pressure
Insulin resistance
Increased stress response
Obesity

Low Norepherine-

Fibromyalgia
Mood disorders
Chocolate Cravings
PMS
Can be caused by strenuous exercise

ADHD and Exercise in the Child, Teen and Adult

Exercise has a profound affect on ADHD and the child, teen or adult. In addition to promoting health, a regular exercise program can modifying behavior in the ADHD child and may even promote brain growth.

Aerobic exercise increases levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters provide emotional stability, the ability to focus, mental alertness and calmness. Conversely, a deficiency in neurotransmitters can cause depression, mood swings, irritability, anxiety, attention problems, stress and sleep problems.

Exercise also releases endorphins, the opiate-classified messengers of our emotional system that elevate mood, increase pleasure and minimize pain.

The degree of chemical change is dependent on the intensity, duration and frequency of the aerobic activity.

Current fitness and exercise research makes a correlation between an active lifestyle and positive changes in brain chemistry, brain growth and development. Studies also show that exercise has a positive affect on curbing negative behaviors common in the ADHD child.

A 2001 State University of New York, Buffalo study showed the positive benefits of exercise on ADHD children. The study group - ADHD children between the ages of 5 and 12 - participated in 40 minutes of intense exercise five days per week.

Children involved in this study showed a significant improvement in behavior over the six-week duration of the study. Behavior changes were generally noticeable two to four weeks after beginning the exercise program and children with oppositional behaviors made the greatest improvements with exercise.

This study makes good common sense; give hyperactive an outlet for their excess energy and they will have less to cause trouble with.

National statistics show that today’s children are increasingly less active than children 10 years ago. Not so coincidentally, psychosomatic disorders and ADHD prescriptions have skyrocketed over the same time frame.

If you have an ADHD child or teen or if you are an adult with ADHD, the kindest most healthy treatment plan is one that focuses on routine intense aerobic exercise, and one that includes a nutritious diet and an attentional supplement program to fill any gaps.

The child, teen or adult with ADHD needs to incorporate at least 30 minutes of activity to each day. At least 20 minutes of this exercise needs to be at a moderate to intense level. Below are a few aerobic exercises to incorporate into your and your child’s life:

_ Bicycling at 10 mph.
_ Brisk walking at 4 mph (15 minutes/mile).
_ Jogging.
_ Hiking.
_ Ice skating.
_ In-line skating or roller skating.
_ Jumping roping.
_ Raking leaves.
_ Shoveling snow.
_ Skateboarding.
_ Washing and waxing the car.
_ Weight training.
_ Circuit training.

It is important for an adult to make the exercise effort a family affair. An adult displaying a positive attitude and a shared interest in exercise supports and encourages the child or teen to follow suit. This may be the time to start addressing those extra pounds that have made way to the body over the years. Source: The ADD ADHD Help Center

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What Causes Autism?

The National Institutes of Health has been funding several research projects to help identify the causes of autism, in hopes of someday developing better treatment for and prevention of the disorder. The following is reprinted from the website of the National Institutes of Health, at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/autism.cfm.

It is generally accepted that autism is caused by abnormalities in brain structures or functions. Using a variety of new research tools to study human and animal brain growth, scientists are discovering more about normal development and how abnormalities occur.

The brain of a fetus develops throughout pregnancy. Starting out with a few cells, the cells grow and divide until the brain contains billions of specialized cells, called neurons. Research sponsored by NIMH and other components at the National Institutes of Health is playing a key role in showing how cells find their way to a specific area of the brain and take on special functions. Once in place, each neuron sends out long fibers that connect with other neurons. In this way, lines of communication are established between various areas of the brain, and between the brain and the rest of the body. As each neuron receives a signal, it releases chemicals called neurotransmitters, which pass the signal to the next neuron. By birth, the brain has evolved into a complex organ with several distinct regions and subregions, each with a precise set of functions and responsibilities.

But brain development does not stop at birth. The brain continues to change during the first few years of life, as new neurotransmitters become activated and additional lines of communication are established. Neural networks are forming and creating a foundation for processing language, emotions, and thought.

However, scientists now know that a number of problems may interfere with normal brain development. Cells may migrate to the wrong place in the brain. Or, due to problems with the neural pathways or the neurotransmitters, some parts of the communication network may fail to perform. A problem with the communication network may interfere with the overall task of coordinating sensory information, thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Researchers supported by NIMH and other NIH Institutes are scrutinizing the structures and functions of the brain for clues as to how a brain with autism differs from the normal brain. In one line of study, researchers are investigating potential defects that occur during initial brain development. Other researchers are looking for defects in the brains of people already known to have autism.

Scientists are also looking for abnormalities in the brain structures that make up the limbic system. Inside the limbic system, an area emotional behavior. One study of high-functioning children with autism found that the amygdala was indeed impaired but that another area of the brain, the hippocampus, was not. In another study, scientists followed the development of monkeys whose amygdala was disrupted at birth. Like children with autism, as the monkeys grew, they became increasingly withdrawn and avoided social contact.

Differences in neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers of the nervous system, are also being explored. For example, high levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin have been found in a number of people with autism. Since neurotransmitters are responsible for passing nerve impulses in the brain and nervous system, it is possible that they are involved in the distortion of sensations that accompanies autism.

NIMH grantees are also exploring differences in overall brain function, using a technology called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify which parts of the brain are boys, NIMH researchers observed that during problem-solving and language tasks, teenagers with autism were not only less successful than peers without autism, but the MRI images of their brains showed less activity. In a study of younger children, researchers observed low levels of activity in the parietal areas and the corpus callosum. Such research may help scientists determine whether autism reflects a problem with specific areas of the brain, or with the transmission of signals from one part of the brain to another.

Each of these differences has been seen in some but not all the people with autism who were tested. What could this mean? Perhaps the term autism actually covers several different disorders, each caused by a different problem in the brain. Or perhaps the various brain differences are themselves caused by a single underlying disorder that scientists have not yet identified. Discovering the physical basis of autism should someday allow us to better identify, treat, and possibly prevent it.

This article originally appeared in an issue of “Science in Autism Treatment”, the newsletter of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT). It may not be republished or reprinted without advance permission from ASAT. For more information about ASAT, please contact them at www.asatonline.org or 207-253-6008.

Serotonin Imbalance in Autism

Neurotransmitters are powerful chemical messengers that carry messages to and from the brain. These messages are everything that you do, think, say, feel, hear, smell, touch, and taste. The main neurotransmitters are serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.

An imbalance in serotonin is believed to cause many of the characteristic symptoms of autism. This serotonin imbalance can lead to sleep disturbances, speech delays, and sensory integration problems, as serotonin regulates

*sleep
*mood
*speech
*sensory integration
*body temperature
*appetite

This imbalance occurs when the neurotransmitter serotonin doesn't properly carry the message to the proper portion of the brain. Rather, the serotonin is prematurely 'swept away' for reuse in the re-uptake process before the brain has a chance to receive and make sense of the incoming messages.

For example, if I tell you "Go close the door," neurotransmitters carry the sound of my voice from your ear to the portion of your brain that understands language in order for you to make sense of what I've said. This is auditory processing...the brain processing the sounds that the ear detects.

Many children with autism, however, have great difficulty with auditory processing because the neurotransmitters aren't properly carrying the sounds from the ear to the correct portion of the brain. Many autistic children also have difficulty with sensory integration for the same reason: they don't perceive sensations the way 'typical' children do because the messages aren't carried properly to the brain. Before the message is received and processed, it is swept away in the reuptake process.

It is often difficult for autistic children to discern what is important stimuli and what is not, or which sensation they should focus on and which they should tune out. The serotonin imbalance makes it extremely difficult for them to tune out unnecessary stimulation. The result can be self-stimulation, or repetitve actions such as rocking, spinning, and hand-flapping that the child performs to help calm themselves from the flurry of stimulation that they are unable to tune out.

Because the messages aren't properly delivered, some things they should notice they don't notice at all, such as when a parent calls out her child's name and the child seems not to hear the parent at all. Many parents of autistic children report initially thinking their child had a hearing impairment, only to discover their child's hearing falls into normal ranges upon having a hearing evaluation. Often, the problem is not with the child's hearing; rather, it is with the neurotransmitters not carrying the sounds from the ear to the brain properly. They are not 'tuning in' to their parents because of all the other stimuli that has grabbed their attention.

It is often difficult for them to tune certain things out, such as the sound of a flickering fluorescent light or constant motion of a ceiling fan. This is the result of a neurotransmitter failing to complete its job to deliver messages to and from the brain, leaving the child unable to discern which stimuli s/he should attend to and which stimuli can be tuned out.

Sometimes, everyday sounds are exaggerated for them, actually causing them discomfort and possibly pain, such as the sound of the toilet flushing or the whir of a hair dryer (which Temple Grandin claimed sounded to her like a jet plane). It is believed that this sound sensitivity is caused by serotonin imbalance.

Another major problem often seen in autism is sleep disturbance . The neurotransmitter serotonin also regulates the release of melatonin, the body's natural sleep aid that helps establish a sleep cycle. My three-year-old autistic son was locked into a pattern of taking naps at 8:00 pm and finally going to sleep at 3:00 a.m. every night. Nothing I did seemed to help him. It didn't matter if I woke him up early or tried to keep him up from his nap. Attempts to get him to bed at a decent hour made everyone miserable, as he would yell and keep everyone awake.

My son's problem was with his body's release of melatonin at inappropriate times. His body was literally keeping him awake until those late hours in the morning. This was a result of a serotonin imbalance.

A serotonin imbalance in autism as described here can lead to

*Sensory Integration Problems
*Auditory Processing Problems
*Speech Delays
*Repetitive Behaviors
*Self-stimulation
*Sleep Disturbances

Many professionals believe that one way to successfully help treat these problems that are typical in autism is to use Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. We believe they put one's adrenal system at risk and have other negative side effects. Amino acid supplements will improve serotonin levels in a safer and healthier way. There are many choices for amino acid products through out our website.