Serotonin Deficiency -Depression, Irritability and Obsession

Consequences of Serotonin Deficiency

If you have low energy, depressed mood, negative thoughts, feel tense and irritable, crave sweets, and have less interest in physical activity, you may have a serotonin deficiency.

Serotonin deficiency occurs when your body does not have enough serotonin activity.

Serotonin deficiency can cause physical and psychological symptoms.

Psychological Consequences of Serotonin Deficiency

Serotonin deficiency depression, irritability and obsession

Serotonin Deficiency

Deficiency of a neurotransmitter called serotonin, which the body creates from tryptophan, can cause a type of depression characterized by sadness, irritability or aggressive outbursts, anxiety, sleep problems, and obsessions.

Tryptophan is an amino acid found in proteins that we ingest with food. Once in our body, it is transformed into 5-HTP which, in turn, is converted to serotonin, a neurotransmitter that controls mood, sleep (serotonin is a precursor of the sleep hormone, melatonin), the sex drive, appetite and pain threshold, among other functions. Both tryptophan and 5-HTP can be purchased at any herbalist.

Symptoms caused by serotonin deficiency

Lack of this neurotransmitter can produce a wide variety of symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, irritability, panic, premenstrual syndrome, sleep problems, or muscle pain. Some people have only some of the symptoms, while others may have many of them.

Negativity — When serotonin levels are adequate, your brain is capable of producing positive thoughts and emotions, while when they are too low negativity predominates, you tend to think about what you need to do or what you have done wrong instead of being proud of your achievements, you see the downside of everything and are easily irritated by anything.

Anxiety and obsession — Serotonin deficiency can cause a type of depression in which the person feels restless and anxious. She is worried, obsessed thinking about a problem or negative experience and her behavior can also become obsessive or rigid (for example, she is a perfectionist, she has trouble leaving something for later even if she is exhausted, etc.).

Irritability — The person feels irritated, impatient, may have violent outbursts that are difficult to control, or respond poorly to loved ones, with criticism and intolerance.

Sadness - Negative thoughts and feelings appear frequently, you feel unhappy and think that you will always be unhappy and nothing will ever improve, you see everything black, you do not see a happy future, your thinking is pessimistic and you can think about suicide.

Low self-esteem — They also tend to have low self-esteem, lack of confidence, fear, panic, shyness or social anxiety, and a tendency to criticize themselves harshly, think that they are not doing enough, that they are not worth enough, and feeling guilty and/or shame or come to hate themselves.

Sleep problems — Have trouble falling asleep at night or waking up too early in the morning, or several times during the night.

Causes of serotonin deficiency

This deficiency can be caused by a lack of tryptophan in your diet due to not taking enough protein (meat, eggs, fish, chicken), or because it is being inhibited by alcohol, caffeine or artificial sweeteners such as aspartame. 

Chronic stress can also lower your serotonin levels since your brain must use more of it to keep you calm and focused in times of stress.

Women produce less serotonin than men, so they are more likely to need supplements.

Serotonin is stimulated by sunlight, so the lack of sun can affect you, feeling depressed especially in winter. Thus, a serotonin deficiency can produce a seasonal affective disorder. 

Many of the foods we consume today are of poor quality because the soils for crops are poor in minerals, as opposed to organic products, whose quality is much higher.

If you are a vegetarian, you are even more likely to be eating a low level of tryptophan because most plant foods contain much less tryptophan than animal proteins.

If you were not breastfed as a child, the formula used to feed you may have been low in tryptophan, putting children at risk for a serotonin deficiency and creating sleep problems. 

Human milk has a higher proportion of tryptophan than cow's or soy milk.

Low-fat diets can also lead to serotonin deficiency, since fat helps increase the availability of tryptophan in the brain. Negativity, anger and irritability increase with low-fat diets.

Tryptophan or 5-HTP?

5-HTP is obtained from a plant called Griffonia simplicifolia, in addition to being cheaper than tryptophan, it will be transformed directly into serotonin. It should be taken on an empty stomach. 50 mg capsules are used, which is the dose you should start with. Take one capsule mid-afternoon and another before bed, increasing the dose if you see that it is not enough.

Tryptophan not only produces serotonin, but also niacin (vitamin B3) and various enzymes and proteins, making it more nutritious. If you are deficient in vitamin B3, your body may use tryptophan to make that vitamin before serotonin. It should be taken on an empty stomach and preferably with fruit juice to facilitate its absorption. 500 mg capsules are taken (in the same way as for 5-HTP).

Both need some B vitamins, magnesium and vitamin C to become serotonin, so it is advisable to take a supplement of the entire B complex (50 mg, 2 capsules at breakfast and 2 at dinner), vitamin C with bioflavonoids (1000 mg of vitamin C and between 300 and 500 mg of bioflavonoids, twice a day, with breakfast and with dinner) and magnesium (between 200 and 400 mg 2 times a day, with breakfast and with dinner).

Sometimes this may be enough, but you may also have other amino acids, vitamin, or mineral deficiencies, or you may also need psychotherapy. However, correcting possible nutritional deficiencies should always be the first step in any type of treatment. There is no point in pretending that they fix a car in a workshop when what happens to it is that it does not have gasoline, right?

Article by: THEMESMOB