I have been taking GABA from the health food store for a month. My stomach and ribcage are no longer spontaneously clenched. I am more relaxed and calm, and have a spontaneous desire to stand up straight and even to exercise! I can breathe more deeply. I feel more optimistic and positive. I took the first dose at night. Usually when I wake up and my brain engages, my stomach and ribcage become clenched. If I consciously relaxed, they would be clenched again within seconds. The first morning after taking the GABA, when I woke up and my brain engaged, I noticed that my stomach and ribcage were not clenched. This has been the case for all the time I have taken GABA - I have been unclinched. My lungs expand easier, and I do not feel like I have a weight pressing in on my breastbone giving me a concave chest.
I am taking half a 750 mg capsule morning and night. Previously I had taken a whole capsule and it made me depressed immediately. I had only taken 1 capsule for one day on two different occasions. Then I decided to take a cue from those that take Neurontin and start small and work up.
I had my first botox injection October 10. Although my voice improved, the clenching did not. When I started taking GABA my voice volume increased and the scratchiness disappeared. I don't know if this is the natural cycle of the botox or if the GABA affected it. But I feel the GABA is helping my voice and I know it is helping my breathing and I have a sense of calm confidence that I did not have before. Twice I have skipped a GABA at night on purpose, and both times the next morning my voice was scratchy.
I researched more and found that Baclofen (a drug also used for SD) is a GABA agonist (helper). The drug Neurontin (gabapentin) which many SDers are praising, is very close structurally to GABA. GABA is a well-known inhibitor of presynaptic transmission in the Central Nervous System. GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) is available in the health food store.
Side Effects: Twice I have taken one benadryl and both times it nearly wiped me out for two days. Previously benadryl didn't affect me this way. I also started dreaming more and remembering my dreams. They are usually just playful dreams.
I also take B complex vitamins, calcium, magnesium, vitamin E and EPA fish oil daily.
I am not a doctor. I am simply passing on my personal experience with taking GABA.
Micki
I don't know if this post was meant to be serious or not (from the subject) but I felt compelled to respond. GABA is absolutely not the same thing as Baclofen. And yes, Baclofen can have some pretty serious side effects (including, in rare cases, dystonia and dyskinesia -- even though I know it is used to treat dystonia in some cases and I'm not saying I object to that but instead just reporting what I've read). Yes, many of the drugs used to treat dystonia act similarly, but that does not mean they are one in the same, to be taken by patients on a whim because some similar drug helped someone else. I once heard in a chat room that Baclofen is the same thing as Klonopin and Ativan. But I won't even get into that here.The point is, I think it's a little dangerous the way drug names are tossed around this bulletin board sometimes, to the point that people are confusing them to such an extent. I certainly hope that people are not just taking these medications, herbs, vitamins, etc., after reading subjective and unconfirmed success stories on a bulletin board, *arguably out of desperation*, without being carefully watched by a qualified expert who regularly treats SD and/or dystonia. But that's just my personal opinion.
-Laurie
--modified by Laurie at Mon, Dec 10, 2001, 19:10:03