Taurine and Sarcosine for Schizoaffective Disorder

Medications
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Hello everyone,

I have been taking Sarcosine (N-MethylGlycine) for I think a year now and it’s supposed to help with glutamate balance in the CNS. I also just read that in schizophrenia, the enzyme GAD67 (Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase 67) (Which converts Glutamate into GABA, a much needed inhibitory neurotransmitter for schizo) can be INCREASED by taking taurine as a supplement. What are your thoughts on this? I’d like to ideally hear of personal stories and links to studies that support INCREASING GAD67. Thank you!

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There was a guy on here that was trying to treat his symptoms with taurine via energy drinks.

I don’t think it worked out well.

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I was just thinking that! The amount of sugar in those things would kill your pancreas before you reached an effective dose

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I’ve tried taurine as a supplement (not via energy drinks). It just acted as a mild sedative. But it eventually gave me neck pains after continued use so I had to stop.

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Taurine works as a agonist on the gaba system which is good in my case because I struggle with restlessness and a overactive mind. I take 500mg each day with no side-effects. I have taken it regulary for a couple of months now I think and also earlier on and off. I can’t really specify it’s effect, so it must be subtle, but then again I am taking a lot of supplements that target the GABA system, but the accumalative effects seems to be that it’s calming and slowing my brain down.

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Thank you for the comments! I will find a dose of pure Taurine (Not energy drinks!) and start out with a low dose and see what happens. I take Zoloft, Lithium, Latuda, Sarcosine, Omega 3, and I feel that trying Taurine (After consulting with my psychiatrist about it, because the doctor will have very useful info on it), will be a great way to increase GAD67 which will decrease glutamate and increase GABA.

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Taurine doesn’t give much difference. NAC is better. Though both reduce glutamate toxicity NAC seems better in this regard. Also Taurine can give insomnia as its usually added in energy drinks to remain alert.

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From my experience, Taurine can act as a soft sedative and Sarcosine can be a short lived cognitive enhancer.

Hope this helps.

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Doesn’t Sarcosine increase glutamate by boosting NMDA glutamate receptors? Thats what I read.

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I mean you’re taking two supplements that are opposing each other.

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I’m at work now but I will investigate and provide legitimate evidence from sources.

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I dunno any of this stuff. I’m on Abilify for schzioaffective . I don’t like it

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The glycine transport inhibitor sarcosine is an NMDA receptor co-agonist that differs from glycine.

In short, Sarcosine improves NMDA function by inhibiting Glycine uptake therefore keeping ambient concentrations of glycine in the synapse higher. It is slightly similar to how an SSRI with serotonin works by blocking the reuptake, therefore, increasing extracellular concentrations.

Sarcosine is a co-agonist at NMDA so having Sarcosine helps bring about the proper function of the receptor.

Sarcosine increases NMDA currents although Glycine is 430x more potent.

Sarcosine appears to help with intrinsic cellular function with more calcium influx and calcium derived potassium efflux, aka better signaling between cells.

With all of this being said… I am looking for a way to enhance Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase 67 (Schizophrenics have a huge decrease in this enzyme!). How can we get the brain to endogenously and/or exogenously create more of this enzyme? Big mystery solved if this can be figured out, because taking excessive glutamate and turning into more GABA is one of the reasons why the disorder does what it does. Comments welcome as usual.

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