I didn't like the way I looked, for one thing. You're kind of out of control emotionally when you drink that much. I was quicker to anger."
Mr. Carradine had often thought about suicide. In a 2004 interview, he said he used to keep a loaded gun in his desk drawer and contemplated using it many times
Anxiety and depression may be the result of shortages of key brain chemicals that can be restored naturally. Give the brain the amino acids it needs and feel your mind start to glow again.
If you're one of the millions who suffer from anxiety or depression, the next time you reach for the Valium or Prozac, consider amino acids as an alternative instead. these protein building blocks may be the key to reversing long-standing anxiety and depression, according to Harold Whitcomb, M.D., and biochemical nutritionist Phyllis Bronson. They regularly prescribe amino acids for their clients at the Aspen (Colorado) Clinic for Preventive and Environmental Medicine.
Mood, behavior, and brain biochemistry are intricately linked. Depression and anxiety may be the result of flawed message-sending in the biochemical brain, flawed because key brain chemicals called neurotransmitters are in short supply. They're short because the body's amino acid pool (from which they're made) is itself low. For example, deficiencies in the amino acid GABA are strongly correlated with states of anxiety. Add to this the negative effect of high levels of heavy metals commonly found in the body. Aluminum, mercury, lead, and copper can make the body toxic, interfere with brain function, and contribute to depression and anxiety, say Whitcomb and Bronson.
Shore up the amino acid pool with the deficient or missing elements and flush the toxic metals out of the body and you start seeing dramatic improvements in both depression and anxiety, report Whitcomb and Bronson. "By using supplements of the amino acids that make up specific neurotransmitters, you can actually change the nature and intensity of the brain messages they carry and thus the emotions they affect
When an individual ingests alcohol, it facilitates the ability of GABA to open chloride ion channels, so that greater amounts of chloride ion move from the extracellular to the intracellular space. With chronic use of alcohol, the GABA system is down-regulated and the neuron may eventually become dependent on alcohol to enable GABA to function.
At the same time, the excitatory glutamate system is up-regulated, as well as calcium-channel activity. If alcohol is withdrawn, GABA alone is no longer capable of opening the chloride ion channel, which results in a very excitable cell that is easily stimulated by excitatory postsynaptic potentials. This cellular hyperexcitability is responsible for the irritability, insomnia, hallucinations, tachycardia, hypertension and, in the case of abrupt cessation of long-time alcohol use, seizures. As one faculty member (RM) expressed it, an apt analogy might be an automobile with a stuck accelerator and no brakes.