It’s All in Your Head – Part 2

Seriously, your fatigue could literally be all in your head.

By this I mean your brain chemistry might be out of balance, causing your fatigue. This was the case with my fatigue.

There are many different brain chemicals, or neurotransmitters, but in Part 2 of our 3 part series I will talk about: dopamine.

Dopamine

Dopamine is one of our main neurotransmitters. Dopamine helps keep you mentally focused, with good concentration and good memory. Dopamine in made from the amino acid tyrosine.

Symptoms of Dopamine Deficiency

When dopamine levels are low, common symptoms are:

  • fatigue
  • lack of mental focus/poor concentration
  • foggy brain
  • cravings or intense cravings
  • weight gain and difficulty losing weight
  • depression
  • tremors
  • restless legs
  • low self-confidence

Dopamine imbalance can also cause:

  • Addictive Behaviors
  • Compulsive Tendencies (OCD)
  • Restless Leg Syndrome
  • Tremors
  • Parkinson’s symptoms

Testing Dopamine

Brain Balancing—MTO Testing

Brain Balancing—MTO testing offers great promise for treating fatigue from a natural medicine standpoint.

MTO stands for Monoamine Transporter Optimization. It’s a mouthful, I know. Monoamines are serotonin and dopamine…your brain chemicals.

Without getting too technical, this is basically a way to assess your dopamine and serotonin levels with simple urine testing. You take a prescribed amount of amino acid supplements for a week, and then collect your urine for testing.

Treatment for Dopamine

Depending on how your body reacted to the amino acid supplements, a new recipe of amino acids may be prescribed for a week, and then another urine test is run.

Testing and treatment continue in this manner until the “brain balancing formula” for you is found.

By “brain balancing formula,” I mean the right cocktail of balanced amino acids to keep your serotonin and dopamine at optimal levels. This cocktail varies from person to person, and actually does not depend on the severity of the fatigue.

If you have any of the symptoms of dopamine deficiency besides fatigue, even if it’s just a foggy brain, then Brain Balancing—MTO testing may be for you.

Please note: Dopamine is only Part 2 of the story. Watch for Part 3 where I will explain the key dietary factor that has the biggest impact on your neurotransmitter levels.

Make a promise to yourself starting today:

Stop feeling lousy…rotten…awful…crummy…miserable…terrible…crappy.

Find a good Functional Medicine doctor to help you get to the root cause of your health problems.

Like I always say:

Find the cause.

Fix the cause.

Feel normal again!

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Dr. Carri Drzyzga, DC, ND – The Functional Medicine Doc

Find the Cause. Fix the Cause. Feel Normal Again!

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