Alcoholism and Amino Acid Therapy

George Bernard Shaw once said that “alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life.”  Those who suffer from the disease of alcoholism have the inability to deal with daily life stressors. As Christina Veselak, the founder of the Academy for Addiction and Mental Health Nutrition says, “they have an inability to gracefully cope with the stresses of life.” These stresses lead to moodiness, irritability, depression, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, stress, etc. With an inability to cope gracefully, they self-medicate with the one thing that their body craves to help numb these overwhelming feelings from the pressures of normal living, alcohol. 

In "Staying Clean and Sober," Dr. Miller expands on this idea, stating that those struggling with addiction are continuously seeking ways to alter the brain chemicals that help us feel good, specifically the ones linked to addiction: endorphins, enkephalins, serotonin, dopamine, and GABA. Research indicates that alcoholism significantly depletes neurotransmitters, particularly serotonin (our natural antidepressant) and GABA (our natural tranquilizer).

Serotonin Deficiency

The function of serotonin is to help provide mood regulation. Serotonin is our natural “Prozac.” It allows us to be in a good mood, have a positive outlook on life, and to be emotionally stable. We are able to feel well, relaxed, and comfortable. However, when we abuse alcohol, we rapidly deplete the serotonin that is built up in the brain. We become depressed – a very anxious and agitated depression according to Christina Veselak. We have difficulty sleeping since our serotonin is so low our body is unable to convert it into melatonin.  She goes on to explain that when others are serotonin deficient they can experience social anxiety, low self-esteem, poor concentration, confusion, aggressiveness and violence, sugar or carbohydrate cravings, and increased sensitivity to pain.  Others might have OCD, perfectionism, being super controlling or rigid in their thinking, holding grudges, an inability to forgive others, or constantly worrying and ruminating with obsessive thinking. In the addiction realm, serotonin is depleted by alcoholism, as well as abuse of sugar, starches, ecstasy, marijuana, and SSRIs. 

GABA Deficiency

The function of GABA is to help us slow down and relax, to cope with the demands of our busy lives. GABA is our natural tranquilizer, as well as our natural anticonvulsant. According to Christina Veselak, when operating at its optimal function, GABA allows us to have muscle relaxation, to be resilient and able to tolerate stressful events. It can help us wind down in the evening and help us receive a restful night’s sleep. It helps us remain calm, organized and focused with the ability to complete tasks. We are able to filter out distracting stimuli. However, when the brain becomes deficient in GABA, we become stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed. Some people suffer from GI distress like IBS, while others experience very tight muscles, and suffer from restless sleep at night. They become highly sensitive and highly distractible leading to a diagnosis of ADHD. Those with GABA deficiencies can start having tremors that can lead to seizures. In the addiction realm, GABA is depleted by alcoholism, as well as abuse of marijuana, sugar, starches, tobacco and benzodiazepines. 

Reactive Hypoglycemia

Chronic alcoholism leads to malnutrition. It depletes almost all of our nutrients. Most alcoholics end up drinking their calories, and not eating them. There is a common myth out there, that alcohol contains sugar. However, that is not the case. Julia Ross explains it as “alcohol acts just like sugar biochemically, only more so. It contains more calories per gram, and it gets into your bloodstream faster.” She goes on to state that “another of the primary reasons people get addicted to alcohol is that their blood sugar levels tend to drop too low, too often.” She quotes that “over 95% of alcoholics are hypoglycemic.” When drinking alcohol or eating a high carb meal, the blood sugar levels in the body rise. The pancreas releases an overproduction of insulin, causing the blood sugar to drop. But because the alcoholic isn’t eating protein, there is nothing to help gradually decline the blood sugar level. So, it drops drastically. When this happens, there is a sudden burst of adrenaline that is released as well as stored sugar. This is when we go into flight or fight mode. This is when we start having very intense cravings and experience symptoms such as sweating, tremors, nausea, irritability, depression, aggressiveness, fatigue, confusion, and anxiety. When this occurs, we lose all access to our prefrontal cortex, where the recovery toolbox is located. All willpower goes out the window. The brain knows that the one quick fix to this problem is to drink alcohol.

Cofactor Depletion

Research shows that alcoholism impairs the digestion tract and other organs that causes mal-digestion and mal-absorption which leads to malnutrition and other deficits. Alcohol blocks the absorption of key nutrients. This leads to depression, anxiety, mental confusion, fatigue, inability to concentrate or tolerate pain, insomnia, muscle cramps, weakness, liver damage, etc. Dr. Joan Mathews Larson, author of Seven Weeks to Sobriety, describes the use of alcohol on the body by saying alcohol “undermines physical health and mental stability by destroying the vital nutrients responsible for their maintenance. Alcoholism can be conquered by undoing this damage.”

BTG’s Treatment Philosophy

Here at Bridging the Gaps our goal is to treat the underlying issues so that our clients that suffer from alcoholism can have sustained life lasting recovery. The number one most effective and remarkable treatment modalities that set us apart from other treatment providers, is that we integrate healthy nutritious eating with amino acid therapy. Our goal in doing this is to restore the brain chemistry that has been depleted by chronic alcohol use.  We do this by targeting the depleted neurotransmitters. 

Protein

Alcohol addiction is driven by a starving brain. We know that our clients haven’t been eating healthy, heck some of them haven’t been eating at all. So, we start off by feeding the starving brain. The first question we ask them is “When was the last time you ate?” We are unable to get anywhere in our assessment process, if there is no food in their brain. We teach our clients the need to focus on high protein, healthy fats, and low carb intake. We teach our clients that when alcoholics consume things like white flour, white sugar, and caffeine, not only is it highly addictive, but it affects the body just like alcohol does. It can cause euphoria when consumed, but it also causes the blood sugar to drastically drop and mood swings to start occurring. We stress that it is essential to eat protein every 3-4 hours to help keep them stable and access their recovery toolbox.

Amino Acids

However, because our patients are so incredibly depleted, food is not enough. This is where our second step comes into play. We ask, "How does your addictive substance make you feel?" By posing this critical question, we can identify which neurotransmitters are depleted in the brain. We start targeting these depleted neurotransmitters by giving oral amino acids. Amino acids are commonly known as being the building blocks of protein. Essentially, we are giving them protein in food and protein in supplementation form in order to quickly jump start the brain into reversing the depletion of the neurotransmitters, we incorporate oral amino acids and the necessary cofactors to support them. 

Co-Factors

To target the co-factor deficiencies that alcoholism causes, we offer an array of co-factors that are essential to building neurotransmitters. If you go to any good alcohol detox facility, you will be placed on a multivitamin, folic acid and B1 (Thiamine). However, we know how vitally important Omega 3 Fatty Acids, SAM-e, NAC and all of the good B’s are. The founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson, spent his later years researching the effects of using Niacin to treat alcoholics. He found that Niacin helps alcoholics with “diarrhea, dementia, dermatitis and if untreated death,” as well as psychosis, depression and alcohol cravings. More can be read about this in “The Vitamin Cure for Alcoholism.” 

Replenished Brain Chemistry

In early recovery, since the brain chemistry is so incredibly depleted, the aminos are essential to help quickly replenish the depleted state. But it is crucial that we also focus on eating healthy, focusing on protein intake, and limiting substances that will off balance us (white flour, white sugar, caffeine).  This way by the time they leave treatment, not only will their brain chemistry be replenished but their body will be happily making their own neurotransmitters to keep the process going.  By integrating the amino acid therapy, we are ensuring that our clients have access to their recovery toolbox, so that long term recovery is indeed possible. That way when the stress of life comes their way, they can indeed “cope with stress gracefully” and not need to self-medicate.