Gamma-Aminobutyric acid

Hello,

Well I am 33 years old. I have worked in various jobs as a computer systems troubleshooter. I've got a pretty decent college education. I've got a pretty good understanding of the scientific method, an understanding which I've acquired if by no other means than reading the book by magician James Randi titled Flim Flam! (with introduction by Isaac Asimov...) wherein Randi examines all manner of chicanery, deception, self-deception, and general fallacy of reason. All of this is not to boast but merely to assert that I may be at least as smart as the average bear in the following observation and reasoning. (No warranty to this effect is implied, however.)

I live in the United States, a rather quaint country whose GNP is barely sufficient to sustain a struggling insurance industry, with but a mere pittance left over for such frivolities as medical science, so, my account will be coloured by anecdote as much as by the steady and sure investigation of professional medicine.

While attending high school I determined that my overall cognitive function was in some respects rather unsatisfactory, so I had myself tested at the local community college's learning disability programme. Some nice students ran me through a couple days of testing. The end result was rather disappointing; No learning disabilities to be found, except for partial colorblindness. I was already aware of my colorblindness, thank you very much.

Well eventually I did some reading on ADHD (aka ADD) and I determined that perhaps I have ADHD and perhaps I should try something in the anti-psychotic class of medication. I consulted with a psychiatrist who chatted with me for a few minutes, told me I was bipolar, and handed me some anti-psychotic medication samples (Depakote) with such promise and exuberance that I almost expected to find a golden ticket to the Chocolate Factory inside the package. Well, there was no golden ticket, instead there was a thick packet of thin paper full of small type describing all manner of excruciating side effects the lucky cobaye might expect, with the probability with which several such side effects might be encountered being enumerated to be on the order of approximately one out of three. I surmised that my 'psychiatrist' friend must have been some kind of idiot who had been left unattended in the room in which I found him, so I took this mix-up as a bad omen reflecting poorly on the controls and procedures in place at this office, and I resolved to try instead a different practice.

Well I did have better luck with the next psychiatrist. He displayed signs of engaging in due diligence such as taking pains to obtain my medical history, entreating me to interview my family and cousins vis-a-vis medical and psychiatric history, and so forth. His conclusion was the same - bipolar disorder... "with features of inattention, anxiety, and depression..."

Enter Gamma-Aminobutyric acid, known as GABA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Aminobutyric_acid

So with my shrink's skeptical permission, I proceeded to try GABA to treat my diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Observations by myself and my friends indicate that the GABA has been an effective treatment for me, alleviating not only symptoms of bipolar disorder, but also of ADHD (non-hyperactive type) as well. I've been taking the stuff for 15 months now.

So anyway, I was seeing a counselor the other day, and she suggested to me that I may have Asperger Syndrome. So I did some cursory reading on AS, and yes, yes indeed, I can confirm that I am just that weird. Guilty on all counts, in all respects. I suppose in the interest of medical science I'll try to get a professional opinion on the question. (It involves finding a new shrink in my HMO, as my previous shrink got the hell out of my HMO. Go figure.)

So it occurred to me that my observation might serve as a useful component of some theory or other about AS. The observation is that in my personal experience, GABA seems to have alleviated AS symptoms. I could not say if this mechanism is direct or indirect, meaning if it is helping the AS directly, or is merely treating symptoms of the AS, or merely treating co-morbid disorders or what.

Do remember: just because it's non-prescription doesn't mean it's not dangerous and doesn't have potentially serious side effects. Of particular concern is that the brain adapts to anti-psychotic medications such that after a few days or weeks, sudden discontinuation of the medication can provoke problems far more serious than what was being treated in the first place. It should only be taken under the care of a psychiatrist, if at all possible.

If GABA has any effect on ASD, my (layperson's) theory would be that it's because GABA acts as a neuro-inhibitor, slowing down some part of the brain that might be over-active. (The amygdala, perhaps?) I'd be interested to see a clinical examination of such a possibility translated into something that I could understand as a layperson with minimal medical understanding.

Thanks, and I hope the above info may be helpful,
-Elliot

Hi Elliot, and welcome to IAN.

Based on your post, I took a look at the medical literature to see if anything has been published on autism and GABA. There have indeed been studies conducted that link irregularities in GABA to autism, but these are exploratory at this point. To my knowledge, there are no scientifically validated treatments based on this at the present time.

An example of an exploratory study on this topic is Expression of GABA(B) receptors is altered in brains of subjects with autism: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19002745?dopt=abstract

As you said in your post, a physician should be consulted before any medication is used in an attempt to treat autism or co-occurring conditions (such as anxiety).