The Story
Neurotransmitters and Undermethylation
Alex was 21, a university student whose life had been taken over by panic attacks, severe anxiety, racing thoughts, and insomnia. His GP put him on an SSRI and told him it was college stress. But Alex had never been anxious before university.
Something had changed, and nobody was looking for what. His organic acids test revealed severely depleted dopamine and serotonin precursors, critically low glutathione, and high Clostridia markers producing neurotoxins in his gut. His blood work showed a pyrrole disorder that was chronically depleting his zinc and B6, the very nutrients his brain needed to manufacture its own neurotransmitters. The SSRI was treating the symptom. The underlying drivers had never been identified.