This is a topic I am knowledgable about but I just lost a long post inexplicably. Back soon when I have energy to contribute.

L-tyrosine is the largest component of a neutraceutical called Dopavite, developed with pwps in mind. I have taken Dopavite since soon after dx by datscan in 2003. I seem to have progressed slower than many here and attribute this in part to Dopavite. I got off all meds Sept 09 but I’m now very symptomatic. If you are on l-dopa you need to separate dopavite intake as you would do protein foods.

Other problems i have, which i believe connect to the pd are Vitiligo and idiopathic, at least until now, b12 deficiency.

I recently sent a saliva sample to 23andMe, free test for pwps. I wasn’t esp curious if pd was in my genes. I turned out to be low risk for pd. But I wanted information on mutations relating to methylation, a complex and essential physiological process. See http://www.dramyyasko.com/our-unique...ylation-cycle/

There are two main methylation gene defects, known as mthfr c677t and a1298c and about 50 lesser known, as opposed to less important, methylation related defects. How badly you methylate, and hence how badly you detox, esp your retention of heavy metals, is largely contingent on the combination of these defects you express and whether you are heterozygous or homozygous, carry one or two copies of the defect. It’s a matter of degree. An estimated 40 percent of American caucasions are heterozygous for one mthfr defect, which means their performance is down for processing folic acid into methylfolate necessary to utilise b12, essential for cns health. Furthermore, folic acid may be backing up in their system as a toxin. Many of the so called minor methylation defects are implicated in neurotransmitter pathways, including dopamine. Good l-tyrosine metabolism depends on good methylation as well.

I am heterozygous for A1298C but perhaps worse i have 17 other methylation defects as well.

Note: 23andMe only report the mthfr c677t defect, somewhat obscurely under neural tube defects. But they collect data on the other genes’ carrier status. You can obtain a fuller report by submitting your raw data from 23andMe to an online app at geneticgenie.org - for free or small donation.

More info at mthfr.net and mthfrSupport.com

A1298C is particularly implicated in neuro ailments like pd and pain syndromes involving parasthesias, from which i suffer greatly.

Where do I go from here? I have an appt booked with a doc interested in neutrigenomics and functional medicine. The goal is to work out a protocol of targeted nutritional workarounds to boost methylation pathways and eliminate some roadblocks.

I have a project in mind that might be worth considering. In whole or in part. I will try to get it across here but I may have a devil of a time. So bear with me if you will.

PD is far from being restricted to dopamine-related problems but you would never know from converations with a typical nero. (that is a typo but I like it. he is fiddling while my hair is aflame.)

There has been constructed a dandy little treehouse made from levodopa and that is used as a marker. But the picture is wrong and/or incomplete.

I had thought that some sort of compilation of anomalies in a simple database that could be constantly updated and each anomaly would have its own distinct card This is called a cardfile database and is very intuitive. Think of a small metal box of recipies in your kitchen.

So we set up a very simple file structure that we can shove all this data into that has heretofore been ignored and we see what falls out. In the old days (1970>) this was literally how computers worked. We would take a punchcard and divide its edge into, say, 80 little possible punches. Then we would do something like define environmental toxin exposure to coumns 50 - 55. If we were working with people it might be that a definite negative on such exposure would get the card punched at square 51 (leaving #50 for future use). A definite positive would be punched at 52 and an unresolved at 53. If the exposure occurred before the age of 21 we would punch 54 and 55 would be kept as a buffer.

Elsewhere on the card we might code for gender by punching #2 for male and #3 for female. Once all the decisions were made and the cards were neatly punched and stacked we would take them to a special room (let's call it Oz) which was rather plain other than the signs saying "Ignore the little man behind the curtain". Then we would hand over our precious cards and the little man would do some magic as the sounds fro deep within the building began to sound like something from that old version of H.G. Well's "Time Machine" - a film that still scares me when I forget that I am a Big Monkey now and have nothing to fear but myself. As though that is supposed to make things better. And don't get me started on "The Lost World!"

Oh, I seem to have wandered away from the herd. So, some quick examples.

*Everyone "knows" that the problem is a dopmine shortage, right? But, wait a minute. What about the drops in other neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine? Surely that is worth examining.

*Why do I wake up feeling relatively well only to go south shortly thereafter? We are fobbed off with stories about a small buildup of dopamine but no evidence. Does it have anything to do with the flood of cortisol that comes with waking up?

Anyway, think it over.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...opamine-primer

excerpt:
How do we get dopamine? We eat it. The precursor amino acid from the protein we eat is called tyrosine. Tyrosine becomes dopa via the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase, and dopa becomes dopamine via the actions of dopa decarboxylase. (One more chemical reaction can turn dopamine into its best buddy neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, but more on that later). As is the case with serotonin and its precursor tryptophan, tyrosine can cross the blood brain barrier, but dopamine itself cannot. That means that the dopamine our brain needs must be manufactured from dopamine machinery and precursors in the brain.

Still with me? What happens without dopamine, or with screwy dopamine machinery or inefficient dopamine? Well, in development this lack can cause mental retardation, which is the case in a rare genetic disease called PKU and cretinism (a type of mental retardation caused by iodine deficiency). Dopamine problems are implicated in ADHD, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, depression, bipolar disorders, binge eating, addiction, gambling, and schizophrenia.

Having too much dopamine in the wrong place can make you psychotic. Illicit drugs that dump loads of dopamine (or strongly inhibit its reuptake, which is similar to dumping loads of dopamine) include cocaine and methamphetamines. Therefore high amounts of dopamine can cause euphoria, aggression and intense sexual feelings.

We need dopamine in the right place at the right time in the right amounts. When it all comes together, we are the awesomest ape around. Dopamine will motivate us, and it is the driving neurotransmitter in competitive behaviors. When our dopamine machinery isn't working properly, problems ensue (not surprisingly). Dopamine is linked to everything interesting about metabolism, evolution, and the brain.

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, dopamine is distributed quite differently on the different sides of the human brain, and is is speculated that this lateralization is responsible for how very human we are. The left brain (in almost all right-handed and most left-handed people) is responsible for language, linear reasoning, mathematics, that sort of thing, whereas the right side is usually responsible for intuition, holistic reasoning, some elements of music and speech intonation, etc.

The human brain has 100 billion neurons. Only 20,000 or so carry dopamine, and they do so in four major tracts (and some other minor ones we won't go into here). Keep in mind that the brain is a gorgeous and mysterious place with many wonderful names, like Rivendell or Brigadoon. The areas are named either anatomically (the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) or because it reminded the anatomist of yore of some other important anatomical structure (the mammilary bodies). Or for some other obscure reason (the tegmentum? Oh, that's Latin for "covering." Okay!)

Dopamine is made in two little areas in the deep animal recesses of the brain - the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area. From these starting gates, the dopamine tracts reach out to various segments.

Muireann It may be helpful to me and others if you could tell me how you do your dosing schedule for Dopavite. Also what is the amount of Tyrosine in each dose?

Badboy,

The amount of l-tyrosine in a daily dose of Dopavite is 2000 mg (that's in 4 tablets, take two twice a day). I'm not on meds. It contains 6 other ingredients.

see http://www.dopavite.com/faqs.htm