I cannot address the testing or supplements related to TBI or PCS but I do feel the need to mention that I know of a number of children with neurological disorders who have had very beneficial neurotransmitter testing done via Neuroscience, and whose parents feel the supplements have been very helpful to them

for many, the tests at Neuroscience have provided valuable information that has helped them find more effective treatments, whether or not they choose to purchase the company's products

Just because they do both testing and sale of supplements does not in any way negate the value of the service they provide. I think it only fair to present another side to this.

JMHO

I just joined this group so I could respond to this thread, although my issue is depression, not brain injury, etc. However, I want to share my experience w/ NeuroScience and their products.

After testing through NeuroScience my clinical nutritionist put me on Travacor and Kavinace. At the time I was on Cymbalta and Wellbutrin as treatment for depression. I went to this nutritionist for two reason. First, I didn't want to be on meds for the rest of my life if there was another option. And second, even being on two meds, having tried others, and being in therapy for eight years I was still battling depression.

About three days after starting on Travacor I started to feel better. By the end of a week I felt better than I had felt in years, maybe ever. This was last December. I went through the winter feeling great and in the spring started to wean off of Cymbalta. I had no problem doing so, in spite of the fact that my psychiatrist warned me that many people have a tough time getting off Cymbalta. I recently began to wean off of Wellbutrin as well and was beginning to feel the effects of being almost off of it. I talked w/ my nutritionist and he put me on another NeuroScience Product, ExcitaPlus, which addresses dopamine and norepinephrine. After a couple of days on it the cloud began to lift today.

You can say what you want about NeuroScience, but I am a firm believer. I know many will say it could be the placebo effect, but I know differently. I've struggled most of my life w/ depression and finally feel I have an answer. My biggest struggle now is the resentment that I have towards the insurance companies that will pay for drugs, but not for treatment that enables my body to make enough neurotransmitters itself. I am lucky enough to be able to afford the treatment b/c my husband makes a good salary. Others are not so fortunate. However, if I had to I'd get a job (I'm a stay-at-home mom) in order to pay for these supplements. That's how strongly I believe in them and how good I have been feeling since taking them.

As far as not being able to measure how much neurotransmitters are in the brain by measuring what's in the urine.......makes sense to me that if my body can make them in my gut it can in my brain, and if it can't make enough in my gut it can't make them in my brain. The testing showed I was low on serotonin in spite of the Cymbalta. I retested after several months on Travacor (and feeling better) and my serotonin was WAY up, not dangerously so, but way up. That must be why I could drop the Cymbalta w/ no problems.

My dopamine and norepinephrine was optimal when I tested b/c the Wellbutrin was working well. We assumed when I started struggling as I decreased the Wellbutrin that my body wasn't producing enough and added the ExcitaPlus. It's a little early, but it appears that is working as well. We will retest everything in a few months. I suspect we'll find all levels are optimal.

So, that's my story. I would recommend finding an excellent doctor or nutritionist to test and "prescribe" like I have. There are many out there who just want to make big bucks so that might be difficult. However, that doesn't mean that these products aren't a viable way to treat depression and probably other conditions.

Thanks!

I am curious as to what other nutritional therapies your nutritionist has tried before the NeuroScience prescription?

My main concern about NeuroScience is it is used as a first resort. Good nutrition and diet should be first and the expensive anecdotally promoted but not scientifically tested methods later.

I was in a deep depression and was fully recovered in just 8 weeks with good nutrition and avoiding bad nutrition.

The human body is a garbage in garbage out system. It also responds to undue stress loads that result from poor lifestyle choices. The post concussion brain is overly sensitive to poor nutrition and undue stress loads.

I am waiting for NeuroScience and Pharmasan Labs to publish some research material. Just like Ochs labs, their research data is hard to find.

btw, I am not saying it does not work. If it does work, the research should be readily available.

I'm not sure if anyone is still monitoring this thread but I thought I would post my two cents. I suffered from a bought of debilitating depression about 10 years ago. It was brought on by stress which i don't handle very well. A year on prozac and therapy, and some major changes (getting rid of the crappy job i had) and I was pretty good. About 3 years ago I suffered another attack of depression. Could not get out of bed and miserable. Much worse this time.

Over the years I had gotten married, have two children, became self employed with a pretty good business - so this time the stresses werent things that could just be removed. My MD put me on Effexor XR. After about a week i started to feel better and then I took a nose dive and went back to the pit of despair. My MDs answer was more Effexor XR. He upped me to 225mg. For someone without medical insurance this was REALLY expensive.

I managed to climb to a point of being able to function but it was very up and down. I started seeing a therapist and things would stay good for about 6 weeks at a time followed by a not so bad period of depression. About a year later, I fell into the deep depression again. My therapist and I considered that I might be bi-polar or and we suggested to my medical doctor that I might try an add-on drug like Abilify. He was reluctant because of the nature of these drugs. My therapist offered two options. One was that i seek the help of a medical psychologist who could evaluate and better prescribe what was needed and the other was to see a friend of hers who was a naturopathic MD. I opted to try the naturopath first.

The Naturopath was AWESOME! She had a waiting list of 2 months but made room in her schedule to see me immediately. Diet and excercise were among her first recommendations and she gave me all kinds of nutritional info and a diet and excercise plan. I had put on about 35 pounds since I got on the Effexxor. She also put me on Adrecor and a 5HTP spray. I took the spit and pee test - and the results came back. Even with the Effexor I was producing almost NO seratonin. Several other levels were out of whack as well.

Based on this, she adjusted the amount of the Adrecor and the Spray that I was using and added Travacor. That was a year ago and I have been consistantly happy since. It was like a veil of clouds was lifted. I really missed me! And I gotta say - I have sorta gotten away from the diet and excercise plan. Thus, I have been unable to shed the additional weight. I see my MD later this month. I am still on the Effexor but I was to go off it and see what happens.

Conculsion - The natural stuff is expensive and not convered by insurance - but it is natural, has no long term effects and IT WORKS!

Have you asked your ND about replacing the Adrecor with more common supplements such as the amino acids, vitamins and such that are in the Adrecor?

I have struggled with depression on and off since my concussion in 1965. In 1982, I was in such a depressed state that I could not put two thoughts together. An ortho-molecular psychiatrist got me on a supplement regimen that pulled me out withing 8 weeks. I follow as similar regimen to this day.

I have posted earlier in this tread about the big saving in setting up a supplement regimen that has most if not all of the same ingredients as the Afrecor for substantially less.

I am glad to hear your ND has prescribed a spray of 5-HTP. This allows better dose control to prevent the other risks associated with self-prescribing 5-HTP. L-Tryptophan is a precursor of 5-HTP and also works for the same result.

Ask your ND about the withdrawal from the Effexor since it is an SNRI (Serotonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor). As you withdraw, she might want to increase your 5-HTP spray dosage.

I did a little research on the manufacturer's website ** and it turns out they have done a lot of research to prove that the products really do work. They have a lab in Wisconsin I believe where they test all their products to make sure they really move the markers they are testing.

I know that if you are going to purchase their products, you should definitely go to a reputable online store. My sister orders from ** and keeps ordering from there, so they must get her what she needs.

Hope this helps!

-John

I really do think the ingredients of these two products are valid.

What I take issue with is that the label does not inform the consumer as to the amount of each ingredient to be consumed.

They hide behind "proprietary mixture"... which is allowed on labeling by the FDA. But you do not know how much you really are getting of anything in that mixture.

5HTP IMO is almost a drug, in its actions. One step away from serotonin itself. People who consume it should be able to know how much they are taking.
For TravaCor:
http://www.pureprescriptions.com/pro...ProductsID=644

Therapeutic amounts of taurine range in the 1000mg area.
Theanine 100mg/dose
5-HTP 50mg or 100mg
N-acetyl Cysteine 600mg minimum
You can see this adds up to more than 900mg total in that mix.

I have just started using Neuroscience supplements. I was so glad to find this form, as I could not seem to find any helpful info. At great expense I started about a month ago. I have suffered from Depression and Anxiety for way to long. Things were going pretty good and then some of the supplements recommended caused anxiety to get worse. My Doctor says, I need to hang in there. Did u have to experiment, or were you good with first recipe? I guess with my test results, certain things were recommended. Looking for hope!

What products are you taking, I quite like the liposome formula Endoplus, I use to find 5-htp horrible in a tablet form but I can take as much spray as I want.

Only problem is these products are expensive but I'm a big fan of any liposome products.

I have read 5-htp can take a few weeks to work and if you brain levels are low there maybe some adjustment needed which could be uncomfortable.

krisuk333,

This thread is very inactive. The dates of each post is in the upper left of the post. The poster also has their number of posts listed.

Nonnie posted once on 4/6/2011 and has not posted since.

Are you living with PCS or some other traumatic brain injury or did you google for the NeuroScience products and find this tread?

The discussion is about using NeuroScience products for the symptoms of Post Concussion Syndrome.