[81lumberjack]

Anyone know anything about the relationship of one's methylation status to succeptibility to a concussion and the abilty to recover if one sustains a concussion?

[Mark in Idaho]

From what I can find, there is no connection between the two. If pertains more to recovery/progression with cancers.

I do know that chemo brain presents similar to concussion and would likely delay healing from a concussion. The brain needs all systems working at their best for the best recovery.

I would suggest not getting to caught up in the micro details. There is a serious lack of information about the processes that relate to concussion.

The only understanding about susceptibility to concussion is based on prior concussion history. Unfortunately, there is a big unknown factor. Many concussions are not memorable either because they were dismissed as minor or they were lost in short term post traumatic amnesia. One needs to have a good understanding of concussion and subconcussive impacts to keep a reasonable mental record of concussions.

Are you struggling to understand certain symptoms or other issues?

[81lumberjack]

Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

From what I can find, there is no connection between the two. If pertains more to recovery/progression with cancers.

I do know that chemo brain presents similar to concussion and would likely delay healing from a concussion. The brain needs all systems working at their best for the best recovery.

I would suggest not getting to caught up in the micro details. There is a serious lack of information about the processes that relate to concussion.

The only understanding about susceptibility to concussion is based on prior concussion history. Unfortunately, there is a big unknown factor. Many concussions are not memorable either because they were dismissed as minor or they were lost in short term post traumatic amnesia. One needs to have a good understanding of concussion and subconcussive impacts to keep a reasonable mental record of concussions.

Are you struggling to understand certain symptoms or other issues?

Some of the literature seems to indicate that low-existing dopamine in various regions of the brain, complicates recovery from TBI.(1) Dopamine levels are somewhat methylation dependent I believe, which may be influenced by genetics.

At the end of the day, it appears that dopamine is dependent on methylation. So I'm trying to seek out A) Opinion on that concept and B) If that is true, that recovering from TBI is more complex/more difficult with decreased methylation status/dopamine, does that also make one more succeptible to TBI to begin with?

(1)(J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 17:465-471, November 2005
doi: 10.1176/appi.neuropsych.17.4.465
Association of COMT Val158Met Genotype With Executive Functioning Following Traumatic Brain Injury Taken together, these findings suggest that COMT, likely associated with levels of endogenous dopamine, may possibly influence certain deficits seen in frontal-executive performance after TBI

[Mark in Idaho]

There are plenty of ideas about neurotransmitter deficiencies. I am of the belief that before trying to impact neurotransmitters with drugs or special therapies or such, one should be sure to get normal nutritional levels balanced.

The professional field of study for this is ortho-molecular nutrition or psychiatry.

Excessive consumption of caffeine, MSG, aspartame and other excito-toxins, folic acid and B-12 deficiencies, lack of anti-oxidants, hormonal imbalances, blood sugar irregularities, poor sleep patterns, emotional and cognitive stresses can all be part of the problem.

With all of these issues that are much simpler to treat, focusing on methylation only may be getting ahead of things.

Genetic tendencies only predispose one to some of these issues. It does not suggest that more natural processes cannot correct the problem.

I know that I need high levels (over 10 times the RDA) of B-6 and B-12 to function best. Omega 3's are also indicated for brain health.

Neurotransmitters may be a big area of research currently but are not necessarily a ready for prime time science.