Zodios improving gut health would increase serotonin as I believe it's started in the gut and not the brain

    It is true most neurotransmitters are in the gut and not the brain.

    It is also interesting to me how complex our biochemistry is and it is not identical. A good example would be methylation cycle pathways. COMT, MTHFR, CBS, MAO, etc. Supplements for one person are not a good idea for another.. e.g. I have slow COMT which means among other things I end up with too much dopamine (no, not the I feel happy kind) because it doesn't clear it fast enough, but I also have a slowed MTHFR which means I need to avoid methyl-group containing stuff because if I take in too much methyl, I will end up with even more dopamine, etc. This is an oversimplification as other cycles play roles too.

    None of this is an exact science.. but some things are better understood than others.. and it is helpful to know if there are foods that should be encouraged or avoided because of how these cycles interact.

      Whilst neurotransmitters are found in large quantity in our intestines, generally neurotransmitters can't cross the blood brain barrier. They need to be made from precursors within the brain. I've tried various GABA increasing supplements in the past, they made me feel calmer and generally happier but they did not affect my screen tolerance.

        Seagull In my case I have noticeable increase in flickering screen tolerance after alcohol which is indirect GABA agonist

            Zodios

            It is also a CNS depressant meaning it will decrease brain activity, it could be fulfilling the same role as an adequate serotonin neuron network by reducing excessive brain activity caused by looking at a screen.

            Alcohol also increases cortisol production, a natural pain killer and anti inflammatory steroid.

              Zodios Me too! If I drink a beer, I can play with the gaming pc a couple of hours before I start getting sick! Without beer I stop at 30/45 minutes!

                  Sunspark How do you know that you have slow COMT and MTHFR? What analysis needs to be done? Thanks 🙂

                      Lauda89 Cheapest way is to run a family tree DNA test. Then you download the raw data file and run it through a processor to automatically pull out the relevant SNPs you want to look at.. you can also do it manually if you want to since it's just a textfile.

                          Sunspark Thank you for sharing; it sounds interesting. Recently, I started to suppose that the reason for our problem is definitely not our eyes; it is about the brain, neurotransmitters, and nervous system.

                            Thanks Rob, this is really interesting. I appreciate the links to the studies as well... I'll have to dig through them.

                            Question for you... do you think this is specific to the Neu5Gc (red meat/dairy) or inflammation in general?

                            I have had a lot of problems with autoimmune and inflammation in the past 8-10 years. I gave up red meat/pork entirely about 6 years ago and I'm about 95% dairy free (only special occasions maybe 3x a year). I do eat chicken though. Might try to go full vegan for a few months just to see how I feel... at this point why not?

                            So with that said I would assume Neu5Gc isn't the primary issue for me (unless it's lingering cells like you mentioned) but inflammation in general definitely could be.

                              wlmsn

                              I'm really glad you've seen this, because the most interesting way of viewing the framework I've described is in the context of someone who adheres to the diet I describe but still has symptoms. I know you say you only eat dairy 3x year, but that seems infrequent enough that it should not have too much effect if we consider Neu5Gc alone.

                              The best point I can make to you is that Neu5Gc is a discovered and well researched food born cause of autoimmune disease. There are certainly others that we do not know about or why it has an effect, for example, we know gluten in cereals causes the auto immune celiac disease though we don't know the science as to why.

                              There are likely other things in food other than Neu5Gc which will have similar effects, in that they trick susceptible people's immune system's into thinking there is an infection. Unfortunately, in the absence of hard science you will need to discover them yourself. But I can give you a very handy hint to make it easier. The closer the chemical is to what is normally present in the human body, the weaker the immune system response will be, but the longer it will last. This is because our immune systems are designed to avoid attacking our own bodies, but they will if forced to. Now consider gluten, in susceptible people this produces a strong and immediate response, because gluten has no human analogue there is no reason for our immune systems to go easy on it. With this in mind, veganism is a sensible approach to take, because it cuts out animals which are close to our cell biology where we'd expect low and slow immune responses. Instead you'd only see the much more rapid responses to plant based food allergens which would be much easier to observe and eliminate in the future.

                              So I suppose my first piece of advice would be to track what you eat and correlate it to your general inflammation symptoms, being aware that the effects of animal foods can have a long lasting effect that won't be easily spotted day to day, but rather month to month and year to year.

                              My second piece of advice would be to be very sceptical. Our brains and immune systems are extremely complex, so our experiences and causes could be completely different. Given the slow timeline over which I saw improvements, I'd only encourage people to follow my path if they also want to make general improvements to their health.

                                I almost do not eat red meat, so can not confirm links to it. Now sure also if shifting a cause into biology, and treating symptoms when working with computers as an effect is a correct approach. This may have an element in grand scheme of things, but as someone mentioned, I can confirm also that different machines affect nervous system differently, and influence brain activity, some report minor seizure like activity in front part of a brain. So its definitely not one way highway. Of course the claim that in "normal" base line body state, you would be immune to effects of flicker or information overload, has some weight I think. Yet, it does not eliminate the flicker problem. In fact, usually perfection and innovation is developed by people who put specific problem into top priority, as they are very affected by it.

                                All the pro athletes and life extension people say the most important thing to do always is to get enough sleep. That sleep should be a priority before other stuff. I tend to agree with that, and I know it's hard to get sleep these days. Everyone is so hopped up on various drugs starting from when they wake up (caffeine).

                                So do that.. it's manageable.. get some sleep when it's nighttime not daytime. LeBron James the basketball player sleeps about 12 hours a day.. night sleep + naps.

                                Thanks for interesting post. Found some interesting stuff. Let me post my info, maybe it could help someone to identify anything or to find my soulmate haha.

                                I'm sensitive to:

                                • PWM
                                • Dithering (FRC, pixel-inversion, temporal dithering) I can't use any new Macs with apple silicon, w/ or w/o StillColor etc.

                                Not sensitive to:

                                • Lightbulb LED PWM
                                • Cars display PWM
                                • iPhone 11 Pro (i don't know why, this is my daily phone, i don't have any symptoms with it, all other iphone 11 pros I can't use)
                                • Just recently bought iPhone 16 PM (I can use it for around 3-4 hours per day while the sun is up with slight symptoms just a heavy back of the head, tossing it away when its dark outside)
                                • Macbook Pro 15 Intel 2018 with 555 AMD

                                My overall health variables are:

                                • IBS (hello not healthy gut)
                                • Low testosterone (I found out, that when you becoming a dad, its natural that dads testosterone can go down but later it should come back to normal level, but looks like not in my case)
                                • Anxiety/Depression (prob low serotonin)
                                • Having some overweight
                                • Probably photophobia, I didn't do the testing yet for it, but I can't walk outside without sun glasses, its just impossible.

                                What makes my symptoms worse:

                                1. Lack of sleep (huge impact)
                                2. Caffeine
                                3. Noticed that Zyrtec (antihistamine) increases headaches if i'm using bad PWM display.

                                PS not sure about beer or some other alcohol 🍺 🍻 and how it affects me haha.

                                Thank you for this post. I think stress and anxiety also contributes as one of many factors. Some papers:

                                Serotonin, stress and corticoids: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/026988110001400203

                                https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780128131466000102

                                The literature shows that stress effects on the serotonin system are regionally different throughout the brain and are dependent on the type of stress, its duration, the serotonergic marker measured, and individual differences in resilience and genetic background.

                                2 months later

                                On a related note, I recently noticed that when I sleep way too much, I get the same symptoms as when I’m exposed to flickering light (headaches, tinnitus, brain fog). Apparently too much sleep can cause a serotonin imbalance in someone’s brain.

                                That got me thinking that perhaps, for me, flickering light also causes a serotonin imbalance in my brain. For instance, what if flickering lights somehow triggers serotonin reuptake to occur. According to Google, serotonin reuptake can happen within milliseconds.

                                There is a study (not on headaches but on Alzheimer's) indicating that flickering lights (at 40 hz) “cause brains to release a surge of signaling chemicals.” So conceptually, the idea that flickering lights can immediately cause changes in serotonin levels in the brain seems plausible.
                                https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200204/Flickering-light-triggers-the-brain-to-release-signaling-chemicals-that-may-help-fight-Alzheimers.aspx

                                I have had luck with medications (SSRIs and others) reducing headaches, though I had some negative side effects that were hard to deal with. I found that these medications reduced my symptoms by 80-90%. I previously felt like this was just masking the problem, but I wonder if it is in fact addressing the core of the problem. (I mean, avoiding flickering lights would be best, but that may not be feasible so this may be the next best thing.)

                                For me, I will do some more experiments with medications that affect serotonin (SSRIs and others) and see what I find.

                                  ocean10

                                  I should note that I didn't go on these medications with the intent of reducing my headaches; I went on these medications to help with my insomnia (Nortriptyline), PTSD (antidepressants) and PLMD (Lyrica). It was only after being on the meds for a while that I was like "hey, I haven't been having headaches recently." So I don't think there's a placebo effect. Also, I had a lot of stuff going on in my life, so it's possible that the side effects were actually caused by other issues (PTSD totally rocked my world).

                                  Medications that helped:

                                  • Nortriptyline (40 mg) Side effects: extremely tired during the day, sadness, unmotivated, heart palpitations, and feeling dizzy when standing. I was not taking this medication daily (I was only taking it as-needed for insomnia), which may have caused the side effects if my body was constantly trying to adjust to the presence or absence of the medication.
                                  • Paxil (20mg). Side effects: severe daytime sleepiness
                                  • Trazodone (25mg) and Prozac (30 mg) combo. Side effects: common sexual side effects
                                  • Lyrica: This helped, but I don't remember how much. Insurance stopped paying for it in 2016 and I just never followed up. I'm going to try it again.
                                  • Effexor: I have a prescription but haven't (yet) had the courage to try it.

                                  I would say that Paxil removed 90% of my symptoms and Nortriptyline and the Trazodone/Prozac combo removed 80% of my symptoms. I honestly don't remember how well Lyrica worked (it was 8+ years ago). But it's pretty subjective, so it's possible that all of them were equally effective.

                                  When I was on the medications, I would still have fairly mild symptoms while I was exposed to flickering lights, but the symptoms would go away very shortly after my exposure goes away. When I'm not on the medications, the symptoms can last for up to three days. I don't know if you can relate to this, but here's one example: I went out for dinner while I was on Paxil and the light bulbs were flickering like crazy and I had some mild symptoms but I was thinking to myself "boy am I going to suffer tonight" because sometimes I don't get bad symptoms right away, but rather I'll get them an hour later and they can last for days. But then shortly after I left the restaurant I felt fine and didn't experience any bad symptoms.

                                  Another example: I have a large ViewSonic monitor that I could use just fine on Nortriptyline but now (not on medication) I get headaches within 10 minutes of using it.

                                      dev