Change Your Brain Every Day - Which Supplements are Best for Your Life? PT.2 with Dr. Kidd

Episode Date: July 10, 2018

Ok, so you’ve decided to try taking supplements to improve your health. In the second part of a series on nutritional supplements with Dr. Paris Kidd, Dr. Daniel Amen, Tana Amen, and Dr. Kidd go over which supplements are best for common conditions such as anxiety, stress, focus, mood, cravings, and memory.

Welcome back. We're here with Dr. Paris Kidd and we are in supplement week talking about the value of nutritional supplements. And I want to tell you just a little bit about how I got involved in it. Because I'm a classically trained psychiatrist. There was no supplements in my training. You know, it's, you know, what symptoms do you have and what drug can I give you for them? And when we started our brain imaging work in 1991, I started scanning people who I had on those medications. And some of them were awesome.

And they clearly helped. And some of them were awesome and they clearly helped. And some of them were downright toxic for brain function, especially the benzos like Xanax and Valium and Ativan. And I'm like, I'm making this person's brain look like he's an alcoholic. I was not happy. And then the opiates. And I'm thinking, first, do no harm. Use the least toxic, most effective treatment. And then I think one of my best gifts as a physician is I actually listen to my patients. Because so many of my patients, they said, well, they told their doctor about this supplement or that supplement, and they just dismissed them. You know what MD stands for, right? Minor D. And so they just dismiss them. You know what MD stands for, right?

Minor D. And so they just dismiss them. But I think for me, I've always been good at paying attention. And, you know, if they went off aspartame and their arthritis went away, well, I'd try it. My arthritis went away. And then people go, well, there's no science. So I went to PubMed.com and there's a huge body, as you said in the last one, of science

around multiple vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids. Vitamin D, probiotics. Right. And so- Magnesium. So that was my journey that led to BrainMD. But in this podcast, let's talk about some of the conditions that people might find them helpful for you and well i do as you're kicking me i am i'm kicking you under the table i don't have heels

on though i just had surgery so i can't wear heels aren't you grateful um he hates when i wear pointy shoes and i kick him under the table um this is where i get so many questions from my community as well so i want to make sure i, I'm so happy to have you here. I want to make sure that I get these questions answered for my community as well. Because the brain, the brain stuff is, you know, some of the questions about supplements and the brain and mood and all that stuff are really important. So do you have something you want to start with? Yeah.

So one of the questions we actually got specifically was, should people order... We have a product called Neuralink and we have serotonin mood support. They both contain 5-HTP. People think they should be taking them together. So... Yeah, it's fine to take them together at the recommended maximum dose of four caps of each. Okay. On an empty stomach.

That way they get 200 milligrams of 5-HTP, which is fine. The really important thing to watch there is to try not to combine them with antidepressant drugs or with mild inhibitors. Or if there's a need, then have a physician work very closely with them, a nutritionally informed physician, such as one of the amen clinic physicians so if you're on antidepressants or antipsychotics you should always talk to your doctor when you're adding things like nutritional supplements um i'm just a huge fan of serotonin mood support right and neural link of serotonin mood support and Neuralink. Serotonin mood support has 5-HTP in it, but it also has saffron in it. And saffron in a number of studies has been shown to be, and these are randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, significant positive impact, not only for mood. There are studies for PMS, there's

also studies for sexual function as opposed to most SSRIs which are negative effect on sexual function. The saffron has a positive effect on sexual function and then a whole new group of studies you and I have talked about on memory. So anything that helps my mood, my sexual function, and my memory, and for women during that time of the cycle, they're happier. I'm like, put it in the water. I'm like, let's try this. I think this can be helpful. Yeah, I'm actually following saffron very closely. And I have some plans to recommend to you about saffron because it has a tremendous future as a standardized herbal dietary supplement. It's just amazing.

And you told me that in the Middle East, someone comes out feeling good. Somebody else says to them, you must have been eating saffron. Right. If you're too happy, you must have gotten saffron. So what about the difference then between GABA and 5-HTP? Like who should take what for what reason no and i have to tell you so it's really funny if i take the gab and the 5-htp you love it when i take it because i act like i'm high okay no you're not high you're just calm no that's me

that's like being over reactive but i'mreactive anyways. I'm just ready and reactive. So I don't like feeling slowed down, okay? Right, right. So for me, I feel like I'm being slowed down. We chill you out. Yeah, I don't like being chilled out. But the GABA Calming product is meant to be calming even while it's mentally sharpening. So there's not a... See, I'd rather take focus and energy.

Yeah, yeah. But the GABA calming is not meant to be sedative. It's just meant to take the edge off. And then it also helps to maintain sharpness. You know, we haven't really talked, though, about Neuralink, which I don't want to get beyond that because Neuralink is why we have... I know, but we're going to confuse people now because now we just introduced GABA compared to 5-HTP.

So let me make this clear. For mood, we recommend serotonin mood support if you're a worrier and you can't let go of negative thoughts. Oh my gosh. If you do something wrong and your spouse doesn't forget it,

like for eight years. But that's all women. That's every woman on the planet. Well, women, according to a study from Montreal... We make less serotonin. ...make 52% less or have just 52% less serotonin in their brain. So that's why generally females do better with serotonin mood support while males may do better with SAMe. So and here at Amen Clinics, we do brain typing.

And, you know, I wrote a book on healing, anxiety and depression where we subtyped it into seven different types. So it's not all the same. That's why taking the brain health assessment, brainhealthassessment.com, it'll tell you which of the 16 types you have and what supplements that we might recommend. And so GABA then is when? So GABA is for our anxious people, people who are nervous, who are shy, who they have too much going on in their brain. And so, and we have two anxiety formulas, really.

We have GABA calming and then everyday stress. And the difference is if you're really anxious, GABA calming is the place to start. But if you're under a lot of stress, if you're raising an autistic child, if you have a boss you hate, if there's a lot of drama at home, you're under chronic stress, and everyday stress relief is awesome. It's an awesome formula. It has holy basil in it, which is an adaptogen that

has been shown to decrease both adrenaline and cortisol. It has Rolora in it that blocks cortisol and it has theanine, it has a good dose of theanine. So one is anxiety, one is stress. And so if you've got a combination of these symptoms, it's okay to take more than one? Sure, sure you bet. Okay, so I just want to make sure. Because there's no rule, you get one thing. So let me just tell you really fast a funny thing. My daughter, best teenager on the planet. Really hard child. Really hard child because she wanted world domination when she was

two. Just intense. But she's a really good kid now. And scanning her for me was really helpful because first of all, I was making her worse without realizing it. I thought she had ADD. And so I was giving her, um, I was giving her something for focus. I was actually started giving her, um, focus and energy thinking, okay, this kid needs to focus. Like, I don't know what her problem is, but she needs to focus. I made her 10 times worse. She was like, just getting more like antsy. And so when we started giving her the, um, serotonin, serotonin mood support. Totally the right kid.

And her scan, she's totally hyperfrontal. She has got the busiest brain ever. But her cerebellum was really cold, really low in blood flow. And so we gave her coordination exercises for the cerebellum, but the serotonin mood support just evened her out. The saffron in serotonin mood support is also very good for anxiety. Yeah, she's an anxious kid.

So when people think that they don't do anything, like I'm like, I would watch that. I mean, she just finished her ninth grade and got straight A's. Oh, but I had to talk her off of a ledge because she got a B on one of her finals and she lost her mind. And I looked at her final grade in the class and it was 97%. And I'm like, why are we so freaked out? But that's the kind of kid she is. Where did that come from? I don't know. But anyways, my point being, if you give them the wrong, you know, people think that they are innocuous, but they're not.

Where did that come from? They're not innocuous. That's my point. You have to, you want to be given the right thing. But I think you both raised a very important point here that for people who are having mental issues, it's a really good idea to have their brain image with SPECT, the way the Amen Clinics do it. Because then there's a handle on what regions of the brain are overperforming, what regions of the brain may be underperforming.

And with all of these years of experience and, what, 120,000 sets of brain scans, 140,000 brain scans, the Amen doctors can get a handle on how to approach it with a comprehensive regimen that includes supplements but may not be limited to supplements. So can you imagine a psychiatry 20, 30, 40 years from now without imaging? I can't imagine it, no. No, I think imaging will be central to it. So I was interviewed by the BBC yesterday, and the guy went after the controversy,

and it's like, well, your colleagues don't do this and i'm like well can you imagine not doing this 30 years from now right i mean this is the future you have to look if you don't look you don't know but the exciting thing is it doesn't mean you have to go right away to medicines that have a lot of side effects i mean one of the reasons i fell in love with supplements is the side effects are so few. Now, it's not no side effects, which is why you have to do it in a thoughtful way. For example, St. John's wort decreases the effectiveness of birth control pills,

increases sun sensitivity. Right, but we actually don't carry St. John's wort. We don't because it has problems. We have far more innocuous supplements that work just as well or better than St. John's Wort. Right. First do no harm. And one of the things that I've learned with my experience is that we want to try the supplements first. So we work out the diet, the supplements, the lifestyle first and see how far we get with that.

That's generally the process here. diet, the supplements, the lifestyle first, and see how far we get with that. And only if the problem persists, then, you know, unless there's the person is in some acute crisis. Unless it's an emergency. Right. So what is the brain type test? Like, how can people hone in? They can either call in and get help, or they can take their... Well, the first thing is go to amonclinics.com. Right.

Or you can just go to brainhealthassessment.com. Right. You'll find out which of the 16 types you have. So we had a crisis last year with Tana's sister. And her mother, your stepmother, really rescued the situation. She went up to Oregon and spent time. But they were like fighting like dogs and cats. Oh, my gosh. She went up to work and then spent time, but they were like fighting like dogs and cats. And so the first thing I did was go, go take the brain health assessment.

And she was a type three, which we call persistent. She just would never let go of anything ever. Well, she gets hyper-focused and she just, but I mean like the littlest things. And so on serotonin mood support, all of a sudden they started getting along with each other. And then she ran out and they stopped not getting along. Well, and it wasn't her that called to get it refilled. It was my sister.

She's like, please, send me the senso. Okay. We're going to have to- And we all have these examples in our families, right? We all have them and nobody escapes. That's where the assessments and the imaging becomes so very important. Right. So start with the assessment.

It will help you determine what will work for you. And then look on BrainMD. There's so many different products. We think of mood, serotonin mood support, and SAMe, anxiety, GABA calming support, or everyday stress relief, focus, focus and energy, which you really like, which has been very helpful, attention support for attentional issues in kids, craving control. And if I could make one more parting point, there's no conflict between supplements and pharmaceutical drugs. If both are used responsibly and scientifically, each can support the other.

But you would recommend that they at least talk to their doctor and not do... Yeah, absolutely. Please talk to your doctor. Yeah, it takes a lot of skill. And they're synergistic. It takes a lot of skill. And you can't get those regimens from the internet.

Right. It just doesn't work that way. But the supplements can actually augment the effects of the drugs and the supplements can help to protect against the side effects of the drugs. And so there ought to be a scenario. We're working on a scenario in the Amen family where we can use all of these to optimal advantage for the patient, right? Well, and we have a new product. We have a new baby called Bright Minds, which you helped to design.

Took me a year. That goes and supports the brain in many different ways. So for those of you that read my book, Memory Rescue, the mnemonic is Bright Minds. So blood flow, retirement and aging, inflammation, and so on. So many great things. When we come back, we're going to talk about kids.