L-Tyrosine
Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:53 am
Background
A quick online search will reveal that tyrosine is an amino acid that is a precursor to various brain hormones.
Searching the experiences of users indicate that results vary in that it is either a stimulant, depressant or does absolutely nothing. RLS sufferers tend to fall into the depressant category.
Long term use seems cause a tolerance to build up, which can be reset easily with a break. I recommend infrequent sporadic use, such as once or twice a week; most likely when you need it.
Doses range from 200mg to a few grams. You can buy it as a powder if you have scales to 1/100 of a gram or in tablet form.
My Experience
The first thing to do is test if it is a stimulant or depressant by choosing a free day and taking it before midday. For me it is a depressant and at 500mg I felt tired and heavy for around 12 hours through the day, without it tapering off; it had the same effect for the 12 hours and then just stopped
I tested for RLS first by waiting until my RLS started and took it at 0100 hrs. It took about 7 minutes to kick in and periodic cramps stopped, but the aching in my calf muscle continued and I had to go through a routine to stop the ache. So for me it doesn’t stop the symptoms and I felt heavy and tired until 1 in the afternoon.
What I found effective was after having a few really bad nights, using it as a bit of a reset. I would take tyrosine at 1800 hrs, melatonin with B6 (slow release melatonin) at 2000 hrs and then ZMA at around 2200 hrs; before I went to bed. The melatonin and ZMA increases brain melatonin which reduces dopamine, making RLS worse and can generally lead to a worse night.
After taking this combination, it led to very average night but when the tyrosine ran out, 12 hours later I found myself awake and alert, unable or wanting to sleep anymore. This resulted in a generally better day.
On another occasion I was sleeping so little my brain shut down being tired and I just felt exhausted; finding it very difficult to sleep at all. This is a common self-destructive cycle with a mechanism I won’t go into here. The combination seemed to reboot my sleeping ability.
My theory is that tyrosine eliminates the sleep debt and resets your brain. As you get older a lack of sleep can take a few days of good sleep, or many hours of night time sleep and afternoon snoozes, for your brain to decide it has had enough sleep and reset the urge to curl up in a dark room to rest. I added the melatonin and ZMA as these help generally, but I recall the tyrosine on its own being almost as effective.
I experimented with different doses and they didn’t seem to matter much. I now use 500 mg, but 200mg was just as effective.
While using tyrosine, you can expect problems going to sleep as well as difficulty getting back to sleep in the middle of the night; even if your legs are relaxed. Cramps can be a bit easier to relieve, but not always. So it is a long night of being awake with a few periods of short sleep. I don’t recall much REM sleep which is often an indication of a good night, but I was up early for a change and felt closer to normal as the day went on.
A quick online search will reveal that tyrosine is an amino acid that is a precursor to various brain hormones.
Searching the experiences of users indicate that results vary in that it is either a stimulant, depressant or does absolutely nothing. RLS sufferers tend to fall into the depressant category.
Long term use seems cause a tolerance to build up, which can be reset easily with a break. I recommend infrequent sporadic use, such as once or twice a week; most likely when you need it.
Doses range from 200mg to a few grams. You can buy it as a powder if you have scales to 1/100 of a gram or in tablet form.
My Experience
The first thing to do is test if it is a stimulant or depressant by choosing a free day and taking it before midday. For me it is a depressant and at 500mg I felt tired and heavy for around 12 hours through the day, without it tapering off; it had the same effect for the 12 hours and then just stopped
I tested for RLS first by waiting until my RLS started and took it at 0100 hrs. It took about 7 minutes to kick in and periodic cramps stopped, but the aching in my calf muscle continued and I had to go through a routine to stop the ache. So for me it doesn’t stop the symptoms and I felt heavy and tired until 1 in the afternoon.
What I found effective was after having a few really bad nights, using it as a bit of a reset. I would take tyrosine at 1800 hrs, melatonin with B6 (slow release melatonin) at 2000 hrs and then ZMA at around 2200 hrs; before I went to bed. The melatonin and ZMA increases brain melatonin which reduces dopamine, making RLS worse and can generally lead to a worse night.
After taking this combination, it led to very average night but when the tyrosine ran out, 12 hours later I found myself awake and alert, unable or wanting to sleep anymore. This resulted in a generally better day.
On another occasion I was sleeping so little my brain shut down being tired and I just felt exhausted; finding it very difficult to sleep at all. This is a common self-destructive cycle with a mechanism I won’t go into here. The combination seemed to reboot my sleeping ability.
My theory is that tyrosine eliminates the sleep debt and resets your brain. As you get older a lack of sleep can take a few days of good sleep, or many hours of night time sleep and afternoon snoozes, for your brain to decide it has had enough sleep and reset the urge to curl up in a dark room to rest. I added the melatonin and ZMA as these help generally, but I recall the tyrosine on its own being almost as effective.
I experimented with different doses and they didn’t seem to matter much. I now use 500 mg, but 200mg was just as effective.
While using tyrosine, you can expect problems going to sleep as well as difficulty getting back to sleep in the middle of the night; even if your legs are relaxed. Cramps can be a bit easier to relieve, but not always. So it is a long night of being awake with a few periods of short sleep. I don’t recall much REM sleep which is often an indication of a good night, but I was up early for a change and felt closer to normal as the day went on.