article about Bumentanide as a possible cure for Autism

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I would say yes, or at least limit your alcohol intake to minimal that day, until you have established your own baseline so you learn how it affects your functioning and interacts with GABA for you. Taken to extremes, taking GABA and then going on a drinking binge could, IMHO, be very dangerous, particularly if you are driving. Safety first...

Good for you. Please let me know how your trial goes, if you proceed with it. I started with 500mg 3 times a day. You can take more, though this level worked for me so I stayed with it.

I still have hypersensory stuff - loud noises, exposure to cold weather, can't stand "scratchy" clothes, discordant music, loud screechy voices all disturb me physically and neurologically.

I still tend to get a bit obsessive (some of you here might have noticed!) about topics of particular interest to me. I'm still very literal. Residual dyslexia (though vastly improved).

What I DON't have anymore (not mentioned before) is social anxiety. I can hold my own in discussions with NTs, so that both they and I enjoy the encounter.

I think I will always have my most positive ASD traits: a respect for truth (rather than fashionable trends and I have very low tolerance for BS); a love of learning; creativity (only know I am in control of it rather than feeling controlled by it). A need for periods of solitude.

I went from being a "broken down old nag" to a "functioning thoroughbred racehorse" on GABA. It not only transformed my ability to live my life. It probably saved my life. And the severe bouts of depression I suffered from for 50 years have vanished. But I am still a person who is an ASD person and I always will be.

Of course I read the thread title. Unlike you, though, I chose to focus on the relationship to GABA, not cure.

I dislike the ideology of Autism Speaks too. This article is quoted by them, framed of course in terms of their ideology. I put the ideology aside and related it to the extensive research I have done on GABA and autism (which have nothing to do with Autism Speaks). I don't think that is inappropriate to the thread. You do, apparently, well that's ok, we can agree to disagree eh?

When I started this thread I definitely did not want it to become a pro/anti cure debate either. So yes, let's not make it that please. I respect anyone who wants a cure and anyone who does not. I just wanted to make you all aware of this article because I have never heard of this drug before the other day and I thought it was very interesting and worth knowing about and I thought you all would find it interesting as well.

Well I think the study is flawed. From the get go. They are trying to create autism in rodents so they can cure it. How can they accurately do that when we don't know the cause of autism?

I agree there are concerns about this particular study, there are much better ones dealing with GABA and autism, some of which are very solid in design, methodology and execution.

Yes! Acetylcholine is definitely part of the puzzle, your post is of great interest to me.

Acetylcholine controls the speed of the function of the brain by determining the rate at which electrical signals are processed throughout the body, so it connects physical states with memories, thoughts and perceptions. In brain scans, acetylcholine shows up as alpha waves (the relaxed mode).

Deficiency occurs when you are either burning too much acetylcholine or not producing enough; it regulates the ability to process sensory input (ding ding, recognition...)

One sign of an acetylcholine deficiency is a craving for fatty foods. This was certainly true for me.

In terms of the overall puzzle which you and I are so interested in (it's very exciting), the key element seems to be getting these four particular neurotransmitters into balance: dopamine, gaba, acetylcholine, and serotonin. It's like a game of dominoes: line them all up properly, they stand; if one is deficient, then they all fall down and the pattern is disrupted.

But there appears to be innate tendencies on an individual basis which are genetically determined: people are born deficient in one, two, three, or all of these, or none of them (the last being the really lucky ones in the genetic draw). The good news: the levels of each can be manipulated with supplementation, diet, trial and error with dosages, and knowledge.

Acetylcholine is made from choline; choline is in egg yolk, meat, natural foods with a high fat content. Beef liver is very high in it (if you can stand the stuff!)

I don't think I was ever very deficient in it, as I naturally like the foods that choline occurs in. It was GABA that was the particularly extreme deficiency for me. And it's much harder to remedy a severe GABA deficiency with food alone.

It interests me that there is quite a lot of resistance to the idea that regulation of the neurotransmitters could offer a lot of ASD people immense relief, that there is a preference for prescription psychiatric drugs like SSRIs, which have so many negative side effects. Possibly the knowledge about supplementing with GABA etc is suppressed somewhat by the profession and companies that stand to lose the most in profits if it became more widely known that there are these powerful alternatives which are pretty much readily available to anyone.

However I don't want to get lost in a discussion about the evils of Big Pharma. It is what it is.

I don't take Glutamine as a precursor to GABA. I do take some of the following.

Here is a list of established GABA boosters:

Inisotol (activates GABA)
GABA (comes in both synthetic and natural forms)
Glutamic acid
Melatonin
Thiamine
Niacinamide
Pyridoxine
Valerian root
Passionflower

In terms of psychiatric drugs, Clonazepam.

I take Inisotol/choline (with food, that's important) now as well as GABA.

Can't answer your riddle at present in any comprehensive way, though I keep working on these fascinating puzzles and hope to discover more about the pathways in due course.

So glad to have made contact with you!! !

If you are ever crossing the ditch to Auckland, feel very welcome to PM me, we can meet up for lunch and talk about these matters of mutual interest until the cows come home (and probably until they go out again, lol).

Here's a little study you may find interesting too, easily found on Google:

"Imaging shows low levels of GABA in autism" (2013).

It's more accessible to people who don't have much knowledge of the field (though you are obviously not one of them) so I share it with them if they are interested in learning more.