42
" Probiotics—These help maintain healthy intestinal flora and healthy estrogen levels. Make sure you get human-strain probiotics that have live cultures. Consider taking 10–60 billion units per day. Plant Phytoestrogens—These plant-based compounds have healthy estrogen-like activity and have been found helpful for a variety of conditions, including menopausal symptoms, PMS, and endometriosis. Phytoestrogens can be found in soy, kudzu, red clover, and pomegranate. Resveratrol is a bioflavonoid antioxidant that occurs naturally in grapes and red wine and has been reported to inhibit breast cancer cell growth in laboratory studies. Black cohosh—This herb has been used for centuries by Native Americans for hormonal balance in women. "
― Daniel G. Amen , Unleash the Power of the Female Brain: Supercharging Yours for Better Health, Energy, Mood, Focus, and Sex
44
" There Are Five Hallmark Symptoms of ADD Short attention span, for regular, routine, everyday tasks. People with ADD have a difficult time with boring tasks and need stimulation or excitement in order to stay engaged. Many people with ADD can pay attention just fine for things that are new, novel, interesting, highly stimulating, or frightening. Distractibility. People with ADD tend to notice more in their environment than others, which makes them easily distracted by outside stimuli, such as light, sounds, smells, certain tastes, or even the clothes they wear. Their keen sensitivity causes them to get easily off task. Disorganization. Most people with ADD tend to struggle with organization of time and space. They tend to be late and have trouble completing tasks on time. Many things get done at the last moment or even later. They also tend to struggle keeping their spaces tidy, especially their rooms, book bags, filing cabinets, drawers, closets, and paperwork. Procrastination. Tasks and duties get put off until the last moment. Things tend not to get done until there are deadlines or someone else is mad at them for not doing it. Poor internal supervision. Many people with ADD have issues with judgment and impulse control, and struggle not to say or do things without fully thinking them through. They also have a harder time learning from their mistakes. "
― Daniel G. Amen , Healing ADD: The Breakthrough Program That Allows You to See and Heal the 6 Types of ADD
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" interest, sleeps a lot, low energy, self-medicates to improve mood BRAIN FINDINGS/NEURO-TRANSMITTER ISSUE High limbic activity, low PFC/check vitamin D and DHEA levels SUPPLEMENTS SAMe, vitamin D, or DHEA if needed MEDICATIONS Wellbutrin TYPE 5. Anxious Addicts SYMPTOMS Anxious, tense, nervous, predicts the worst, self-medicates to calm BRAIN FINDINGS/NEURO-TRANSMITTER ISSUE High basal ganglia/low GABA "
― Daniel G. Amen , Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
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" levels SUPPLEMENTS GABA, B6, magnesium MEDICATIONS Anticonvulsants, such as Topamax, Neurontin TYPE 6. Temporal Lobe Addicts SYMPTOMS Temper problems, mood instability, memory problems, learning disabilities BRAIN FINDINGS/NEURO-TRANSMITTER ISSUE Abnormal TL SUPPLEMENTS GABA, B6, magnesium for calming, or "
― Daniel G. Amen , Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
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" huperzine A, acetyl-l-carnitine, vinpocetine, ginkgo for memory MEDICATIONS Anticonvulsants, such as Lamictal for mood stability, Aricept or Namenda for memory enhancement "
― Daniel G. Amen , Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
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" Jesse I first saw Jesse after she split from her husband. During a fight, she pulled a knife on him and told him not to go to sleep. He left her that evening. It turned out that Jesse had long-standing temper issues that paralleled her menstrual cycle. Regularly in the week before her period started, she became moody, anxious, and aggressive. And she aggravated the problem by drinking a lot. The incident with the knife had occurred at precisely this point in her cycle. When Jesse came to see me, I knew it would be helpful to find out what was going on in her brain. "
― Daniel G. Amen , Unleash the Power of the Female Brain: Supercharging Yours for Better Health, Energy, Mood, Focus, and Sex
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" During the worst time of Jesse’s cycle, the “worry” region of her brain was overactive, which caused her to become fixated on things, and the judgment and impulse control part of her brain was underactive. The alcohol likely further dropped her ability to control her behavior. That’s why she was so distraught with her husband and why the idea of grabbing the knife wasn’t properly processed and filtered out. During the best time of her cycle, Jesse’s brain was much more balanced. The answer to this woman’s problem was not just anger-management therapy. It was to get her hormonal fluctuations under control. During the days prior to starting your period, estrogen and progesterone levels hit rock bottom. On scans, I see the worry center of the brain (the anterior cingulate gyrus) start to fire up; as a result, women can get stuck on negative thoughts or give in to behaviors they think will make them feel better, such as reaching for wine or cookies. "
― Daniel G. Amen , Unleash the Power of the Female Brain: Supercharging Yours for Better Health, Energy, Mood, Focus, and Sex
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" The anterior cingulate fires up as the end result of a series of events. First, estrogen levels fall. Meanwhile, serotonin, the feel-good neurotransmitter, also decreases. The deficiency in serotonin causes the anterior cingulate gyrus to fire up. To make things worse, just about this time the PFC tends to quiet down, which is why women may have a hard time focusing and controlling impulses. So we see emotional difficulties, intensified feelings of sadness, and disturbed sleep. "
― Daniel G. Amen , Unleash the Power of the Female Brain: Supercharging Yours for Better Health, Energy, Mood, Focus, and Sex
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" Help for PMS—Low progesterone is often one of the culprits of PMS symptoms. Progesterone cream used during the last week of a woman’s cycle is often helpful. I also recommend a combination of supplements to balance the brain, especially 400–500 mg calcium citrate twice a day, 200–300 mg chelated magnesium twice a day, vitamin A, B complex with 50 mg B6, and 500 mg evening primrose oil twice a day. I also suggest 50–100 mg 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) twice a day to help to boost serotonin and decrease anxiety and worry. If focus is a problem, try green tea or 500 mg L-tyrosine two to three times a day. Chaste-berry, 20–40 mg a day, can also help for PMS symptoms of especially breast pain or tenderness, swelling, constipation, irritability, depressed mood or mood alterations, anger, and headache in some women. Boost exercise in the last week of your cycle, and hold the sugar and alcohol. "
― Daniel G. Amen , Unleash the Power of the Female Brain: Supercharging Yours for Better Health, Energy, Mood, Focus, and Sex