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Salts in the brain control our sleep-wake cycle
Eureka Alert ^ | 4/29/2016 | University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Posted on 04/30/2016 5:40:04 AM PDT by molewhacka

Danish research is behind a new epoch-making discovery, which may prove decisive to future brain research. The level of salts in the brain plays a critical role in whether we are asleep or awake. This discovery may be of great importance to research on psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia and convulsive fits from lack of sleep as well as post-anaesthetization confusion, according to Professor Maiken Nedergaard.

Salts in our brain decide whether we are asleep or awake. For the first time, researchers have shown that the level of salts in our body and brain differ depending on whether we are asleep or awake. A new study from the University of Copenhagen reveals that by influencing the level of salts, it is possible to control a mouse's sleep-wake cycle. The research has just been published in the scientific journal, SCIENCE...


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KEYWORDS: brain; copenhagen; denmark; salts; sleep; uofcopenhagen
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To: catnipman
those will only give you diarrhea

Thanks, certainly don't want that side effect.

61 posted on 04/30/2016 8:28:08 AM PDT by Robert DeLong (u)
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To: catnipman

I used to take magnesium taurate, but I have been reading recently about threonate being better absorbed by the brain, and my brain needs all the help it can get :-)


62 posted on 04/30/2016 8:29:05 AM PDT by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: Robert DeLong
Did you know that a little salt on your oatmeal makes it taste sweeter? Also salt on your watermelon will make a not-so-good melon taste much better.
63 posted on 04/30/2016 8:34:52 AM PDT by Ditter (God Bless Texas!)
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To: molewhacka

I wonder if certain individuals in comas would not respond to a salt treatment by waking up.


64 posted on 04/30/2016 8:44:09 AM PDT by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens")
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To: catnipman

-—A carb snack is probably not a good idea as that could spike blood sugar followed by a crash.-—

Thanks

That might really be be the problem. I must eat a snack with my bed time meds


65 posted on 04/30/2016 8:54:26 AM PDT by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc;+12, 73, ....)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER; Robert DeLong; All

Jumping into this thread after reading to the point of your posts; I’m a lifelong salter of everything. I’m the sinner who salts before I taste. That said, I agree with Rocklobster, because I’ve believed that myself as I’ve gotten older. I was born lacking something (ducking now...) and my craving for salt is my body’s way of prompting me to make up for it.


66 posted on 04/30/2016 8:55:22 AM PDT by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL (Impeach the Liar.)
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To: Ditter

Continue reading, I think I did.


67 posted on 04/30/2016 9:00:51 AM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Canadians can't be President!)
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To: antidisestablishment

Melatonin gave me crazy dreams. I had to quit taking it. I’d wake up all of the sudden and my pulse would be around 150 bpm.


68 posted on 04/30/2016 9:04:08 AM PDT by EEGator
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To: getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL

Oh I have always said that I was probably compensating for something, but it has become a taste thing now. Have to have salt or it just doesn’t taste right. I will most likely start adding electrolytes (gatorade) to my consumption, but I seriously doubt it will diminish my salt consumption in the process. But who knows. Only time will tell.


69 posted on 04/30/2016 9:04:48 AM PDT by Robert DeLong (u)
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To: EEGator

That’s quite unusual. I gave melatonin to a lot of my (adopted) kids over the years and it seemed to help calm them enough to sleep. Of course,many were already bi-polar and came pre-loaded with SSRIs, so it have no idea what it would do to a normal brain.


70 posted on 04/30/2016 9:24:15 AM PDT by antidisestablishment (If those who defend our freedom do not know liberty, none of us will have either.)
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To: molewhacka
Brawndo photo: brawndo brawndo2.jpg It's got what sleepyheads crave.
71 posted on 04/30/2016 9:30:18 AM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: EEGator

“Melatonin gave me crazy dreams.”

Me too, wild stuff. Stopped taking it.


72 posted on 04/30/2016 9:31:55 AM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: Robert DeLong; Ditter; getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL

Hey Everybody,

I forgot.

Ska-rew the Gatoraid, it tastes like crap. Instead, get “Smartwater”....tastes like water.

Smartwater.


73 posted on 04/30/2016 9:45:29 AM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Canadians can't be President!)
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To: exDemMom

Aw, gee, I’m going to be an outcast here. Sure, I have a box of Morton’s in the cupboard, but when it comes to dousing food with salt, I grind pink Himalayan rock salt over my food.

It isn’t because of any imaginary health benefits—in fact, it is probably less healthy than Morton’s since I am not getting iodine in the salt. But the pink salt looks really cool.


I like the pink salt, too. I also like my bacon habanero sea salt and my ghost pepper salt.

Ghost pepper is so strong they wear gas masks when they grind it.

I sleep great. Sometimes some Bold wasabi soy sauce almonds before bed with some Bushmill’s or some wine.


74 posted on 04/30/2016 9:49:18 AM PDT by angry elephant (Endangered species in Seattle)
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To: Robert DeLong

Well, and here’s where this gets very interesting.

My firstborn child has always been a mover & shaker. I knew she was going to be a pistol when I felt her first movements at 13 weeks of my pregnancy. Throughout the 40 weeks, she moved constantly, never seeming to sleep.

When she was born, those first three months were pure h***. She slept in 3-hour increments at night. During the day, naps were 20-30 minutes. She was awful to try and settle down especially in the evening. One of us constantly held her/wore her/rocked her. We found swaddling to be of help, and having her upright to see everything. She fell asleep usually from exhaustion late at night, and awoke before 6am for years. We attributed the way she was to her being wired as a person who wanted to absorb it all, be everywhere, learn everything,who loved being around others.

When this child would sleep throughout grade-h.s., she was all over the bed all night long; moving, flopping, stretching, the same as en utero.

She graduated hs above 4.0, with a 30 ACT and 10 college credits. She played varsity vb on winning team w/personal awards, state champ in track, choir, intern for state Rep., Mayor’s Council, student council & body president, unquenchable reader, volunteer, academic awards, K-life, on and on.

Ffw. to April of last year...this is still so difficult to recall so please pardon that I need to speed through this.

Actually going back to fall semester, my daughter did very well in gpa considering all she did and attended. All home football games, intramural sports, going through sorority rush, 1st semester in college. She drank lots of coffee, studied all the time in the library, attended labs and study sessions with student leaders.

Then second semester, in April, she had a sz and fell from her loft bed at 2 in the am, sustaining a pretty bad concussion. Nothing showed on any neuro tests for a sz cause, so the neurologists chalked it up to a high-achieving, very stressed out, way over-caffeinated, reduced immune-system, extremely sleep-deprived freshman student. She wound up making the Dean’s list then came home for the summer, taking two summer courses while working. She did complain that she didn’t feel rested in the mornings, that she often had trouble falling asleep.

During the summer, three months later, she suffered two more (generalized t-c) seizures while at home in my presence each lasting about 5 minutes. Tests still indicate nothing. She was put on keppra a week before returning to school as a welcome-week volunteer. She insisted on going back.

Fall semester, she increased her dose two or three times, and overall could be considered a success as she earned a 4.0. Sorority, football games, all of it. Slept a little more knowing that was a trigger for szs, and for the first fall in maybe 5 or more years, she wasn’t sick - no colds, sinus infections, nothing bronchial.

Semester #4 which she’s in currently, the side effects from medication have begun kicking in. She’s forgetting very simple information. Her mood had been depressed, starting to feel like she isn’t cut out for a career in medicine, isn’t smart enough, wants to stay home instead of socialize. Not like her at all. Drs have tried switching her off the keppra, but she’s reacted to the two new medications by vomiting and developing a large rash. Her grades this semester have suffered. I don’t think she has even one A due to her memory impairment.

A few weeks ago, she suffered some very bad auras in close succession. Enough so they got her attn and her friends drove her to the ER. Her neurologist increased her dose again, even with the side effects being as they are, so her szs could be controlled and she could finish the semester and we then will have time to come up w/a gameplan.

All of that said - just as a mom looking at her life. She stayed very active in the transition from h.s. to college. However, her intense training in sports went from a 9 or ten for at least six straight years to maybe a 2 or 3. She never has been a fluid drinker, but her fluids of choice have mostly been water and gatorade. In college, she stopped drinking gatorade and only drinks water. She isn’t a salter of food. I also think her restful sleep has probably been reduced while she’s been at college.

I find the brain is more foreign to scientists than the moon. We feel like forensic investigators looking at every detail for a clue to learning what went wrong anyhow to fix it. While I may come across as emotionless, I assure you, it’s only to keep myself together explaining my interest in this thread.

If anyone wants to throw this to a relative or friend who’s a neurologist, plz have at it. I’m completely open to one of you being placed in my path as God’s blessing to us. Thanks for reading all this. :)


75 posted on 04/30/2016 10:27:14 AM PDT by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL (Impeach the Liar.)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

Will look into that :)


76 posted on 04/30/2016 10:28:40 AM PDT by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL (Impeach the Liar.)
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To: Larry Lucido

AMPA receptor–independent elevations of [K+]e concomitant with decreases in [Ca2+]e, [Mg2+]e, [H+]e, and the extracellular volume.

I was just saying that the other day.

*************************************************************

I wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard it.


77 posted on 04/30/2016 10:59:11 AM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL
I am so sorry to hear about this unfortunate turn of events your daughter is experiencing from her seizures. I know you must be devastated especially since the doctors are unable to find a reason or cause for them to be occurring.

I know very little about seizures other than the neurons in the brain begin firing excessively creating an overload on the brain rendering processing impossible. Since she was always active in sports it could have been from an injury she sustained many years earlier, and may have been finally triggered by excessive caffeine intake. But of course that is all conjecture on my part, obviously due to no training in the medical field.

I also conjecture that her lack of desire to socialize is due in part to her not wanting to embarrass herself in public, which is perfectly understandable.

The problem with seizures is that you can be fine one second and at a total loss of control the next second.

That alone would be enough to make anyone think twice about going out in public because not only could it bring about embarrassment but it could place that person or others in danger. Such as walking out into traffic, or driving causing an accident.

You're correct that we really do not know enough about the brain other than a simple understanding of how the brain functions. When it comes to functioning abnormally is where we lack knowledge. We have made strides for sure, but not enough and we probably will never get there, though I hope I am just being overly pessimistic as usual on that thought.

If just saddens me to no end that someone with such potential is afflicted with this, while other perfectly healthy people cannot even motivate themselves to work, and instead rely on others to provide for them.

I will say prayers for your daughter that the cause at least will be discovered so that the proper treatment regime can be established. I will also pray that someone on this board sees this thread who either possesses or knows someone with knowledge to intercede on her behalf.

May God Bless you and your family and bestow a miracle that will enable your daughter to return to her former productive, engaged, self.

78 posted on 04/30/2016 12:22:03 PM PDT by Robert DeLong (u)
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To: Robert DeLong

Thank you Robert.

Her not wanting to go out, I should have explained, is mostly due to her taking a drug where the side effects affect the emotional portion of the brain. We were warned that the higher the dose, the likelier emotional side effects would occur. Her spirited, go get ‘em, don’t want to miss anything personality has started dropping off into depression. In February, she reported that she began crying several times a day for no reason. Depression, bouts of anger and frustration that would swing out of nowhere, very low energy - beyond the fatigue she was experiencing from the drug.

We would have insisted that she take a semester off if her really bad side effects started even a few weeks earlier, since we could have been reimbursed for her classes, and she wouldn’t have received a mark to her transcript. But when they began, we felt we could only press on and hope changing to a new medication would work.

How does one test for vitamins, minerals and such in the body? It’s not included in a regular cbc as far as I know.

I truly appreciate you for praying.


79 posted on 04/30/2016 3:26:39 PM PDT by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL (Impeach the Liar.)
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To: getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL
I understand that the drugs themselves play a major role in the reversal of her normally outgoing personality, but I would think she also realizes these changes which most likely exacerbate it to an even greater extent. Kind of like aging and the inability to do things that their younger self used to be able to do, takes a toll on a lot of people, especially true with high energy types. That adjustment is like a shock to the system. She is still young and already feeling those changes, and in such a relatively short time span. So the effects on her must be even greater.

As for your question: How does one test for vitamins, minerals and such in the body? Other than blood tests, I haven't a clue. Good question for her doctors I guess, but I assume the doctors will say blood tests are the most comprehensive and reliable method.

Anyway, your daughter and family will be in my prayers.

80 posted on 04/30/2016 4:57:17 PM PDT by Robert DeLong (u)
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