GABA supplementation

[brasstackminis]

So I have been looking at some supplements for me and I have been reading about the benefits of GABA for calming nerves of the chronically stressed. So I started thinking about my poor stressed shetland and looked online and they have it for horses too! So then I look at the companies that are selling it and they come from the same company. I was actually thinking about trying the horse supplement if it was cheaper, but the human supplement is actually cheaper...go figure.

So the question is, has anyone else ever used GABA on themselves or horses/pets? Any reports from users? I am hoping to help him to relax. As much training as he has had, he is still sooo jumpy.

The trainers have even commented on how tireing it must be to be that nervous!

I went ahead and ordered the sublingual version...I am thinking I am gonna split a pill for the both of us LOL I looked at the doese and sounds like that should work.

Karen Merrill

 

[squeaky]

I am interested to hear if this works. Both myself and my shetlan could certainly benefit from it!

Amanda

 

[Matthijs]

Hi Karen,

Assuming you are talking about gabapentin.

I take 200 mg of gabapentin every night since one week, not for nerves so much as for general pain (shoulders and back). I only take it at bedtime and seem to sleep better through the night. It is also supposed to help my restless legs, not so far!

For humans 300 mg 3 times a day is still a normal dose apparently. i have not heard about it for horses so keep us posted.

 

[shelterwood]

GABA and gabapentin are 2 very different things. GABA, or gamma animobutyric acid, is a naturally occurring amino acid in the body that acts in an inhibitory way in the central nervous system. Gabapentin is a drug that treats nerve based pain and things like restless leg syndrome. As a hospice nurse, I use gabapentin often in conjunction with narcotics for severe neuropathic pain. I do not think it would be a good idea to give this drug to animals of any kind, without the express indication of a very knowledgeable vet. GABA on the other hand may be safe, as it is an amino acid, but I would use caution and discuss with a vet anyway.

Katie

 

[brasstackminis]

I am talking about the amino acid L-GABA. I found the doses, but of course they were for big horses. Weight wise, he is basically a big human. I figured that he and I could split a dose. That would be half dose for both of us...then try a whole pill. They are sublingual so I don't have to fight to get him to take it. I have found some horse supplements with GABA in it formulated for calming them.

I have gone off of my pysch drugs (I can't believe I am saying this here

) and onto the amino acids instead and have been amazed at the results. I went from being anxious and depressed and unable to regulate my sleep, to being relaxed, less "wound-up" and sleeping like a normal human! I also have started having dreams instead of night terrors. It is so amazing! I am very cautious and start out using less first. So far, so good with me. I was looking at the GABA for me. The only reason I even started thinking about my shetland was because I was thinking that the meds for horses, if the same, might be cheaper. Well they are not. They are the exact same thing, mg/pill and company and more expensive. I figured for $10 I could give it a whirl. I will not be giving it daily, as the research I have done suggests to take it either as needed or to take breaks of 2 days every week. I am just going to use it when we are training for right now...so a few times a week. I have gone from being on meds, to taking supplements, attempting to remove all artificial colors, flavors and preservatives and GMO free. Oh and I have reduced the wheat/gluten...not ready to remove it all yet. It is just too much all at once. It is amazing the difference!

If anyone is interested in the links for the places I have gotten my information, I'd be happy to share. Just PM me.

I am now working to trying to find Organic or GMO free feed for my horses. SOOOO HARD! With the release of the Roundup Ready alfalfa this year, I am getting more frustrated about it. Add to that a drought...I have decided to fight one battle at a time. Some feed is better than no feed. When the drought is over I will work on looking for GMO free feed for the horses. There are companies that carry it, just not local to me. So I have started putting a bug in the ear of the dealers and feed companies, letting them know I want it. If enough people ask, they will see the need and carry it.

 

[shelterwood]

Wow! Awesome. So glad you are off your meds and doing well. As a nurse I have seen so much medicating and so little of anything else. What you have done with your diet and using natural amino acids is fantastic. I think this is powerful stuff, and that we've only scratched the surface. Keep speaking up for natural and organic/GMO free feeds for your horses. The companies will eventually catch up. I feed organic hay, but it's just plain luck that I found it, and could afford it. Might not be able to this year!

 

[shelterwood]

Wow! Awesome. So glad you are off your meds and doing well. As a nurse I have seen so much medicating and so little of anything else. What you have done with your diet and using natural amino acids is fantastic. I think this is powerful stuff, and that we've only scratched the surface. Keep speaking up for natural and organic/GMO free feeds for your horses. The companies will eventually catch up. I feed organic hay, but it's just plain luck that I found it, and could afford it. Might not be able to this year!

 

[brasstackminis]

I haven't tried the GABA on my shetland yet...for some reason, my sublingual order came as a stinking HORSE PILL sized thing! Ugh.

Meantime I have realized that it may not end up being a soultion...if it works or not.

The darn USEF has decided to ban GABA in case it does work...calling it a performance enhancing drug!!!

I am not even gonna get on my soapbox about this one. :arg! Grrrr

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Roundup Ready Alfalfa??? O no!!! Another bogey to watch out for.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

What is GMO? And "Roundup Ready?"

Leia

 

[squeaky]

Leia -

GMO - genetically modified organism. It is where they change the genetic structure of a plant to make it more likely to fight off bugs and disease. Monsanto seed company already puts out a GMO corn which they sell to farmers each year, but it is completely unedible. It looks like normal corn, but it has to be process in a different way and then it become corn syrup. You should look up "King Corn" on Netflix or a movie retal place. It is a documentry on how corn farmers live today.

Not sure what Round up Ready is, but I would think it is a plant that has been altered to accept the use of round up. So then we are feeding more pesticides to our animals...

 

[brasstackminis]

Not sure what Round up Ready is, but I would think it is a plant that has been altered to accept the use of round up. So then we are feeding more pesticides to our animals...

Monsanto owns RoundUp...it is an herbacide. SO what they do is they take a bacteria and they spray it with Roundup. If it dies oh well. The ones that live are what they are looking for. So now they take these small organisims that are genetically resistant to Roundup and they splice the DNA of the resistant organism into the CORN, SOY, SUGARBEETS, ALFALFA (as of 2012), Canola (I wouldn't eat this junk non-GMO), Cotton (not sure if I am worried about this one as much as I don't eat or feed cotton to anything), SORGHUM, and WHEAT. Then you can spray for weeds (anything growing in a crop that you don't want) and it will not kill the "Roundup ready" crop. Sounds good in therory except plants are dynamic...wind blows seeds, birds move seeds and seeds of similar types my hybrids! This causes "super weeds" which cannot be killed by Roundup! Not to mention if your neighbor is raising Roundup ready something else in his fields, you can get rid of it. If you read Monsanto's website they basically tell you that they do NOT need to test it for safety as it is JUST DNA! How do they get away with that? Old rules for one...if it looks like corn, smells like corn and no one can tell it is different, it isn't so you don't have to test it. There is a very recent study out of China http://gmwatch.eu/latest-listing/1-news-items/13424-plant-rnas-found-in-mammals which shows that this is not true! There needs to be testing AND labeling so consumers can decide. As long as Monsanto has its hold on the FDA and USDA with its previous lawyers and other higher up people now in the FDA and USDA, it seems to be a lost cause. All we can do is educate and use our dollars to show these big companies what we want. I have also been bugging Purina and other feed companies, asking for GMO free feed. ESPECIALLY for my animals that I consume (chickens for eggs, cows and goats for their milk)

Some links for your viewing...

(part one of 5) How Monsanto wants to patent naturally occuring pig DNAThe Corporation~ (29 parts I think; on Youtube) Shows what happened when a couple of reporters from Fox News tried to do an episode on hormones in the milk cows.

Within these videos you get more of an idea of how Monsanto works...for example if you buy their corn, you grow it and harvest it, you must DESTROY any seeds from the harvest...you have to buy new from Monsanto next year!? IF you are NOT using their corn, Monsanto can and does check your corn for their corn's DNA. If they find any of their DNA (which is inevitable if your are nearby...think of animals, wind, cross pollenation, vehicles used to transport/store the grains from one farm then used on another) then they give you some choices. Pay for it...they patented it so it is theirs and you have it so you are stealing it...so goes the logic. Fight a HUGE corporation in court (you don't have that kind of money) Or sell everything and quit farming.

They think they can contain it...they are mistaken!

You can google this story but here is the gist of it. Bayer got permission to grow some of their GM rice. They planted it, it grew and then for some reason (I can only assume it had something to do with Monsanto being able to influence the FDA and USDA from within) they were told to destroy it. Now the farmers raising this rice went above and beyond when they were planting it..giving 10 times the buffer required and then burning it. 20% of the long grain rice in the stores right now is from this one trial...the seeds got away. It hurt the market for the rice because the overseas markets do NOT want GM foods, so the rice farmers sued and WON!

Ok it is time to get down from my soapbox...

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I haven't read this entire thread so I appologize if I'm off topic but I recall reading a few years back about a Canadian famer who had been growing rape seed for many years who happened to have a feild near a Monsanto feild. The GM plants in monsantos feild somehow spred and contaminated the original farmers crop and Monsanto sued him - and won -!! I think there is something really wrong with that picture. I'm not dead set against modifying crops but it should be their responsibility to make sure it is contained (after all we can't know yet what the consequences of all this engineering may be in a few years)and Monsanto should be financially responsible for any cross contamination - destroy the crop if necessary, but Monsanto must pay the farmer for the loss. JMO too bad my opinion carries no weight and courts follow the 'law' not commom sense.