Angela A Stanton, PhD, is a Neuroeconomist focusing on chronic pain--migraine in particular--physiology, electrolyte homeostasis, nutrition, and genetics. She lives in Southern California. Her current research is focused on migraine cause, prevention, and treatment without the use of medicine. As a forever migraineur from childhood, her discovery was helped by experimenting on herself. She found the cause of migraine to be at the ionic level, associated with disruption of the electrolyte homeostasis, resulting from genetic variations of all voltage dependent channels, gates, and pumps (chanelopathy) that modulate electrolyte mineral density and voltage in the brain. In addition, insulin and glucose transporters, and several other variants, such as MTHFR variants of B vitamin methylation process and many others are different in the case of a migraineur from the general population.
Migraineurs are glucose sensitive (carbohydrate intolerant) and should avoid eating carbs as much as possible. She is working on her hypothesis that migraine is a metabolic disease.
As a result of the success of the first edition of her book and her helping over 5000 migraineurs successfully prevent their migraines world wide, all ages and both genders, and all types of migraines, she published the 2nd (extended) edition of her migraine book "Fighting The Migraine Epidemic: Complete Guide: How To Treat & Prevent Migraines Without Medications". The 2nd edition is the “holy grail” of migraine cause, development, and prevention, incorporating all there is to know. It includes a long section for medical and research professionals. The book is full of academic citations (over 800) to authenticate the statements she makes to make it easy to follow up by those interested and to spark further research interest. It is a "Complete Guide", published on September 29, 2017.
Dr. Stanton received her BSc at UCLA in Mathematics, MBA at UCR, MS in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University, PhD in Economics with dissertation in neuroscience (culminating in Neuroeconomics) at Claremont Graduate University, fMRI certification at Harvard University Medical School at the Martinos Center for Neuroimaging for experimenting with neurotransmitters on human volunteers, certification in LCHF/ketogenic diet from NN (Nutrition Network), certification in physiology (UPEN via Coursea), Nutrition (Harvard Shool of Public Health) and functional medicine studies. Dr. Stanton is an avid sports fan, currently power weight lifting and kickboxing. For relaxation (yeah.. about a half minute each day), she paints and photographs and loves to spend time with her family of husband of 45 years, 2 sons and their wives, and 2 granddaughters.
Follow her on Twitter at: @MigraineBook, LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelaastantonphd/ and facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DrAngelaAStanton/
A lady commenting in an LI-group said that she had tried multiple different drugs to combat her depression, but nothing really worked. No surprise there. But then she tried L-methylfolate, and within 3 weeks she felt wonderful and had no side effects. Your take on that?
That is folate i.e. B-9… not everyone needs that and don’t forget the placebo effect of supplements. Have a blood test for B complex, which includes B2, B6, B9, and B12 I believe. The trick is that you cannot increase all 4. It seems (and I am not a B vitamin expert by a long shot) to me that B9 (folate) and B12 move in opposite direction. When I had my blood test, my B9 was out of range high and B12 too low. Now they are both fine but pills don’t work…. B vitamins do not absorb through the metabolic process. They get destroyed in the stomach. So if you need them, you can have them either via sublingual (full of aspartame) or via shots (I get the shots).
I must admit that I was perhaps calmer when my B9 was through the roof but I had much less energy with too little B12. Now that they are in balance, I am also in balance, have more energy but perhaps am not as calm… hard to tell because of the stupid suggestive power of the placebo effect, which cannot be discounted.
In my migraine group I ask everyone to stop all their vitamins, probiotics, supplements, everything and a week later head for a blood test to see what they need. I recommend they only take what is shown to be low and nothing else. It seems many people are overdosing on the vitamins and some people showed me their blood tests showing toxic levels of say selenium and other goodies. High calcium can get one into real serious trouble so all the ladies in the group taking calcium get to be taken off and have to head for a test… and if they are low and can tolerate dairy, they need to try to increase via natural route.
The same goes for folate. Many foods have folate… just need to eat them. 😀
I’ve read: “Folic acid in and of itself does not alleviate depression. Our brain must convert folic acid into L-methylfolate before it can manufacture enough serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine to alleviate depression. However, certain individuals lack the ability to convert folic acid to l-methylfolate, rendering folic acid supplements ineffective for this group of patients. This processing deficiency is caused by the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphism, which is quite common among patients with depression. Up to 70% of patients with depression test positive for the polymorphism and therefore cannot convert folic acid into L-methylfolate.” Hence :”……it becomes important to not use folate but to use L-methylfolate directly.”
You know there are deep brain stimulation studies on humans who have clinical depression, performed while they are awake. Their depression was found to be caused by lack of voltage in the deep limbic area of the brain where serotonin is manufactured. Those brain regions could be stimulated back into action when voltage probes were sunk into them and turned on. When the voltage reached the particular level where the neurons could open and close their pumps, activity to these regions returned and depression lifted.
Does this remind you of anything I do with migraineurs?
By the way nearly all migraineurs start with depression and all end up without… See what I mean? These supplements are bandages. One must go after the cause.
The cause is lack of neuronal activity because of lack of voltage and hence lack of neurotransmitters that are essential brain and mood controlling agents in addition to controlling everything we do.
So my take: get your brain working by supplying the nutrition it needs and forget about supplements. Add supplements as needed if after your brain is fully functional you find your diet is lacking for whatever reason.
I have never had a day of depression my life yet I have never been able to absorb folate from food or pills. The two, if connected in any way, must have a third variant: something else is not working to cause depression else everyone with problems of inability to absorb folate would be depressed. That would be a very large part of the population. Forget it… It is another bs excuse of explanations without any solid science.
This conversation is part and parcel of our broken society, driven by profits, incompletenesses, opinion and drama. It touches on hot buttons to insight fear, anger and resentment without any resources as to the means to get clear answers and solutions.
Antidepressants work with minimal harm.
They should be considered in the young and old or pregnant.
They can only work if the patient and provider are working together as a team.
If any medicine is not working the reasons should be assess with a new plan.
If a med is doing harm it needs to be stopped.
Some believe that a low dose of ssri’s are needed for long periods in a % of people.
Trials, trys and sees are the methods used to determine a need.
YES: the system is corrupted and profit driven, people are disrespected, people need to be more informed and we need more preventive care.
This is only the tippity top of this huge iceberg. Don’t look under the surface or you will get nausea and vomit.
Unfortunately yes, just the tiny top of the huge iceberg that I am trying to turn up-side-down in some ways. Not sure how to do it but I hope to succeed! Wish me luck–and better yet, join me!
We are on a the same mission from different starting points and on different roads. In my experience many do not understand key issues “hidden” from view. If you are insteredte just ask or ck out my pages.
I agree. Unfortunately many people are not “unhealthy” but are mislead and lied to… at least in the US Roald. In the US many doctors get paid for prescribing meds by big pharma. This may not be true in Aruba. In the US though I don’t know a single person who was not hurt by drugs–perhaps by as innocent a drug as an antibiotic–at one time of another. This is not only about antidepressants. But this is very much relevant for the case of the death of my mom.
Yes, but let’s not forget that “the people” often want a quick fix and gladly accept the drugs prescribed by their doctors. In fact “the people” themselves are helping to maintain the situation. “The people” need to get off their lazy asses and start informing themselves about what’s important in their lives, take action, and not sit back, accuse others, whine and complain about all the bad things happening to them all the time. Oh well, we had this conversation already many times.
Clueless Doctors & Scientists 
A lady commenting in an LI-group said that she had tried multiple different drugs to combat her depression, but nothing really worked. No surprise there. But then she tried L-methylfolate, and within 3 weeks she felt wonderful and had no side effects. Your take on that?
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is folate i.e. B-9… not everyone needs that and don’t forget the placebo effect of supplements. Have a blood test for B complex, which includes B2, B6, B9, and B12 I believe. The trick is that you cannot increase all 4. It seems (and I am not a B vitamin expert by a long shot) to me that B9 (folate) and B12 move in opposite direction. When I had my blood test, my B9 was out of range high and B12 too low. Now they are both fine but pills don’t work…. B vitamins do not absorb through the metabolic process. They get destroyed in the stomach. So if you need them, you can have them either via sublingual (full of aspartame) or via shots (I get the shots).
I must admit that I was perhaps calmer when my B9 was through the roof but I had much less energy with too little B12. Now that they are in balance, I am also in balance, have more energy but perhaps am not as calm… hard to tell because of the stupid suggestive power of the placebo effect, which cannot be discounted.
In my migraine group I ask everyone to stop all their vitamins, probiotics, supplements, everything and a week later head for a blood test to see what they need. I recommend they only take what is shown to be low and nothing else. It seems many people are overdosing on the vitamins and some people showed me their blood tests showing toxic levels of say selenium and other goodies. High calcium can get one into real serious trouble so all the ladies in the group taking calcium get to be taken off and have to head for a test… and if they are low and can tolerate dairy, they need to try to increase via natural route.
The same goes for folate. Many foods have folate… just need to eat them. 😀
LikeLike
I’ve read: “Folic acid in and of itself does not alleviate depression. Our brain must convert folic acid into L-methylfolate before it can manufacture enough serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine to alleviate depression. However, certain individuals lack the ability to convert folic acid to l-methylfolate, rendering folic acid supplements ineffective for this group of patients. This processing deficiency is caused by the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphism, which is quite common among patients with depression. Up to 70% of patients with depression test positive for the polymorphism and therefore cannot convert folic acid into L-methylfolate.” Hence :”……it becomes important to not use folate but to use L-methylfolate directly.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
You know there are deep brain stimulation studies on humans who have clinical depression, performed while they are awake. Their depression was found to be caused by lack of voltage in the deep limbic area of the brain where serotonin is manufactured. Those brain regions could be stimulated back into action when voltage probes were sunk into them and turned on. When the voltage reached the particular level where the neurons could open and close their pumps, activity to these regions returned and depression lifted.
Does this remind you of anything I do with migraineurs?
By the way nearly all migraineurs start with depression and all end up without… See what I mean? These supplements are bandages. One must go after the cause.
The cause is lack of neuronal activity because of lack of voltage and hence lack of neurotransmitters that are essential brain and mood controlling agents in addition to controlling everything we do.
So my take: get your brain working by supplying the nutrition it needs and forget about supplements. Add supplements as needed if after your brain is fully functional you find your diet is lacking for whatever reason.
I have never had a day of depression my life yet I have never been able to absorb folate from food or pills. The two, if connected in any way, must have a third variant: something else is not working to cause depression else everyone with problems of inability to absorb folate would be depressed. That would be a very large part of the population. Forget it… It is another bs excuse of explanations without any solid science.
LikeLike
This conversation is part and parcel of our broken society, driven by profits, incompletenesses, opinion and drama. It touches on hot buttons to insight fear, anger and resentment without any resources as to the means to get clear answers and solutions.
Antidepressants work with minimal harm.
They should be considered in the young and old or pregnant.
They can only work if the patient and provider are working together as a team.
If any medicine is not working the reasons should be assess with a new plan.
If a med is doing harm it needs to be stopped.
Some believe that a low dose of ssri’s are needed for long periods in a % of people.
Trials, trys and sees are the methods used to determine a need.
YES: the system is corrupted and profit driven, people are disrespected, people need to be more informed and we need more preventive care.
This is only the tippity top of this huge iceberg. Don’t look under the surface or you will get nausea and vomit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unfortunately yes, just the tiny top of the huge iceberg that I am trying to turn up-side-down in some ways. Not sure how to do it but I hope to succeed! Wish me luck–and better yet, join me!
LikeLike
We are on a the same mission from different starting points and on different roads. In my experience many do not understand key issues “hidden” from view. If you are insteredte just ask or ck out my pages.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oooh excuse the spellings.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahahahaha………..and that’s NEWS?
Dare I say that also unhealthy people (whatever that means, hehe) taking these goddamn drugs often experience nasty effects from it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree. Unfortunately many people are not “unhealthy” but are mislead and lied to… at least in the US Roald. In the US many doctors get paid for prescribing meds by big pharma. This may not be true in Aruba. In the US though I don’t know a single person who was not hurt by drugs–perhaps by as innocent a drug as an antibiotic–at one time of another. This is not only about antidepressants. But this is very much relevant for the case of the death of my mom.
LikeLike
Yes, but let’s not forget that “the people” often want a quick fix and gladly accept the drugs prescribed by their doctors. In fact “the people” themselves are helping to maintain the situation. “The people” need to get off their lazy asses and start informing themselves about what’s important in their lives, take action, and not sit back, accuse others, whine and complain about all the bad things happening to them all the time. Oh well, we had this conversation already many times.
LikeLike