can sleep be as easy as GB?

NO.   No. no. it can't be as easy  as Ginkgo biloba around the clock. Can a gaba antagonist be that  important? I gave Neal GB 120 mg before bed 4 nights in a row. Could that be the answer to the sleeping problem? The next morning  he told me ' I slept well and I am in SUCH a good mood!" Can that even be possible? I am not adding words to his sentence or filling in any blanks. That is what he said yesterday morning. 
Does it mean we give a GABA antagonist around the clock? I don't know. But it does make sense.  Wouldn't it be important to be balanced  all day and all night?
This morning he told my husband, "I'm not tired."
Don't jump to any conclusions from only 2 days but I got the idea from a study.
GABA A Receptors Inhibit Acetylcholine Release in Cat Pontine Reticular Formation: Implications for REM Sleep Regulation 
The entire study is available online. They used a GABA antagonist and triggered REM sleep. Neal has 2-3% REM in sleep studies [he has had 2]. I'm about to set up a third study. I'll let you know how it turns out.
I don't know why but I never thought about Ginkgo Biloba's half life before. Ginkgo's 1//2 life is about 6 hours and the Biloba piece has about a 3 hour 1/2 life. Arrrgh! I think he ran out over the course of the day and by night he was off balance and overly GABA inhibited again.

A Little History Lesson

I thought it was time for a little history lesson for all the newbies to the DS world. In 1997, Neal was born-I'm dumped into the DS world without any notice. All of a sudden, the internet is something I need. I bought a laptop and dialed up the internet. Can you imagine? how slow could we go......
Research started. I found the library.....pubmed.
Then I found forums where people talked to each other. So, I joined and began to participate. Soon, it became very apparent that there was a lot of bickering going on. Actually, is was down and dirty verbal fighting. Do you know what people were fighting about? Whether or not DS should take vitamins. Are you kidding? We have one of the most complex genetic conditions and people are arguing about vitamins!

I soon walked away from the forums and continued to read the science. A small group of us about 10 emailed each other what we found in the scientific studies. The pace of the research was slow. We wanted something now and it wasn't until 2004 that Stanford published the study about the GABA antagonist. Then, it wasn't until Feb. 2005 that we found ginkgo biloba. Luckily for Neal an avalanche of information came out, compared to the first half of his life. The rest of the Changing Minds Protocol came about in 2006 and 2007. We may not know everything and there is still a long way to go but yesterday I came home and he had written this paragraph with his tutor. I called her this morning to make sure he had done it himself. She said, of course. Tomorrow, I will list all that he is now taking because we have added to the protocol.



Another Study Showing Improved Mental Abilities in Down Syndrome

The following research study showed that continuous use of the GABA antagonist, PTZ rescued the mental abilities of the Down syndrome mouse. The GABA antagonist that is available to us is the over the counter Ginkgo Biloba, specifically the biloba part.
The researchers are proving the positive effects of this class of medicine in the lab but we are living with these improved mental abilities. Here is a link to Joanne Mothes, tutor for kids with DS and her observations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTKrz4dH5uk

Neurosci Lett. 2008 Mar 5;433(1):22-7. Epub 2008 Jan 15.

Chronic pentylenetetrazole but not donepezil treatment rescues spatial cognition in Ts65Dn mice, a model for Down syndrome.

Rueda N, Flórez J, Martínez-Cué C.

Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain.

Abstract

The most commonly used model of Down syndrome, the Ts65Dn (TS) mouse, is trisomic for most of the region of MMU16 that is homologous to HSA21. This mouse shares many phenotypic characteristics with people with Down syndrome including behavioral and cognitive alterations. The objective of this study was to analyze the ability of two drugs that improve cognition in different experimental models, the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor donepezil and the non-competitive GABA(A) antagonist pentylenetetrazole (PTZ), to improve the cognitive deficits found in TS mice (Down syndrome mouse). The drugs were administered p.o. (by mouth) to TS and CO (contol or typical) mice for 8 weeks and a behavioral characterization was performed. Sensorimotor abilities, including vision, hearing, strength and motor coordination, as well as locomotor activity in the home cage, were not modified by any chronic treatment in TS and CO mice. TS mice showed altered equilibrium in the aluminium rod, and this effect was larger under PTZ treatment. This result may indicate a potential adverse effect of PTZ in Ts65Dn mice. Learning and memory were evaluated in TS and CO mice after both treatments in the Morris water maze. Donepezil administration did not modify learning and memory in animals of any genotype. On the other hand, PTZ administration rescued TS performance in the Morris water maze.

PMID: 18226451 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]