Posted by undopaminergic on April 29, 2008, at 10:40:11
In reply to Re: Depressive Disorders lead to Alzheimer's » SLS, posted by bleauberry on April 28, 2008, at 20:18:38
> Scott,
>
> A medication you once tried is prescribed for delaying, preventing, and reducing alzheimer's symptoms. Memantine.
>I just received a shipment of memantine, and have taken 30 mg. No unmistakeable effects yet. Wait, I'm getting somethings now... I feel, for lack of a better word, somewhat intoxicated, but without noticeable impairment of coordination and verbal skills; indeed, both may be improved. Furthermore, I took some SSRI (escitalopram) earlier today and was having a tendency to tremor as a result, but memantine seems to reduce it. I'm also getting the impression that somehow, life seems more real - less of an abstraction.
>
> Acetyl-L-Carnitine is claimed to be pro-cholinergic and a pro-rejuvenator for the brain.
>
> I would bet some of the smart drugs (the peracitam family, hydergine, and cousins) hold promise for Alzeimer's. I would have to go to pubmed and some of the smart drug websites to look at that closer.
>I think you mean piracetam (Nootropil). The family of piracetam analogues are often referred to as racetams, of which the most popular are piracetam (still going strong, and by far the most well-researched), aniracetam, oxiracetam and pramiracetam.
I tried piracetam years ago, with little success. During the past couple of weeks and continuing, I've been testing pramiracetam, which many consider the foremost racetam. I can't say I'm having much more luck with it than with piracetam. If I take 600 mg I actually find that it slows cognitive processes (eg. text recognition). However, 300 mg seems tolerable, with minimal or no adverse effects, but also apparently without benefit.
Regarding cholinergics, one of my hypotheses is that in dopamine deficient states, cholinergic agents are at best a waste of resources, and quite likely detrimental. It's no coincidence that *anti*cholinergics have been used in the treatment of Parkinson's Disease (and still are, to a modest extent). I'm nevertheless exploring them, since I might be pleasantly surprised, or if nothing else, the experiments will provide empirical data to help refine my theories.
poster:undopaminergic
thread:825769
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080420/msgs/826233.html