Posted by orbital on January 3, 2010, at 11:12:49
In reply to Re: Stugeron/cinnarizine - great results » orbital, posted by hopefullynow on January 3, 2010, at 10:10:20
> I was also on a small dose Prozac (5-10mg/day) for amotivation/anergia and indeed it helped me but with the expense of agitation and nervousness.I had one strange feeleing of not being of tolerate people around me.I stayed in my room all day long surfing the net.I had energy to do things alone, I hated to be around even with my family.It's what happens with all AD's that are activators, like Prozac.Maybe you're right, Stugeron could ease that internal agitation (not akathisia).
Okay, I experienced some agitation when I started taking Prozac four months ago - I increased my Klonopin for a while, until the agitation resolved (about 3 weeks). This was all pre-Stugeron.
> I have Stugeron in my home-pharma from a past failed attempt and I'm thinking to try to augument the AD i'm on now.Isn't 225 mg a huge dose?My cinnarizine comes in 25 mg formulation that means ten pills divided.How did you start?Directly with 225 mg/day?
I have 75mg tablets. I started out on that dose, and increased to the max dose (225mg/day) over the course of a few days, as I didn't experience any of the side effects common to antihistamines (sleepiness, blurred vision, etc). In fact, the only reason I can tell I'm taking it is due to the positive effect it has had (I was stabilised on a constant dose of meds for several weeks before starting cinnarizine).
> The last question, could you elaborate in what way it helped you?
Cinnarizine took care of the low-grade (and treatment resistant) dizziness I've experienced for years very quickly. Additionally, after a few days on it, I started feeling extremely well - hard to explain... very clear headed, focused and stable. It's almost as though the Stugeron gave my meds the final kick they needed.
Here's what I found in Wikipedia (not exactly a reliable resource, I know ;-) )
"Cinnarizine could be also viewed as a nootropic drug because of its vasorelaxating abilities (due to calcium channel blockage), which happen mostly in brain. It is also effectively combined with other nootropics, primarily Piracetam; in such combination each drug potentiate the other in boosting brain oxygen supply." --- I'm *not* taking Piracetam.
I also checked pubmed... According to several studies, cinnarizine may induce parkinsonism, especially in the elderly.
This one is particularly interesting:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15982988?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=1PMID: 15982988
"Cinnarizine has an atypical antipsychotic profile in animal models of psychosis.
Dall'Igna OP, Tort AB, Souza DO, Lara DR.
Cinnarizine, a drug known as a calcium channel blocker, is currently used for the treatment of migraine and vertigo. Induction of extrapyramidal signs by cinnarizine has been reported in the elderly, which is related to its moderate antagonistic properties at dopamine D2 receptors, resembling the mechanism of action of most antipsychotic drugs. Despite this effect, cinnarizine has never been tested as a putative antipsychotic drug. Here we evaluate the potential effect of cinnarizine in two pharmacological models of psychosis, namely amphetamine- and MK-801-induced hyperlocomotion, as well as its ability to induce catalepsy. Cinnarizine significantly counteracted MK-801 (0.25 mg/kg) and amphetamine (5mg/kg) locomotor effects at doses as low as 20mg/kg, having no incremental effect at 60 or 180 mg/kg. Regarding side-effects, cinnarizine induced no catalepsy in mice at the effective dose of 20 mg/kg, inducing only mild catalepsy at the doses of 60 and 180 mg/kg. Based on these results and on the antagonist effect of cinnarizine on dopamine D2 receptors, we suggest that it has a potential antipsychotic effect with an atypical profile that should be evaluated clinically."
I'm not sure what this might mean in practice.
> Thanks a lot!
> Regards!You're welcome, take care :)
poster:orbital
thread:932012
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100103/msgs/932298.html