Posted by BP2Guy on August 3, 2013, at 4:36:37
I can't believe it's so hard to find articles on how Seroquel improves cognition for Bipolars. After doing a lot of research, it seems that 5HT2A, 5HT2C, NET, and a2 antagonism, as well as 5-HT1A partial agonism is responsible for the increase in dopamine in the prefrontal cortex.
I've noticed Seroquel has an intense synergy with Ginkgo Biloba (50 MG XR, 120 MG respectively) in terms of cognition. My motivation is through the roof, my memory is much better, and I'm able to make much improved executive decisions while on the combination. When I added tyrosine (750 MG), it seemed like I was in limitless. I could feel the dopaminergic activity and had intense desire to do productive things, such as studying, running errands, etc.
I've tapered Seroquel to see whether the Ginkgo + Tyrosine would still have the effect and it seems like it doesn't. My cognition is going downhill again, so it seems Seroquel did have a very positive synergistic effect with Ginkgo Biloba.
At such a low dose of Seroquel, I'm surprised that it has such synergistic effects. Not surprisingly, Seroquel alone never had a cognitive enhancing effect like this. In combination with Ginkgo however, it seems to be a powerful stack.
I dug up information on how they could've synergized and this is what I found:
SEROQUEL/QUETIAPINE:"Regarding the dopaminergic pathway, quetiapine leads to an increasing of prefrontal dopamine release by antagonism of 5-HT2A receptors, partial agonist of 5-HT1A and antagonism of a2 adrenoceptors. "
"On the other hand, norquetiapine, the main active metabolite of quetiapine, acts as a 5-HT2C antagonist and is a potent inhibitor of norepinephrine transporter (NET). NET inhibition leads to an increase of noerpinephrine in the synapse, and together with the increase of prefrontal dopamine and serotonin, could explain the antidepressive effect demonstrated by quetiapine in several clinical trials"
"Thus, the elevation of DA and NE produced by quetiapine and norquetiapine through the inhibition of NET and of the a2 adrenergic antagonism would, in practice, be translated into an antidepressant affect and an improvement in cognitive function."
http://www.actaspsiquiatria.es/PDFS/38E/Rev%20AEP%20V38%20N1%2022-32%20(ing).pdf
GINKGO BILOBA:
"The Ginkgo biloba extract EGb 761® and its main constituent flavonoids and ginkgolides increase extracellular dopamine levels in the rat prefrontal cortex"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2828029/
It seems that Seroquel perhaps is a good choice for Bipolars that have comorbid ADHD executive dysfunction symptoms when combined with other supplements/herbs such as Ginkgo Biloba and Tyrosine.
poster:BP2Guy
thread:1048205
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130730/msgs/1048207.html