Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 1108501

Shown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.

 

Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression

Posted by jay2112 on February 17, 2020, at 12:08:31

Hey folks:

Well, after almost 30 years going around the med and diagnosis spectrum, one med I haven't tried yet is an alzheimer med.One that seems to be studied most for tx resistant depression is memantine. Problem is, that med isn't included in my insurance plan. But, one that is, donepezil, didn't do any better than placebo.

Does anyone have any experience, or can someone relate? I am deathly afraid of dementia, and recently watched a good friend pass from early-onset alzheimers.

Thank you kindly,
Jay

 

Re: Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression

Posted by undopaminergic on February 18, 2020, at 11:23:34

In reply to Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression, posted by jay2112 on February 17, 2020, at 12:08:31

> Hey folks:
>
> Well, after almost 30 years going around the med and diagnosis spectrum, one med I haven't tried yet is an alzheimer med.One that seems to be studied most for tx resistant depression is memantine. Problem is, that med isn't included in my insurance plan. But, one that is, donepezil, didn't do any better than placebo.
>
> Does anyone have any experience, or can someone relate?
>

In my experience, memantine, at sufficient doses, is great for treating some of the most important symptoms of depression, especially mood and apathy. However, you need to be careful, because it can produce mania, with impulsiveness and lack of critical thinking, leading to delusions. Fortunately, this mania subsides when you terminate the drug treatment.

I probably hold the world record in greatest memantine dose taken and survived. This megadose took place due to the impulsiveness associated with the drug. So beware of that.

-undopaminergic

 

Re: Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression

Posted by rjlockhart37 on February 19, 2020, at 0:51:59

In reply to Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression, posted by jay2112 on February 17, 2020, at 12:08:31

saw your post, i did research on google, and bing, other search engines, the only ones that you said that treat early stage of dementia: Rivastigmine and galantamine, they are mild stages, there cognitive enhancer like memantine, but there for mild moderate symptoms, i did some other search engines, some of them sai off label use of certain antipsychotics, only certain ones, there's others that worsen alzheimer's and dementia terribly. My grandmother had dementia, she thought i was her son, and she once a while, when she was living with us, she woke and had books gathered, and said she had to go school. Some old teacher from long ago, she said was given her an assignment she had to turn in.. At times, she would not be coherent and have scrambled thinking, you would tell her something , and within 5 min she would forget it. She was sweet, and kind even with it. But she was on memantine, it made her irritable, aricept was worse. But that is end stages, or moderate severe case.

Rivastigmine and galantamine are treatments for dementia not alzheimer's, from what i researched. There's all this other jumk with herbal remedies like ginko biblioka and other psychoactive herbal medications. But i truly don't think they would work effectively, maybe as small add to a medication, but it could interfere.

I never was a herbal or brain medications you would by at vitamin shops, only ones are like l-tyrosine, and direct neurotransmitter precursors. On a side note, just from me, .... nicotine, not smoking, but you could take the lounges, nicotine is known to improve cognitive functions somewhat through nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, but it only lasts about 30-45 min

that's all i can find, or give advice on, not treatment advisor, this is just pulled up research. Hope this helps.

r

 

Re: Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression

Posted by rjlockhart37 on February 19, 2020, at 18:48:17

In reply to Re: Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression, posted by rjlockhart37 on February 19, 2020, at 0:51:59

nicotine would be a inconvenient way, because it has a short half life, but it improves, i did read on search engines and articles, it actually is a adequate treatment because it keeps the brain active.

You may want to consider a nicotine patch, you buy them at the stores, they deliver a continuous small amount of nicotine to the individuel. The main treatment is to help people get off ciggerettes, but these articles are saying using a nicotine patch in dementia acutally did treat, mild cognitive impairment. Google, nicotine and dementia.

But ... that's just my suggestion, sometimes people get irrtible on nicotine and too much nicotine is definitely unpleasant. It hits nicotinic acetylcholine receptors which slow down dementia related symptoms. Google it, or use any search engine. But the only is nicotine is addictive, but if it was used in patch form, instead of a cigarette, or a longze, it would deliver stead and continuous dose of nicotine to help with dementia.

This is just my suggestion, and ... you know nicotine in some people makes them irritable, its a mild stimulant, been around 1000s years. One dose of nicotine usually lasts 20-30 min, then you have redose,. Very inconvenient. Don't take that as advice, but it stated that nicotine slows down dementia symptoms, or improves in someways. Due to the acetylcholine receptors

 

Re: Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression

Posted by bleauberry on March 6, 2020, at 19:21:54

In reply to Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression, posted by jay2112 on February 17, 2020, at 12:08:31

Over the decades several people here have tried Memantine. I was one of them. I cannot recall anyone getting great results from it.

30 years is plenty of time to think about getting off of that train and onto another one.

Whatever has been tried the last 3 decades - I assume is psychopharmacology - is clearly, obviously, blatantly the wrong path for you. Unless you have gotten some benefit but you just want more.

People here generally disagree with my perspective on psychiatry and that's fine. But I will share with you. I am of the belief that the vast majority of treatment resistant psychiatric patients are actually suffering from something non-psychiatric, and that the usual culprits are things that create remarkable toxicity in the body and change naturally functions of the hormones and the brain. I'm talking about Lyme disease, other tick-born diseases such as Bartonella, Babesia, Mycoplasma, Epstein Barr virus, and others, Mold toxicity, and heavy metals toxicity.

Toxicity of all kinds do one thing - they clog up receptors all over the place, and they change the chemistry and functioning of the brain because of those blockages.

Remove amalgam fillings. Do heavy metal chelation. Take doxycycline for one month, stop for a week, and then take a standard Lyme lab test (Lyme is notoriously difficult to get an accurate test, pre-treatment with antibiotics makes it much more accurate, long story for another day), do Sporonox or Diflucan for mold and take activated charcoal on an empty stomach to absorb toxins, and start studying at various websites - Bill Rawls, MD, Marty Ross, MD - everything mold related and everything lyme related. I'm not saying to do these things, I am saying these are things you could do and you should learn about. These are the things that ended my 20 years of treatment resistant depression.

Long story short, when pharmaceuticals fail, shift the focus to these two things: 1.Anti-toxicity 2.Anti-inflammation. Because everything I mentioned - stealth microbial chronic low level infections, heavy metals, mold - cause systemic inflammation and brain inflammation with all kinds of psychiatric symptoms that the meds just cannot fix.

You will be astounded to find out how powerful ticks and mold are at causing strong resistant psychiatric symptoms.

I think it is important for every psych patient to know that when their hopes in medications do not work out, that there are other approaches, and that the fact that the meds didn't work, is a clear signal another approach is needed.

I had two doctors who specialized in taking treatment resistant depression patients and getting them close to remission or remission. Their success was 9 out of 10 patients. 90%. The treatment was not what you would expect. It is months of 3 different antibiotics, followed up short runs of Sporonox and activated charcoal for mold and yeast, repeated if needed. Psych meds at the end of treatment were either low doses or stopped completely.

Whether anyone goes that direction themselves or not - they should at least know that that world exists and a lot of psych patients have new lives because of it.

 

Re: Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression

Posted by undopaminergic on March 7, 2020, at 9:26:26

In reply to Re: Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression, posted by bleauberry on March 6, 2020, at 19:21:54

> Over the decades several people here have tried Memantine. I was one of them. I cannot recall anyone getting great results from it.
>

I felt great on it, with sufficient doses. Unfortunately, it actually produced mania, and the ending was not happy. Think self-destructive behaviour and hospitalisation.

In my opinion it is still worth trying.

> Whether anyone goes that direction themselves or not - they should at least know that that world exists and a lot of psych patients have new lives because of it.
>

I posted this:
https://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20191019/msgs/1107646.html
entitled "Pathogens and mental disorders". No-one replied!

-undopaminergic

 

Re: Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression » undopaminergic

Posted by SLS on March 7, 2020, at 17:39:27

In reply to Re: Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression, posted by undopaminergic on March 7, 2020, at 9:26:26

Hi.

> > Over the decades several people here have tried Memantine. I was one of them. I cannot recall anyone getting great results from it.

Neither can I.

> I felt great on it, with sufficient doses. Unfortunately, it actually produced mania, and the ending was not happy. Think self-destructive behaviour and hospitalisation.

How much did you take?

My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Nothing really works, from what I've read. I don't think that donepezil and memantine are as effective as doctors once convinced themselves they were. The only drug that might have some value is lithium when taken in small amounts. I doubt more than 150 mg/day of lithium carbonate is necessary. I just bought some lithium orotate for Mom. I couldn't get her doctor to prescribe lithium, so that was the best I could come up with. I got the Weyland brand lithium orotate that delivers 20mg of elemental lithium.


- Scott


 

Re: memantine -- mania / Alzheimer's » SLS

Posted by undopaminergic on March 7, 2020, at 22:35:48

In reply to Re: Question..please help re: alzheimer's, depression » undopaminergic, posted by SLS on March 7, 2020, at 17:39:27

> Hi.

Hi.

[Re. memantine]

> > I felt great on it, with sufficient doses. Unfortunately, it actually produced mania, and the ending was not happy. Think self-destructive behaviour and hospitalisation.
>
> How much did you take?

First time I tried it, I took 5 or 10 mg, and it made me feel weird. I actually gave up on it. Next time, I was going to exploit the "feeling weird" effect, and I tried 20 mg, but instead, a got a hypomanic reaction. Then I was unable get more of it, until I bought 100 grams of 99%+ lab tested memantine powder, and I experimented with doses of 20 mg of so; I was afraid to go higher because I was worried about "Olney's lesions". This dose was insufficient to achieve any kind of worthwhile effect, so I gave up on it again.

Then, later I was apparently in a more reckless/courageous/desperate state (though not manic), and I used 60, maybe up to 80 mg -- as needed -- and I was hoping for the best with regard to the lesions. That's when I got the manic effect. The self-destructive behaviour included taking several 1000 mg of memantine powder, in an attempt to produce Olney's lesions and completely obliterate my retrosplenial cortex, or something like that. I remember lying on the floor performing purposeless movements with one of my arms, and I just couldn't motivate myself to stop, because I was catatonic. I apparently kept up these purposeless movements indefinitely, and I am told they found me in a puddle of sweat. I understand I had rhabdomyolysis, and I was close to serious kidney damage. I almost died, because it was more or less accidental that they found me in time and called for the ambulance. I was taken to hospital for intensive care. From my period at the "somatic" hospital, I only barely remember a beautiful blond nurse I was somehow teasing sexually (think kinky nurse fantasies). When I started remembering normally again, I was in the psych ward. Unsurprisingly, I went back into a depressive state.

My parents got rid of my memantine, and I have not used it again, though I would be willing to try -- with great caution.

Mania is to be taken seriously, I have realised as of late. Especially the mixed mania. I had classic (euphoric) mania, but a discussion I had with my parents made me angry, and I decided enough was enough and so I did the self-destructive stuff. That's how easily a classic mania may transition into mixed.

A friend later informed me that memantine does not produce Olney's lesions... otherwise, I suppose I would have serious brain damage today. I am almost certainly the world-record holder in the category of greatest dose of memantine taken.

I'm pleased that I've been developing more insight lately regarding such things as mania and psychosis. Trimipramine is the most effective antipsychotic for me, much more effective than even clozapine.

> My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Nothing really works, from what I've read. I don't think that donepezil and memantine are as effective as doctors once convinced themselves they were.
>

Agreed.

> The only drug that might have some value is lithium when taken in small amounts. I doubt more than 150 mg/day of lithium carbonate is necessary. I just bought some lithium orotate for Mom. I couldn't get her doctor to prescribe lithium, so that was the best I could come up with. I got the Weyland brand lithium orotate that delivers 20mg of elemental lithium.
>

That should be more than enough.

-undopaminergic

 

Re: memantine -- mania / Alzheimer's » undopaminergic

Posted by SLS on March 12, 2020, at 20:57:18

In reply to Re: memantine -- mania / Alzheimer's » SLS, posted by undopaminergic on March 7, 2020, at 22:35:48

Hi UD.

Thanks for sharing so much of your experiences and information. I have been manic a handful of times, all of which involved MAOIs. No euphoria. Pyschotic mixed-states. Depression can make it a struggle to build a life for yourself - if you're lucky. It might require investing more years to build that life. However, with mania, that investment can be lost overnight.

I'm glad you didn't hurt yourself with the memantine.


- Scott


> [Re. memantine]
>
> > > I felt great on it, with sufficient doses. Unfortunately, it actually produced mania, and the ending was not happy. Think self-destructive behaviour and hospitalisation.
> >
> > How much did you take?
>
> First time I tried it, I took 5 or 10 mg, and it made me feel weird. I actually gave up on it. Next time, I was going to exploit the "feeling weird" effect, and I tried 20 mg, but instead, a got a hypomanic reaction. Then I was unable get more of it, until I bought 100 grams of 99%+ lab tested memantine powder, and I experimented with doses of 20 mg of so; I was afraid to go higher because I was worried about "Olney's lesions". This dose was insufficient to achieve any kind of worthwhile effect, so I gave up on it again.
>
> Then, later I was apparently in a more reckless/courageous/desperate state (though not manic), and I used 60, maybe up to 80 mg -- as needed -- and I was hoping for the best with regard to the lesions. That's when I got the manic effect. The self-destructive behaviour included taking several 1000 mg of memantine powder, in an attempt to produce Olney's lesions and completely obliterate my retrosplenial cortex, or something like that. I remember lying on the floor performing purposeless movements with one of my arms, and I just couldn't motivate myself to stop, because I was catatonic. I apparently kept up these purposeless movements indefinitely, and I am told they found me in a puddle of sweat. I understand I had rhabdomyolysis, and I was close to serious kidney damage. I almost died, because it was more or less accidental that they found me in time and called for the ambulance. I was taken to hospital for intensive care. From my period at the "somatic" hospital, I only barely remember a beautiful blond nurse I was somehow teasing sexually (think kinky nurse fantasies). When I started remembering normally again, I was in the psych ward. Unsurprisingly, I went back into a depressive state.
>
> My parents got rid of my memantine, and I have not used it again, though I would be willing to try -- with great caution.
>
> Mania is to be taken seriously, I have realised as of late. Especially the mixed mania. I had classic (euphoric) mania, but a discussion I had with my parents made me angry, and I decided enough was enough and so I did the self-destructive stuff. That's how easily a classic mania may transition into mixed.
>
> A friend later informed me that memantine does not produce Olney's lesions... otherwise, I suppose I would have serious brain damage today. I am almost certainly the world-record holder in the category of greatest dose of memantine taken.
>
> I'm pleased that I've been developing more insight lately regarding such things as mania and psychosis. Trimipramine is the most effective antipsychotic for me, much more effective than even clozapine.
>
> > My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Nothing really works, from what I've read. I don't think that donepezil and memantine are as effective as doctors once convinced themselves they were.
> >
>
> Agreed.
>
> > The only drug that might have some value is lithium when taken in small amounts. I doubt more than 150 mg/day of lithium carbonate is necessary. I just bought some lithium orotate for Mom. I couldn't get her doctor to prescribe lithium, so that was the best I could come up with. I got the Weyland brand lithium orotate that delivers 20mg of elemental lithium.
> >
>
> That should be more than enough.
>
> -undopaminergic
>


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