14 replies to this topic

[Strelok]

Hi all,

I'm wondering what the best supplements/nootropics are that I can take to repair the brain damage from heavy alcohol binging. I drank heavily for about 4+ years, and have been sober for about 3 months. My memory and clarity of thought simply aren't as good as they were before drinking, and I occasionally have mild anxiety. I'm 27 years old.

I'm currently taking:

Fish Oil - 1 to 2 grams daily
Phosphatidylserine - 500mg daily
Magnesium malate - 500mg daily
B-100 - 1 capsule daily

I also recently added some adaptogens like Siberian Ginseng (Eleuthero) and Ashwagandha, and Ginkgo Biloba to help both my adrenals and brain.

I have some DMAE and ALCAR+ALCAR-Arginate on hand. I'm waiting a little longer to take these because I want to more accurately perceive their potential benefits without all of the other supplements interfering. I also have a 1-pound bag of whole Bacopa at my disposal that I could capsule up.

What supplements am I missing that can help reverse the brain damage done by the alcoholism? Note: I'm only wondering about supplements because I have been taking care of other lifestyle factors such as diet, sleep, and exercise.

[synaptiq]

Choline is good for treating fatty liver in addition to the nootropic effect. Choline+ALCAR can be a little touchy - it's an effective combo but too much ACh is no fun either - so I'd start the choline first and then add in ALCAR slowly. Noopept might also be worth a go, since it was originally developed for treating alcohol-induced brain damage (something the Russians have plenty of experience dealing with).

[Strelok]

Thanks for the response. I just got done doing a fairly intense full body detox, and a great portion of it focused on the liver/gallbladder (juice fasting, liver teas and tinctures, etc.). Now I'm ready to focus on my brain.

Btw, I meant 100mg PS daily in my OP, not 500mg.

I will look into Noopept. What source of choline is recommended? Bitartrate, Alpha-GPC, or CDP-choline? And could DMAE serve as an effective replacement for these since I already have it on hand?

[BLimitless]

Just some general ones I can name off the top of my head -
Milk thistle [liver]
Lion's mane [regrow brain cells]
Reishi [whole body strengthener, amazing feeling]


I'm not too sure about alcohol. I guess you'd be looking at the NMDA-glutamate system primarily and trying to restore it to correct balance. See how you feel on picamilon. You will need lots of anti-oxidants, N-Acetyl-Cysteine is a good one. In fact for you I would say it is an absolute must. It directly targets acetaldehyde, the active metabolite of alcohol; I use it as part of my own anti-hangover concoction which makes short work of the lighter hangovers. It has many other effects on the body beyond that.


As for choline another source is Lecithin. I have heard that a combination of CDP-choline and Alpha-GPC is best; Alpha-GPC is the most powerful choline and reaches straight into the brain but CDP-Choline has some kind of benefit to do with correct facilitation of choline that Alpha-GPC does not have; hopefully someone with more knowledge can explain.


I think you should up your omega-3. Find out what your average dietary omega-6 intake is in a day and try to equalise Omega-3:Omega-6 ratio. High doses of Omega-6 will totally nullify the good effects of that 2g fish oil, although 2g fish oil is better than none at all, to say the least. Remember, it's the EPA and DHA that really mattter. No point having 30g fish oil if you're only getting 200mg EPA and DHA.

Add in Vitamin D3 at say 5000IU/day too. Unless you live in the sunniest of countries and work outdoors you are almost definitely vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D rejuvenates the whole body and it's crucial to healing from any kind of trauma.

Edited by BLimitless, 23 January 2013 - 01:33 PM.

[Nootropic Cat]

Generic milk thistle extract is ok but the Siliphos formulation is orders of magnitude more effective (ofc it's a little pricey as well). The dosage I'd recommend is 600mg, 3x per day. That's 2 of the Swanson brand capsules per dose. I can't 100% vouch for that since it's a while since I did the research and don't have links to hand, so take it fwiw. I didn't find much info on length of treatment either. What I decided was to dose at that intensity for a month and then cut down to 1 cap 3x per day and continue indefinitely.

[Strelok]

Thanks for the suggestions BLimitless. I got some milk thistle from my brother who bought a bottle several months ago and stopped taking it. The dose is 600mg daily. I will consider taking a larger dose for a short period according to Nootropic Cat.

Lion's Mane looks especially interesting. Do you have any personal experience with it?

I have been taking whey protein to increase glutathione levels and for workout benefits, which is why I haven't picked up any NAC. I also remember reading on this forum a month or so ago that NAC could potentially have some dangerous effects on the body. I don't remember the specifics, but it made my think twice about getting any.

I will increase my fish oil (EPA/DHA) intake and start taking more vitamin D and get a vitamin D test done to ensure I have a good blood level of about 50 ng/ml.

And I also picked up a bag of organic maca root powder (gelatinized). I'll add that to my adaptogen "stack". Once I'm done with this stuff I'll probably get some Reishi. Oh, and I will consider some picamilon. Which leads me to another question: what affect does chronic alcohol intake have on GABA receptors?

Can anybody think of anything else I should do? Thanks for the replies thus far.

[Strelok]

Reishi [whole body strengthener, amazing feeling]

I just picked up some Reishi, so I'll be seeing how that works out over the next month. I'll try some Lion's Mane after that.

Does anybody else have any other suggestions?

[vader]

Bumping thread. I'm 5 days into sobriety and i'm noticing already some dramatic differences in cognition (mainly short-term memory and muscle coordination).

 

The weirdest thing is that my night vision improved dramatically. What sort of deficiency could this signify?

 

What can I use to improve the recovery? I take thiamine, magnesium, NAC, milk thistle.

[natasjlp]

Best I have found and personally researched thus far have been the following:

 

- Liposomal Glutathione

- Setria or any quality reduced glutathione

- NAC

- Dihydromyricetin (especially fascinating, not that I recommend doing the following, however...if inebriated, one appears to regain motor skills and coordination. I do not believe this will prevent or directly lower BAC in such a manner as one could drive home after a night of drinking. However, an noticeable level of motor skills do appear to return rather quickly imo. It works quite differently than the others listed, and has something to do with gaba receptors. You can google this and learn more. Derived form the Japanese raisin tree.)

one of many references on the web: http://www.smarterno...o-alcohol-woes/

"These rats were in bad shape. They were seriously drunk. The researchers flipped them on their backs and watched them (kind of like the guy in this video http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Z2XeVs4wqdE) as they tried to right themselves. The researchers timed the rats and it took, on average, 70 minutes for them to right themselves.

Then they tried again, except this time administering the extract (called dihydromyricetin). The rats sobered up quickly, regaining their feet in about 5 minutes. This was statistically significant. This was impressive. More research was done, on the amount of liver damage for instance, and it turned out that dihydromyricetin is actually hepatoprotective."

 

- Biomimetic enzyme nanocomplexes (haven't tried yet, but looks promising): http://www.nature.co...o.2012.264.html

 

- Also look up/research mobile hangover clinics, and research what they use as services/products, such as in Las Vegas: https://www.hangoverheaven.com/

 

Looks to be a growing industry nationwide.

 

[Mind_Paralysis]

Do you have any Essential Tremor? I.e shaky hands.

 

As I understand it, Alcohol causes damage to the cerebellum, when taken in high doses for a long period of time - hence why old alcoholics all shake like leaves in the wind.

 

If that is truly the case, then I would look into compounds which cause neurogenesis in the Cerebellum, in order to heal the damage.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia...ssential_tremor

[natasjlp]

If neurogenesis is something anyone is considering, I would suggest researching Dihexa.

 

There are a number of threads on here in Longecity: 

 

Dihexa: "it would take 10 million times as much BDNF to get as much new synapse formation as Dihexa."

http://www.longecity...tion-as-dihexa/

 

 

[gamesguru]

one guy here swore by noopept.  he said something about remaining focused even on 12+ beers a day, i don't really remember i wasn't really focused on him

 

Personally I would recommend ginkgo, bacopa, magnesium and zinc.  You can even get fancy if you like, by tossing in the odd grapefruit or red onion

[normalizing]

Bumping thread. I'm 5 days into sobriety and i'm noticing already some dramatic differences in cognition (mainly short-term memory and muscle coordination).

 

The weirdest thing is that my night vision improved dramatically. What sort of deficiency could this signify?

 

What can I use to improve the recovery? I take thiamine, magnesium, NAC, milk thistle.

 

you are noticing dramatic difference in cognition in positive or negative manner? it is not explained but from experience, quiting binge drinking from 5 days all the way to 5 months, memory is really really bad so i assume thats what you meant

Do you have any Essential Tremor? I.e shaky hands.

 

As I understand it, Alcohol causes damage to the cerebellum, when taken in high doses for a long period of time - hence why old alcoholics all shake like leaves in the wind.

 

If that is truly the case, then I would look into compounds which cause neurogenesis in the Cerebellum, in order to heal the damage.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia...ssential_tremor

 

hi, interesting url to wikipedia about essnetial tremor, but what can you suggest as help to normalize the cerebellum??

[Mind_Paralysis]

 

Bumping thread. I'm 5 days into sobriety and i'm noticing already some dramatic differences in cognition (mainly short-term memory and muscle coordination).

 

The weirdest thing is that my night vision improved dramatically. What sort of deficiency could this signify?

 

What can I use to improve the recovery? I take thiamine, magnesium, NAC, milk thistle.

 

you are noticing dramatic difference in cognition in positive or negative manner? it is not explained but from experience, quiting binge drinking from 5 days all the way to 5 months, memory is really really bad so i assume thats what you meant

Do you have any Essential Tremor? I.e shaky hands.

 

As I understand it, Alcohol causes damage to the cerebellum, when taken in high doses for a long period of time - hence why old alcoholics all shake like leaves in the wind.

 

If that is truly the case, then I would look into compounds which cause neurogenesis in the Cerebellum, in order to heal the damage.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia...ssential_tremor

 

hi, interesting url to wikipedia about essnetial tremor, but what can you suggest as help to normalize the cerebellum??

 

 

NSI-189 might help - but it's more likely that Dihexa would help - as previously stated in the thread.

 

But dude, do you have less steady hands or not? If you don't show any symptoms of damage to the cerebellum, then that's not the part of your brain which is damaged.
 

[normalizing]

if i take stimulants like coffee after binge drinking, yeh, shaky hands and trembling. or if i binge drink and suddenly stop, my epinephrine goes so high, im super speedy and shaky too