Ohh yeah sorry guys. I took Tenoten for a few days and didn't give it a fair trial. This was because I needed to do a washout period before commencing with Levetiracetam. Not even allowed to take vitamins! So I can't say really. Thought I noticed some anxiolysis, but nothing that couldn't have been attributed to placebo.
In retrospect I presume it was a waste of money though. It is, after all, homeopathic in the sense that it's diluted to such an extent it's basically a sugar pill. But I could be wrong there, perhaps the Russians have a different meaning for homeopathic. Before looking it up, I thought homeopathic was synonymous with natural, which is why I gave it a shot. Had I known then what the distinction was, I wouldn't have given it any attention.
Sorry to leave you hanging guys. Hope it works for you though. Anyway the vendor I bought it from was a good one, so at least I can add that.
Ladner: my experiences with tDCS have been nothing short of profound to be honest. Despite the transience, I had a few minutes of my depersonalization lifting completely, which was nice. I attribute this to the factor "homemade" and probably the fact that the placement wasn't all too precise. I'm thinking of buying the Foc.Us in the future, as I suspect it'll be a lot more reliable than my gadget. For now though, I can't do any tDCS for evaluation purposes. HPPD is not a retinal problem, but a cortical one. So yes, theoretically cathodal stimulation of Oz, O1 and O2 could be beneficial (hope I remembered those positions correctly, haha!). Conversely though, I recall some articles in which it stated that the visual cortex/occipital lobe was harder to reach due to either thicker skull there or deeper location.. something like that. But exciting the (ventromedial or dorsolateral) PFC would be beneficial in this regard, with the PFC having afferent inhibitory connections and all. Visually there wasn't much difference, but man did I feel a hell of a lot better!
Problem with Levetiracetam is that it inhibits overall neuronal firing, not just the visual cortex. This is why I think adding either focal excitatory pharmaceutical approaches, or focal tDCS to the regions that would suffer from this inhibition, would help even things out. Currently I'm considering Guanfacine, as it seems to exhibit a very favorable profile for my case. But tDCS might prove to be sufficient, and with the Foc.Us, administration should be as easy as taking a pill. Lately I found that the visual cortex is largely governed by cholinergic mechanisms, so I'm also considering Coluracetam. Just have to be mindful of interactions there. So yeah, for my personal situation I'm slowly getting what I need, and where I need to be I suppose, through trial and error.
I would suggest for anyone with anxiety to also look into the Autonomic Nervous System, subsequently to consider sympatholytics (for example Guanfacine) as well.
Edited by formergenius, 04 July 2013 - 10:35 AM.