I found this interesting article / topic and thought i would share it with you and to also help start a discussion in here about Methylene Blue.
Original Post By Selfhacked. Check his site out. Whether his information is correct, it doesn't matter as long as it sparks a good discussion in here.
Methylene Blue: Upgrade Your Brain For Pennies
Before I speak about methylene blue, I think people need to read a short primer on hormesis and how to harness this concept, since methylene blue is working by this mechanism.
Hormesis – The Most Effective Tool for Enhancement
Let’s face it. Most “nootropics” don’t work well for youngish healthy individuals, at least in my experience. As my health problems disappeared, I naturally started to search for the best tools for enhancement and I realized everything that was highly effective fell into 2 categories. They either corrected a deficiency or worked by hormesis. Hormesis is the best method for enhancement for people who are already healthy. Hormesis is the concept of introducing a stress to the body, in which case the body will have a reaction that will prep it for future stressors that are even stronger. By being prepped, the body can be shifted into a state of higher performance. Vaccines work in this manner. You introduce a tiny dose of a pathogen and the body responds with developing immunity to an even bigger onslaught of that pathogen. When you introduce small stressors, the body will super-compensate and become stronger. Exercise mainly works by hormesis as well, which is why it’s an effective enhancement tool for people who are already very healthy. The American ethos, though, has a hard time digesting this concept and using it properly. We like the concept of becoming stronger but we lack the culture of moderation and the wisdom that less is more. We view hormesis as what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. In reality, what doesn’t harm you too much makes you stronger. We like to take things to the extreme, though. If something is good we’ll do more of it. Exercise is healthy? Great. Time to run marathons. The dose used in hormesis must be carefully applied according to the individual’s initial condition. For example, someone who hasn’t exercised in years shouldn’t suddenly engage in exhaustive exercise. In the same vein, someone with a leaky gut should not be exercising exhaustively or drinking alcohol because these things exacerbate such a condition. With hormesis, the dose is key. A little is a great and a lot is terrible. The conditional nature of hormesis adds complexity and naturally humans don’t like this because we tend to look at things in a binary fashion, where things are either good or bad. If it’s good, we like it and if it’s not we don’t. A nuanced approach is missing here, where the answer isn’t “yes” or “no” but rather “it depends.” The human body is a complex system that requires nuance more than less complex systems. By categorizing things clearly, nuance gets lost in the jungle of labels. By not truly accepting this idea that less is more, many bloggers and people tend to take things too far. If we don’t use hormesis properly it can cause more harm than good.
Tips for Using Hormesis
- It’s better to have all the basic building blocks(i.e. proper diet and nutrition) before you start hormetic types of enhancements
- The dose is everything
- The proper dose can be different for different people in different circumstances
- Less is more
- Do not “stack”
- You must fully heal before taking the next dose
- Take breaks. Use different kinds of stressors during these breaks that stress different aspects of the body/mind.
- Do not use stressors to improve performance during or immediately after. Performance actually takes a dip right after the stimulus. Effects accrue over time, though.
- When you stop feeling an effect, up the dosage by a little.
Methylene blue was first used in 1891 to treat malaria. It has wildly different effects depending on the dose. In the milligram doses it shows some MAO-I properties and can kill certain infections. In the microgram doses, however, it acts via hormetic mechanisms and likely won’t kill an infection or have MAO-I properties. Methylene blue has been shown to support memory consolidation and is neuroprotective as well. It also has been shown that in low doses methylene blue protects the brain from disease by acting as an antioxidant in the mitochondria. It also acts as an artificial electron donor to complex I-IV of the mitochondria. This means that it can increase ATP production. ATP is the currency of life and the energy that powers humans. If our production of ATP declines, our physical and mental performance declines. Even healthy individuals can benefit from a boost in ATP production.
M blue has this same mechanism of action in common with transcranial laser therapy(LLLT) and I’ve noticed similar effects. But with LLLT the effects seem to linger for days, whereas with M blue it only lasts 2-6 hours. With LLLT it’s as if I’m on M blue 24/7, even when I’m trying to sleep. This isn’t necessarily a good thing because this constant buzz doesn’t make me perform better. I’m still experimenting with LLLT, so time will tell if I decide to include it in my toolkit.
My Experience
Methylene blue definitely has an effect and I’ve subjectively noticed that it does so by increasing mitochondrial function, as it’s supposed to. After lots of experimentation with mitochondrial enhancers, you begin to know what mitochondrial enhancement feels like. Anyway, I find it’s a great antidepressant and a nice tool for enhancement over the long term. Sometimes I feel slight pains in random places when I take it, but it’s very minor and goes away quickly so I’m not worried; it is acting by hormesis, after all. I take it once a day and usually not two days in a row. I cycle with other mitochondrial enhancers. I end up taking it about twice week, only because I have many other mitochondrial enhancers in my toolkit.
How To Take It
I bought “Kordon/Oasis (Novalek) AKD37344 Methylene for Aquarium, 4-Ounce, Blue” on Amazon for 5 bucks, which should last me over a hundred years.
Here’s a dead simple way to take it. Take one DROP from the Kordon 2.3% methylene blue solution and put it in a 1 ounce tincture bottle. Fill the tincture bottle with water and shake. My sweet spot is 10 drops, which is roughly 30mcg, give or take 5 mcg. I usually need 1/2 of the dose that others need, so it would make sense that 60mcg(~20 drops) is a sweet spot for others and this is indeed the suggested dosage for nootropic usage. Each drop from that diluted solution should equal 2.8-3.9mcg*(scroll to the bottom). I would suggest to start with 5 drops from this diluted solution to test for a reaction and increase by 5 drops after each subsequent use until you get 15-20 drops. Adjust up or down based on preference and usage. For example, if you take 20 drops or a dropperful and don’t feel anything, take 25 drops. If you feel tired after taking 20 then take 15 drops.
Basis for this dosing:
The base solution is 2.3% methylene blue, which means that it has 2.3g per 100ml of solution, or 23mg per 1 ml solution or 2.3 mg per drop(20 drops in a ml). Since there’s 29.5 ml in an ounce and assuming 20 drops per a ml, there’s approximately 590 drops in ounce. So 2300mcg/590=3.9mcg per a drop.
For a 1% methylene blue solution:
1g per 100ml=10mg/ml. 500mcg per drop. 5 drops =2500mcg/590 drops in an oz=4.2mcg per drop
In this case, instead of adding 1 drop, add 5 drops from the starting solution and fill a 1 ounce tincture bottle. Start with 5 drops from this diluted solution to test for reaction and increase by 5 drops after each subsequent use until you get to 15 or 20 drops, just like before.
Safety
As far as the safety goes, dosages haven been used somewhat safely at 10,000 times the suggested dosage of 60mcg, so there’s a large margin for error. I think concerns about its effects at larger doses on the gut microbiome is unfounded when taken at microgram levels.
*20 drops is generally considered a ml, but according to one manufacturer, there’s 28 drops in a ml and accordingly 826 drops in a 1 ounce tincture bottle. I counted the actual number of drops a while back and I recall it being in the low 800′s, so that might be a more reliable number. In this case, you’d be getting 2.8mcg per drop. This discrepancy may be a function of the type of dropper used. Since we are dealing with such low dosages, being off by 10mcg isn’t highly significant. The user should test the optimal dosing for themself.
