64 replies to this topic

[AlmostEasy]

So I've been dealing with a situation for a very long time, and I've come to the end of part of it (if the treatment remains therapeutic. TBD).  If you're interested in the details you can find them here, here, and here.

 

So basically memantine has "cured" me of my disorder, or at least is treating it to a level I honestly wasn't sure was possible.  I'm operating at around 85%.  Pre-memantine with everything else I was taking I was probably at around 20%.  They all "helped" but it was nowhere even close to the level of memantine, it is clearly directly treating my dysfunction.

 

But now I want to know why.  This is obviously an incredibly serious problem and now I can finally understand and realize that as my brain is actually working again and I need to get some serious attention brought to this as soon as possible.  Things like Huntingtons Disease are popping up with frightening familiarity, but I also resonate with PAWS (Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome); which is usually from hardcore alcoholism or benzo abuse which I've never been apart of, but I have been a weekend binge drinker consistently for about the last 9 years and up until recently I was completely trashed around 3-7 times in a month.  I also smoked a lot of weed when I was ~17, until I was around 20 or so.  This issue began to prevent me from being able to tolerate it.

 

So NMDA receptor antagonism is apparently my thing.  Glutamatergic overactivity is likely a cause I assume.

 

It's comforting that nothing showed up on my MRI so I guess I can definitively say it's nothing neurodegerative.  It is just so, just mind numbing that something so substantial could come from neurotransmitter problems.  I mean it was hard-core cognitive impairment.  I felt like a mentally impaired human being.  If I didn't experience it myself I wouldn't have believed it was possible without some sort of substantial physical deterioration.

 

Anyways, just grasping at more straws here and hoping to pick the educated minds of the members of longecity.  If anything rings a bell for you it could mean a lot to me.

 

And I just wanted to say thank you to this entire community.  Without you guys and without the long archived history of discussions on longecity I don't know where I would be, I owe you guys a whole lot. 

 

Cheers

[stillwater]

I have nothing to add, but am glad you've found relief and hope it sticks. Cheers.

 

[Ark]

TS, have you also tried NAC, lithium and semax? (These suggestions might also help keep you at 80%+ if memantines effects taper consider adding these.)

Edited by Ark, 25 May 2015 - 07:36 AM.

[HyperDown]

That's very interesting, AlmostEasy. 

 

I've been thinking of testing out Memantine myself, what is your dose/schedule like?

[AlmostEasy]

I have nothing to add, but am glad you've found relief and hope it sticks. Cheers.

Thanks man I'm glad too.  It's really nice

 

TS, have you also tried NAC, lithium and semax? (These suggestions might also help keep you at 80%+ if memantines effects taper consider adding these.)

NAC - yes, Lithium - no, Semax - yes.  Semax is awesome.  I will continue to use is it whenever I can afford it.

 

That's very interesting, AlmostEasy. 

 

I've been thinking of testing out Memantine myself, what is your dose/schedule like?

I'm still finding my proper dose.

 

I started like 2.5 mg and I'm up to 15 mg AM and ~10 PM.  I'm having a bizarre reaction that makes it difficult to understand what's happening.  My morning dose lasts 6 hours almost on the dot and very rapidly falls off into a second phase which is less pleasant and more foggy and confusing.  I'm going to try to figure out how to make it last the entire day.  Will report back.

[FunkOdyssey]

I'm hoping you aren't in a honeymoon period -- it seems like you haven't adapted to memantine yet, and the effects can be very different in the beginning vs. the fully-adapted maintenance phase.  NMDA antagonists produce some dopamine release acutely which doesn't continue chronically, for example.  When did you begin using it?  It usually takes a good 7-10 days for effects to stabilize, and that resets every time the dose is increased.  Sounds promising though.

Edited by FunkOdyssey, 26 May 2015 - 09:47 PM.

[AlmostEasy]

I'm hoping the same. I'm rationalizing that it's not DA as I'm on Ritalin too and have taken adderall previously so I know pretty well what dopamine feels like. This feels like something very different.

I'm not sure if I should dose higher or just wait it out. Taking a mid afternoon dose doesn't return "phase 1". Its a clear 6 hours then bam right into a different feeling. Phase 2 is better than baseline but completely different from phase 1. I feel like 2 different people every day. Ugh lol, so bizarre.

I may be moving up too quick. I did hit 25 mg total daily fairly quickly. Maybe I'll just give it some time.

Thanks guys!

I am trying to determine Semax's role in all this as well. I've been taking it before and through memantine.

[AlexCanada]

 Wow. I just read your original post and your symptoms are almost exactly what I deal with every single day. PAWS. Low testosterone. All the negative shizo symptoms. but also dealing with IBS and possibly Candida. 

 

I am not having much relief. And yes the stimulants have temporary benefits but not worth it long term. Some of the more promising days I have had this year were from low doses of pregnenolone. Around 5mg but it's inconsistent unless you get the cream. Last year royal jelly had some benefits but these days it gives me terrible die off reactions so I have to avoid it. Royal Jelly can rejuvinate pituitary + dozens of other health benefits. 

 

I tried Mementine about 2-3 years ago when I had a small trial. It gave me the most astonishing cognitive boost I may have ever felt!! I was beginning to feel like a genius again. Everything was flowing so freely after 1 and a half days. I could effortlessly type some brilliant paragraphs full of profound insight and advanced vocabulary. Absolutely unlike what I am capable of right now.  Unfortunately at about the 2 day mark I started to feel really creepy and strange. It was even a bit fearful. Maybe a bad reaction with other meds as I was taking ritalin and likely some SSRI at the time + who knows what else but this strange fear crept over me intenselyyy and I felt I absolutely had to stop taking it. If I find my journal I may be able to describe what it was exactly but I know I felt very very strange. And I was taking low doses as well. The long half life meant it took a while to build up and thus a while to leave the system.

 

Does anyone know why such a side effect would emerge? It may have been detachment from my surroundings along with some very real dysphoria.   And how might it be prevented?? Any precautions to take with memantine or anything I should not be taking with it?   Because the cognitive boost was an absolute MIRACLE but the side effects were terrifying.

 

I would like to try memantine again but the doctor was unwilling to give it to me and my old ones are long expired unfortunately. 

[FunkOdyssey]

I found a recent case study where memantine was used to successfully treat negative symptoms of schizophrenia:

 

 

 

Case Rep Psychiatry. 2014;2014:384783. doi: 10.1155/2014/384783. Epub 2014 Apr 10.

Tackling negative symptoms of schizophrenia with memantine.

Paraschakis A¹.

Abstract

We present a case of a 52-year-old male patient suffering from chronic schizophrenia stabilized on risperidone long-acting injection (37,5 mg/2 weeks) and biperiden 4 mg/day. Residual symptoms are affective flattening, alogia, avolition, and asociality. Memantine 10 mg/day was added. After 1.5 months, the patient spontaneously referred to "feel better being in company of my relatives." The following scales have been completed: the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (96), the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (3), the Mini Mental Scale Examination (26), and the Calgary Depression for Schizophrenia Scale (2). Memantine was increased to 20 mg/day and biperiden was decreased to 2 mg/day. Two months later, apathy and asociality considerably improved and affective flattening, alogia, and attention slightly got better (SANS 76, SAPS 1, MMSE 26, and CDSS 1). After two more months, the improvement continued in the same domains (SANS: 70, SAPS: 1 MMSE: 27, and CDSS: 1). Positive symptoms remained in full remission. It has been hypothesized that one of the causes of schizophrenia is glutamate excitotoxicity. Memantine, a glutamate receptor antagonist, could possibly ameliorate schizophrenia symptoms, the negative ones among them, used as add-on therapy to atypical antipsychotics. Memantine could be of potential help in schizophrenia patients with severe residual negative symptoms.

 

Full text: http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC4003755/

 

[MichaelTheAnhedonic]

U potentially found a solution for my condition. Just like me, slow progression of negative symptoms started when I was 15. I'm gonna test memantine soon but I don't know where I can get one. The easiest way in EU will be prescription I think... Memantine from ceretropic is too expensive. 

[AlmostEasy]

That's half the reason I make posts like this and my logs. Nobody should ever suffer like this.

Try teamtlr.com I can't vouch for their credibility but I'm looking into them as a potential vendor. Their memantine is dirt cheap and other members have said good things but also I've heard skepticism. They have 1g for $30 which is more than twice as cheap as ceretropic.

[Irishdude]

That's half the reason I make posts like this and my logs. Nobody should ever suffer like this.

Try teamtlr.com I can't vouch for their credibility but I'm looking into them as a potential vendor. Their memantine is dirt cheap and other members have said good things but also I've heard skepticism. They have 1g for $30 which is more than twice as cheap as ceretropic.

I just checked their website, selected 3 grams @ 60$ and 5 grams @ 100$!  

 

Has anyone used them before? Wish we could get independent tests on purity, and proof it is what they claim. I shall email them and see what they say.

 

Edit: The site and manifesto looks suspicious..

Edited by Irishdude, 27 May 2015 - 01:15 PM.

[Ark]

To TS, and those with similar symptoms that have posted here, there is another common cause for the symptoms posted and that is Mitochondrial damage in the brain.

[Heisenburger]

Mitochondrial damage in the brain.

 

What are the possible causes of this?
 

[Ark]

Mitochondrial damage in the brain.

What are the possible causes of this?

Organic brain damage, some people have genes that are more prone to mitochondrial dysfunction plus a array of other causes from what I've been able to read. https://www.google.c...espv=1&ie=UTF-8

Attached Files

•  brain_lg.jpg   19.21KB   14 downloads

Edited by Ark, 28 May 2015 - 02:15 AM.

[AlmostEasy]

 

That's half the reason I make posts like this and my logs. Nobody should ever suffer like this.

Try teamtlr.com I can't vouch for their credibility but I'm looking into them as a potential vendor. Their memantine is dirt cheap and other members have said good things but also I've heard skepticism. They have 1g for $30 which is more than twice as cheap as ceretropic.

I just checked their website, selected 3 grams @ 60$ and 5 grams @ 100$!  

 

Has anyone used them before? Wish we could get independent tests on purity, and proof it is what they claim. I shall email them and see what they say.

 

Edit: The site and manifesto looks suspicious..

 

Yeah I get a definite vibe of uncertainty from them.  There was some drama between them and Ceretropic in their promo thread here on Longecity.  This guy seems to have ordered memantine from him but I can't determine if he's received it or not or if he had in the past.

 

Let us know if you receive a response from them!

[Ark]

Another treatment to consider looking into IMHO is BEE VENOM THERAPY.

http://www.medicalda...dementia-230959

[Ark]

Also if I were to buy memantine from a rc chemical site rather then buying from alldaychemist.com, I'd have to choose a RC site that does independent analytical testing, I've heard Ceretropic and notropicdepo do testing for purity on their products.

[Bukujutsu]

This is an excellent source of memantine, best prices by far. I bought from him about 3 months ago, perfect transaction. http://www.longecity...you-pay-second/

[AlmostEasy]

This is an excellent source of memantine, best prices by far. I bought from him about 3 months ago, perfect transaction. http://www.longecity...you-pay-second/

Looks like he just locked his thread down after this post.  That's very unfortunate.  Still searching for a good source, haven't quite found a good one yet.  Alldaychemist has it but it's $25 shipping which is a bit much.  UnitedPharmacies has it but my bank left my town and it'd be a 2 hour drive for any sort of wire transfer (the luck man, I swear).  Then TeamTLR.com has some great pricing but their credibility is a bit lacking.  If I find one I'll be sure to post.

 

Thanks for the tip though while his thread was up I did see that his prices were incredibly, almost suspiciously, good.

[Xenthide]

Hello, would you mind letting us know how long you have been using Memantine, and also how quickly you titrated the dosage up?

 

I recently acquired some Memantine myself after becoming interested in it's possible nootropic benefits as well as inhibition of the development of tolerance (and hopefully therefore habituation) to other performance-enhancing stimulants, although I guess I am not using it to treat any condition as such.

 

I am currently on day 3 taking 2.5mg AM and PM, and plan to increase to 5mg after 7 days, 7.5mg after 14 days, and then at 21 days I will probably consider staying at 10mg AM and PM unless I see any particular reason to go higher. From what I've read titrating the dosage slowly is key to avoiding a negative reaction.

[crazepharmacist]

Has anyone tried TLR's memantine? I'm on 50 mg's per day of Ceretropic's stuff and it's clearly working tremendously well but it's getting to be expensive. I need to find a cheaper source. I was also thinking about asking for a prescription from my clinician but I'm not sure if insurance will cover it. 

[AlmostEasy]

Has anyone tried TLR's memantine? I'm on 50 mg's per day of Ceretropic's stuff and it's clearly working tremendously well but it's getting to be expensive. I need to find a cheaper source. I was also thinking about asking for a prescription from my clinician but I'm not sure if insurance will cover it. 

 

AllDayChemist has it cheaper than Ceretropic prices but the shipping is $25 so you're not saving a whole lot unless you buy quite a bit.  I'm currently searching for a long term solution, I'll post as soon as something comes.

 

On a side note, how long did it take you to that amount?  What's the situation you're treating if you don't mind discussing?  There's not too much out there on memantine experiences, always interesting to hear another persons story!

 

Cheers

[crazepharmacist]

About a month to get to 50 mg probably. I actually didn't mind the initial wonkiness during the first week or two as I experienced quite a bit of euphoria during that initial honeymoon period. I did jump straight in at 10 mg daily. Only the first few days were a pain because my motor coordination was affected. Kept bumping into walls. Felt like I was drunk basically. 

 

I take it for a slew of things- depression, anxiety, anhedonia and obsessive compulsions. I find it works quite well for anxiety and ocd long term. The depression lifting and pro-social effects wore off after the second week or third week unfortunately. Though I find if I drop my dose down to 10 or 20 mg from 50 mg for a few days, then ramp back up 50 mg I will experience the mood lifting and sociability benefits again.

 

I wish more people knew about memantine because excess glutamate is thought to be responsible for a wide range of psychiatric disorders. My anxiety was so severe I often stuttered during conversation. Memantine obliterated it. It's been a wonder drug for me personally. 

[AlmostEasy]

About a month to get to 50 mg probably. I actually didn't mind the initial wonkiness during the first week or two as I experienced quite a bit of euphoria during that initial honeymoon period. I did jump straight in at 10 mg daily. Only the first few days were a pain because my motor coordination was affected. Kept bumping into walls. Felt like I was drunk basically.

I take it for a slew of things- depression, anxiety, anhedonia and obsessive compulsions. I find it works quite well for anxiety and ocd long term. The depression lifting and pro-social effects wore off after the second week or third week unfortunately. Though I find if I drop my dose down to 10 or 20 mg from 50 mg for a few days, then ramp back up 50 mg I will experience the mood lifting and sociability benefits again.

I wish more people knew about memantine because excess glutamate is thought to be responsible for a wide range of psychiatric disorders. My anxiety was so severe I often stuttered during conversation. Memantine obliterated it. It's been a wonder drug for me personally.

Interesting, thanks for the response. How would you describe the "pro social" effects? For me it radically ramps down my relentless, redlined anxious thoughts. Just 24/7 madness honestly. Now I can calmly choose where I would like my mind to go and which activities I'd like to do. Before it was just fighting tooth and nail to try and focus enough to make a decision on what to do during my day. Organizing a busy schedule was really fun.

Anyways, the pro social effects I feel are just being able to remain calm enough to understand what's going on, the cloud of insanity made it rather difficult to clearly see the interaction and I'm hoping that doesn't fade as it seems like that's fundamental to its mechanism of action. Not really a euphoria/confidence thing, just basically the toning down of the extreme overactive mind.

Was that what faded for you or was it like a dopamine thing instead you felt?

[crazepharmacist]

 

About a month to get to 50 mg probably. I actually didn't mind the initial wonkiness during the first week or two as I experienced quite a bit of euphoria during that initial honeymoon period. I did jump straight in at 10 mg daily. Only the first few days were a pain because my motor coordination was affected. Kept bumping into walls. Felt like I was drunk basically.

I take it for a slew of things- depression, anxiety, anhedonia and obsessive compulsions. I find it works quite well for anxiety and ocd long term. The depression lifting and pro-social effects wore off after the second week or third week unfortunately. Though I find if I drop my dose down to 10 or 20 mg from 50 mg for a few days, then ramp back up 50 mg I will experience the mood lifting and sociability benefits again.

I wish more people knew about memantine because excess glutamate is thought to be responsible for a wide range of psychiatric disorders. My anxiety was so severe I often stuttered during conversation. Memantine obliterated it. It's been a wonder drug for me personally.

Interesting, thanks for the response. How would you describe the "pro social" effects? For me it radically ramps down my relentless, redlined anxious thoughts. Just 24/7 madness honestly. Now I can calmly choose where I would like my mind to go and which activities I'd like to do. Before it was just fighting tooth and nail to try and focus enough to make a decision on what to do during my day. Organizing a busy schedule was really fun.

Anyways, the pro social effects I feel are just being able to remain calm enough to understand what's going on, the cloud of insanity made it rather difficult to clearly see the interaction and I'm hoping that doesn't fade as it seems like that's fundamental to its mechanism of action. Not really a euphoria/confidence thing, just basically the toning down of the extreme overactive mind.

Was that what faded for you or was it like a dopamine thing instead you felt?

 

 

No, it was definitely a dopamine thing. It felt VERY similar to the few times I have taken concerta sans the attention span/concentration effects. I think an overactive mind goes hand in hand with anxiety so calming of the monkey mind is definitely an effect I still experience with memantine.

[stillwater]

Are you guys noticing any improvements in your sleep at all?

 

[AlmostEasy]

 

 

About a month to get to 50 mg probably. I actually didn't mind the initial wonkiness during the first week or two as I experienced quite a bit of euphoria during that initial honeymoon period. I did jump straight in at 10 mg daily. Only the first few days were a pain because my motor coordination was affected. Kept bumping into walls. Felt like I was drunk basically.

I take it for a slew of things- depression, anxiety, anhedonia and obsessive compulsions. I find it works quite well for anxiety and ocd long term. The depression lifting and pro-social effects wore off after the second week or third week unfortunately. Though I find if I drop my dose down to 10 or 20 mg from 50 mg for a few days, then ramp back up 50 mg I will experience the mood lifting and sociability benefits again.

I wish more people knew about memantine because excess glutamate is thought to be responsible for a wide range of psychiatric disorders. My anxiety was so severe I often stuttered during conversation. Memantine obliterated it. It's been a wonder drug for me personally.

Interesting, thanks for the response. How would you describe the "pro social" effects? For me it radically ramps down my relentless, redlined anxious thoughts. Just 24/7 madness honestly. Now I can calmly choose where I would like my mind to go and which activities I'd like to do. Before it was just fighting tooth and nail to try and focus enough to make a decision on what to do during my day. Organizing a busy schedule was really fun.

Anyways, the pro social effects I feel are just being able to remain calm enough to understand what's going on, the cloud of insanity made it rather difficult to clearly see the interaction and I'm hoping that doesn't fade as it seems like that's fundamental to its mechanism of action. Not really a euphoria/confidence thing, just basically the toning down of the extreme overactive mind.

Was that what faded for you or was it like a dopamine thing instead you felt?

 

 

No, it was definitely a dopamine thing. It felt VERY similar to the few times I have taken concerta sans the attention span/concentration effects. I think an overactive mind goes hand in hand with anxiety so calming of the monkey mind is definitely an effect I still experience with memantine.

 

Excellent, that is good to hear.

 

Are you guys noticing any improvements in your sleep at all?

Definitely.  I'm pretty sure my overactive mind, like physiologically so, was overstimulating me during sleep.  I used to wake constantly with a wide awake mind, I seem to require a bit less sleep now.

[crazepharmacist]

I just added in acamprosate today at 333 mg. I'm going to drop memantine down to 10 mg alongside the acamprosate and see how I fare. It's supposed to have a similar effect to memantine but with a different mechanism of action. I'm hoping the two will be synergistic, allowing a lower dose of memantine and money saved in the long run. 

 

Edited by crazepharmacist, 31 May 2015 - 08:44 PM.

[crazepharmacist]

So Ceretropic actually tested TLR'd memantine a few months ago and got a 97.4% match to their reference model. That's good enough for me to buy a sample and test it.


https://www.reddit.c...esting_results/