Posted by bleauberry on June 6, 2008, at 21:07:56
In reply to Re: Ritalin (methylphenidate) vs Dextroamphetamine » bleauberry, posted by Molybdenum on June 6, 2008, at 20:21:06
> I've spent hours researching the nootropics / smart drugs on the web. The trouble is that there's very little impartial or scientific data out there. Just a zillion anecdotals. Plus of course the blatantly biased advertisements and more annoyingly, the advertisements deceptively "posted" to forums as personal anecdotals.
>Yeah, too bad. But ya know, even with the most heavily researched stuff, it all means nothing until one actually swallows the pill to see what it does to them personally.
I have hung out other forums a lot, a real lot, ones that specialize in things like mercury chelation, hypoadrenalism, and thyroid. Common symptoms in all these groups are fatigue, brain fog, and depression. Many actual people have used the smart drugs. Based purely on my own anecdotal observance, the two biggest players are Hydergine and Piracetam, often in combination. In the book Amalgam Illness by PHd Andrew Cutler, he personally took Hydergine for fatigue and brain fog during mercury chelation rounds, and it is mentioned several times in his book as a useful supplement. Piracetam seems to somehow synergize with it for a unique effect that neither alone provides.
With that in mind, I still think it is crucial to get a detailed critical look at thyroid optimization and adrenal status. And a round of blind antibiotic use is pretty straight forward with the potential for surprising results. If there is evidence an antibiotic could help, for example with a strong negative reaction on the first few days (lots of endotoxins from lots of things being killed), my doctor has a protocol that involves two antibiotics of different mechanisms that need to be taken for minimum 3 months.
I only say this because: I have lab diagnosed hypoadrenalism, but for some weird reason hydrocortisone made me more fatigued and more depressed...my "fairly normal" thyroid numbers look more like hypothyroid in the eyes of a discerning expert...and when I was given Doxycycline to treat a skin infection, I noticed my energy and endurance improved dramatically. The more critters that were killed, the better I felt physically and psychiatrically. I even had one day of pure total remission, this after years of drug failures and ECT failure. There isn't enough science behind it. It is just one of those things you have to try and see.
Doxycycline didn't do a thing for the skin infection. But wow did it help in other unexpected ways. I found it hard to tolerate. Doc switched me to Minocycline and it has been 3 days now. If it goes anything like Doxy did, I don't expect to see any hint of energy benefit for about 2 weeks. This time though the treatment is supposed to go minimum 3 months, versus the short 2 weeks for a normal skin infection.
Just something else to ponder. All I know for sure is that your fatigue is not just some mysterious thing...it has a definite cause and a definite way to defeat that cause, totally unrelated to any talk of using stimulants to merely counter the symptoms.
poster:bleauberry
thread:833197
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080606/msgs/833387.html