One thing that leaves me a bit skeptical, is that Montelukast isn't some obscure drug, it's one of the most used and most popular treatments for one of the most widespread diseases ( asthma ). By now we should have been flooded by thousands and thousands of reports about people witnessing significant ( and positive) cognitive changes . And yet this is the first time I , and many others , ever heard of such thing by way of this recent study on rats...
BLUECLOUD: Last year I contrived a strong cold due to strange weather events and being in a new location; doctor said I had asthma and underwent 45 minutes of inhalation therapy, blaw, blaw, blaw...all the time thinking about the diagnosis. I became somewhat irritated the more I thought about it. Anyways, I researched asthma a great deal (PUBMED). I do not have asthma, I had a stupid doctor. MEANWHILE, asthma is a catch all word, somewhat as is SCHIZOPHRENIA, for a variety of symptoms, THEREFORE, as many asthma episodes are psychosomatic in nature aggravated by acute stress, etc., etc., my point is that in fact many people may well have, and may have, " witnessed significant (and positive) cognitive changes" without understanding the significance od the cognitive effect(s), being as they were/are concerned about the episode experience (shortness of breath for instance).
I am thinking along this line of thought, a request for forum members to reply to a questionnaire concerning their asthmatic condition and medication. Possible we could get some interesting consensus on members experiences, as well as enlighten them on the subject matter. They would in turn perhaps take their anti inflammatory MONTELUKAST at a non-episode time and report their experience.
I just called a friend who has a couple of pharmacies here (PERU) but she is out of town for the New Year's celebrations. I will get some Montelukast, test it out and report back. I will also make contact with purchasers/users, via my friend, and question them and explain why. If in fact this works out in a positive fashion, I will suggest it to a few of my "patients" whom I "advise" who have the symptoms of dementia and run some tests with them also. A few are with Parkinson, a few with Alzheimer's, a few with Mild Cognitive Impairment and a couple with: I have no idea as of yet. The basis will be to test improved short term memory first ("noot effect") without any other nootropic ingestion. Cheers.
Your point about Montelukast probably helping those ( without them knowing it) with psychosomatic asthma is interesting ( if it really has cognitive effects), but I suspect that the ratio of real asthma ( the ones correctly diagnosed ) to psychosomatic asthma is much higher in the world, although I don't have any numbers to support that. There are also some symptoms that are trademarks of real asthma, like audible wheezing, wich you almost never find in cases of psychosomatic asthma ( often called silent asthma, because of the absence of wheezing ). So I still think that by now, we should have had substantial reports of collateral cognitive enhancement by people correctly diagnosed with non-psychosomatic asthma and taking Montelukast.
My old mother is a long-time serious asthma sufferer ( to the point of being hospitalized at times ), and I just found out she was on Montelukast for quite sometime now, but she didn't notice anything special going on cognitive-wise . But then again she is kind of retired and doesn't do much during the day anyway, so perhaps she is not noticing it.
I've been myself on Montelukast for more than a month now ( and will be on it for another two months, by prescription of my doctor ), and honestly can't say I've noticed any changes at all on the cognitive side. In fact , I'm not even sure it's doing anything for my asthma either, as I'm also taking an inhaled bronchodilatator combined with a corticosteroid ( Seretide, an inhaled combination of fluticasone and salmeterol )
If that upcoming human study with Montelukast shows any improvement at all, I suspect it won't be at the normal dosages usually prescribed for asthma, probably much higher dosages.
BLUECLOUD:
Sorry to hear that both you and your mother have asthma.
I assume that both of you are taking 10mg a day of Montelukast and not a higher dose. I think your correct about having to have a higher dose, maybe 20mg a day, for cognitive improvement since the relief from cerebral inflammation would likely be the cause.
Various types of dementia, speaking of noticeable short term memory loss, which are effected by Amyloid beta deposits/accumulation, result in saturating spaces between existing normal cells (in any organ where it takes on depositing/accumulating). The foreign presence of the Amyloid beta coupled with the body inability to dissolve and remove the same eventually causes pressure, inflammation; a cascade of effects leading to loss of neuron communication - memory loss (in the brain).
A similar set of circumstances occur with Lipofuscin, although Lipofuscin is not a peptide (short protein matter) but an accumulation of "garbage" left over from normal metabolic activity that is not being removed for disposal, thereby accumulating in spaces between cells where it normally should not and would not be present, especially in mass. The Lipofuscin occupies space in the synapse, causing pressure and inflammation, etc., and effectively disrupts neuron communication = memory loss (in the brain).
Both bad boys, Amyloid beta & Lipofuscin, can, do and will accumulate in other organs and areas of the body besides the brain. I realize we are primarily talking about cognitive improvement here but i think it should be known that these abnormal mechanisms do occur throughout the body leading to serious health problems, conditions and diseases.
Apparently Montelukast can penetrate the bbb (blood brain barrier), effect the brain by reducing/eliminating inflammation. It would unlikely be removing the Amyloid beta, which is a solid protein fibrous mass and it would unlikely be breaking up the sticky greasy Lipofuscin mass, otherwise it would be report as doing so if in fact the subject animals (rats) used in the research were sacrificed to observe the condition of their brains.
NOTE: I am apparently not following the procedure in making reply to posts here, so if anyone could kindly assist me in my ignorance so that I am not just adding onto someone elses comments or replies. Thank you in advance. LONGLIFE.-
Edited by LongLife, 07 January 2016 - 01:02 AM.