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Lithium, Galantamine, Ibudilast, Mifepristone, Intranasal Insulin & Uridine: dosing, synergies & interactions?

bipolar depression anxiety anhedonia ocd inflammation hpa axis nmda gaba glutamate

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#1 bobbycan

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Posted 08 November 2017 - 05:10 PM


Given that neuroinflammation, HPA axis dysregulation, insulin receptor deficits, glutamate dysfunction, NMDA receptor dysfunction, GABA receptor dysregulation, oxidative stress, monoamine dysregulations all interact somehow in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (and other psychiatric illnesses), I'd like to ask what you think of using the following substances together (or subsequently):

 

Galantamine (inflammation)

Ibudilast (inflammation)

Intranasal insulin (inflammation, oxidative stress, insulin receptor deficits)

Mifepristone (HPA axis)

Lithium (GABA, glutamate & NMDA, monoamines, inflammation, oxidative stress)

Uridine (already using together with co-factors).

 

With the first four I don't really know how long I should be taking them to get "back to baseline". Lithium and uridine I'm prepared to take long-term.

With mifepristone I'm not quite sure which vendors are trustworthy; there's a selection of vendors here: https://www.ec21.com...fepristone.html

With lithium, I'm considering the intranasal lithium orotate version.

Most importantly though: Should I take them all together? Starting with some and introducing others? How would a schedule look like?

 

I was thinking of using baclofen some time ago but reconsidered, since it doesn't tackle the root of my problems. 

 

Background: Bipolar depressive, comorbid general & (crippling) social anxiety, anhedonia, mild OCD. I'm 23 and male.

Medication (would taper off): Lamictal 100mg, quetiapine 50mg.

 



#2 Kinesis

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Posted 26 November 2017 - 04:15 AM

This doesn’t come near addressing the full scope of your question, but here are a couple comments. I see no reason to take lithium intranasally. It’s a mineral, not a peptide, and won’t be destroyed by the digestive process. Take it orally like you would any other nutritional supplement. I’d also be concerned about the long term effects of taking insulin. The last thing you want is to downregulate your insulin sensitivity. Insulin resistance is the bugaboo of type II diabetes.

The anti-inflammatories seem more promising. Ibudilast may be worth a try. Low dose galantamine may be synergistic with it, especially if you’re not using nicotine.

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#3 bobbycan

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Posted 29 November 2017 - 07:41 AM

You're right about the intranasal lithium; will soon have the capsule form lithium orotate. Intranasal insulin seems well tolerated generally, but brain insulin resistance isn't really smth I wanna be dealing with atm. Maybe I'll give it a try after the SNIFF trial results are published, if by then I still need some boost in mood.

 

Unfortunately I'm a moderate-heavy smoker (pack a day). Do you think it's necessary to quit before starting with galantamine?

 

And I found out that mifepristone together with lithium can have major interactions (even though quite rare), so I won't be doing that combo; especially since I didn't find a trustworthy source till now.

 

Soon enough I'll start with ibu, gala, and lithium. Any advice on dosing, when to take etc.? There's plenty of advice on how to take the individual supps, but I didn't find any on the combo.



#4 Kinesis

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Posted 30 November 2017 - 02:50 AM

I’m not aware of any dangerous interactions between lithium microdoses and anything else. I suspect lithium might even be a valuable if not essential trace element, based on studies finding a link between a lack of lithium in drinking water and suicide and other mental health problems. I’m on mobile atm so it’s difficult to cite them, but you can easily find them through a search on Google, Google Scholar, or PubMed.

Bear in mind though I’m referring to lithium microdoses, orders of magnitude below medical psychotherapeutic levels.

I recall having considered galantamine at one point, then reading that it was a nicotinic cholinergic receptor agonist. Since I use nicotine lozenges, I passed. You might want to verify this for yourself, but it struck me that adding galantamine to nicotine would be a questionable overlap.

As an aside, I started using the lozenges to quit smoking. It wasn’t very long at all before I totally lost my desire to smoke. I just mention this in case you’re looking to quit smoking. I still use the lozenges, but at moderate levels nicotine itself isn’t nearly as harmful and may even have some nootropic benefit.

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#5 bobbycan

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Posted 08 February 2018 - 12:49 AM

It's been quite some time now since I last wrote here.

 

Before giving my update: Lostfalco really ought to have some award or recognition presented by longecity or the likes :laugh:

 

Just as an update:

 

I now use lithium orotate on a daily basis 3 times 5mg a day. Had the liver checked and everything seems to be alright.

Galantamine 4mg in the morning and evening.

Ibudilast I took for a while but did not notice strong positive or negative effects.

 

Intranasal Insulin by far is the most interesting of the bunch. The boost in verbal fluency, auditive and visual perception and memory recollection feels like an additional 20 IQ points. This lasts for about three to four hours till the next sniffs are required. I ran out of insulin couple of weeks ago, but don't feel like I need it strongly anyways. Sometimes it surely would be nice to have that boost again, but until the SNIFF trial results are published in December this year, I'll be wary not to mess with insulin level homeostasis. My insulin levels, of course, are normal for a guy my age and body weight.

 

I consulted with doctors and members of medical and biological faculties, of whom none told me to stop with what I'm doing. They rather voiced tentative support for my regimen.

 

So how do I feel? Silly question for smbd having suffered from bipolar and anxiety to ask himself, at least on a regular basis. But I am doing major steps in life both professionally and personally since quite some time now, and it's not thanks to some low-level hypomania either. I feel lonely, but don't worry about it too much, since I do my work and go after hobbies. And then and again I see friends and family anyways.

 

Ordered some nicotine lozenges now, thanks for the advice.







Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: bipolar, depression, anxiety, anhedonia, ocd, inflammation, hpa axis, nmda, gaba, glutamate

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