LONGECITY

Hi everyone.

Im 19 years old and suffer from M.E. / CFS, which is giving me quite a foggy brain and bad memory.

I've just started taking these supplements yesterday to try and help my cognitive abilities:

Huperzine A (200mcg) Source Naturals (One serving)
Ginkgo Biloba (240mg) Doctors Best (Split into 2 servings)
Vinpocetine (30mg) Now Brand (Split into 3 servings)
Phosphate Serine (300mg) Now Brand (Split into 3 servings)
Lecithin Granules (10g) Now Brand (1 serving)

Should I adjust any of the doses?
I wasn't sure if I should up the Huperzine to 400mcg, Ginkgo to 360mg, and the Vinpocetine to 40mg?

Also, do I need to rotate any of them? or can I go ahead and take everyday?

Are there any better recommendations for what supplements I should take?

Thanks in advance

You shouldn't begin everything at once. I consider your Ginkgo dosage to be quite high, assuming it's 24% extract. Vinpocetine is quite high to begin too. You should be careful while combining vassodilatator (ginkgo and vinpocetine).

You shouldn't begin everything at once. I consider your Ginkgo dosage to be quite high, assuming it's 24% extract. Vinpocetine is quite high to begin too. You should be careful while combining vassodilatator (ginkgo and vinpocetine).

Don't take huperzine. You are too young.

Also...are you exercising? Are you taking an omega 3 supplement? Multi-vitamin?

Don't take huperzine. You are too young.

What do you think is a good age to take huperzine-a? What makes you think he's too young?

Ditto on avoiding too much vasodilators. I had a brain hemorrhage in July of '96 (my therapists tell me I am now in better shape than before the incident but it put me out of commission for almost 4 months) and figured out afterwards it had to do with the newest supplement I added to my regimen at that time, vinpocetine. I've since stopped taking it and have actually upped my ginko biloba intake a bit.

The best supplement I have found for addressing mental acuity and memory is the lipid EPA which I get from fish oil supplements, the NSI brand from http://www.vitacost.com . I've been trying to get about 4 grams of the EPA every day for about two years now, this amount based on what Dr. Andrew Stoll found in his clinical trials. On those occasions where I have lapsed for a couple of days I notice the difference and after taking them again within 3 days regain more clarity as well as memory.

Have you tried resveratrol? It seems to help with a variety of
ailments and has no ill side-effects AFAIK.

Don't take huperzine. You are too young.

What do you think is a good age to take huperzine-a? What makes you think he's too young?

From LEF:
LE Magazine November 2000 Q & A


Huperzine A
Making the right move on when and how much you should take

Q I am seeing a lot of ads for Huperzine A, a cognitive enhancer. Several mail order companies carry products with huperzine. Have you evaluated it?

A We have extensively evaluated Huperzine A and do not recommend that healthy people take it every day. Huperzine A functions as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. That means that it inhibits an enzyme in your brain that is responsible for degrading the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Alzheimer’s disease patients have elevated levels of acetylcholinesterase and can therefore benefit by taking drugs like Aricept or nutrients like Huperzine A, which inhibit acetylcholinesterase.

Healthy people, on the other hand, need acetylcholinesterase to regulate acetylcholine levels in their brains. If you wanted to impress someone with your short-term memory on any given day you could safely take the recommended dose of Huperzine A, but we would not advise that you do so daily. We have a member who is a world class chess player, and has proven he can improve his scores by taking Huperzine A the day of a chess tournament.

While it is safe to boost acetylcholine levels by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase periodically, chronic use of Huperzine A could cause over-suppression of acetylcholinesterase and subsequent acetylcholine overload with unknown consequences. Remember, you can take huge amounts of acetylcholine precursors such as choline without fear of acetylcholine overload because you have acetylcholinesterase to degrade excess acetylcholine. If you block the body’s natural regulator of acetylcholine (that regulator being acetylcholinesterease), you may have a problem. We do not recommend that people take Huperzine A more than twice a week, much less promote it for daily use like other companies do.


He said he is 19. He isn't suffering from Alzheimer's. A supplement with these kind of effects on the brain shouldn't be taken by someone whose brain hasn't yet stopped developing nor without some kind of supervision. There is too much potential for harm.

Ditto on avoiding too much vasodilators. I had a brain hemorrhage in July of '96 (my therapists tell me I am now in better shape than before the incident but it put me out of commission for almost 4 months) and figured out afterwards it had to do with the newest supplement I added to my regimen at that time, vinpocetine.

Err what? Can you elaborate some more? How much did you take and for how long, etc.
I just started using Vinpocetine 2 days ago... and I've been using ginkgo for 3 years.

As far as I know, there has been very few studies on memory issues in young otherwise "healthy" people. We don't know much about it. I'm considering to try memantine but the cost is so high.

Thanks for all the replies!

I'll stop the Huperzine A.

Should I just take either ginkgo or vinpocetine, or can I still take both at lower levels?

I was trying to decide between:

-120mg of ginkgo, and 20mg of vincopetine
-240mg ginkgo
-30-40mg Vincopetine

What should I do?

Also, i'm too ill to exercise, and I take EPA and multi vitamin.

Thanks again.

Have you tried resveratrol? It seems to help with a variety of
ailments and has no ill side-effects AFAIK.

I haven't tried reveratrol yet but I have 200mg capsules from Now brand. How much dosage do you recommend?

Kane:

Err what? Can you elaborate some more? How much did you take and for how long, etc.
I just started using Vinpocetine 2 days ago... and I've been using ginkgo for 3 years.

http://vestcollectiv...ne-tinnitus.php

It's a very powerful vaso-dilator which targets the brain. They are raving about how it can improve IQ and all manner of things including Tinnitus relief. However it's more likely to put you in danger of a Cerebral Haemorrage if you self-administer it without doctors strictly monitoring how much you are taking.

From http://altmedicine.a...vinpocetine.htm

Possible Drug Interactions
Vinpocetine shouldn’t be taken by people who are taking drugs or herbs that “thin” the blood (anticlotting or antiplatelet medications), such as aspirin, Plavix (clopidogrel), Ticlid (ticlopidine), (Trental) pentoxifylline, vitamin E, garlic or ginkgo. It should not be used with Coumadin (warfarin).

from http://www.ncbi.nlm....Pubmed_RVDocSum

BACKGROUND: Ginkgo biloba (ginkgo) is a herbal remedy used by over 2% of the adult population in the United States. Several review articles have suggested that ginkgo may increase the risk of bleeding. OBJECTIVE: To report a case of bleeding associated with using ginkgo, to systematically review the literature for similar case reports, and to evaluate whether using ginkgo is causally related to bleeding. DATA SOURCES: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, IBIDS, and the Cochrane Collaboration Database from 1966 to October 2004 with no language restrictions. REVIEW METHODS: Published case reports of bleeding events in persons using ginkgo were selected. Two reviewers independently abstracted a standard set of information to assess whether ginkgo caused the bleeding event. RESULTS: Fifteen published case reports described a temporal association between using ginkgo and a bleeding event. Most cases involved serious medical conditions, including 8 episodes of intracranial bleeding. However, 13 of the case reports identified other risk factors for bleeding. Only 6 reports clearly described that ginkgo was stopped and that bleeding did not recur. Bleeding times, measured in 3 reports, were elevated when patients were taking ginkgo. CONCLUSION: A structured assessment of published case reports suggests a possible causal association between using ginkgo and bleeding events. Given the widespread use of this herb and the serious nature of the reported events, further studies are needed. Patients using ginkgo, particularly those with known bleeding risks, should be counseled about a possible increase in bleeding risk.

I don't exactly trust the first two quotes I give here and mainly give them to show the source of my misunderstanding. Appears to me ginkgo may be more dangerous in this regard than the vinpocetine, especially at the dosage I've been taking, way too much apparently, four 120 mg. 24% standardized tablets per day. I'm going to cut that to one a day and after a few days start the vinpocetine again at just 20 mg. per day. From what I can see, the vinpocetine at reasonable dosage may actually help prevent hemorrhages contrary to the first two posts I put here.

Thanks for prompting me to look into this further. I'm afraid I was too lax in researching this and mistaken in the dosages I've been taking. Probably caused my own hemmorhage. I was lucky in that I did not get any lasting damage

Have you tried resveratrol? It seems to help with a variety of
ailments and has no ill side-effects AFAIK.

I haven't tried reveratrol yet but I have 200mg capsules from Now brand. How much dosage do you recommend?

Is this the product you have?
If so, it is 50% T-res and will have emodin in it. Personally, considering your issue, I think you need to take a 98% pure resveratrol
so that you can take a larger dose without having the emodin-laxative effect. I took a similar product to the one you have,
by Jarrow's that was only 20% t-res (100mg t-res)for about a year without any noticeable improvement. When I took more than two
capsules at a time, I had the laxative effect, so I could never really get enough t-res into my system to notice.
When I started taking 98% res powder, I saw a huge difference.
However, having said that and knowing the pure powder is costly, and since you already have this product, I would think taking one at a time,
3 times a day might help somewhat. If you could take two at a time three times a day it would be better, but I am not sure taking two at one
time wouldn't have an uncomfortable laxative effect. You might try it and see, and if it does, than just take one at a time. If your budget
can afford it, I suggest getting the pure res powders. There are a few suppliers that post on the supplements forum. You might post
over there and get feedback from other resveratrol users as well. Good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks for prompting me to look into this further. I'm afraid I was too lax in researching this and mistaken in the dosages I've been taking. Probably caused my own hemmorhage. I was lucky in that I did not get any lasting damage

No, thank you.
How much were you taking back then?
I am currently taking 60-100mg of ginkgo 1-2 times a day and have started 10mg of vinpo in the morning. Hope it's low enough to stay in the safe zone.

(sorry for the thread hijack)

No, thank you.
How much were you taking back then?
I am currently taking 60-100mg of ginkgo 1-2 times a day and have started 10mg of vinpo in the morning. Hope it's low enough to stay in the safe zone.

I was taking 480 mg. (24% standardized) ginkgo each day and 40 mg. vinpocetine. Appears to be 4 times as much as is suggested for the gingko and just on the high side for the vinpocetine. If I understand some of the research I've seen concerning the vinpocetine, a common dosage found to be effective is 20 mg. per day or less.

I saw some statements as to vinpocetine being prescription only in Europe.

I don't think this is hijacking the thread as these are taken somewhat in hopes of improving memory and cognition but if so, we so bad, so sorry.