Cyproheptadine Safety

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DaveFoster

DaveFoster

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So you still prefer using cypro & mirtazapine to something like metergoline?
There's a sparse number of people who have long-term success with metergoline. Many have better results with lisuride or bromocriptine with the former as the safer option.

I am getting a taste of the power of this drug, and its great. Truly great how the anti-serotonin effects work.

I want up the dose but peat/haidut said to keep it under 1 mg.

Is it safe
Be mindful of cyproheptadine's tendency to elevate AST and ALT liver enzymes and cause weight gain.
 

raypeatclips

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For what it's worth I began to feel almost "addicted" to cypro after taking it 2-3 times a day over a period of 3-4 months. Began to feel really weird when it was out of my system, and weird, but less weird after I had taken some, so I continued to take it. Eventually it got too much and I stopped "cold turkey" which led to a huge "crash" including anxiety, uncontrollable sobbing, depression, helplessness that lasted a couple of months strongly, and a few months less strongly. I wondered if my serotonin levels sky rocketed once I stopped cypro as nothing was hold them down?

I don't know, but I'm personally never touching cypro again.
 

InChristAlone

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Yeah I really don't like that I will have rebound serotonin and cortisol/adrenaline. But taking it outweighs the negatives for me right now. I will at some point when I am healthier go through the withdrawals. But maybe not. Maybe I will take it forever haha.
 
D

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For what it's worth I began to feel almost "addicted" to cypro after taking it 2-3 times a day over a period of 3-4 months. Began to feel really weird when it was out of my system, and weird, but less weird after I had taken some, so I continued to take it. Eventually it got too much and I stopped "cold turkey" which led to a huge "crash" including anxiety, uncontrollable sobbing, depression, helplessness that lasted a couple of months strongly, and a few months less strongly. I wondered if my serotonin levels sky rocketed once I stopped cypro as nothing was hold them down?

I don't know, but I'm personally never touching cypro again.
Wow this sounds miserable.
 

raypeatclips

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Yeah I really don't like that I will have rebound serotonin and cortisol/adrenaline. But taking it outweighs the negatives for me right now. I will at some point when I am healthier go through the withdrawals. But maybe not. Maybe I will take it forever haha.

Maybe slowly taper down? Or use something else anti serotonin that isn't a drug as you lower it? I believe haidut mentioned people that had taken cypro for over 10 years.
 

raypeatclips

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Months off work?

Should I stop now, I am on day 5!

.5mg 2x a day.

Yeah had around 2 and a half months off work.

Up to you, there are countless stories on this forum and all over the internet of positives and people not having any issues. I just felt I had to share my story. There's bad reactions to all drugs though if you search hard enough for them. I never exceeded 3mg a day.
 

InChristAlone

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Maybe slowly taper down? Or use something else anti serotonin that isn't a drug as you lower it? I believe haidut mentioned people that had taken cypro for over 10 years.
Yeah I was almost going to use pepcid, but then realized pepcid will cause withdrawal as well. So yeah I might try niacinamide. Though that can give me adrenaline sometimes too. So difficult!!
 
D

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Yeah had around 2 and a half months off work.

Up to you, there are countless stories on this forum and all over the internet of positives and people not having any issues. I just felt I had to share my story. There's bad reactions to all drugs though if you search hard enough for them. I never exceeded 3mg a day.
Wow

I am worried about now
A Case of Serotonin Syndrome Following Cyproheptadine Withdrawal

It's sad it does such a good job to block serotonin, Yet can have some fearful side effects.
 
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Vinero

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Wow

I am worried about now
A Case of Serotonin Syndrome Following Cyproheptadine Withdrawal

It's sad it does such a good job to block serotonin, Yet can have some fearful side effects.
First of all, that person was taking quite a high dose: 4mg twice a day for a total of 8 mg daily.
Second, she was taking an SSRI (sertraline) and a benzodiazepine (lorazepam).
It is well known that quitting either one of these cold turkey can cause withdrawal effects.
It also makes little sense to me that a person is taking an SSRI and cyproheptadine at the same time.
One drugs increases serotonin and the other one decreases it, which is confusing.

"Cyproheptadine was stopped after 6 weeks, and she continued to receive sertraline 100 mg"
This means she quit the lorazepam and cyproheptadine at the same time, while continuing her SSRI (sertraline)
This is a recipe for serotonin syndrome. When you actually have a serotonin syndrome they give u benzodiazepines or a serotonin antagonist like Cypro to calm down.
Stopping benzos abruptly increases the exposure to serotonin, stopping cypro also increases exposure to serotonin.
And continuing to take the SSRI also increases exposure to serotonin.
These three factors combined all increase serotonin which results in serotonin syndrome, unsurprisingly.

Think about it logically, she stopped two anti-serotonin drugs and stayed on pro-serotonin drug.
What do you think is gonna happen?
Benzo's are not technically an anti-serotonin drug, but they are used as a treatment for serotonin syndrome. So in effect they directly lower the effects of serotonin, by raising GABA I think is the main mechanism.
 
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InChristAlone

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Yeah I wouldn't worry about serotonin syndrome. I didn't notice much except a couple nights I had some adrenaline at night but that was one of my symptoms before taking it at all. Then after a week I had the sweaty hands and anxiety. But again I can get those symptoms just normally. So you basically just go back to how you were except maybe a little worse for a bit.
 

raypeatclips

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First of all, that person was taking quite a high dose: 4mg twice a day for a total of 8 mg daily.
Second, she was taking an SSRI (sertraline) and a benzodiazepine (lorazepam).
It is well known that quitting either one of these cold turkey can cause withdrawal effects.
It also makes little sense to me that a person is taking an SSRI and cyproheptadine at the same time.
One drugs increases serotonin and the other one decreases it, which is confusing.

"Cyproheptadine was stopped after 6 weeks, and she continued to receive sertraline 100 mg"
This means she quit the lorazepam and cyproheptadine at the same time, while continuing her SSRI (sertraline)
This is a recipe for serotonin syndrome. When you actually have a serotonin syndrome they give u benzodiazepines or a serotonin antagonist like Cypro to calm down.
Stopping benzos abruptly increases the exposure to serotonin, stopping cypro also increases exposure to serotonin.
And continuing to take the SSRI also increases exposure to serotonin.
These three factors combined all increase serotonin which results in serotonin syndrome, unsurprisingly.

Think about it logically, she stopped two anti-serotonin drugs and stayed on pro-serotonin drug.
What do you think is gonna happen?
Benzo's are not technically an anti-serotonin drug, but they are used as a treatment for serotonin syndrome. So in effect they directly lower the effects of serotonin, by raising GABA I think is the main mechanism.

To add to this, it says,

" On the basis of her history, sertraline was stopped and cyproheptadine was restarted at 4 mg every 6 hours, along with lorazepam 2 mg to control the agitation. Ms A improved within 24 to 48 hours. The fever subsided, her blood pressure returned to normal, and she regained her muscle power gradually."

So when cypro was reintroduced, she improved.

@Amarsh213 If you're that worried then stop now, you've only taken it a few days. I took it for months at a time, when I was already in poor health, and people have used it longer than me and been fine, even improved their health.
 

YourUniverse

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Cypro is a great bandaid, I find it helps sleep soo so much, but the ideal scenario is to not need it. So how to have really really low serotonin, aside from the obvious Peat protocols? It must be social status, right? Like serotonin is regarded as the neurochemical of "respect", and the mainstream believe you get a serotonin hit every time you are treated with respect by another person - this is a mechanism of the primate brain.

So they have the direction wrong, because we know we want low serotonin and not high, but ultimately would we cease our cypro benefit if we felt really amazing about our "status"? "High status" being low serotonin (although mainstream believe high status to be high serotonin).

Im just thinking out loud
 

Regina

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Yeah I was almost going to use pepcid, but then realized pepcid will cause withdrawal as well. So yeah I might try niacinamide. Though that can give me adrenaline sometimes too. So difficult!!
How about inosine and pregnenolone?
 

Mauritio

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First of all, that person was taking quite a high dose: 4mg twice a day for a total of 8 mg daily.
Second, she was taking an SSRI (sertraline) and a benzodiazepine (lorazepam).
It is well known that quitting either one of these cold turkey can cause withdrawal effects.
It also makes little sense to me that a person is taking an SSRI and cyproheptadine at the same time.
One drugs increases serotonin and the other one decreases it, which is confusing.

"Cyproheptadine was stopped after 6 weeks, and she continued to receive sertraline 100 mg"
This means she quit the lorazepam and cyproheptadine at the same time, while continuing her SSRI (sertraline)
This is a recipe for serotonin syndrome. When you actually have a serotonin syndrome they give u benzodiazepines or a serotonin antagonist like Cypro to calm down.
Stopping benzos abruptly increases the exposure to serotonin, stopping cypro also increases exposure to serotonin.
And continuing to take the SSRI also increases exposure to serotonin.
These three factors combined all increase serotonin which results in serotonin syndrome, unsurprisingly.

Think about it logically, she stopped two anti-serotonin drugs and stayed on pro-serotonin drug.
What do you think is gonna happen?
Benzo's are not technically an anti-serotonin drug, but they are used as a treatment for serotonin syndrome. So in effect they directly lower the effects of serotonin, by raising GABA I think is the main mechanism.
Does it make sense to stay 5 days on 2 days off. To give ypur body the chance to adjust and keep its own equilibrium ?
 
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tomisonbottom

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For what it's worth I began to feel almost "addicted" to cypro after taking it 2-3 times a day over a period of 3-4 months. Began to feel really weird when it was out of my system, and weird, but less weird after I had taken some, so I continued to take it. Eventually it got too much and I stopped "cold turkey" which led to a huge "crash" including anxiety, uncontrollable sobbing, depression, helplessness that lasted a couple of months strongly, and a few months less strongly. I wondered if my serotonin levels sky rocketed once I stopped cypro as nothing was hold them down?

I don't know, but I'm personally never touching cypro again.

I wonder if you should have just stayed on it?

I'm trying to understand, because you could substitute the word sugar for cypro and it would be obvious you felt better when on it (because you needed it) and worse when off it (because you needed it).

What were the problems with staying on it exactly (other then feeling weird when it left your system?)

Just wondering if it was in fact addressing a serious serotonin issue and that's why you felt weird/bad when off it.
 

Soren

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Been using large doses to help someone suffering from withdrawl from opioids.

Has been helping him a lot reduce the symptoms of serotonin syndrome. I am worried about withdrawal. Its been 7 days. Started him off on about 2-4mg a day along with other anti-serotonin and pro metabolism supps (lisuride, glycine, b-vitamins, vit A, etc)

Past 2 days have had him on a much higher dosage (24mg) and it has really helped alleviate his symptoms. This dose was based on a small study where 2 doses or 12mg of cypro were used to treat patients suffering from serotonin syndrome.

Last time his detox he went cold turkey and it took him two weeks but he suffered everyday. Could not eat, sleep nothing. Now he has not felt 100% but he has been more or less functional.

Anyone have any thoughts on this dose? The plan is not to have him on a dose this high for more than a week by which time most other withdrawal symptoms will have subsided and he can be weaned off cypro.

I'm also giving him multiple other supps you can read more about it here if you're interested.

Opioid Addicition Recovery Plan
 

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