Cyproheptadine, When Is The Best Time To Take

[dnxj]

I stumbled on this forum by mistake, was looking for the effects of cyproheptadine on growth hormone.
I take it on and off for several years, the main reason is for muscle gain, but also it makes me feel more healthy and overall good feeling when I take it, no idea why.
The question is what's the best time to take it, the dosage, with or without food and do I need to stop taking it for awhile or can I continue non stop?
Thanks

 

[raypeatclips]

Take it whenever you want, I've taken it 2-3 times a day before about 8 hours apart. I would suggest taking a night first for the sleep effects but if you've been taking it years, this probably isn't necessary.

Dosage is whatever you feel best on, can try work your way up but I got stress reactions when I tried to work my way up and felt good on 0.5mg doses.

Don't think food effects it at all, I've never felt this personally.

 

[Pointless]

Twice a day, .25 to 1 mg each dose. I don't know about building muscle. It can make you gain weight if you take too much.

 

[dnxj]

I take 4mg once a day. Gaining weight is great, but I don't want to lower the secretion of growth hormone, should I still use it? why do you guys take it?

 

[Pointless]

Wow, I didn't know Cyproheptadine inhibited growth hormone

Suppression by cyproheptadine of human growth hormone and cortisol secretion during sleep.

It seems to completely inhibit GH release at a pretty low dose. The 5 mg is intravenous, and this would be a hefty dose because of poor absorption, at least by our standards. But some people here take up to 16 mg per day.

Around here, we call growth hormone the hormone of disease, aging, and death. Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death? I don't think you should worry about suppressing it.

We use cyproheptadine to block serotonin, one of the major anti-metabolic toxins of stress.

 

[dnxj]

I will definitely try to take less, may be 1 or 2 mg each day. GH secretion could eliminate the muscle growth, I always thought the GH has an important role in growing and recovery. I read the article, I knew even before that it's good to lower the secretion of Estrogen but not the GH, some people use different peptides to increase the GH, and it's even proscribed by doctors to increase height while growing.

 

[gobrave]

I generally take 2mg to 4mg in the morning or afternoon, and avoid taking it in the evening as it makes waking up in the morning much more difficult.

I've slept through plenty of alarms and felt very drowsy on my morning drive to work - if I take it at night. However if I take it during the day I don't feel drowsy. I take it with food or without, and haven't felt any negative effects on my digestion etc.

Generally, I'll do this:

Sunday - Thursday: 2mg in the morning (so I can wake up easy and not kill myself on the road)
Friday - Saturday: 4mg in the morning, or night (because it's the weekend and I ain't going nowhere in the morning)

Of course that's just how it works on me, so experiment slowly until it feels right for you : )

 

[DaveFoster]

Any additional ideas here?

I really think that it depends more on the circadian rythm rather than on metabolism.
The scientist I quoted above ( Robert Burns) was greatly influenced by Alain Reinberg, a french scientist who can be considered one of the "best" in the field of chronobiology and its various effects on human health.
I consider the work of Reinberg as much important as Ray's.
Take ,for example, the case of " Periactin" he did a wonderful job to indicate the best time of the day to take it in order to get the full benefit of it (ie a "small" dose last longer and, so, is more effective when taken in the morning rather than in the evening.)

http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v46/n ... 96661a.pdf

And so on with thyroid meds, corticosteroids, hormones substitutes, chemotherapy........
He wrote a book, in french, on the subject.

http://www.unitheque.com/Livre/medecine ... 2-hU2thiK0

 

[TheHound]

I will definitely try to take less, may be 1 or 2 mg each day. GH secretion could eliminate the muscle growth, I always thought the GH has an important role in growing and recovery. I read the article, I knew even before that it's good to lower the secretion of Estrogen but not the GH, some people use different peptides to increase the GH, and it's even proscribed by doctors to increase height while growing.

I don't think growth hormone has a huge impact on muscle growth to be honest. I was taking 12mg of cyproheptadine a day at one point during my 20 pound bulk, body fat stayed relatively the same so muscle growth was quite a bit. dhea and thyroid may have more to do with height growth than growth hormone

Enhancement of linear growth and weight gain by cyproheptadine in children with hypopituitarism receiving growth hormone therapy. - PubMed - NCBI

this study found that the children receiving cyproheptadine along with GH therapy grew more than GH alone

 

[Anne27]

I'm not sure it's a good idea to use Cypro long term, especially for older people. The Indiana University Center for Aging Research has listed Cyproheptadine/Periactin as a definite anticholinergic which may increase the risk of cognitive decline by 46% in older adults with long term use. I think it's important to note that the majority of these studies have been in older people who are already at a higher risk of cognitive impairment. A smaller study in people with Parkinson's disease using anticholinergics did not show the same results although the length of this study was only 18 months.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160418120100.htm
http://www.agingbraincare.org/uploads/products/ACB_scale_-_legal_size.pdf
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130507124809.htm

Brain scans link physical changes to cognitive risks of widely used class of drugs

Older adults might want to avoid a using class of drugs commonly used in over-the-counter products such as nighttime cold medicines due to their links to cognitive impairment, a research team led by scientists at Indiana University School of Medicine has recommended.

Using brain imaging techniques, the researchers found lower metabolism and reduced brain sizes among study participants taking the drugs known to have an anticholinergic effect, meaning they block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter.

Previous research found a link between between the anticholinergic drugs and cognitive impairment and increased risk of dementia. The new paper published in the journal JAMA Neurology, is believed to be the first to study the potential underlying biology of those clinical links using neuroimaging measurements of brain metabolism and atrophy.

"These findings provide us with a much better understanding of how this class of drugs may act upon the brain in ways that might raise the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia," said Shannon Risacher, Ph.D., assistant professor of radiology and imaging sciences, first author of the paper, "Association Between Anticholinergic Medication Use and Cognition, Brain Metabolism, and Brain Atrophy in Cognitively Normal Older Adults."

"Given all the research evidence, physicians might want to consider alternatives to anticholinergic medications if available when working with their older patients," Dr. Risacher said.

Drugs with anticholinergic effects are sold over the counter and by prescription as sleep aids and for many chronic diseases including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A list of anticholinergic drugs and their potential impact is athttp://www.agingbraincare.org/uploads/products/ACB_scale_-_legal_size.pdf.

Scientists have linked anticholinergic drugs cognitive problems among older adults for at least 10 years. A 2013 study by scientists at the IU Center for Aging Research and the Regenstrief Institute found that drugs with a strong anticholinergic effect cause cognitive problems when taken continuously for as few as 60 days. Drugs with a weaker effect could cause impairment within 90 days.

The current research project involved 451 participants, 60 of whom were taking at least one medication with medium or high anticholinergic activity. The participants were drawn from a national Alzheimer's research project -- the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative -- and the Indiana Memory and Aging Study.

To identify possible physical and physiological changes that could be associated with the reported effects, researchers assessed the results of memory and other cognitive tests, positron emission tests (PET) measuring brain metabolism, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans for brain structure.

The cognitive tests revealed that patients taking anticholinergic drugs performed worse than older adults not taking the drugs on short-term memory and some tests of executive function, which cover a range of activities such as verbal reasoning, planning, and problem solving.

Anticholinergic drug users also showed lower levels of glucose metabolism -- a biomarker for brain activity -- in both the overall brain and in the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with memory and which has been identified as affected early by Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers also found significant links between brain structure revealed by the MRI scans and anticholinergic drug use, with the participants using anticholinergic drugs having reduced brain volume and larger ventricles, the cavities inside the brain.

"These findings might give us clues to the biological basis for the cognitive problems associated with anticholinergic drugs, but additional studies are needed if we are to truly understand the mechanisms involved," Dr. Risacher said.

 

[raypeatclips]

The Indiana University Center for Aging Research has listed Cyproheptadine/Periactin as a definite anticholinergic which may increase the risk of cognitive decline by 46% in older adults with long term use.

" The success of anticholinergic drugs in treating several degenerative brain diseases is probably embarrassing to the companies whose cholinergic-intensifying drugs aren’t very successful." Ray Peat

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