Famotidine Lowers PTH By Almost 50%

haidut

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I will be posting a number of studies soon on H2 antagonists, especially famotidine. It looks like they are extremely versatile drugs with benefits in conditions like Parkinson, autism, heart failure, cancer, etc. The reason I am posting about famotidine is that it is the safest of the H2 antagonists, has no known drug interactions, and has studies supporting its use in the conditions above. Oh, and it synergizes very well with cyproheptadine.
Here is a study showing that a normal daily dose of 20mg famotidine lowered PTH from 311 to 168 in just 4 weeks. Granted, the study was in people with secondary hyperparathyroidism due to kidney issues, but I think that underscores its effectiveness even more.

http://www.karger.com/Article/PDF/186580
 

chris

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Looking forward to the upcoming studies haidut, thanks for posting this. After looking up famotidine quickly, I see it is sometimes prescribed for people with heartburn. Do you know if famotidine solves the underlying issue or just relives the problem when you are taking it? Would I still see benefit after I've taken it?

Thank you.
 
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haidut

haidut

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chris said:
Looking forward to the upcoming studies haidut, thanks for posting this. After looking up famotidine quickly, I see it is sometimes prescribed for people with heartburn. Do you know if famotidine solves the underlying issue or just relives the problem when you are taking it? Would I still see benefit after I've taken it?

Thank you.

All H2 antagonists will have some effectiveness on heartburn due to decreased acid production. However, this is not really a good approach and many of the heart burn drugs increase gastrin as a side effect. High levels of gastrin have been linked to certain cancers.
Famotidine is the only drug that has studies showing that it does not affect gastrin levels except in the first 24 hours. Also, it has a trophic effect on mucosal cells and stimulates repair of ulcers. So, it is mostly used for duodenal ulcers and such. Heartburn is often caused by by low stomach acid, so I'd venture a guess that most of the people on PPI drugs are actually doing a lot of damage to their GI system due to misdiagnosis.
Anyways, I suggest thinking of famotidine not as a heartburn drug but as a histamine antagonist with several very beneficial properties.
 

barefooter

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Wouldn't the lowering of stomach acid from famotidine be of concern, or is it only very minor? I thought people with low metabolism also tend to have low stomach acid production, so it seems taking something that lowers it more could be problematic. Also, can you explain more about how it synergizes with cyproheptadine?
 
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haidut

haidut

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barefooter said:
Wouldn't the lowering of stomach acid from famotidine be of concern, or is it only very minor? I thought people with low metabolism also tend to have low stomach acid production, so it seems taking something that lowers it more could be problematic. Also, can you explain more about how it synergizes with cyproheptadine?

All histamine antagonists, regardless of the receptor, will decrease acid production in high doses. There is a study in cyproheptadine for dyspepsia and the proposed mechanism of action was inhibition of gastric acid. Based on the studies, it looks like famotidine is able to interact with the histamine "receptor" in ways that cypro cannot do in reasonable human doses. Also, I will be posting a study showing famotidine protects the liver and lowers liver enzymes, while cypro may actually elevate them in some people. Finally, one of the few things that cypro does not do excellently is inactivate NO. It does have decent anti-NO activity but nowhere near the efficiency of famotidine. Finally, famotidine has been shown to reverse calcifications in tendons and even spine. Cypro being a calcium antagonist can probably do the same but there are no studies that I know of. Famotidine has several studies showing reversal of calcification.
These are just some of the few that come to mind, but when I post all studies more will become clear.
 

Kasper

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But I still don't really understand why this decreased stomach acid is not of a concern, I would think that for some people this would cause digestive problems, no ?
 
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barefooter said:
Wouldn't the lowering of stomach acid from famotidine be of concern, or is it only very minor? I thought people with low metabolism also tend to have low stomach acid production, so it seems taking something that lowers it more could be problematic. Also, can you explain more about how it synergizes with cyproheptadine?

Kasper said:
But I still don't really understand why this decreased stomach acid is not of a concern, I would think that for some people this would cause digestive problems, no ?


Since one of the factors of low metabolism is poor glycogen storage, a substance that improves it could mitigate the effects of said substance on some other variable i.e. stomach acid.

So the side-effect of reduced stomach acid could be offset by the improved metabolism (through the action of better glycogen storage).

There's nothing to say this could be true, just another point thrown into the speculation pit.
 

Kasper

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1887750

The administration of famotidine on the morning of surgery significantly increased gastric pH (4.8 vs. 1.3) in comparison with placebo, as did two doses of famotidine (6.6).

This study seems to show that famotidine increases pH to 4.8-6.6. Not sure if this pH will stay so high if you keep using it, but if that is the case, I would say that this is not good for the digestion of proteins.
 

NathanK

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Lowering PTH is interesting. I wonder if it could benefit those with alopecia since Ray has definitively said ĺowering pth will increase hair growth. Theres no famotadine studies that im aware looking at that.

Btw, the study you posted Haidut doesnt seem available anymore.
Kasper said:
post 82456 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1887750

The administration of famotidine on the morning of surgery significantly increased gastric pH (4.8 vs. 1.3) in comparison with placebo, as did two doses of famotidine (6.6).

This study seems to show that famotidine increases pH to 4.8-6.6. Not sure if this pH will stay so high if you keep using it, but if that is the case, I would say that this is not good for the digestion of proteins.
Thats interesting Kasper about increased ph. Seems like more research is warranted. What would be the signs of decreased protein digestion?

Personally, ìve been trying this as a guinea pig and have noticed an increased tolerance of caffeine. Anecdotally, yesterday I was in a meeting for 5+ hours under flourescent lights and hadnt eaten much prior and felt pretty good. To add to it, I took 200mg of caffiene at the 4th hour and had little to no stress effect. Maybe it is increasing glycogen stores. My dose was 20mg the first few days and then 40mg split the last 2 days. One thing I have noticed recently is that it feels like I have some chest congestion coinciding with when I started. Not sure if related
 
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Nighteyes

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Kasper said:
post 82456 This study seems to show that famotidine increases pH to 4.8-6.6. Not sure if this pH will stay so high if you keep using it, but if that is the case, I would say that this is not good for the digestion of proteins.

Yes it might be possible that the poor digestion due to lowered stomach acid could be avoided by simply taking famitidine well away from food.. this is assuming that famotidine does not chronically raise stomach pH.
 
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NathanK

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Nighteyes said:
post 105078
Kasper said:
post 82456 This study seems to show that famotidine increases pH to 4.8-6.6. Not sure if this pH will stay so high if you keep using it, but if that is the case, I would say that this is not good for the digestion of proteins.

Yes it might be possible that the poor digestion due to lowered stomach acid could be avoided by simply taking famitidine well away from food.. this is assuming that famotidine does not chronically raise stomach pH.
This is what I was thinking, but often it is taken chronically. Most likely take two doses, in the morning and night, with an 8-10 hour active drug duration
 
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Nighteyes

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NathanK said:
post 105080 This is what I was thinking, but often it is taken chronically. Most likely take two doses, in the morning and night, with an 8-10 hour active drug duration

Ah yes that long an effect could definitely affect digestion throughout the day.. How about taking one dose at night since you would be fasting for 7-9 hours while sleeping?
 
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NathanK

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Nighteyes said:
post 105087
NathanK said:
post 105080 This is what I was thinking, but often it is taken chronically. Most likely take two doses, in the morning and night, with an 8-10 hour active drug duration

Ah yes that long an effect could definitely affect digestion throughout the day.. How about taking one dose at night since you would be fasting for 7-9 hours while sleeping?
Im not too concerned, tbh. This is an experiment after all.

I posted in this thread some studies worth looking into. One study showed stomach acid levels returned to pretreatment levels within two days unlike other antacid meds, which can create a rebound effect: viewtopic.php?f=158&p=105091#p105091
 
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Lin

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I can't see the detailed study. Were they using plain Pepcid? Or Pepcid Complete, which has 800 mg of calcium carbonate? We know calcium lowers PTH.
 
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haidut

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Lin said:
post 107559 I can't see the detailed study. Were they using plain Pepcid? Or Pepcid Complete, which has 800 mg of calcium carbonate? We know calcium lowers PTH.

No Pepcid Complete, just plain famotidine. Calcium even at 800mg daily is unlikely to cause such a dramatic drop in PTH.
 
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Lin

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haidut said:
post 107562 No Pepcid Complete, just plain famotidine. Calcium even at 800mg daily is unlikely to cause such a dramatic drop in PTH.
So, Pepcid Complete would be a good calcium supplement, and protective against osteoporosis? Or is that too extreme a conclusion?
 
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haidut

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Lin said:
post 107566
haidut said:
post 107562 No Pepcid Complete, just plain famotidine. Calcium even at 800mg daily is unlikely to cause such a dramatic drop in PTH.
So, Pepcid Complete would be a good calcium supplement, and protective against osteoporosis? Or is that too extreme a conclusion?

If the only ingredients were famotidine and calcium then probably yes. I'd take it with vitamin D and vitamin K to boost the effects.
 
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haidut

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I looks like a letter to the editor what I get when I click on the link.

Right, but in that letter they explain the study and its duration. Unfortunately, they do not list their own study in he references so I can't find it on PubMed. What they do list are a few other references suggesting that H2 antagonists have PTH-lowering effects. All H1 antagonists like cyproheptadine and Benadryl are also H2 antagonist in higher doses, so PTH-lowering may be another good effect to ascribe to the anti-histamine drugs discussed by Peat.
 
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