Question, Mysterious Effect From Cyproheptadine

goodfortune

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Please let me state upfront that I am very new to this forum, and also I am not up to the high level of scientific sophistication that is very evident throughout this forum, nor am I very technologically literate in general, so if I blunder, e.g., mention something that I could have/ should have read elsewhere (and maybe did read elsewhere but forgot where), please be forgiving.

Without going into a long back story, a year ago (after intense amounts of stress in the previous year), I began gradually developing a repetitive stress injury, posterior tibial tendonitis specifically, not due to running or great athleticism, but just from walking a lot with a large tote bag, which I think created biomechanical imbalances. Eventually, I was completely incapacitated for six weeks and lost much weight, could not eat, and was depressed and in pain; however, I did use the time to plan my recovery, and now I am at four months later, able to walk and perform the one-foot heel raise, which is the litmus test for recovery.

Two months ago, because I had lost so much weight, I was seeking a way to make myself eat more because I had very little appetite. I found a product called Apetamin, which is cyproheptadine with lysine and some B-vitamins. I had never heard of cyproheptadine, and as I began to read about it, I found the IdeaLabs cyproheptadine using DMSO as a carrier, so I decided to try it because I am very sensitive to substances, and the idea of transdermal application gave me comfort.in experimenting.

One of the biggest troubles I had in recovering was that my calf, shin, and thigh muscles were stubbornly tight and my knee (aside from my arch) was over-pronated. It was as though my whole leg was “locked.” When I first used the cyproheptadine – 2 drops, one in each nostril – almost instantly my leg began to “unlock.” Within two days, the pain was disappearing, and I could feel the first indications of normalcy being restored. From that point on, everything gained momentum and improved. In just two weeks, I had regained all my weight and lost all my stress and depression, and though cyproheptadine is reported to create apathy, in my case just the opposite occurred: I was able to overcome my fear of moving my foot in certain ways and thus able to start exercising to regain strength. In those two weeks, I took the cyproheptadine daily for one week and then every other day during the second week, always at just two drops intranasally. I seemed to reach a plateau at two weeks, and then things seemed to continue positively but within the same frame of improvement, still with two drops intranasally every other day. Then at one month, everything changed. I began to feel stressed and depressed again, and my muscles began to tighten again and feel weak, but most outlandishly, my breasts began to swell and become sore. I am at menopause right now, I am 50 this year, but I really have not had any of the typical menopausal symptoms, and I have not had sore breasts since in my 30’s. Also, the tendon has become painful again, not intensely, but for nearly a month the pain seemed gone. I have not done anything new except use the cyproheptadine, and I have not been eating or using anything “estrogenic” – estrogen is the first hormone that came to mind with the swollen breasts. I could not think of anything else to do, so I decided to try the Progestene from IdeaLabs because I read somewhere in this forum that progesterone can help tendonitis as well as breast pain. I have only been taking the Progestene for three days (three drops three times daily on my ankle), and I am starting to feel better, and my breasts seem to be slowly draining, and maybe my muscles feel a bit better, though I still have pain in my tendon and muscle stiffness and weakness. I have stopped the cyproheptadine.

Does anyone have any idea as to why the cyproheptadine would produce this reaction, both good and bad?

Thank you greatly for your time.
 

Waynish

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Your description of the cypro reaction is not easy to follow. You described cypro helping up to some extent and then something happened which caused the original condition to creep back in - is this correct?
 

theLaw

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These are just a few of the issues that Cypro can help with:

Hi all,

As you many of you know, Ray Peat has mentioned cyproheptadine as a possible option for correcting certain physiological processes that have been derailed after years of eating PUFA, being exposed to chronic stress, toxins, endotoxin, battling chronic diseases, etc.
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, whenever a substance displays a wide variety of protective/curative effects via multiple "pathways", it suggests that the theory behind it is probably correct. In the case of cyproheptadine and Ray Peat, the theory is that histamine, serotonin, cholinergic mechanisms, estrogen, prolactin, growth hormone, cortisol, etc. work in a direction that destabilizes the organism and causes damage. Here are some of the amazing findings I have been compiling on cyproheptadine that add more ammo to Ray's views:

1. Cyproheptadine may have strong anti-cancer properties:
Unexpected remission of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with lung metastasis to the combination therapy of thalidomide and cyproheptadine: report of... - PubMed - NCBI
Cyproheptadine displays preclinical activity in myeloma and leukemia. - PubMed - NCBI

2. Cyproheptadine may treat autism:
Cyproheptadine in the treatment of autistic disorder: a double-blind placebo-controlled trial. - PubMed - NCBI
Cyproheptadine in treatment of autism. - PubMed - NCBI

3. Cyproheptadine may treat schizophrenia. This raises serious questions if schizophrenia is "caused by excessive dopamine" as the current mainstream dogma holds since cyproheptadine would in theory increase dopamine and its effects:
Effects of the 5HT antagonist cyproheptadine on neuropsychological function in chronic schizophrenia. - PubMed - NCBI
Cyproheptadine in treatment of chronic schizophrenia: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. - PubMed - NCBI

4. Cyproheptadine may treat depression and other similar mental issues:
Treatment of depression with cyproheptadine. - PubMed - NCBI
Cyproheptadine for prevention of neuropsychiatric adverse effects of efavirenz: a randomized clinical trial. - PubMed - NCBI
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9304415

5. Cyproheptadine may be heart-protective (Ray said that anti-serotonin drugs like ondansetron protect the heart):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19346455
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7976381

6. Cyproheptadine may protect the brain from the damage caused by BOTH ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7976376
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1757225
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3982650

7. Cyproheptadine may protect the brain in a very generalized way by increasing cholesterol and phospholipids:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8225552

8. Cyproheptadine may protect from endotoxin:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11940385
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1598825
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8368073

9. Cyproheptadine may stimulate the immune system:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3567337

10. Cyproheptadine may have anti-endorphin action similar to naltrexone:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2995088

11. Cyproheptadine may suppress prolactin, growth hormone, aldosterone, ACTH, TSH, and cortisol:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2994332
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6109449
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7017408
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/115197
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4600047
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/177441
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/177112
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1201741
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/180050
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/401824

12. Cyproheptadine may suppress prostaglandin synthesis and effects (similar to aspirin):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/412631
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/508004

13. Cyproheptadine may be helpful in the treatment of "alcoholism":
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3797491
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14157085

14. Cyproheptadine may be helpful in the treatment of "psoriasis":
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6735444

15. Cyproheptadine may be helpful in the treatment of decompression sickness:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7233624

16. Cyproheptadine may be helpful in restoring fertility in old age:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1204806

17. Cyproheptadine may be helpful in treating myopathy (muscle weakness):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4274414

I am sure there are other studies with similar findings but I just wanted to share my findings so far. In my opinion, this is very strong evidence that Ray's ideas are on a VERY right track.

Thoughts?

Start by reading this thread, and move on from there:

https://raypeatforum.com/community/threads/cyproheptadine-a-wonder-drug.2508/

What you are asking about is way too complicated for a short answer.
 

Constatine

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Sep 28, 2016
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I would get your prolactin levels checked. Cypro is obviously a serotonin antagonist but it is also a dopamine antagonist (opposes dopamine) which could increase prolactin. Antagonizing serotonin would lower prolactin but at different doses cypro's dopamine and serotonin antagonist effects differ in strength. You can try taking a dopamine agonist with cypro or just mess around with the dose (probably dose lower).
 
OP
G

goodfortune

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Apr 22, 2017
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Thank you to all for responding, but in the past three months my health has been restored. I discontinued the cyproheptadine and began taking a mineral supplement, and all is very well now. Many thanks.
 

tara

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
A couple of speculations, not expertise.

I wonder if the DMSO itself could have had some positive effect on your tendon. I think it is sometimes used for such issues.

Perhaps being round menopausal age could be enough to have brought about some extra estrogen imbalance in itself that the progesterone helped with, as well as helping with the tendon?
 

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