Recovering From Brain Injury - Need Advice To Decrease Serotonin

Saracatt

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I had a traumatic brain injury/concussion last December and I am still recovering.

The worst symptom is that I have been getting headaches. I basically had a mild to severe headache and trouble concentrating throughout most of this year.

The daily headaches have gotten better, but now I am getting 1-2 migraines per week. I am also getting migraines the few days before my period starts.

They gave me Sumatriptan for when I have a migraine, and it works. I noticed that it is a serotonin agonist.

On the days when I take it I feel wonderful. My mood is positive, I'm calm and happy.

My question is, what are the best strategies for reducing serotonin overall?

I had experimented with Benadryl earlier this year and the days that I took it I also had a great mood. It just made me so tired that I couldn't take it during the day, and it left me feeling hungover the next morning.

Should I try to get my doctor to give me a prescription for Cyproheptadine? How would I do this?

I have been working on getting my estrogen to come down. That has been an ongoing issue, but it is tough.

I am on the right track with this?
 

Diokine

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Higher dose (~100mg/day) pregnenolone and also progesterone are very important for recovery after brain injury. Dr. Peat has talked about this quite a bit.

Physiologic progesterone reduces mitochondrial dysfunction and hippocampal cell loss after traumatic brain injury in female rats
Physiologic progesterone reduces mitochondrial dysfunction and hippocampal cell loss after traumatic brain injury in female rats

PROGESTERONE EXERTS NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECTS AFTER BRAIN INJURY

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2699575/

The Neurosteroids Progesterone and Allopregnanolone Reduce Cell Death, Gliosis, and Functional Deficits after Traumatic Brain Injury in Rats

http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.ed...=The_Neurosteroids_Progesterone_and_Allop.pdf
 
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Saracatt

Saracatt

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Higher dose (~100mg/day) pregnenolone and also progesterone are very important for recovery after brain injury. Dr. Peat has talked about this quite a bit.

Physiologic progesterone reduces mitochondrial dysfunction and hippocampal cell loss after traumatic brain injury in female rats
Physiologic progesterone reduces mitochondrial dysfunction and hippocampal cell loss after traumatic brain injury in female rats

PROGESTERONE EXERTS NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECTS AFTER BRAIN INJURY

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2699575/

The Neurosteroids Progesterone and Allopregnanolone Reduce Cell Death, Gliosis, and Functional Deficits after Traumatic Brain Injury in Rats

http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/40004271/The_Neurosteroids_Progesterone_and_Allop20151114-9032-1g1jnvx.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ56TQJRTWSMTNPEA&Expires=1475003468&Signature=FxNJE8FoJwUe2JCPcaZxkllqfvI=&response-content-disposition=inline; filename=The_Neurosteroids_Progesterone_and_Allop.pdf

That is interesting. I am taking progesterone. I could probably up the dose. I could add some pregnenolone, but I think that dose would make me nervous. When I tried it in the past, small doses were all I could handle.


Just buy it on the internet if your doc doesn't prescribe it.

I've looked at the internet sites, but it seems like they still require a prescription. Am I wrong?
 
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Saracatt

Saracatt

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Also Azithromycin can help reduce spinal inflammation. Very helpful.

Azithromycin drives alternative macrophage activation and improves recovery and tissue sparing in contusion spinal cord injury
Azithromycin drives alternative macrophage activation and improves recovery and tissue sparing in contusion spinal cord injury

Thank you. I will have to look into this. That is part of it. I got a bad case of whiplash and there is still a lot of inflammation in my neck. When I get a headache, it hurts a lot at the top of the neck right below the base of the skull, and all the way down to my shoulders sometimes.
 
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Migraine Prophylaxis with Lisuride Hydrogen Maleate-A Double Blind Study of Lisuride Versus Placebo - Somerville - 1978 - Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain - Wiley Online Library

When judged according to reduction in frequency of attacks, LHM emerged significantly superior to placebo (p<0.05), though a higher rate of side effects was noted in the active treatment group. A high rate of placebo response (in keeping with other similar trials) was observed.It is concluded that LHM is significantly superior to placebo as a migraine prophylactic and its relative freedom from serious side effects suggests a useful role for the drug as an alternative to methysergide.

Clinical Effectiveness of Lisuride Hydrogen Maleate: A Double-Blind Trial Versus Methysergide - Herrmann - 1977 - Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain - Wiley Online Library

In a controlled double-blind study of the therapeutic efficacy and clinical tolerance of lisuride hydrogen maleate (LHM), 25 mcg tid, and methysergide (MET), 2 mg tid, in 253 patients 50% or more reduction in number of attacks was noted in 53% of patients treated with LHM and in 51% of patients treated with MET. Thirty-nine percent of the MET group and 17% of the LHM group discontinued the medications because of side effects (p<0.05, Chi2 test). Complaints of muscle weakness, coldness of extremities and dizziness were less common in the LHM group than in the MET group. It is suggested that LHM is as effective as MET in the prophylaxis of migraine and is associated with fewer side effects.
 

BobbyDukes

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That is interesting. I am taking progesterone. I could probably up the dose. I could add some pregnenolone, but I think that dose would make me nervous. When I tried it in the past, small doses were all I could handle.




I've looked at the internet sites, but it seems like they still require a prescription. Am I wrong?

Oh, not sure. Depends where you live, I guess? All States must differ (if you are U.S?).. I'm not the best person to ask.

All I know is that you can buy pharmaceuticals online that don't ask for a prescription. Perhaps the laws of your state would require it though, I don't know. Here in the UK, you can import the pharmaceuticals if they aren't scheduled drugs.
 
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Saracatt

Saracatt

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Haidut sells it here. It has very few side effects.

http://www.idealabsdc.com/lab

This is interesting because the first thing I see is the sertonin antagonizes dopamine. One of the first things the concussion doctors did was to put me on Amantadine, which we an off label use of a Parkinson's disease drug, that boosts dopamine levels slightly. It worked a little at first, but they said that it's affects tend to drop off, and after a few months I stopped taking it. That was more for concentration and the generalized cluster headaches rather than migraines though.
 
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Saracatt

Saracatt

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Oh, not sure. Depends where you live, I guess? All States must differ (if you are U.S?).. I'm not the best person to ask.

All I know is that you can buy pharmaceuticals online that don't ask for a prescription. Perhaps the laws of your state would require it though, I don't know. Here in the UK, you can import the pharmaceuticals if they aren't scheduled drugs.

I'm sure there is a way to do it, but the sites I have looked at still require a prescription. I'm sure someone on this forum knows.
 

MommaBear

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I'm sure there is a way to do it, but the sites I have looked at still require a prescription. I'm sure someone on this forum knows.

Usually they habe a Dr on staff that 'writes' your prescription when you place your order. At least that's how I have done it when ordering from outside US pharmacies. I think they have to look like they need a script from you but you don't really need one.
 

whit

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Activated charcoal can mop up quite a bit of the serotonin/endotoxin in the gut.
My sister suffered from TBI a few years ago and we have been looking for solutions since.
 

DaveFoster

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Hydergine helped me recover from a concussion. Cerebral blood flow is reduced in TBI's, and hydergine improves cerebral bloodflow. It also effectively treats dementia to some degree, and is a cognitive enhancer. It's dopaminergic, and similar effects could be obtained from caffeine, aspirin, or lisuride. Serotonin antagonists and estrogen antagonists (such as cyproheptadine and progesterone) can also be helpful. Tianeptine has been showed to aid in neural recovery from stress IIRC.
 

tara

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Sorry you're having to deal with this - not much fun.

They gave me Sumatriptan for when I have a migraine, and it works. I noticed that it is a serotonin agonist.
On the days when I take it I feel wonderful. My mood is positive, I'm calm and happy.
That's my experience too, after the need to lie down and sleep feeling has passed. I guess it tones the blood vessels, reducing their tendency to swell and press on the sensitive nerves?
 

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