Question:
I was looking up Pepcid online, and I found this interesting article where
SZ related to Pepcid. I started feeling better from the
DHEA/Niacin/Melatonin before I started on Pepcid, so I don't think it's the
reason my Negative symptoms have decreased so noticably, but anyway here is
the article.
Answer:
I just happen to have started taking Pepcid, since one of my meds (I think
it's the Buspar) is giving me really terrible constant Heart burn. I was looking up Pepcid online, and I found this interesting article where
SZ related to Pepcid. I started feeling better from the
DHEA/Niacin/Melatonin before I started on Pepcid, so I don't think it's the
reason my Negative symptoms have decreased so noticably, but anyway here is
the article.
A new study indicates that
the drug famotidine (Pepcid) - used to treat peptic ulcer disease and
gastroesophageal reflux - may improve behavior in autistic children.
According to the September issue of The Brown University Child and
Adolescent Psychopharmacology Update, previous studies in which
Pepcid was used to treat gastrointestinal problems in adults with
schizophrenia revealed that some of the patients¹ negative symptoms of
schizophrenia improved.
Lead study author Linda A. Linday, M.D. of St. Luke¹s-Roosevelt Hospital
in New York explained that because there are similarities between the
social isolation symptoms of children with autism and the negative
symptoms of adults with schizophrenia, she thought Pepcid might be
helpful for autistic children.
Linday¹s study, which was presented at the 1999 American Psychiatric
Association Annual Meeting, involved nine boys, ages four to eight, who
were diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD)/autism.
The study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover
and revealed that four of the nine boys (44 percent) exhibited behavioral
improvements after being treated with Pepcid.
Though the results of the study were favorable, Linday and other
researchers noted that this study was small and additional research on
the use of Pepcid in autistic children is needed.
Also featured in this month¹s issue of The Brown University Child and
Adolescent Psychopharmacology Update, researchers debate the safety
of combining Ritalin with a drug commonly prescribed for hypertension
in adults to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in
children. The issue also includes a review of new antipsychotic
medications for children and adolescents and a case report of the
efficacy of certain drugs in treating Tourette¹s disorder. I suppose i didn't make many friends last time i was here. But I am back. It
sees to me if the niacin is a vitamin it is pobably the same as the vitamin i
take for schizophrenia, by a schic in victoia B.C. canada. Dr. hoffer . He is
suppose to be very well nown in Canada.
I posted an article, (very long one) a while back that I found while
looking for articles about Niacin used to treat SZ. I've heard about Niacin
and SZ for years and decided to look into it. Niacin is also used to lower
colesteral, so I thought I might get 2 good things for the price of one. I found an article where the Melatonin/DHEA conections were explained, and
the reasons why this might benifit SZ's was explained. (it turns out I got
the Niacin conection elsewhere, but here is the Melatonin/DHEA part.
Strangely enough, I had just bought some Niacin, I already had Melatonin,
which I used to take ocasionally to sleep, (now I take it every night).
And the strange part is that several months ago I was shopping and my
"Voices" insisted that I buy a huge bottle of DHEA. I didn't have any idea
what it was, but my "Voices" were so insistant that I bought it, took one
or 2 of the pills then put it on the back shelf.
So as it turned out I had the whole combination already.
Here is a repost of the article, I see on re-reading it that the Niacin
factor was something I got from another article, that related Niacin to
Nicotine.
When you read the article you will see that this doc says that the fact
that Nicotine releases DHEA may be the reason so many SZ's smoke like
crazy.
I read elsewhere that Nicotine and Niacin are somehow related, and that new
drugs for SZ's are being developed with these substances. It was because of
this relationship that I transposed the Niacin into the article. There must
have been more of a conection than that though because there was allot of
stuff in this website and I know I originally went looking for info on
Niacin.
Anyway be all of this as it may, here is a repost of the DHEA/Melatonin
article. Unfortunately I neglected to put the URL in, so now I can't
remember where it came from. I'm pretty sure it is from the archives of
JAMA, (journal of american medicine)
I suggest schizophrenia is caused by low availability of the adrenal
hormone, DHEA, and the pineal hormone, melatonin, during critical times of
brain development. Reduced DHEA reduces growth and development of the
cerebral hemispheres. Later in life, events occur that decrease the
availability of DHEA, in addition to already low DHEA; this reduces
function in under-developed areas of the brain and produces schizophrenia.
This pattern has been noticed in the past, but this explanation is an
entirely new theory.
"The data are more consistent with a neurodevelopmental model in
which a fixed Œlesion¹ from early in life interacts with normal brain
maturational events that occur much later." (Archives of General Psychiatry
1987, 44: 660)
DHEA naturally begins to decline around age twenty to twenty-five, and this
probably occurs earlier in schizophrenics. In addition to this decline,
interference with the availability of DHEA may occur because of another
adrenal hormone, cortisol, and, beginning at puberty, the hormone,
testosterone. DHEA exerts a very positive effect on growth of the basic
unit of the brain, the neuron: "DHEA greatly increases neuronal survival
and differentiation" (J. Neuroscience Research 1987, 17: 225).
The cerebral cortex of the brain is mainly "gray matter," which is mainly
neurons. Schizophrenics exhibit significantly low DHEA (Biological
Psychiatry 1973, 6: 23), which I think is the cause of their significantly
reduced cerebral cortices (Archives of General Psychiatry 1992, 49: 195).
That is, low DHEA during brain development may result in impaired cerebral
development, and reduced DHEA later in life produces a dysfunction that is
called schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a term applied to numerous types of
brain dysfunction. The connection of low DHEA to all of these is that
different parts of the brain are affected differently by lack of proper
development. The results of low DHEA during brain development will be
different in different individuals. Therefore, low DHEA can be directly
involved in reduced cerebral development that results in a varying
neuropathy. However, similarities exist that unite this group of symptoms
under the term "schizophrenia." There are other similarities not often
mentioned that I think also result from low DHEA; let me give you some
examples. DHEA is low in schizophrenia, AIDS (see article on AIDS at this
website), and Alzheimer¹s disease (Biological Psychiatry 1991, 30:
688); diseases which I think result from low DHEA. Olfactory deficits occur
in all three; schizophrenia (Biological Psychiatry 1988, 23: 123),
Alzheimer¹s disease (Biological Psychiatry 1986, 21: 116) and in HIV (AIDS
virus) infection(American J. Psychiatry 1991, 148: 248). Schizophrenics
exhibit decreased activity in the prefrontal areas and increased
activity in the basal ganglia (American J. Psychiatry 1985, 142: 564). This
brain pattern is identical in advanced AIDS (Science 1988, 239: 587). These
similarities are due to low DHEA. A cytokine (immune cell activator) known
simply as IL-2 is also low in schizophrenia and AIDS, both of which I
attribute to low DHEA.
In my articles on evolution and sleep at this website, I connect the
pineal hormone, melatonin, with DHEA. I suggest melatonin may be involved
in producing receptors, chemical doorways, for DHEA. For DHEA to produce
its growth promoting activities on neurons, it must have a pathway into the
neuron. Melatonin stimulates these receptor at night. I think this
pathway is reduced in schizophrenics, because nighttime melatonin is
reduced in schizophrenia (Biological Psychiatry 1989, 25: 500). Proper
amounts of melatonin are necessary for slow wave sleep to occur; the
deepest stage of slow wave sleep is stage 4. Lack of stage 4 sleep is
documented in schizophrenia. The second quotation below shows that others
think reduced melatonin may be involved in some forms of schizophrenia,
however, the investigators do not mention DHEA.
"In 1965, Lairy and co-workers noted a relative dearth of stage 4
(S4) in the sleep of delusional schizophrenic patients. In a more
systematic study, Caldwell and Domino demonstrated a 50% reduction of mean
S4 sleep in 25 unmedicated schizophrenic patients as compared with ten
medical student controls. This finding has since bee repeatedly confirmed
in both acute and chronic schizophrenics and with precise control for age
and some control for hospitalization." (Archives of General Psychiatry
1985, 42: 797)
"It has long been suggested that abnormal functions of the pineal
gland may be implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. We present
evidence proposing that diminished melatonin secretion may be associated
with the pathophysiology of a subgroup of schizophrenic patients
characterized by cerebral atrophy and ventricular enlargement, negative
symptoms, impaired cognitive and psychosexual development, onset at
pubescence, poor response to neuroleptic medication, and possible increased
risk of extrapyramidal symptoms. This view holds that a subnormal plasma
melatonin level may be a marker of a subgroup of schizophrenia and may also
denote a specific genetic susceptibility." (Schizophrenia Bulletin 1990,
16: 653)
In the following quotation, a reason for reduced melatonin in
schizophrenics is reported. The pineal gland produces melatonin, and this
gland normally begins to "calcify" as production of melatonin decreases.
Abnormalities occur in the pineal gland of schizophrenics. The frontal
lobes of the brains of schizophrenics show reduced function, reduced
development, and frontal atrophy. The following quotation demonstrates that
pineal calcification (PC) is connected with frontal lobe atrophy in
schizophrenics.
"Results of the first study revealed that the presence of PC was
significantly associated with measurements of prefrontal cortical atrophy
(p less than .01), while there was no association with measurements of
parieto-occipital atrophy, sulcal prominence, or ventricular brain ratio
(VBR). These findings support the notion that the various structural brain
abnormalities in schizophrenia may reflect different pathological processes
and that abnormal pineal melatonin functions may be associated with the
pathophysiology of prefrontal cortical atrophy. In addition, since some
clinical facets of schizophrenia covary with frontal lobe dysfunction, our
findings highlight the significance of abnormal pineal functions for the
pathophysiology of schizophrenia. In the second study we found a
significantly higher prevalence of pathologically enlarged PC (i.e.,
greater than 1 cm in diameter) in schizophrenia as compared to controls of
similar age. In addition, we found a significant association between CT
scan measurements of cortical atrophy and pathologically enlarged PC size
(p less than .05). By contrast, PC size was unrelated to VBR. These
findings demonstrate a specific association between pathologically enlarged
PC and cortical atrophy in schizophrenia. The implications of these
findings to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and, specifically, to the
morphological abnormalities that accompany the disease are discussed."
(International J. Neuroscience 1991, 57: 179)
My sleep mechanism connects melatonin, DHEA, and a hormone released by the
pituitary gland, prolactin (see sleep mechanism at this website for detail
and chart). Basically, sleep occurs as our supply of DHEA is used up at the
end of the day. This reduction in DHEA allows melatonin to be
released.Melatonin release momentarily reduces prolactin release; prolactin
is a stimulator of DHEA production. This reduction in prolactin release
reduces the level of DHEA further, and deep sleep (slow wave sleep) occurs.
Melatonin and prolactin alternate so that DHEA does not fall too low; a ...As you know if you are taking it, it's unlike any other vitamin I've ever
taken it packs quite a punch.
The "Flush" is like having carbonated water injected intravenously, not
unbearable, but not particularly pleasant either. This is why I spread the
dose out over the day, I can't take it all at once.
SP A neighbor of mine was taking Niacin and it caused a imbalance for
him and he relasped. Be careful okay.. girl I've been taking my niacin in 500 mg pills instead of the 1000 you
recommended with the dose of dhea but havn't gotten the melatonin yet.
But wth the recent addition of the Essential fatty acids just previously
I may not be able t seperate the effects that well.
I discussed it with my friend who is a male nurse..my supplements
....and he didn't flinch at anything I said I was talking.
I'm also taking glucosimine ad chrodrotin to help my knee get better and
he took a couple of them because he heard they were good for cartridge
and ligament repair. Hurt his elbow playing tennis.
So according to my nurse friend (since 7th grade) who is a trustworthy
source for enlightenened medical advice...in my opinion......I'm not
taking anything too wierd nor any strange combinations.
I do love my gingko biloba.
It's mind food pure and simple. It's highly praised by meny who try it.
Do some for a while. It works for me.
Since you are intreged at niacin. i will thn tell you other vitains by a well
respected vitamin specialist in canada. This is my tratment:1 vitamin c 3 times a
day (1000 m tablets). 2 tablets of niacin three times a day (500 mg. tablets) .
Selnium once a day (200 mg). Folic acid 1 tablet a day (5 mg tablets). and salmon
oil 1 three times a day (1000 mg tablets gel)
I was told that niacin is the only thing medically proven to give you a longer
life span. The folic acid is i think a minral fom the ground and i could be using
it because thee isn't much in the gound around here. the salmon oil boosts all the
effects. niacin i find if you keep on getting that itch you are to increse the
dosage untill you find th right dosage. This was basd on my weight of 230 lb. So
one might be able to find there balance.
Check for dr. hoffer in victoria. in bc. canada. He has a web site ill try to
find it for you. Does anyone want his phon number. Social services i think will
pay for taveling costs if your in bc or mabby even canada. The niacin and folic
acid is covered under the medical card but some drugest may not now this. Get back
to me if you have problems getting it covered. i now niacin is covered i got a
pill bottle in font of me with 1000 tablets with three repeats. Same with folic
acid 100 tabs with 7 repeats. The others i have to pay for.
