Syntheso

The addition of Uridine has been very beneficial. Much clearing thinking, ability to perform tasks etc. Would love to hear some more reports on Uridine. Mucuna - fantastic, I have to take upwards of 5g of a full spectrum product (6g is best), though, to notice an worthwhile effect. I will be taking Mucuna as and when.

Check this thread out for the original discussion; http://hppdonline.com/index.php?/topic/2234-a-new-direction-of-treatment/ Let me know if you have any queries.

Yes! Alexander Teachnique + / Bates methods applied to this are something else I am interested in. Good mention...

Cheers for the info. I haven't read through it properly, but something else you might want to try is vision therapy. I had to take a break because my co-morbid symptoms were making it difficult to leave the house last year, but am planning to book in again shortly. Basically it teaches you how to use your visual system correctly, that is, vision in the brain, and, change your behaviour with regards to the way you utilise your eyes. I now pick up on lots of incidences where I zone out and let my eyes blur when they don't need to, and other incidences where for example I might be exerting too much pressure on my eyes, simply to look at something. I believe incorrect use of the visual system is probably more prominent in HPPD'ers due to sensory overload, and that it makes more problems down the line and elongates recovery. I also believe that incorrect use of the visual system has lead to absence seizures in myself. There are lots of exercises they give you. My therapist is confident that we can remove my visual snow through vision therapy.

Bumping this.

I normally say, "hey there, put these ten tabs under your tongue for 10 minutes.. come and speak to me in 24 hours"

Currently looking into the following, need more research about possible negative effects. Check the links underneath to see the benefits they list; Vinpocetine http://www.nootropics.co.uk/vinpocetine.html Aniracetam, http://www.nootropics.co.uk/aniracetam.html Noopept see http://www.nootropics.co.uk/noopept.html and, perhaps Yohimbine.. ? Hordenine ? Which are also on http://www.nootropics.co.uk Anyone had any experience with these?

Thanks BPC! Added theanine. Could you provide some studies / more info on niacinamide ?

Yes, this action seems relevant to me !

Cheers. I haven't documented anything yet, as I need to do more sessions to speak effectively about guided meditation. But thus far, I have simply noticed: - I used to believe that meditation wouldn't work because of CEV's. They used to distract me, and make me feel worse. - In my first session this was the case. - In the second session, when I really tuned into what my careworker was saying, my consciousness became very heightened. I obtained a remarkable degree of clarity and ability; external sounds in the room just drifted by and did not distract me. The more and more this 'superconsciousness' expanded, my visuals got even more and more intense.. wildly so. But, did not bother me, quite remarkably. This was a big practical realisation for me. - As the visuals became more pronounced, whilst they didn't bother me, I did start 'spacing out' (what I believe to be absence seizures, which I have experienced throughout my time with HPPD). But I was able to bring it back. I am confident that with more practice I can avoid this spacing out. Thanks Jimmy, all the best to you too.

I have decided that my non-visual symptoms have now quietened down enough that I am going to opt for no medications. I am tapering off the small dose of Keppra I was on (500mg); I didn't see a value in increasing the dose of something that works so globally, in my case where things are not so aggressive anymore. Other than my visual symptoms, I really don't feel that bad, at least compared to how I did, when it was painful to be awake. I realised I am probably no more than a bit clinically depressed, minus my visuals, and that I have been 'waiting' for something: to 'get better'. As long as I was waking up to the visuals, I still had this sense of waiting for something. The result of this thought process is a lack of progressive behaviour. But cognitively, I am so much better. The only thing that has been holding me back, motivationally and else, is my thought processes; this feeling that 'I am not well'. I figured, I can resolve the rest psychologically. My psych has fully supported me to opt for a psychological approach. I plan to start CBT, assuming I don't relapse after withdrawing from Keppra. My aim is to learn not to let the visuals affect me and my sense of well being, perhaps using methods of CBT for pain relief. The holistic therapy i.e guided meditations I have been provided as an adjunct to my psychiatric consultations have already helped me learn to 'witness' the visuals. Just realising this even before commencing with cognitive psychotherapy, a change of thoughts itself, has already changed my behaviour greatly. The visuals may or may not go. The quickest option to recover fully, is probably to let the brain get on with it and resolve itself, and learn how to deal with things otherwise, so as not to put any more stress on the brain. All I will be putting into my body is supplementary (as per my HPPD stack thread). Strengthening the body's processes, but not manipulating them so aggressively. I have faith that the body is more likely to recover without being impaired by too much chemically. As my psych put it, 'we want to put less chemicals in you'. It is important to remember that there is a degree of psychological recovery that needs to take place; a rehabilitation in itself. Edit: I suppose, fundamentally, the issue as I now see it with the med route, personally, is.. as long as you continually measure your symptoms, how can you expect to recover? At what point do you consider yourself 'recovered', and what if this 'recovery' never comes? If you don't set yourself a goal, you can't fail an expectation. What you can do, is change your thinking, and not let the visuals, for example, be a problem. 'Problems exist in the mind'. There have been many success stories on this forum using this thinking. Due to the length of time trying meds and recovering, it is difficult to decide where a good point to stop is, what the baseline is, what normal is. Before you know it you are trying to supersede normality and place all your feelings in chemicals. What happens if you do make a full recovery, after years of thought processes measured solely by medication? How do you then proceed? When you feel a very normal but negative feeling, like a bad day, will you then measure it in terms of HPPD, will you think you require something to put in the body? What if the way you perceive your symptoms makes your recovery seem less noticeable? Of course, the visual symptoms always imply that there is still recovery to be made. But I suggest that the other symptoms can be far less exaggerated if one separates them from the visuals, and makes a psychological attempt to resolve more internally, looking less to an external source. There is of course, a reasonable amount of recovery required before going fully down a route like this i.e I definitely could not have handled my symptoms entirely psychologically months ago. The only thing I truly believe has really been responsible for my recovery thus far, is time. One thing I worry about is how much long term medical treatment interferes with your body's own ability to heal itself. Will keep you posted. Best, - s ps: I will still guinea pig novel approaches, as and when they become available !

Interesting observation.

My conclusion is: - Good for preventing further damage in aggressive HPPD, NMDA antagonists are neuroprotective but - NMDA antagonists might block the potential to heal through NMDA-mediated fear extinction (as argued in this thread) - NMDA antagonists produce memory deficits (the NMDA receptor is key in memory and synaptic plasticity) - NMDA antagonists produce schizophrenic-like effects at certain doses (ketamine and PCP are NMDA antagonists) "NMDA receptor antagonists have disappointingly failed advanced clinical trials for a number of diseases including stroke and neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington’s disease." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC534915/ Put in a few words... it is important to have the receptor unblocked for many physiological processes. It's a measure you have to work out yourself (with your physician), depending on how aggressive your HPPD is. I worry it will take longer to heal, though, perhaps hinder a full recovery. As argued in this thread, NMDAR's might be required for emotional processing; damage caused by psychedelics which overwhelm the emotional system, serotonergically. There are lots of other methods to try first. This is (reasoned) speculation, though i.e I haven't conducted my own scientific experiments (only personal ones - which were successful / not negative ) The point I have personally arrived to with regards to NMDA antagonism.. I take 500mg magnesium l-threonate (nmda antagonist, which crosses the blood-brain barrier more readily than other forms of magnesium and with said nootropic effects) before I go to sleep. This is because I see it as a 'switch off', allowing for a neuroprotective and deeper sleep. It is also said, due to it's NMDA antagonism, to upregulate NMDA receptors. I wouldn't take it in the day, where my eyes will be open and new experiences with the ability to form new synaptic pathways might be hindered. I doubt I would ever take an NMDA antagonist other than a form of magnesium. Our findings suggest that an increase in brain magnesium enhances both short-term synaptic facilitation and long-term potentiation and improves learning and memory functions. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20152124 My conclusion is that NMDA modulation (think regulation), is a useful therapeutic target.

I did.. I took Cyproheptadine for 3 days.. and had two nights in a row of horrible nightmares (been years since I've had nightmares). Interesting, since Cyproheptadine is used to treat nightmares... They were so bad that I did not wish to continue past the third day. I still have some, and may have another trial at some point.

Do you have a routine to taking CBD oil, or as and when?

You're right, it's not a strong response. I will write you something more detailed when I get a chance. A better response to your point though is that psychedelics are considered emotional amplifiers. They somehow exaggerate external stimuli and your feelings. Whether or not you have a good or bad trip, the brain isn't quite geared for such intense amplification of its stimuli, or, in HPPD brains, at least. So, even if the trip is not subjectively negative, the brain obtains HPPD when it can't process the intense stimulus and feelings that go with it; I suggest the fear/anxiety circuit is invoked here, in a flight/fight response to the aggressive stimuli. I imagine there is some sort of cellular litter that needs to be processed, as trauma in PTSD requires. I need to revise the thread, really. I can see that NMDA antagonists would be useful when someone's HPPD is quite severe, protecting further damage. In cases where people are recovering I am not sure it's a good idea - I think that receptor is required to be unblocked to process the emotional 'trauma'.

Yes, same for me. But, I still had lots of 'big trips' which were a big deal on the mind, a trauma in a sense. Just because I didn't freak out and managed to hold it together, doesn't mean it's not a trauma (I think). Many people with HPPD got it through genuinely traumatic trip experiences though. Just because we didn't have any negative trips, doesn't mean that fear/anxiety circuit is not involved (which I believe, most definitely is).

I didn't realise you were completely symptom free.. visuals included? What about some of the ideas outlined here? http://hppdonline.com/index.php?/topic/860-caffeine-what-gives-and-other-things/

Updates. Still lots more to come. Looking for your input! Currently I am taking (spread throughout the day); ​750mg keppra 1,000mg CDP-choline 500mg ALCAR 2,000 mg vit C vit b complex vit D3 (cannot remember dose) 3,000mg eye q (fish oils) 1,500mg bacopa monnieri 1-3 g lion's mane mushroom mixed in a green tea 1 dopavite capsule 500mg magnesium l-threonate (before bed) all in all, functioning very well. have been using this for around 2-3 months with the addition of CDP-choline only recently. ALCAR and fish oils were big noticers for me. next on the bill will be uridine. then pregnenolone, I think.

The glutamate modulation is very promising. I've also had my eye on it for the SSRE properties and that it appears to upregulate serotonin receptors

No problem I am sure SSRI's do help people with anxiety by some mechanism, although, I am quite persuaded by the argument Irving Kirsch makes in The Emperor's New Drugs, that mostly, in non-severe cases of depression/anxiety, the effects are felt through placebo. I've got a thing about SSRI's.. I'm not really sure why, hah. Probably because it irritates me how GP's hand them out like hot cakes. Though, to contradict myself, now my HPPD has calmed down, I have been considering SSRI's as a way of helping me out of what I now feel is a depression. If you think it's worth the shot - go for it. It's good for people to try meds and report back. I would personally try other things (for anxiety) before SSRI's though; did you check out the link I wrote in the last post? One thing I think is really important whatever you decide to do, especially if you have had anxiety in the family (i.e independent of HPPD), is to do some CBT alongside what med you go for. This is something I am realising now as my HPPD is far less aggravated; that I am vastly better, but don't get up and do as much as I could because I still feel like the sufferer as long as the visuals are there. I realise that, except for the visuals, if I changed my thought processes, I would essentially feel and function normally. I have to rehabilitate my mind so that I can do way more than I am actually doing. It is no longer painful to be awake ! A slight tangent. CBT is good for anxiety though.

Personally I wouldn't use SSRI's for anxiety. Whilst I know they have efficacy treating it, I would only use them as an antidepressant. I just don't really understand how making more serotonin available would help anxiety, but maybe I need to read more (edit; well I can in the sense that if it made you 'feel better' it might help escape introverted, anxious thought processes) As anxiety is categorised by a high arousal state I would personally look for things to calm the NS down. Have you tried these suggestions; http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/54028-treating-anxiety-safely-effectively/ ? Did Etizolam not help you in this regard, I would have thought so? I know you had good results with it. I have found it immensely helpful for anxiolysis, as and when I need. I can understand why you would want to move to something else though, for the reasons mentioned in the link above. Have you stopped Etizolam ? Maybe the anxiety has become bad from GABA downregulation?

Hear hear!

There has been quite a bit of success documented on this site with dopamine increasing drugs. I recall quite a few anecdotes about Sinemet and the COMT inhibitors trial where people 'felt like themselves' again and have even seen visual improvements (dopamine is required in visual processing). Also bear in mind that this is not pseudo-science, trials have been conducted. If you did not respond well to Sinemet, it does not mean that there is no dopamine problem in HPPD. Yes, serotonin is involved somehow but there is no suggestion as to a useful serotonergic treatment. I haven't heard of one, at least. I've even experimented in this regard myself. I'm not even sure touching it is a good idea. We hardly know anything about serotonin (there is still question if it is really a 'pleasure' chemical). I am more convinced that aiding dopaminergic transmission will resolve other neurochemical imbalances. Lion's mane mushroom is easy to get hold of. I am drinking some now