VisualDude

Sorry to have been so long to post HGH isn't exactly a safe thing to mess with. It is in vogue right now with many testimonials about it. Obviously if one has a real deficiency, then it might be good to take - just as are testosterone and estrogen. But the risks of taking hormones is as real as any benefits. While some report benefits in conquering acid reflux with HGH, treating anxiety and diet changes are also effective for many. As far as stem cells, it will be beyond our life if anything develops in practice from this research. However, it should be noted that our brain problems are actually classified as mild (lol) ... the good news being there is much the brain can do to adapt and function well (well being defined as having the ability to be productive and happy) There are so many things to try before even thinking about surgeries and implants. Save the exotics for last. And the meds Dr Abraham asked you to try are thousands of times milder and safer than these steps. There are many scare stories about medications on these forums, but equally some people get real benefits. As far as Dr A's meds, if you are worried, have a friend with you. You should know in less than an hour if it will benefit you. Also, they have very short half lives so some people can't tell the next day that they took anything. Those who can, feel better and responded very well to it from the start. If it helps, then explain it to your doctor and show him the prescription bottles. He may also wish to call Dr A for more info. If it doesn't help, then at least you know and can look elsewhere. I don't know much to say about acid reflux. The reason needs to be identified. Anxiety will aggravate this (and many digestive problems). So addressing anxiety is important. As it is with DP, DR, HPPD, depression, etc... I sense that you have some difficulty deciding and focusing on what to do next. This is understandable giving the nature of anxiety and HPPD. It may help to have a steady friend to talk with and help you. I've used a kind counselor to help with focus. Obviously you have multiple problems to balance, so prioritize them ... perhaps anxiety being at the top. Hope this if helpfull, for that is its purpose

Well, there is always someone who will step up to the plate

Technically, Klonopin is an antiseizure. It is also prescribed for anxiety. It seems to be, at least for years, the #1 med for HPPD. Aside from to two extremes of being wonderful and it's villainy, there are specific question I wish to ask: For those who did NOT visually benefit from Klonopin, What amounts (dosage) did you try? For those who HAVE benefited visually from Klonopin, What effects on visual distortions/problems has this medicine exhibited? Also, how quickly did it help and at what dosages were required? Thank you for your assistance.

Most of my help comes from Sinemet. The rest from benzos and anti-seizures. Most docs try SSRIs and then SNRIs. For me, these skyrocket anxiety. Oh course, have no idea what will work for you. Sinemet seems to affect some very specific visual issues and for some DR. It is also not easy to get - even though it is a mild med, it is off-label for stuff like what we have. The first and most important thing is 'healthy life style' - good food, plenty of rest (consistent 'sleep hygiene'), no drugs, limit alcohol (stop it for now if it negatively affects you during or the next day), positive friends, positive activities, positive music, and walks in clean air. While this should be easy, ironically it is difficult in modern industrialized society. And some of this makes you social different than peers (which is a source of anxiety). As far as supplements, you could experiment with stuff like GABA and NAC (NAC is great across the board but initially start with small amounts) [ The supplement topic is huge so won't delve further here ] Have you tried meds? Do you have visual distortions and if so, can you list them? Hope this helps alice

A new fashion statement Oh dear, since mad cow disease I've missed having head-cheese

In simplest terms, if you want to burn up a brain, inject it with glutamate - this happens as a consequence of stroke and greatly broadens damage. If you want to save a brain from burn out, the major tool is benzodiazepines. You can check these two out with emergency room medical practices. Now are there complex loops that, by inhibiting one part excites another? Yes the brain is so full of feedback and feedforward loops it is almost impossible to understand how anything works. And really weird stuff goes on during neonatal stages. Nevertheless, the simple model described above can be verified by basic Neuroscience books. Start here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron "In fact, however, the two most common neurotransmitters in the brain, glutamate and GABA, have actions that are largely consistent. Glutamate acts on several different types of receptors, but most of them have effects that are excitatory. Similarly GABA acts on several different types of receptors, but all of them have effects (in adult animals, at least) that are inhibitory. Because of this consistency, it is common for neuroscientists to simplify the terminology by referring to cells that release glutamate as "excitatory neurons," and cells that release GABA as "inhibitory neurons." Since over 90% of the neurons in the brain release either glutamate or GABA, these labels encompass the great majority of neurons." Reducing the rate of axonal firing, or stopping the signals from reaching the next neurons, is how sedatives, analgesics and anesthesia work – thus ‘calming’ (death being the ultimate state of calm – zero neuronal firing). And there are many mechanisms, GABA being only one of them.

There seems to be a broad range of severity and overlapping stuff Depersonalization - http://en.wikipedia....personalization "an anomaly of the mechanism by which an individual has self-awareness ... a feeling of watching oneself act ... they have changed, and the world has become less real, vague, dreamlike, or lacking in significance ... feel that they are living in a "dream"." Derealization - http://en.wikipedia....i/Derealization "an alteration in the perception or experience of the external world so that it seems unreal ... feeling as though one's environment is lacking in spontaneity, emotional coloring and depth." "Derealization is a subjective experience of unreality of the outside world, while depersonalization is unreality in one's sense of self" This crap gets complicated, but when you read on DP/DR forums, DPers vary from not feeling strong love towards people they love, not feeling ANY emotions (though their posts express emotion), suffering fears that they don't really exist because this non-feeling is so strong. Some are terrified that they are going schizophrenic. The DR people mostly feel disconnected from the world or it looks weird. Many HPPD symptoms are weird/unreal (static, jiggling objects, CEVs, ...). Traditionally, DP is from an abuse background and/or chronic high stress. DR tends to be more 'neurological'. Recreational drugs are now common causers of these problems - often the 'high' one seeks is one or more of these effects ... they just get stuck with it.

I've tried 4 different benzos. They are truly wonderful meds. Each with it's own characteristic. Valium in known to build up resistance the fastest of all - but it doesn't predict exactly what will happen to an individual. Negative publicity among celebrities hasn't helped - Marilyn Monroe died of Valium overdose (unless you believe the Kennedy conspiracy that she was murdered). Sometimes people go nuts with meds and take too much. Often benzoes are used for depression or anxiety that ultimately need to be addressed by dealing with psychological issues. But it is so easy to delay painful and time-consuming work with a pill. This makes it difficult for those who need the meds for 'neurological' reasons or to regain control in order to function and enter into therapy. Antidepressants can be useful and are subject to less immediate abuse. However, long term they are abused since people just use them to blunt their emotions. These meds usually turn a person inward and often damage social interactions. Prozac is a famous marriage breaker - not just from reduced sex drive but also from reduced emotional connection (the main reasons people get married). With health insurance, it is cheaper with both time and money to skip therapy. There are also money issues behind doctors switching to newer (brand name) meds. It isn't simply payoffs. It advertising, free samples, hype, patient request, and 'keeping up with the Joneses'. There is no doubt that new meds have benefits. But old meds are also beneficial. Here are some rough figures of meds commonly prescribed Brand name: Zoloft: $200 - 350 per month Celexa: $180 - 360 per month Lexapro: $180 - 360 per month Abilify: $300 - 2,200 per month Effexor: $120-150 per month Seroquel: $180-580 per month Lunesta: $200-650 per month Generic: Klonopin: $4 - 11 per month Xanax: $4 - 11 per month Valium: $4 - 12 per month Temazepam: $4 - 16 per month Now ALL of these will have withdrawal issues if you have been on them for a while. For the newer meds the flowery phrase used is "discontinuance problems" - but it is exactly the same thing with both. If you were a manufacture, which med would you like to produce? Early on AIDS treatment in the USA cost about $100,000 per person. Illegal generics (patent breaking) occures in countries such as Africa where it cost 75 cents a day to treat a person with AIDS - rather a large price difference. No medicine is 100% safe, but most have beneficial uses. And there are many influences that doctors are under.

When it was helping, you said 1/2 pill was only helpful for a couple hours. Also, you were taking 5-6 tramadol each day. Were you taking anything else at the time? Have you reduced the tramadol or changed meds? Can you describe how the effects of Sinemet stopped working? Was it gradual? If 1mg Klonopin helps, it seems a small price to pay. Have you tried Sinemet with it? Oh course it would be helpful to understand your experience. A couple members tried Sinemet with zero effect, while others had very possitive results (self included). You seemed to have marginal help, so this is of great interest.

For years they have done this for very advanced Parkinson's Disease. Didn't know it was being used otherwise. Tourette’s is also a dopamine disorder but usually treated opposite of PD by reducing dopamine (haloperidol, pimozide, aripiprazole, …) just like treating schizophrenia. And with the same unfortunate side effects of low dopamine: tardive dyskinesia, parkinsonism, dystonia, dyskinesia, akathisia, depression, cognitive blunting, anhedonia, … Newer generation anti-psychotics tend to reduce these side effects. It’s a terrible disease when severe. Don’t know how brain implants would effect HPPD – interesting idea. Given the general fear of medications among the community, it is hard to imagine anyone volunteering for this kind of surgery. Thanks for the article As a side note, here is a fun one: "Effective treatment of Tourette's syndrome with marijuana" - http://jop.sagepub.c...t/7/4/389.short If you get a chance, read An Anthropologist On Mars by Oliver Sacks. In particular, A Surgeon’s Life. Yes, it is about a doctor with Tourette’s who is an excellent surgeon and also flies small airplanes. It just goes to show that many with brain disorders can live productive, happy lives.

Well, there is a lot to say. It is important to reduce anxiety. Also, see if you can notice patterns of what parts of your think are affected and those that are NOT affected. Just try to view yourself as a dispassionate 3rd person observer and collect information. Have you tried any medications? And if so, what effects did these have on you.

Yes, I'm considering upping Klonopin as a test. Currently working with Keppra with very mixed results and several problems. Actually started Klonopin 3 years ago as a 'failed' attempt to work with doctors for more accurate diagnosis. In brief (lol), the story is this: Have always had bad anxiety for whole life - so much so I didn't know I had anxiety since had never NOT had anxiety. About 10 years ago had a mild panic attack (first time) and doc gave Xanax prescription. This med was a revelation since it was the first time never suffering this kind of pain ... and it only took 1/2 pill. Throughout the years used it judiciously (about 30 pills a year) so as not to develop resistance. Also tried Valium which did nothing at all. It was 5 years ago that I began developing symptoms, mostly visual, very much what you read on HPPD forums but not CEVs or color distortions. It was over a year later that I got dopamine agonists (Sinemet the best one) and within hours of a very low dose, symptoms began reversing. Even when cycling off for a few weeks, symptoms deteriorated only some - it seems to somehow instigate actual permanent repair. Three years ago, got more brain injury [ doctors have explained that the immune system in my brain is damaged and cannot properly clear out toxins that people are normally exposed to in industrialized nations ]. This is when I got something like anxiety but quite unique. It had me curled in a ball 20 hours a day. Xanax was like water - 2 mg was like water. However the combination of 10 mg Valium and 150 mg tramadol enabled me to get up for a couple hours. Curious swap between effectiveness of Xanax and Valium. In this state I literally begged doctors for 4 weeks for an anti-seizure med but they had it in mind it was just major depression and anxiety. Gave me Lexapro, which doubled the need for Sinemet and caused some nervous system damage to one pupil (mild Adie syndrome). Finally a merciful doc reluctantly gave a Gabapentin 300 mg prescription. In 12 hours (2nd dose) was stabilized, and soon was on 6 doses a day. There was no sedation at all - it gave energy. Since Xanax is not anti-seizure, Gabapentin was specifically developed for seizure, and Valium is for both - wanted doctors to try various meds that work only with one or the other to further verify the nature of the problem. However was given Klonopin 0.5 mg twice a day (Klonopin was developed specifically for seizure though it is commonly used for anxiety - rather a wash for diagnosis purposes). Its effect was to smooth-out/complete the benefit of Gabapentin. Four years ago asked a doctor about HPPD but was told it couldn't be since have never used recreational drugs (one doctor joked that my problem is I need to smoke some pot). Only last spring a DP forum member recommended some HPPD sites and the symptom list is too close to ignore. Furthermore, Dr Abraham says on his site that, though rare, people can get HPPD outside of drug use. As far as what Klonopin and Gabapentin have done for visuals, it is limited to mainly reduced 'visual pain' and being startled by movement in peripheral visual field. It also reduces a white-out effect (lack of black), which at times is taken care for by Sinemet. Ironically, muscle pain and tension throughout my body is helped more with Sinemet than with these other two - even though Gabapentin is specifically for nerve pain in the body. Your post caught my attention in this regard. So this is the history of Klonopin - it was never given as treatment for HPPD. Nor in high amounts. So taking more is a new consideration for me. In general all meds that I've taken have worked so well that less is needed, not more. (Sorry this is so long winded but it is hard to put meaning into a post without some details) In order to help other members, am hoping over the next few years to isolate which symptoms are largely dopamine related and those that are other. It is clear that some of HPPD symptoms are brain overactivity - the domain of anti-seizure meds. It is also clear that some symptoms are problems with dopaminergic neurons. Likely, in time, other meds will show their hallmarks for this brain disorder. Since Klonopin has worked for you so well, why discontinue? Is it just that you feel cognitive reduction?

Noticed that some people report symptoms peek in 2-3 months. There are a rare few that their symptoms didn't even start for 5-6 months. Most seem to start within days or from a 'trip' that never left. The original problem didn't affect me for a couple days each time. As I got 'sensitive' to it, it would start to affect visuals in 15-20 minutes. If I got away from the cause, things would correct in 2-3 days at worse. However, if I didn't get away from the cause, the problem would slowly progress and peek at about 3-4 weeks, then remain at that level. Some have visuals affected by anxiety but emotions have never changed my symptoms.

Rollingregret, So you've been on 3.5mg for a long time. Did this fix your visuals? Or was it for anxiety?

I've been using Gabapentin (Lyrica's older sister) which is similar. It is also helpful for anxiety. A pharmacist said that Lyrica can be addictive but Gabapentin (Neurontin) isn't (so New York has restrictions on it) - don't know if this is true but you could check with your doc about this. Have you tried Gabapentin before? These two are very similar meds and considered mild anti-seizure meds as well as good for nerve pain. Don't know what the equivalent of 225mg lyrica would be, but some feel it is sedating. When I first started, took 1800mg Gabapentin / day and it was not sedative ... in fact it gave energy. Well, there is my 2 cents ... Hope it works out for you.

Sickness actually changes the neurotransmitter balance in the brain. So not only do you feel back from flu symptoms - brain function actually is altered some. There is a recent flu going around that affects moods unusually hard. Some have reported feeling suicidal from it. Kind of unusual. But this all should pass as the weeks go by. There are reports from some that their visual symptoms change when they have a fever. http://hppdonline.com/index.php?/topic/322-body-temperature-and-visual-symptoms

The two major fast transmitters in the brain are Glutamate and GABA, comprising about 40% (each) of all neurotransmitters in the body. Glutamate is excitatory (increases neuron firing rates) and GABA is inhibitory (decreases neuronal firing) Neurons are 'integrators' (which is a word for 'adding machine'). This sum is literally the ion charge inside the neuron. At resting state it is about -70 millivolts. When 'excited', a positive ion is carried inside the neuron. When 'inhibited', a negative ion is carried into the neuron. When the total charge of ions reach a threshold (about +37 mv), then the ions discharge at the Axon hillock and the electrical charge travels down the Axon to the Axon terminals which have synaptic connections to other neurons - each which end up transporting (via neurotransmitters) ion charges to the Dendrites of other neurons. The neuron is then back at 'resting' state (-70 mv) So Glutamate increases firing rate (+ ions) GABA decreases firing rate (- ions). This is why GABA is calming. Benzodiazepines and various anti-seizure meds slow firing rates either through GABA or other mechanism involved in charge transfer between neurons. Many symptoms of HPPD involves over activity of neurons. So stuff like Klonopin helps anxiety and, for some, visuals. L-theanine is an obvious plus for HPPD, though probably very weak - but what the heck, its worth trying. Green Tea is a source of L-theanine and of good anti-oxidants (however, some might be sensitive to caffine). As far as other neurotransmitters - dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, serotonin, histamine, ... - these are often referred to as neuromodulators. They work on neurons exactly the same way as described above. However they usually 'regulate' the activity of Glutamate and GABA - they are 'slow' in comparison. Also, some are grouped in very specific systems (called ‘nucleus’ in Neuro-Science). L-theanine action of increasing dopamine is a plus since dopamine is implicated in many HPPD symptoms. Also curious how there are reports that it helps schizophrenia since this is usually treated by reducing dopamine. There are no stupid questions. The more you learn about how the brain works, the better you are in dealing/treating the problems (though admittedly brain structure is a very complex topic) Hope this helps…

Yes doctors can be unpredictable. Some think benzoes are the devil and others a gift from God. Used (not abused) they are the best anti-anxiety on the planet. While best for short term use, some stay on them for life. Others have withdrawl issues as you may read elsewhere in the forum. As far as how a med will help reading - it depends. My vision is now VERY sharp even if not taking the med for weeks. You don't know how long a med with help - or even IF it will help - unless you try it. How is the HGH supposed to help you? Acid reflux?

Can you describe these new symptoms besides head pressure?

It is hard to say about this with HPPD. Many report reduction of sex drive, which is indicative of lower dopamine and more in harmony with mild injury. As you are 16, expect libido to keep growing for a few more years. And be glad that HPPD didn't take this from you! On another site about DP, there have been a couple reports of DP changing with sexual activity.

can you show a picture?

def can see direct beams of light at night time - perhaps you mean Starbursting? Please look under http://www.visionsimulations.com/index.php rapid dilation of my pupils followed by them undialating - unless you are well over 40 years old, this is a dopamine problem (control of pupil muscles) I have both of these issues. Sinemet fixes the pupil 'instability'.

Interesting. The reason I ask is that muscle control is a major midbrain area that uses dopamine. Also acetylcholine. Imbalances with either will cause movement problems including possible these symptoms reported. Joints that crack after developing HPPD indicate possible dopamine problem. Of course being tense with anxiety will also cause issues. Given research showing dopamine involvement with many HPPD symptoms, it is something to consider. Wonder if any who have tried Sinemet have reported any 'cracking' changes if they had issues.

A HPPD doctor told me that people with HPPD can live 'normal', productive, happy lives. That HPPD of itself is not a crippling disability - they just have to get used to it (if it doesn't go away). It is when there is more than HPPD that a person may be crippled.

No vertigo, but some people with HPPD get misdiagnosed with vertigo. I regularly find that unlike others caffeine doesnt effect my visuals, infact sometimes it reduces them Don't have a problem with coffee, nor any noticable benefits for visuals FYI -- Coffee (caffeine) stimulates acetylcholine. This is the main 'desired' effect. However, some on the forum have problems with caffeine. It should be noted that there needs to be a balance between acetylcholine and dopamine, otherwise it can cause a lot of trouble, particularly bad anxiety. From a medical standpoint, a doctor never mixes meds that lower dopamine and increase dopamine. They may lower both (schizophrenia) or they may increase dopamine and lower acetylcholine (Parkinson's) Perhaps for those whom caffeine bothers, it might be an indication they need more dopamine.