Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world cheese_greater @lemmy.world 12 mo. ago

[EXPERIMENTAL] What are your hidden gem medications/drugs/substances and what makes them ideal for your usecase [Bolded Substance Name (Brand/Street Name) + New Paragraph folks]

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84 comments

Ondansetron

Nauseous? You won't be for long if you take ondansetron.
- Heads up to anyone with cardiac issues, especially long QT syndrome or other meds that prolong the QT internal: Ondansetron is so notorious for QT prolongation and cardiac arrhythmia problems that we have to perform an EKG before we're allowed to give you a second dose on our cardiac unit.
  
  I have scary anecdotes that bias me against it lol
  
  A relatively niche case, to be sure, but thank you for pointing it out.
- My wife has been on 8mg twice daily (oral dissolving and tabular at different times) + domperidone and it’s still not altered a chronic nausea that started at pregnancy. Little ones second birthday in a week, not a day without throwing up within minutes of eating or drinking anything at all - paramedics called it a starvation diet.
  
  Not that there’s anything you can do, just getting increasingly desperate and throwing this out there in case anyone has anything to relate to this.
  
  Super glad it’s working for you though - it’s a wonder drug for so many people!
  
  I am so sorry that she's dealing with this. I've heard of successful treatment of intractable nausea using biofeedback therapy. The idea being that the body gets stuck in a negative feedback loop and trying to reverse that back to previous functioning.
  
  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314851129_Biofeedback_and_visualization_to_control_nausea_and_vomiting
  
  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21154016/#:~:text=Treatment outcome suggests that vomiting,bodily control and self-efficacy.
  
  I hope this gets better for her.
  
  Sorry it's not working for her! I think pregnancy might be a special type of nausea that's a little harder to treat.... I know ondansetron is commonly given to cancer patients and it's enough for many of them and not enough for others. For those of us with more mundane nausea, it really is a miracle drug.
  
  I hope she find something that helps her or she gets past the nausea stage soon. And congratulations on the upcoming family addition.
  
  Has she ever tried cannabis, don't like cancer patients often find it helpful enough for their purposes? Any ideas as to the etiology of her conditon?
  
  ?Like, did the pregnancy flip some kind of epigenetic/latent switch of some sort?
  
  Is there any body dysmorphia/eating disorder history?
- Where do you get it?
  
  It's by prescription only, but is an inexpensive prescription.
Apigenin (herbal supplement)

Insomnia, anxiety

Derived from chamomile flowers (and other plant sources), I've found this to be more successful in treating my chronic insomnia than any of the pharmaceutical options. (And believe me, I've tried them all.)
- Was curious about this since Andrew Huberman mentioned it
  
  It's really safe even in absolutely large doses. (There are studies performed using doses in the multiple GRAM range.) I highly recommend trying it. Personally I take 400mg/night, which is twice the dosage you'll see advertised. I only mention because I think the standard advertised range is probably too low for people like me.
Coenzyme Q10

Energy, mitochondrial support, antioxidant

Personally, I think everyone should be taking this. Extremely safe, improves cardiac outcomes, some evidence that it can reverse damage in chronic kidney disease. Most people won't feel different, but I take high dose CoQ10 for mitochondrial dysfunction, and I can tell you it definitely has a huge impact. Love this stuff.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8092430/

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/8/2/44#:~:text=Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD),-The role of&text=There is evidence that CoQ10,dialysis in patients with CKD.
Sumatriptan

Rapidly cures migraines.
- Whats the dosing regimen, is it daily or as needed?
  
  Best taken as soon as you feel a migraine coming on.
Phenibut

Helps relieve anxiety and eases social contact. For me personally its just a mood enhancer and makes listening to music so good. About 500-1500mg is a normal dose, lasts for up to 24h and should not be taken more often than once a week.
- Baclofen
  
  If someone wants to do one for baclofen that might be interesting both on its own and in comparison to other β-GABA ligands like phenibut/GHB/etc. i'm too tired rn
- Permanently Deleted
Pregabalin (Lyrica)

Fascinating medication that I have found to annihilate anxiety (excellent anxiolytic) and promote social cohesion/sociabillity/oversharing beware. Takes the edge of stimulants as well

Almost like a pharmaceutical slightly sedative-leaning version of ecstasy but obviously quite distinct pharmacologically and not a replacement for same.
Naltrexone

I will start with naltrexone, which can help people who have difficulty regulating their drinking have a more natural and sustainable relationship with alcohol should they choose to not cut it out of their lives entirely.

I consider this the closest thing to a "cure" for drinking problems but it required discipline and it doesn't prevent actual impairment, only the buzz and liking/compulsion to keep overdoing it that day/session
- It's also used for opioid abuse disorders. Truly a miracle drug.
  
  I want to more rigorously experiment with it and other compulsive things I have challenges with, it seems the opioidergic system mediates liking and the compulsive attachment that flows from that so I'm curious to what extent its effect is extensible to other problematic habits, chemical or otherwise
  
  Can you expand on its actual use (like Vivitrol?) My understanding is its primarily used to treat alcoholism/AUD but maybe Vivitrol is used for both...
- Low Dose Naltrexone is amazing for all kinds of chronic pain and inflammation.
  
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3962576/
DMT (dimethyltryptamine)
- Allowed for a sense of peace with my own mortality.
  
  Is it necessary to leave empty replies like this though? I would like to have more replies to read too but I think it's better to just let people come up with them.
  
  (speaking as a user, not as a mod. Forgot lemmy always shows the icon)
  
  What was your particular orientation with that previously, like we're all sort of shifty about death but I don't think much about it (like before I was born, that doesn't scare me so I kinda dont get the inverse of that)
  
  do you have a condition that makes this all the more prescient or timely
  
  any articulable messages you can share that encapsulate the experience we can try to glean from?
  
  Permanently Deleted
Tianeptine
CBG For migraines Works as well as my prescriptions work less side effects. Many people use it as a preventative.
- Permanently Deleted
Trazodone (Desyrel)

[in relation to deep sleep promotion]
- As a user of this whose primary problem is frequent waking at night rather than falling asleep, I don't find it that helpful. It does help falling asleep, but it doesn't help one stay asleep.
  
  I've spoken with my sleep doctor about this and apparently basically the only thing that's good for helping somebody stay asleep as opposed to fall asleep is a common date rape drug so it's not commonly prescribed.
  
  GHB
  
  It really is too bad people misuse it like that. I've heard the sleep is insanely deep and refreshing and its a damn shame you're automatically sketch if you want that for your own benefit
Baclofen

[anti-alcohol/sedative/sleep/anxiolytic]
Guanfacine (Intuniv)
D-Phenylalanine

["endorphin reuptake inhibitor"?]
Memantine

[smart drug/tolerance prevention]
> **try** [placeholder for substance of interest]
Phenmetrazine (Preludin)
Magnesium Threonate

[supplement, sleep, nutrient, bioavailabillity, passes blood-brain barrier]

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