Thank you for sharing your experience. I am rather hesitant to try anything that might affect mood. I’m already a cynical misanthrope, although maybe a dopamine agonist would elevate my disposition?
2 Likes
@EasterEggBiff, I apologize if my anecdotal experience is discouraging. I was somewhat torn on sharing it because I didn’t want to put anyone off to trying it out. Since I was directly asked though I figured honesty would be best. For the record I’ve never responded well to any psychoactive type medicines I’ve tried so it’s probably me and not Selegiline!
3 Likes
Nothing to apologize for. We are all here for transparency. I should also add that after my v rare rapamycin side effect (also shared on here for full disclosure) I am highly cautious in any event. I prefer to integrate/trial more widely used drugs that have a proven track record in the longevity space (TAME, ITP) rather than attempt the more speculative-even if promising.
2 Likes
HI,
Yes, I have been taking 10 mg of selegiline twice daily for the past 3 years.
3 Likes
I’ve been taking 5mg twice a week for two months then 1.25mg for 8 months. I got tired of breaking the pills into four. That’s why I took half a 2.5mg tablet every other day for the last two months. So I’m experienced for one year.
I couldn’t find any pros or cons as I also take other medications such as lithium which improves my mood.
3 Likes
Paul Kiesow attributes his longevity to his low-dose selegiline regimen: 1.25 mg/d, 5 days per week (so one 5 mg pill broken into four per week). Pill normally swallowed (and not orally disintegrating tablet taken on the tongue). Interesting to follow his account (although please note that Paul is openly “anti rapa”): https://twitter.com/KiesowPaul/status/1700737286336356472
2 Likes
Vulcan, You mentioned dopamine agonists. Tell me more if you have time. Which ones have you found useful.
blsm, Honesty is the best policy (most of the time). So, thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I wish more people would do so even when their experience is negative. Psychoactive drugs in general tend to rob me of energy and mood. So, I prefer to avoid them. In this case your information saves me valuable time in the research and testing process.
2 Likes
FWIW:
It looks to me like l-tyrosine plus mucuna pruriens would be a strong combination for increasing dopamine in the brain
I occasionally use l-tyrosine or a mucuna pruriens supplement for a mood lift, but I have not tried them together.
The fact that tyrosine increases dopamine availability that, in turn, may enhance cognitive performance has led to numerous studies on healthy young participants taking tyrosine as a food supplement.
“It is known that the main phenolic compound of Mucuna seeds is L-dopa (approximately 5%) (Vadivel and Pugalenthi, 2008). Nowadays, Mucuna is widely studied because L-dopa is a substance used as a first-line treatment for Parkinson’s disease.”
2 Likes
I got started on dopamine agonists when I was hired to record the EEG of people doing a protocol that involved supplementation with tyrosine and some other things. I added myself to the study because we needed a bigger sample size and my brain woke up. I’ve been taking amino acid dopamine precursors ever since.
First, I’ve got a homozygous overactive MAOa SNP which is associated with poor mental health outcomes due to a deficit of dopamine. So my regime may not be beneficial for those of you who do not have a dopamine deficit.
My sweetheart has the underactive homozygous MAOa SNP. When she took the dopamine agonist ropinirole for restless leg, she got so anxious she couldn’t leave the house. So be careful.
I take a tablespoon of tyrosine on awakening and at lunch time. I also take 200 mg of mucinabam and noon with 15% l dopa.
I take 200 mg of modafinil in the morning and I take 10 mg of selegline am and noon.
I have many overactive HPA SNPS which can lead to increased cortisol and at times in my life I’ve had very imbalanced diurnal cortisol levels.
I take a lot of theanine which is a gaba agonist. Gaba is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that can balance out the dopamine and the cortisol.
I drink a lot of shade grown kukicha tea which is high in theanine and low in caffeine. If you’re interested in the non-caffeine chemicals in tea you need to get stuff that hasn’t been roasted. They have to heat the freshly harvested tea in order to stop enzymes from breaking the leaves down. Steamed tea has more theanine than pan roasted.
3 Likes
There are some who say it’s a good idea to take something with cysteine to go with these dopamine agonists. The cysteine is a precursor for glutathione.
1 Like
What testing service did you use to see this?
Have you (or anyone else) tested actual dopamine and neurotransmitter levels?
May I ask best way to test for this?
Ooh, I’m sorry you got glutened. It’s so easy to be ambushed.
I’ve been gluten-free since the '80s because I noticed it caused health problems. I’ve been ambushed so many times.
My current doc says she believes I have celiac disease but I’m not going to eat it for 6 weeks to get lesions in my small intestines for them to count to confirm it. If it hurts don’t do it.
And I get a lot of neurological symptoms from gluten- Confusion, fatigue, and irritability. Several years ago, I started going to a restaurant and the waiitress claimed they had a separate fryer for the french fries. I was so excited that I could have french fries again.
Gradually, I started getting irritable, confused and my joints started hurting. I had no idea why because I was eating gluten-free french fries.
Next time I went to that restaurant and talked to them about their separate fryer and safe fries. They said they don’t have that.
I was so delighted to know why I was feeling poorly.
At the beginning, I had lots of very nasty gut symptoms but after several years of being gluten free, when I get hit now it’s neurological and my joints. Probably has a dose response. Cuz at the beginning I was still eating gluten but now if I get hit it’s cross-contamination.
1 Like
That’s a bummer. It’s really hard to trust restaurants but I’m glad you figured it out. I work in a hospital and there’s hardly anything there I can eat. I would have a hard time trusting the food if I had to be hospitalized.
I tried 1,25 mg every other day for 6 months in 2020 after reading the book Super Human from Dave Asprey. I experienced no side effects, one positive effect: a little beter sexual sensations. I now only take it once a week in the weekends
1 Like
Below is a deprenyl study on dogs.
http://sci-hub.wf/10.1016/s0024-3205(97)00611-5
and my post in another thread on deprenyl (selegiline)…
Looking at the numbers on the table, stats fail to convince that Deprenyl is life prolonging.
Average age of the top eight dead placebo dogs is 5722 days. Average age of Deprenyl surviving dogs is 5120.69 days. Can those surviving dogs live another 601 days?
Average age of all dead placebo dogs is 5443 days. That is still 322 days older than the surviving Deprenyl dogs (5121). That is almost a year longer.
Longest lived dead placebo dog lived 6021 days. Longest lived deprenyl dog, dead or survived (it survived) is 5772 days. Can it live another 250 days? Maybe, maybe not.
Table is on the fifth page of RapAdmin’s link to the full text.
1 Like
What dose are you taking?
1 Like
1,25 mg. Haven’t tried a bigger dose
1 Like
Hi Jay,
i apologize for the delay. I just went into the app and saw I have a draft that didn’t get sent,
I take started taking dopamine precursors because I got hired to measure how taking them changed EEG. I added myself to the study to increase the sample size and my nervous system loved it.
Later, I found I have a homozygous over active MAOa SNP than makes me break down dopamine which explains why I like dopamine agonists so much.
Mucuna at 15% l dopa 200 mg capsule am and noon
Tyrosine powder 1 tablespoon am and noon
Modafinil 100 mg am and noon
I have taken selegiline on an off for about 25 years. It is an MAOb antagonist. Until recently, MAOb was thought to oxidize dopamine because is efficacious for Parkinson’s. Newer research suggests the effect is from breaking down subcortical GABA. I posted an article on this.
I noticed that selegiline did not to reduce the amount of dopamine precursors i needed which led me to the search where I found that it was not a dopamine agonist.
That said, I like what it does a lot.