Comment · Tue, April 2, 2013 · Ceretropic
Long term effects of amphetamine?
Original post in this thread
[deleted] · 3 points
I use amphetamine (Adderall/Vyvanse) about 3 to 5 times a week to enhance productivity. Every time I've taken a long break from the medication (about 4-5 months) I appear to be back to baseline. However, I can't find any concrete evidence/studies that indicate whether long-term, low dose amphetamine usage causes permanent nuerotoxicity and irreparable changes in brain chemistry. I've read a few articles that indicate potential damage to dopamine receptors but they don't address whether such damage is permanent. Anyone know of any such research?
What they were answering
Direct reply to the original post — see the thread post above.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
If you are interested in supplementation to combat it, I'll copy some suggestions I made on another post below. Amphetamine definitely has the ability to cause damage to many different systems, including neurons. Most of it comes from oxidative stress and excitotoxicity. Obviously adding an N-methyl group is going to make the molecule more neurotoxic, due to increasing lipid solubility. However, DL-ampehetamine can also cause the same type of damage, just on a smaller scale.
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ALCAR and amyloid-beta neurotoxicity.
Protection from glutamate toxicity when paired with ALA.
ALCAR protects from methamphetamine induced neurotoxicity.
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Then you have things like memantine and selegiline as well. Memantine will protect your calcium channels, and selegiline will prevent oxidative stress.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jnr.10148/full
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002839080800097X
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Interestingly enough, NOS is also neuroprotective like memantine. It's the NMDA antagonism that provides the protection.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006322305012722
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Also, haloperidol and propranolol have been shown to protect against amphetamine induced neurotoxicity.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0735675790901945
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Vitamin C is always good, especially dehydroascorbic acid. An acidic GI tract will slow absorption of amp, but you can take Tums to prevent that.
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Then there are things like taurine and L-arginine that can help with cardiotoxicity as well.