Comment · Wed, September 10, 2014 · Ceretropic
What's the lowdown on using nootropics to aid recovery from brain injuries?
Original post in this thread
[deleted] · 9 points
I'm not looking for advice per se, but if I should move this to /r/stackadvice I will, just let me know.
Googling this topic gets websites like "nootropics are teh awesome.com" telling you about the various benefits, so objectivity is an issue. You guys know your stuff: can you tell me what is the general consensus about the effectiveness of nootropics to speed up or aid healing from brain injuries? Say, from concussions, or viral brain illnesses, and so on. Two supplements that get mentioned a lot are fish oil and co-enzyme Q10, but I don't know about piracetam or other nootropics.
I tried searching for nootropics in the TBI reddit, but surprisingly it returned no results.
What they were answering
10_KG_VALUE_PACK · 4 points
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Semax or Cerebrolysin yet, which AFAIK are probably the most well-researched compounds in treating brain injury. P21's probably worth a look too due to its connection to Cerebrolysin, but it's nowhere near as thoroughly studied. There's some good relevant discussion in this thread that you might want to check out as well: http://www.reddit.com/r/Nootropics/comments/1wqnwi/post_concussion_stack/
In case you weren't aware, searches like "nootropic name/class" + "TBI/concussion/brain injury" on Google Scholar and/or Pubmed will bring up a lot of interesting studies on this stuff.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
P21 is much more potent than Cerebrolysin at binding to CNTF. This should, in theory, make it better at promoting neurotransmitter synthesis and neuronal growth. However, as you said, human studies are lacking.
Semax and Selank have a lot more research behind them, regarding traumatic brain injury and BDNF. However, most of those studies are during brain injury. I would like to see more studies with their use well after brain injury has occurred.
Tianeptine is another one that has shown good results in protecting from ischemic stroke. It has also been used in trials during post stroke depression. It could be worth looking at as well.
I take all these substances, so I am all set for traumatic brain injury! Bring on the California sand dunes!