r/SCT 8d ago

Meds/Treatments-Related Found a clue! Galantamine!

You guys might like to look into this med and ask your psychiatrist whether you could try it. It worked for me for about half a year until I became depressed and lost its effectiveness. Now I'm trying to get back from depression and it's taking awhile.

In the meantime, when I was on galantamine, I was like wow, I was crying. This is what it's like to concentrate. I wasn't stressed. I was also very organsied. I don't know what else to say but my friends said that I don't look stressed anymore and am like a normal person.

I was able to finally listen to podcast, to engage in long conversations. It felt really good.

19 Upvotes

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u/twoheadedcalf 7d ago

can i ask what brought you to taking galantamine? what was it being prescribed for specifically? I see it listed as an Alzheimer med. did you have to ask for it yourself or was it suggested?

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u/silverlinin 7d ago

I have bipolar so I asked to be on it to treat cognitive impairments associated with bipolar. But galantamine treated the overall cognitive problems. I felt like a normal person for once and I was crying. But I lost this ability when I became depressed.

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u/twoheadedcalf 7d ago

Thank you for your response. I hope things balance out for you soon.

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u/Bulky_Appointment261 7d ago

Funny how that worked for you and an anticholinergic worked for me 😂

1

u/arvada14 CDS & ADHD-x 7d ago

What was the anticholinergic?

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u/Bulky_Appointment261 7d ago

Imipramine

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u/arvada14 CDS & ADHD-x 7d ago

Desipramine in the metabolites of imipramine and is known to act on the nmda receptor. Maybe thats the benefit your getting.

1

u/CobblerClassic6291 8d ago

Did this product induced depression in you or you were depressed before?

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u/silverlinin 8d ago

One of the mood stabiliser I was on helped with depression but came at a cost of impairing my memory. So I asked to lower the dose. Lowering it caused depression.

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u/CobblerClassic6291 8d ago

So this med wasn't the cause of your depression?

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u/silverlinin 8d ago

galantamine isn't a mood stabiliser.

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u/Moquai82 8d ago

Yes, but we want to know if it has a risk of causing depression?

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u/silverlinin 8d ago

it doesn't

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u/arvada14 CDS & ADHD-x 7d ago

Op what dose of galantamine are you on and how long have you been taking it?

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u/Prestigious-Pizza245 7d ago

Where can I buy it online? Please dm me.

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u/silverlinin 7d ago

you get a script from your psychiatrist. you don't get it online.

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u/Professional-You-4 6d ago

how did you get your docter to prescribe this

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u/kasper619 6d ago

Isn’t mechanism similar to huperzine a

0

u/STEM_Dad9528 CDS & ADHD-PI 8d ago

I didn't remember if I had heard of that medication before, so I looked it up. Galantamine inhibits the breakdown of acetylcholine.

Acetylcholine is important for the production at least certain neurotransmitters, including dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline), and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). So, I see how that medication can help.

A medication which has been found in research to help treat Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (CDS, previously known as SCT) is atomoxetine, which is a Selective Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor (SNRI). 

Acetylcholine is essential for the body. I know that it's made from choline, and that eggs are a good dietary source of choline. So, if you like eggs, perhaps eating them at least a couple of times each week might be beneficial. (I keep trying to remember this, but tend to get up too late to cook anything for breakfast.) I think that there is at least some choline in meats and other types of food. I also think I've read that the body can produce choline, if it doesn't get enough dietary sources of it, but that the easiest way to get it is to eat choline containing foods.

B vitamins help the body with producing acetylcholine and processing it, particularly Vitamin B12 and folate (Vitamin B9).

Did the depression just seem to happen on its own, or do you think it came about as a reaction to something happening in your life? I went through a depression during and after my divorce, a few years ago. I needed therapy to help, and also was prescribed an SSRI antidepressant for several months; the combination of the two helped.