deprenyl/selegiline

[Rory_5]

I've seen a neuropsychiatrist re: the results of my sleep study, which showed a complete lack of deep sleep/REM sleep, as well as a lot of limb movements/muscle twitching, mainly on my left side. I've experienced the muscle twitching while awake, mainly since the insomnia got really back in late July. Prior to all this, in mid-May to early June, I had a mild bout of Guillain Barre Syndrome, which included a lot of muscle twitching on my left side.

The neuropsych. has given me selegiline to deal with the muscle twitching while awake, which he feels will also help the twitching while I sleep. I'm not sure how this works exactly, and I've read selegiline can actually cause insomnia if taken late in the day, but this doctor really knows his stuff.

I've read up quite a bit on it, and it seems pretty safe. This article supports what my doctor is saying:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mds.10082/abstract

Dosage is 5 mg, twice per day. I've been on it almost a week now. I feel much better during the days, but I'm not sure if my sleep has improved. If anyone has any experience with this drug, any input would be much appreciated.

 

[heapsreal]

hi Rory, does the deprenyl help with energy?

I understand it helps increase dopamine, so can also help with movement disorders.

It use to be big with antiaging medicine i think because it improved cognitive decline, doses were lower then normal if i remember rightly.

Out of interest have u been tested for ebv especially after your bout of guillain barre as i think i read somewhere that ebv is involved in this?

Deprenyl is an old med but interesting and probably have more uses but when these things come off patent they stop looking into these drugs. At least old drugs usually have a good safety record if they have been around along time.

cheers!!!

 

[Rory_5]

hi heaps,

Not sure if I posted my results in another thread, but EBV was high and that seems to be behind all of this. I have been on acyclovir for four weeks now and seem to be improving.

The selegiline definitely helps with energy. I've been on it for a week now, 5mg twice a day. My muscle twitches seem to be getting better as well. Still having difficulty sleeping but I think this will just take some time to get back to normal.

 

[beaverfury]

hi heaps,

Not sure if I posted my results in another thread, but EBV was high and that seems to be behind all of this. I have been on acyclovir for four weeks now and seem to be improving.

The selegiline definitely helps with energy. I've been on it for a week now, 5mg twice a day. My muscle twitches seem to be getting better as well. Still having difficulty sleeping but I think this will just take some time to get back to normal.

Hows the sleep going, Rory_5?

I'm about to start deprenyl tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

If i cant sleep it will be a short experiment

 

[Snow Leopard]

Sleep depends on dosage and keeping a regular sleep rhythm. If you normally sleep more than 8 hours then you might find that you are more fatigued in the evening because you are sleeping less (but feel less drowsy in the mornings).

 

[xks201]

updates?

 

[Rory_5]

My sleep is gradually getting better, but I still need a high dose of melatonin plus a little something to help me fall asleep (gravol, half a tab of zopiclone).

Deprenyl is now 10 mg twice per day. I'm not going any higher than that.

 

[beaverfury]

I gave up after 3 days. Sleep problems have lasted a week.

I'm an experienced AD swallower so i realize one needs several weeks to assess side effect profile, but any drug that is proven to affect stage 3 and 4 sleep is unlikely to be on my A-list.

Need to review the situation.

 

[Rory_5]

... deprenyl is proven to affect stage 3/4 sleep?

 

[Rory_5]

I forgot to add, deprenyl works great for mental fatigue/brain fog. It gives me a couple of "good" hours per day and lets me get a few things done here and there.

 

[Rory_5]

5 weeks on selegiline and my muscle twitching is almost entirely gone. Sleep isn't much better though...

 

[heapsreal]

dam sleep??

 

[beaverfury]

I've retried deprenyl, titrating up very slowly to almost 4mg per day. I've sandwhiched it with 18mg tianeptine and 12.5mg lamotrigine. Very low dosages but it seems to be working. I can ramp it up later.
I'm sleeping fairly well and have a little more motivation.

 

[Rory_5]

hey all,

Still on selegiline (close to three months in now). Sleep is still poor, but incrementally getting better (the number of "good nights" is slowly on the rise, relative to the number of bad ones).

My twitching is almost gone. Hardly ever happens, if it does it's only if I'm run down/haven't slept properly (which has me looking at the twitching/sleep disorder as a chicken/egg scenario). I'm going to stick with my 10 mg/twice per day and see how things pan out.

I'm back at work part-time, gradually increasing to full-time hours. The selegiline definitely helps my ability to do my job.

Question for those in the know: are there any supplements/nootropics that selegiline interacts with? 5HTP apparently has a huge interaction (dopamine and serotonin both jacked at the same time, I think). What about piracetam? I was thinking of giving it a shot. Already use acetyl-l-carnitine and l-tyrosine for memory/focus. Stopped 5HTP and SAMe.