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Could this drug help those of us with severe brain issues?

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
This is truly amazing and I recommend a watch of how this drug is helping 60% of brain damaged (accident and stroke victims) or comatose people


(it reminds me when I was going into comatose states for up to 3 days at a time without waking at all back when I was very severe and fully bedridden with the ME. I wonder if this drug would of helped? I was really really out of it and couldn't stay awake for anything. I often was unable to even open my eyes and keep them open).

So could this drug help extremely severe ME patients? (ones who's brains have completely shut down due to overload etc)
 
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K22

Messages
92
Some of us with severe m.e are already taking this drug for this purpose. I'm very severe and rely on it to give me function although I take zopiclone over zolpidrm. I have told some UK drs but there isn't much interest, perhaps as its a minority issue rather than a general m.e fatigue therapy. It certainly does enliven the brain before it kicks in as a sedative and that could give a clue as to what has happened in the shut down (not just normal but fatigued) very severe m.e brain. Theres been total disinterest in the very severe forms outside attempt to rehabilitate, I'd love someone to explore both the effects of this drug and more generally the severe m.e brain but then how do you do scans etc.
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
Interesting that one of the documented side-effects of Ambien (zolpidem) in so called normal people is carrying on actions while asleep--getting up to cook a meal, even drive. Not exactly great things to do, but this seems to be a tricky drug with lots of unknowns, and waking people up from a coma might be related.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Interesting that one of the documented side-effects of Ambien (zolpidem) in so called normal people is carrying on actions while asleep--getting up to cook a meal, even drive. Not exactly great things to do, but this seems to be a tricky drug with lots of unknowns, and waking people up from a coma might be related.

There was on ME person I knew at a website years ago who took Ambien and woke up to find herself standing on a busy highway (she'd slept walked on it). So probably not a good drug for those not very severe.
 

K22

Messages
92
It doesn't seem to have a rousing effect (aside from that mentioned above) in normally alert people who take the drug for sleep (they're very common sleeping pills). I have read it interferes with GABA shutting down the brain which is why it briefly "wakes" the very low function brain.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
I have read it interferes with GABA shutting down the brain which is why it briefly "wakes" the very low function brain.

Are you saying that Ambien (zolpidem) has a transient anti-GABAergic effect which is rousing, before instigating its pro-GABAergic effect which is calming and sedative, and it is the anti-GABAergic action which wakes the brain from coma?




Ambien (zolpidem) incidentally is used for sleep as part of Dr Jacob Teitelbaum's SHINE protocol for ME/CFS.

I understand that nonbenzodiazepines like Ambien, although these work by pretty much the same mechanism as benzodiazepines (both benzodiazepines and nonbenzodiazepines sensitize the GABA receptor), they have less problems with tolerance, addiction and withdrawal, compared to benzodiazepines.
 

K22

Messages
92
Yes, I think so. This is from the article I read which explains a possible mechanism of action. The article is about the young man Louis featured in the video( I have only watched half of the video so far because of m.e brain fatigue so they may expand more on the theories there).
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2006/sep/12/health.healthandwellbeing

"No one yet knows exactly how a sleeping pill could wake up the seemingly dead brain cells, but Nel and Clauss have a hypothesis. After the brain has suffered severe trauma, a chemical known as Gaba (gamma amino butyric acid) closes down brain functions in order to conserve energy and help cells survive. However, in such a long-term dormant state, the receptors in the brain cells that respond to Gaba become hypersensitive, and as Gaba is a depressant, it causes a persistent vegetative state.

It is thought that during this process the receptors are in some way changed or deformed so that they respond to zolpidem differently from normal receptors, thus breaking the hold of Gaba. This could mean that instead of sending patients to sleep as usual, it makes dormant areas of the brain function again and some comatose patients wake up."
 
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