Tagamet - Cimetidine for Chronic Fatigue

[goodoutlook]

Hi All,

Just before i start, you can see my story over here: My other thread.

So, a bit of word mouth from a family member prompted me to try Tagamet - cimetidine as apparently this can "fix" CFS which i am not diagnosed with just yet (only on month 3 point something) This apparently works if you have CFS from glandular-fever / Mono. After a bit of searching around there was a thread on it here however it turned out the person never had CFS just too many drugs.

Basically im writing this thread to do an open case study on cimetidine. I currently am not on any medication.
Today i started with a 200mg tablet at lunch time and i will report back over the next few days / weeks if it does work.

Just an FYI, if you do try get this drug, you will need a prescription and also they dont make it anymore so the chemist will "Create it for you" Also i had to goto a different doctor to get the script as my main doctor thinks its a waste of money. but i think trying something other than waiting around for ...(hopefully not years) to be fixed is better then nothing so whatever.


More to come...

 

[helen1]

I think tagamet is used to reduce stomach acid. Do you have a problem with too much stomach acid? If not, you will likely make your health worse by taking this, not better. You need stomach acid to start protein digestion. I would seriously reconsider using this drug if I were you.

 

[JES]

Tagamet has immunomodulatory effects that are unrelated to the effect of reducing stomach acid, also the stomach acid reducing effect is much less than from newer PPI meds. There is also a thread about some success stories here.

I'm interested to know if Ranitidine (Zantac) has any of these same effects, as it's more widely available OTC.

 

[natasa778]

Tagamet has immunomodulatory effects that are unrelated to the effect of reducing stomach acid, also the stomach acid reducing effect is much less than from newer PPI meds. There is also a thread about some success stories here.

I'm interested to know if Ranitidine (Zantac) has any of these same effects, as it's more widely available OTC.

Yes in general the effects should be the same as they both affect h2 histamine receptors. Also Famotidine (that one is harder to get, esp in Europe where I think it is either restriced or even banned now, not sure). Antihistamines are something I looked into quite a bit, both h1 (standard anti-alergy ones) and h2 (anti-reflux) ones, for the reasons that you mention.

This was quite a while ago but there and I rembember only a few take-home things:

1. it is really not a good idea to use h2 (anti-reflux) antihistamines on their own for prolonged periods of time, even weeks, as this can greatly increase risk of developing new or worsening of old allergies!!! This was observed in several studies, but also that this risk was nullified when h1 antihistamines were used alongside h2 ones.

2. it was generally recommended to rotate antihistamines, to avoid developing tolerance (ie them stopping working. This I remember esp to be the case for h1 ones.

3. Taking 'holidays' - breaks from antihistamines, again to avoid tolerance or neg reactions.

As I said this was a while ago that I looked, so things could have changed since then in terms of new studies or accummulated personal anecdotes leading to different conclusions, but worth checking imo

 

[Forbin]

I took prescription Tagamet for quite some time after I developed extremely painful "superficial" duodenal ulcers about a year after developing ME. This was back in the early 1980's. In my case, Tagamet was not very effective at dealing with the ulcers and it certainly did nothing for my ME.

After it was introduced in the late 1970's, Tagamet (Cimetidine) became the "first billion dollar drug." By a strange coincidence, it was approved as an over-the-counter drug in the US (in 200mg form) just after the CDC began to recommend that ulcers be treated with an antibiotic regimen to eliminate h. pylori in 1994.