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Smart Drugs & Nutrients:

How to Improve Your Memory and Increase Your Intelligence Using the Latest Discoveries In Neuroscience

VOLUME 1 in the Smart Drugs Series

by Ward Dean, M.D. & John Morgenthaler
$12.95 - 224 pages, softcover (Out of Stock)

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Sec 5: Other Cognitive Enhancers

Acetyl­L-Carnitine (ALC) | Caffeine | Centrophenoxine (Lucidril) | Choline & Lecithin | AL721 (Egg Lecithin) | DHEA | DMAE | Gerovital (GH­3) | Ginkgo Biloba: A Nootropic Herb? | Ginseng | Hydergine | Idebenone | Phenytoin (Dilantin) | Propranolol Hydrochloride (Inderal) | Thyroid Hormone | Vasopressin (Diapid) | Vincamine | Vitamins | Xanthinol Nicotinate

Hydergine

Hydergine is reported to increase mental abilities, prevent damage to brain cells from insufficient oxygen (hypoxia), and may even be able to reverse existing damage to brain cells.

Hydergine is an extract of ergot, a fungus that grows on rye. Midwives in Europe traditionally used ergot with birthing mothers to lower their blood pressure. Researchers at the pharmaceutical giant Sandoz analyzed ergot in the late 1940s, looking for blood-pressure medications. Of the thousands of compounds that researchers found in ergot, three were combined and tested for their anti-hypertensive properties. When studies with elderly people uncovered cognition-enhancing effects, Sandoz began spending a great deal of research money on Hydergine. It is now one of the most popular treatments for all forms of senility in the U.S., and is used to treat a plethora of problems elsewhere in the world.

Hydergine probably has several modes of action for its cognitive-enhancement properties. Its wide variety of reported effects include the following:

1) Increases blood supply and oxygen to the brain.
2) Enhances brain cell metabolism.
3) Protects the brain from free-radical damage during de­creased or increased oxygen supply.
4) Speeds the elimination of age pigment (lipofuscin) in the brain.
5) Inhibits free-radical activity.
6) Increases intelligence, memory, learning, and recall.
7) Normalizes systolic blood pressure.
8) Lowers abnormally high cholesterol levels in some cases.
9) Reduces symptoms of tiredness.
10) Reduces symptoms of dizziness and tinnitus (ringing in the ears).

In their landmark book, Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach, Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw called Hydergine "the most tested pharmaceutical ever invented." Hydergine has been proven to be beneficial and nontoxic in research project after research project.

One way that Hydergine may enhance memory and learning is by mimicking the effect of a substance called nerve growth factor (NGF). NGF stimulates protein synthesis, resulting in the growth of dendrites (tiny extensions which branch out from brain cells making connections with other brain cells). Dendrites are the communication connections between nerve and brain cells and are crucial to memory and learning.

Hydergine was the first drug to show efficacy against Alzheimer's disease (Branconnier, 1983). The efficacy of Hydergine in dementias is as well-proven as almost any drug used for treating psychiatric disorders (Hollister, 1988). At the time of a 1979 review, more than 20 double‑blind placebo‑controlled trials had been conducted to test Hydergine with senile dementias. All noted statistically significant improvements in behavioral and psychological parameters. Numerous favor­able studies have been published since then. One recent study, however, reported no improve­ment in 39 Alzheimer's patients who were treated with 1mg Hydergine three times per day for six months (Thompson, 1990). These negative results may be due to the disease having progressed beyond help, or perhaps because an inadequate dosage of Hydergine was used. In an earlier study of patients with multi-infarct dementias or mental disturbances following strokes, Yoshi­kawa and his colleagues (1983) demonstrated that a six-mg-per-day dose was far superior to the standard three-mg-per-day dose. The literature suggests that Hydergine treatment be started early in Alzheimer's patients.

Precautions: If too large a dose is used when first taking Hydergine, it may cause slight nausea, gastric disturbance, or headache. Overall, Hydergine does not produce any serious side effects. It is nontoxic even at very large doses and it is contraindicated only for individuals who have chronic or acute psychosis, or who are allergic to it. Overdosage of Hydergine may, paradoxically, cause an amnesic effect.

Change in abstract thought patterns in Alzheimer's patients on placebo or high doses of Hydergine. Placebo-treated patients show progressive deterioration, while Hydergine patients show improvement on tests of vocal abstract patterns and remain stable on tests of visual abstract patterns. (Re­drawn from Age‑Related Mental Decline and Dementias, The Place of Hydergine, Sandoz product literature booklet.)

Assessment by families of patients with cerebral insufficien­cy. (Redrawn from The Three Early Symptoms Pointing to Cerebral Insufficiency, Sandoz product literature.)

Subjects (average age of 77) with moderately impaired behavioral and cognitive functioning were given 3mg per day of Hydergine or placebo for 12 weeks. The graph represents percentages of patients who improved. (Redrawn from Hydergine Tablets: General Summary of Information, Medical Services Department, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, 1978.)

Dosage: The U.S. recommended dosage is 3 mg per day. However, the European recommended dosage is 9 mg per day taken in three divided doses. It may take several months before you notice the effects of Hydergine.

The effects of Hydergine may be synergistic with piracetam. If you are taking both you may need to scale down the dosage of both smart drugs in order to get the optimal cognitive enhancing effect. Since these and many of the compounds we discuss have inverted "U" dose response curves you might even get a reverse effect if you take high doses of piracetam and Hydergine together. Please see The Use of Cerebroactive Substances for more on synergistic effects.

Sources: Hydergine is available in the U.S. with a doctor's prescription. Keep in mind, however, that your doctor may not be familiar with the uses we have discussed. Hydergine can also be purchased over the counter in Mexico or by mail order from the sources listed in Appendix A (see page 165). Other names for Hydergine include: Circanol, Coristin, D‑Ergotox forte L.U.T., Dacoren, Deapril‑ST, Decme, Decril, Defluina, DHE, DHET, dihydroergotoxine, Dulcion, Enirant, Ergodesit, Ergohydrin, ergoloid mesylates, Ergoplus, Insibrin, Nehydrin, Novofluen, Orphol, Perenan, Progeril, Redergin, Simactil, Sponsin, Trigot, and Unergol.

References:

Branconnier, R. "The Efficacy of the Cerebral Metabolic Enhancers in the Treatment of Senile Dementia." Psychopharmacology Bulletin. 1983, 19(2), pp. 212‑20.

Copeland, R.L., Jr., Bhattacharyya, A.K., Aulakh, C.S., Pradhan, S.N. "Behavioral and Neurochemical Effects of Hydergine in Rats." Archives of International Pharmacodynamics. 1981, Vol. 252, pp. 113‑23.

Emmenegger, H., Meier‑Ruge, W. "The Actions of Hydergine on the Brain." Pharmacology. 1968, Vol. 1, pp. 65‑78.

Exton‑Smith, A.N., et al. "Clinical Experience with Ergot Alkaloids." Aging. New York: Raven Press, 1983, Vol. 23, p. 323.

Fanchamps, A. "Dihydroergotoxine in Senile Cerebral Insufficiency." Aging. New York: Raven Press, 1983, Vol. 23, pp. 311‑22.

Hindmarch, I., Parrott, A.C., Lanza, M. "The Effects of an Ergot Alkaloid Derivative (Hydergine) on Aspects of Psychomotor Performance, Arousal, and Cognitive Processing Ability." The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. November‑December 1979, pp. 726‑31.

Hollister, L.E. "Ergoloid Mesylates and the Treatment of Senile Dementias." Perspectives in Psychopharmacology: A Collection of Papers in Honor of Earl Usdin. 1988, New York, Alan R. Liss, pp. 613-20.

Hughes, J.R., Williams, J.G., Currier, R.D. "An Ergot Alkaloid Preparation (Hyder­gine) in the Treatment of Dementia: A Critical Review of the Clinical Literature." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 1976, Vol. 24, pp. 490‑97.

Pearson, D., Shaw, S. Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach. New York: Warner Books, 1982.

Pelton, R., Pelton, T.C. Mind Food & Smart Pills. New York: Double­day, 1989.

Rao, D.B., Norris, J.R. "A Double‑Blind Investigation of Hydergine in the Treatment of Cerebrovascular Insufficiency in the Elderly." Johns Hopkins Medical Journal. 1971, Vol. 130, pp. 317‑23.

Spiegel, R., Huber, F., Koberle, S. "A Controlled Long‑Term Study with Ergoloid Mesylates (Hydergine) in Healthy, Elderly Volunteers: Results After Three Years." Journal of the Geriatrics Society. 1983, Vol. 31, No. 9, pp. 549‑55.

Thompson, T.L. II, Filley, C.M., Mitchell, W.D., et al. "Lack of Efficacy of Hydergine in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease." New England Journal of Medicine. 1990, 323: pp. 445-8.

Weil, C., ed. "Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology of Hydergine." Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology. New York: Springer‑Verlag, 1978.

Yesavage, J.A., Hollister, L.E., Burian, E. "Dihydroergotoxine: 6‑Mg versus 3‑Mg Dosage in the Treatment of Senile Dementia. Prelimi­nary Report." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 1979, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 80‑82.

Yoshikawa, M., Hirai, S., Aizawa, T., Kuroiwa, Y., Goto, F., Sofue, I., Toyokura, Y., Yamamura, H., Iwasaki, Y. "A Dose­Response Study with Dihydroergotoxine Mesylate in Cerebro­vascular Disturbances." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 1983, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 1‑7.