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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

Phenytoin (Dilantin)

Dilantin is known to most doctors and many other people as a treatment for epilepsy. However, it has a wide range of pharmacologic effects other than its anticonvulsant activity. There have been more than 8,000 papers published on Dilantin and there have been clinical reports of its usefulness in over 100 diseases and symptoms (Finkel, 1984).

In the United States the only officially-approved uses for Dilantin are for controlling various types of seizures.

Dilantin has an extraordinary ability to stabilize electrical activity at the cell membrane. Since most cellular activity is modulated by the electrical and electrochemical processes that occur on the cell membranes, Dilantin has a host of effects and uses.

Dilantin is reported to increase intelligence, concentration, and learning. In double‑blind, placebo‑controlled studies, 100mg of Dilantin given twice daily caused increases in scores on the Wechsler IQ test and improved long term memory and verbal performance in both normal, healthy young and normal, healthy elderly volunteers. Particular improvement was noted by researchers in the subject's performance on parts of the tests requiring concentration skills (Smith, 1972, 1975). We have heard people report that Dilantin is a fast and effective treatment for jet lag, lack of sleep, or any situation where you need more stamina. Several thousand research studies have been conducted on Dilantin, establishing its effectiveness in the treatment of drug addiction, alcoholism, psychosis, and hypoglycemia, to name only a few.

Dilantin is of special interest to people who cannot concentrate or think clearly because of obsessive thoughts, or who experience a lot of fear or anger. Research done with prison inmates and institutionalized juvenile delinquents showed that Dilantin decreases violent behavior. Also, in subjects who were overly passive, it increased outgoing and assertive behavior. Dilantin seems to have a normalizing effect (Dreyfus, 1981).

The Dilantin story is told in a book by Jack Dreyfus, the wealthy philanthropist who started the Dreyfus Fund. In A Remarkable Medicine Has Been Overlooked, Dreyfus recounts how he stumbled onto Dilantin as a treatment for his obsessive depression. He tells of the subsequent founding of the Dreyfus Medical Foundation, to spread the word about the many uses for Dilantin.

Dreyfus' descriptions of his own depression and obsessive fear and anxiety are moving, and occasionally hilarious. He describes being unable to work, and being obsessed about events such as animals he has seen killed by automobiles on the road. Dreyfus writes of worrying about a girl that he met at a party, the daughter of a famous actress. He feared that the 17-year-old would fail in her attempt to follow in her mother's footsteps, and worried about her obsessively for days, even though he had only met her briefly. The girl was Liza Minelli.

Jack Dreyfus' life was changed completely by Dilantin, and he became curious about other uses for it. His medical foundation spent $6 million researching and attempting to communicate the many uses of Dilantin.

Dilantin also has profound anti-aging effects, acting to restore neuroendocrine homeostasis that is inevitably lost with aging (Dilman and Dean, 1992). In low doses, it increases levels of protective high density lipoprotein (HDL)—the "good" form of cholesterol (Kaste, 1978).

Precautions: Like many of the smart drugs in this book, Dilantin can have paradoxical effects if too much is taken. Epileptics who must take very large doses of Dilantin show a slowing of reaction time and a reduction in intelligence. Dilantin may also cause a marked reduction in the body's B-12 stores (Newbold, 1972), and increase the body's requirement for thyroid hormone (Dilman and Dean, 1992). There are also some deleterious long term effects of Dilantin such as gum over­growth. This effect is not likely to occur with someone who is taking the much lower cognitive-enhancing doses. The gum‑overgrowing tendency can also be greatly relieved by meticulous oral hygiene, to include diligently flossing the teeth and rinsing the mouth with hydrogen peroxide. Dilantin should not be used by pregnant women, or people with cardiac or renal problems.

Dosage: For the treatment of epilepsy, the standard adult dosage is 200mg - 400mg per day in 2 to 4 divided doses. For cognition-enhancing purposes much smaller doses like 25 or 50mg per day are probably sufficient. Dilantin is available in 100mg capsules, 50mg children's chewable tablets, and a liquid containing 125mg of dilantin per teaspoon.

Sources: Dilantin is available in the U.S. with a doctor's prescription or from the overseas sources listed in Appendix A (see page 165). Other names for Dilantin include: Alepsin, Aleviatan, Antisacer, Citrullamon, Danten, Denyl Sodium, Derizene, Di‑Len, Di‑Lan, Di‑Hydan, Difhydan, Dihycon, Dilabid, Diphenine Sodium, Diphentoin, Diphenylan Sodium, diphe­nylhydantoin, DPH, Ekko, Epamin, Epanutin, Epa­nutin, Eplin, Eptoin, Hidantal, Hydantol, Idantoin, Lehydan, Lepitoin Sodium, Minetoin, Phenhydan, Phenhydan, phenyt­oin, Solantoin, Solantyl, Tacosal, Thilophenyt, and Zen­tropil.

References:

Dilman, V.M., Dean, W. The Neuroendocrine Theory of Aging and Degenerative Disease. Pensacola, Florida: The Center for Bio-Gerontology, 1992.

Dreyfus, J. A Remarkable Medicine Has Been Overlooked. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981.

Finkel, M.J. "Phenytoin Revisited." Journal of Clinical Therapeutics. 1984, 6 (5), pp. 577‑91.

Gibbs, M.E., Ng, K.T. "Diphenylhydantoin Extension of Short-Term and Intermediate Stages of Memory." Behavior and Brain Research. 1984, 11 (2) pp. 103‑8.

Gibbs, M.E., Ng. K.T. "Diphenylhydantoin Facilitation of Labile, Protein Independent Memory." Brain Research Bulletin. 1976, 1 (2) pp. 203‑8.

Kaste, M. "Elevation of High-Density Lipoprotein in Epileptic Patients Treated with Phenytoin." Acta Medica Scandinavica. 1978, 204: pp. 517-520.

Newbold, H. "The Use of Vitamin B-12 in Psychiatric Practice." Orthomolecular Psychiatry, Vol 1, No 1, 1972.

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

Smith, W., Lowry, J. "The Effects of Diphenylhydantoin on Cognitive Functions in Man." Drugs, Development and Cerebral Function. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1972, pp. 344‑351.

Smith, W., Lowry, J. "Effects of Diphenylhydantoin on Mental Abilities in the Elderly." Journal of the American Geriatric Society. 1975, Vol. 23, 5, pp. 207‑11.