Is long term use of low dose Cyproheptadine safe?
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How safe is it to use a single dose of 1mg of Cyproheptadine every night to support sleep?
Any info, experience or advice on doing this long term would be really appreciated. Thanks -
0.5mg - 1mg of Cypro is one of the things Ray called very safe from what I remember.
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@izkrov Thanks very much. I know that he did and can recall his recommendations from his newsletters and KMUD interviews.
I took 1mg for about a month and experienced only benefits- deeper sleep, less interrupted sleep, better temps/warm hands, a general sense of well-being and stress reduction. I also got some amazing dreams!I really want to take it again because since I have stopped (about 10 days ago), my sleep has been awful again.
But for how long can one use it safely for? I have read that it can raise liver enzymes.
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@Honeycomb said in Is long term use of low dose Cyproheptadine safe?:
I have read that it can raise liver enzymes.
I don't think there's any direct evidence to show how long you can take it for, though Haidut had mentioned that similarly to niacinamide, liver enzymes rising isn't a sign of the liver being harmed.
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@Honeycomb I think it can increase risk of cavities as it changes the production & composition of saliva. Frequent rinsing with baking soda would help.
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I'm not sure what to believe with regards to it's alleged effects on liver. There's been a long held conventional belief that cyproheptadine is damaging to the liver when taken chronically. I've seen some studies backing this claim up too. Nevertheless Haidut posted a case report of a woman healing what was supposedly "irreversible" liver disease with cyproheptadine, which basically is a complete about-face, lol. http://haidut.me/?p=1806
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This may be a situation where the anti-serotonin effects which are pro-liver cancel out to a greater degree the anticholinergic effects which are known to be hepatotoxic. Cypro's anticholinergicy is very weak to begin with, whereas it's anti-serotonin effects are very strong. One of the only approved treatments for serotonin syndrome in fact.
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@skylark
Thank you. That’s interesting and I wasn’t aware. -
@Mulloch94
Thanks for taking the time to share this. That’s really useful. I feel like I want to read even more on the activity of Cyproheptadine now. I vaguely remember the study posted by @haidut that you have mentioned. Thanks! -
@Mulloch94 I have just read Georgi’s article about the case study you mentioned and wanted to thank you again for pointing it out. What a story! I was thinking of something else. It’s particularly interesting for me as I have had cancer, which was another reason why I was keen on trying Cyproheptadine to help me sleep.
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@Honeycomb No problem, happy to help. Just my 2 cents, but I think low-dose of cyproheptadine is fine (even chronically) if you provide yourself with enough glycine and protein in general. Both glycine and protein are very important for maintain liver function. Caffeine/coffee and TUDCA seems to help to a certain degree as well. The main thing is to just avoid low-protein diets though.
