Methylene Blue is fascinating because it has been present in alternative medicine, biohacking, and nootropics forums for decades. It seems everyone in those communities discovers it eventually, thinks it must be a miracle substance, and then either feels nothing or has some initial positive effects that are either placebo or diminish quickly with tolerance.
From the anecdotes I’ve read over the years, very few people continue taking it. They either feel nothing, get some worrying side effects, or the initial effects they experienced (or placebo) disappear after a couple days or weeks. The most positive posts seem to be correlated with people taking a dozen medications and supplements at the same time, so it’s impossible to know what’s causing their experience.
Another ever-popular medication in these communities is Selegiline: Also an MAOI but selective for MAO-B at low doses (warning: it’s easier to reach MAO-A inhibition with repeated dosing, especially sublingual, than many internet sources claim). This one draws in people who are in their “dopamine explains everything” phase of learning neuroscience and think it must be a hack to get “more dopamine”. Again, few people continue it and many are confused about why they end up fatigued or tired while taking it instead of turning into the guy from Limitless. Neuropharmacology isn’t as simple as taking drugs to push neurotransmitter up.
Selegiline was repurposed as an anti-depressant recently, but it’s delivered transdermally and only showed efficacy at levels high enough to be a full MAOI.
From the anecdotes I’ve read over the years, very few people continue taking it. They either feel nothing, get some worrying side effects, or the initial effects they experienced (or placebo) disappear after a couple days or weeks. The most positive posts seem to be correlated with people taking a dozen medications and supplements at the same time, so it’s impossible to know what’s causing their experience.
Another ever-popular medication in these communities is Selegiline: Also an MAOI but selective for MAO-B at low doses (warning: it’s easier to reach MAO-A inhibition with repeated dosing, especially sublingual, than many internet sources claim). This one draws in people who are in their “dopamine explains everything” phase of learning neuroscience and think it must be a hack to get “more dopamine”. Again, few people continue it and many are confused about why they end up fatigued or tired while taking it instead of turning into the guy from Limitless. Neuropharmacology isn’t as simple as taking drugs to push neurotransmitter up.
Selegiline was repurposed as an anti-depressant recently, but it’s delivered transdermally and only showed efficacy at levels high enough to be a full MAOI.