From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Subject: Re: Get Prescription Drugs Without Prescription - Mail Order
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Distribution: na 
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 00:28:07 GMT

In article <1992Apr10.221726.9729@eng.umd.edu> georgec@eng.umd.edu (George B. Clark) writes:
>Progressive thinkers, who prefer to self-diagnose their medication
>needs in lieu of consulting a medical doctor, may be unaware they
>can purchase prescription drugs by mailorder without a prescription.

<Snort>

>Dilantin should be given to your children in 50mg-100mg doses, twice
>per day. It takes effect within an hour. In thousands of studied cases,
>it has been shown to increase concentration, intelligence, learning
>ability, memory, and verbal performance.

"_Should_ be given to your children???"  This is insane.  I can't
imagine a better studied drug than phenytoin; it's been used to treat
epilepsy for over 50 years.  Children and adults on phenytoin and other
antiepileptic drugs have measurable cognitive deficits compared to
untreated individuals.  This is an attribute of drug treatment, and not
an artifact that people with epilepsy are being examined.  The drug is
also not innocuous.  It has all sorts of side effects, from the
trivial to the serious.  It's nothing to play around with ignorantly.
It could be called child abuse if a moron (sorry, "progressive
thinker") like George B. Clarke were to slip this to his children in
the misbelief that he was helping their cognitive skills.

>Piracetam was the first medication to be specifically labeled nootropic,
>i.e. brain enhancing. It improves alertness, attention span, learning,
>and memory. It also promotes the flow of information between right and
>left hemispheres of the brain, inducing flashes of creativity. It is
>non-toxic, non-addictive, and non-expensive. It is available only by
>mailorder from Europe. The usual dose of Piracetam is 2,400mg-4,800mg
>per day taken in three divided doses. It takes effect within 30 to
>60 minutes.

You should try reading alt.psychoactives, always nice for a bit of
amusement.  It's full of articles from people that go like this:

	"I just came back from Tijuana and bought some piracetam.
	Boy, is it cheap!  But I have a problem.  I've been taking
	a lot of it, and I don't notice anything.  Would combining
	it with Hydergine be better for me?"

>Hydergine has been shown in study after study to increase intelligence
>in such areas as learning, memory, and recall. It can even reverse
>brain damage. In spite of these studies, hydergine is still scorned
>by most American physicians.

That's because it doesn't do anything--all of the studies which have
ever pointed to beneficial effects have been flawed--they've been
uncontrolled, or the criteria for improvement have been inconsistent,
or there have been biases in the selection of the patient population.
In one of the best studies looking at its use in patients with
presumptive diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease, it was found the the drug
actually had a deleterious effect, which was surprising even to the
skeptics, who thought it nothing more than a placebo.

>Eldepryl should be taken in doses of two 5mg tablets per week.

Per week?  Don't you mean per day (the usual therapeutic dose.)

>It will preserve those brain cells that make dopamine.

Very maybe.

>Since a decrease in
>dopamine production with age is responsible for loss of mental acuity
>with age,

You're repeating yourself...

>taking Eldepryl will ensure you retain your motor
>coordination, immune functioning, motivation, insulin regulation,
>physical energy, thinking ability, short-trem memory, and sexual
>desire.

Really?  What leads you to make THIS up?  The drug hasn't even been
used in people long enough to gauge this.  It may have a beneficial
effect in slowing the progression of Parkinson's disease.  This is
a long way from supporting any beneficial effect whatsoever in
promoting its use in healthy people.

>(Dopamine levels in your body drop by 13% per decade, making
>it the most rapidly aging process in our brains.)

Gordon?

>In addition, studies
>have shown that rats fed Eldepryl live 210% longer, suggesting it may
>have life-extending properties for people, as well.

That's a very big "may have".

People who are interested might check in to alt.psychoactives where
I gave a fairly complete summary of selegiline and its approved use.


>Reference
>
>Health & Healing
>Editor: Julian Whitaker, M.D.
>        graduate of Emory University Medical School.

Wow.

>Co-editor: Jane Heimlich, medical journalist,
>           and wife of Henry Heimlich, M.D., who invented
>           the Heimlich Maneuver.

Impeccable credentials...  Unfortunately, I'm gagging, not choking.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
Newsgroups: sci.med