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#metformin

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@erictopol Somewhat surprising you didn't mention #Metformin as one of the antiaging compounds.

Not only is it one of the most widely used *generic* drugs in the world, but it addresses one of the fastest growing pro-aging vectors i.e. excess sugars (glucose).

Unlike Rapamycin it is also cheap as chips.

Individuals with Type 2 diabetes secrete glucose into their small intestine, which gut microbiota in the large intestine consume to produce short-chain fatty acids. The rate of glucose secretion is four times higher in those who are taking metformin. Intestinal secretion of glucose was also observed in mice. Feeding of the gut microbiome with glucose is a novel observation.

Summary: eurekalert.org/news-releases/1

Original paper: nature.com/articles/s43856-025

EurekAlert!We feed gut microbes sugar, they make a compound we needGut microbes that were thought to feed exclusively on dietary fiber also get fed sugar from our guts, from which they produce short-chain fatty acids that are crucial to many body functions. The Kobe University discovery of this symbiotic relationship also points the way to developing novel therapeutics.

Another study finds Metformin significantly reduces long Covid risk, and also deaths: “Metformin prescribed within a week of SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with a 53% reduction in long COVID or death over 6 months in people without diabetes or prediabetes, according to data presented on Saturday at the Infectious Disease Week (IDWeek) 2024 Annual Meeting.” #LongCovid #metformin #Covid medscape.com/viewarticle/metfo

Medscape · Metformin May Reduce Long COVID in Non-Diabetic PopulationBy Marcia Frellick

#aging #Metformin

"Metformin, the most widely used antidiabetic drug, has been reported to delay aging and display protective effect on attenuating progression of various aging-related diseases by impacting key hallmark events of aging, including dysregulated nutrient sensing, loss of proteostasis, mitochondrial dysfunction, altered intercellular communication, telomere attrition, genomic instability, epigenetic alterations, stem cell exhaustion and cellular senescence."

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/

PubMed Central (PMC)Metformin in aging and aging-related diseases: clinical applications and relevant mechanismsAging is a natural process, which plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of a variety of diseases, i.e., aging-related diseases, such as diabetes, osteoarthritis, Alzheimer disease, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, obesity and other metabolic abnormalities. ...
Continued thread

Also can't afford Ozempic for #PCOS and diabetes prevention, or Myfembree, or Nurtec, or albuterol #rescue inhaler and nebulizer solution. I spent my last dime on medication for my brain #injury - currently can't afford the muscle relaxant I need tizandine or my regular #Metformin. I can't even afford it with the savings cards. I am going to end up dead since I can't take all the meds my doctors want me to use. I don't have a rescue inhaler that is not expired. I give up. This is a sign of death

I'm copying a public post below from an interesting Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Data Science at UNCC (not a medical doctor or psychologist).

Everything he is discussing is TENTATIVE but very interesting. I'm sending this out now because there is so little in the popular press about what can actually be done to help people with brain fog and other Long COVID symptoms. The research is still very early, and of course medical professionals should be consulted.

1) The article link from Nature Magazine describes brain damage caused by SARS-CoV-2 related to cell death and especially to synapse loss, leading to cognitive impairment.

2) The study in Bioelectric Medicine is extremely small, yet shows the potential of nicotine patches in the treatment of Long COVID symptoms including brain fog. (Another paper from the same publication also goes into why nicotine might help with Long COVID: bioelecmed.biomedcentral.com/a )

3) He then points to a study on the NIH PubMed site reporting the encouragement of synapse growth from psilocybin.

CORRECTED: 4) A comment in the discussion thread also links to a British Medical Journal article on a Lancet Infectious Diseases study about Metformin lowering the risk of developing Long COVID ( bmj.com/content/381/bmj.p1306 )

(ORIGINAL WRONG VERSION: 4) A comment in the discussion thread also links to a British Medical Journal article on Metformin improving Long COVID symptoms)

There's further speculation in the discussion thread that other psychoactive substances might be helpful. There are perhaps AI bots in the discussion thread discussing psilocybin microdosing, so be aware of that and maybe not get excited that so many "people" are discussing it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: ourislandgeorgia.net/@Wolven/1

Dr. Damien P. Williams
@Wolven

…HUH. Long-COVID destroys synapses, and is a major contributor to the brainfog. nature.com/articles/s41380-022

This goes some way to shining a light on the promising results they've been seeing in testing nicotine patches as treatment for long covid: nicotine effects synapse formation and receptivity (tests using patches because they don't habit-form and aren't, y'know, SMOKE [bioelecmed.biomedcentral.com/a]).

But what's super interesting to me is that another thing that's also been shown to encourage synapse growth? Is psilocybin.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/342289
From: ourislandgeorgia.net/@Wolven/1

~~~
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy #research @psychotherapist @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork #Vaccines #COVID #longcovid #science #medicine #hospital #brainfog #sarscov2 #metformin #nicotine #nicotinepatch #psilocybin

BioMed CentralIs the post-COVID-19 syndrome a severe impairment of acetylcholine-orchestrated neuromodulation that responds to nicotine administration? - Bioelectronic MedicineFollowing a SARS-CoV-2 infection, many individuals suffer from post-COVID-19 syndrome. It makes them unable to proceed with common everyday activities due to weakness, memory lapses, pain, dyspnea and other unspecific physical complaints. Several investigators could demonstrate that the SARS-CoV-2 related spike glycoprotein (SGP) attaches not only to ACE-2 receptors but also shows DNA sections highly affine to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). The nAChR is the principal structure of cholinergic neuromodulation and is responsible for coordinated neuronal network interaction. Non-intrinsic viral nAChR attachment compromises integrative interneuronal communication substantially. This explains the cognitive, neuromuscular and mood impairment, as well as the vegetative symptoms, characterizing post-COVID-19 syndrome. The agonist ligand nicotine shows an up to 30-fold higher affinity to nACHRs than acetylcholine (ACh). We therefore hypothesize that this molecule could displace the virus from nAChR attachment and pave the way for unimpaired cholinergic signal transmission. Treating several individuals suffering from post-COVID-19 syndrome with a nicotine patch application, we witnessed improvements ranging from immediate and substantial to complete remission in a matter of days.

So I'm a type 2 diabetic and take metformin. Downside - magnesium deficiency manifesting itself as anxiety, brain fog, fatigue, depression. I was already taking magnesium citrate before bed (that took care of the anxiety) and only recently started taking some during the day, which took care of that brain fuzziness and fatigue to a noticeable degree.

So if you take metformin, have your magnesium levels checked.

Outpatient treatment with Metformin for Covid reduces Long Covid by 41%

“Outpatient treatment with metformin reduced long COVID incidence by about 41%, with an absolute reduction of 4·1%, compared with placebo. Metformin has clinical benefits when used as outpatient treatment for COVID-19 and is globally available, low-cost, and safe.”

#LongCovid #Covid #Metformin

thelancet.com/journals/laninf/

Replied in thread

Reappraisal of metformin efficacy in the treatment of type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/225091

“Although #metformin is considered the gold standard, its benefit/risk ratio remains uncertain. We cannot exclude a 25% reduction or a 31% increase in all-cause mortality. We cannot exclude a 33% reduction or a 64% increase in cardiovascular mortality. Further studies are needed to clarify this situation.”

PubMedReappraisal of metformin efficacy in the treatment of type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials - PubMedAlthough metformin is considered the gold standard, its benefit/risk ratio remains uncertain. We cannot exclude a 25% reduction or a 31% increase in all-cause mortality. We cannot exclude a 33% reduction or a 64% increase in cardiovascular mortality. Further studies are needed to clarify this situat …

Common diabetes drug (metformin) shown to prevent long COVID
cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/common

A 14-day course of metformin, a common drug used to manage type 2 diabetes, prevents long COVID, according to a new study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

* Paper (Lancet, reputable): thelancet.com/journals/laninf/

* discussion: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3

* [Wikipedia]
** The Lancet: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lanc
** Metformin: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metformi

CIDRAPCommon diabetes drug shown to prevent long COVID