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Debate: Use of Medications by Healthy People to Prevent Disease

polymath

polymath

Bluelight Crew
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Nov 4, 2010
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I'd like to start this thread for discussion of pharmaceutical regimens that are not intended to cure any pre-existing disease, but to prevent a disease that has not yet occurred. People who oppose all kinds of excessive use of medications may be against the idea of, for instance, using statins to prevent heart disease, while some other people may even obtain medications like selegiline from the black market to use as neuroprotectants/life extension meds.

Medications like birth control pills or malaria prophylaxis meds like chloroquine are excluded from this discussion, as well as substances used as doping in sports.

Do any of you use daily low doses of aspirin to prevent heart disease (even without being in any particular risk group)?

What are your thoughts about the concept of increasing a healthy person's likelihood of staying healthy by taking any kind of substances that have a physiological effect? The society at large does not seem to accept any kind of "pharmacological human enhancement", with the exception of the use of caffeine as a psychostimulant.
 
If we're excluding 'supplements' and only focusing on pharm meds, then low dose aspirin is the only one I can think of, but not especially for heart disease; instead the general myriad of potential benefits (inc. cancer etc).

I'm fine with taking pharms for potential prophylactic benefits, with the caveat that over time newer research often contradicts past findings and thus such an approach is inherently fraught with some degree of risk.
 
There's a lot going on in this area in the sexual health field at the moment, as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) has become a viable option to prevent HIV transmission. It's controversial, to say the least.
 
CFC said:
If we're excluding 'supplements' and only focusing on pharm meds, then low dose aspirin is the only one I can think of, but not especially for heart disease; instead the general myriad of potential benefits (inc. cancer etc).
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Most of the medications I'm talking about are some kind of neuroprotectants that prevent aging-related neuron loss. Some examples are selegiline and hydergine. Even nicotine protects nerve cells to some extent, but of course to get any net benefit it has to be administered by vaping or some other way that doesn't involve smoke inhalation.

Some people may say that ADHD is not a real disease, but rather an artificial term used by our society to classify some people as "undesirable" because of their difficulties at school, and would include methylphenidate in the "human enhancement drugs category".
 
I think this will change. There are already neuroscientists that argue that drugs like modafanil, piracetam, and even amphetamine should not be witheld for cognitive enhancement given there pretty good safety profile and positive benefit. Adult ADHD is being ever more diagnosed. College kids consider Adderall and Ritalin as part of life of study, ADHD or not. Within a generation, barring DEA or FDA interference here in the US, we all may take these or newer drugs as we would vitamins.
 
polymath said:
Most of the medications I'm talking about are some kind of neuroprotectants that prevent aging-related neuron loss. Some examples are selegiline and hydergine. Even nicotine protects nerve cells to some extent, but of course to get any net benefit it has to be administered by vaping or some other way that doesn't involve smoke inhalation.

Some people may say that ADHD is not a real disease, but rather an artificial term used by our society to classify some people as "undesirable" because of their difficulties at school, and would include methylphenidate in the "human enhancement drugs category".
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I didn't phrase what I wrote very well - I meant all that *I* am taking is aspirin, not that aspirin is all there is. Now I think of it I'm also taking olmesartan prophylactically, but that's partly related to exogenous AAS use.

Actually I used to take hydergine and memantine some years ago as well, for potential enhancement purposes. Not sure why I stopped. Possibly because I'm still leery of any undetermined long-term deleterious effects.
 
i've been chewing nicorette for the past while as a nootropic, it works pretty well for me at the 2mg level (equivalent to one cig, according to the box) and the effect lasts for hours so it's my first resort if i'm feeling tired or just "off". i used to sniff cocaine and smoke tobacco regularly but long-term the side-effects of either were overpowering any benefits. nicorette reminds me a lot of cocaine (when using same buccal ROA), same alert-and-happy feeling in the mind and same side-effect of damping enjoyment of sex but with no addiction potential worth mentioning. actually, i've found it difficult to even notice tolerance building, it does happen when i'm chewing daily for a while but i don't feel any negative effects from taking a week off to reset.

i'm not sure daily aspirin would benefit me since i already consume pretty hefty amounts of anticoagulant teas (chamomile, ginger, cloves) but aspirin is pretty effective against pain, though 325mg does absolutely nothing for me so i buy the 500mg tablets which seems to be the sweet spot in terms of being the minimum effective dose for me.

i'm OK with taking the nicorette since there are compelling positives without much negative and it's a drug that has been in popular use for a long time so not too worried about unexpected long-term side-effects, but i would not consider taking any newer drugs that haven't been studied as extensively (e.g. modafinil)
 
Kittycat5 said:
I think this will change. There are already neuroscientists that argue that drugs like modafanil, piracetam, and even amphetamine should not be witheld for cognitive enhancement given there pretty good safety profile and positive benefit. Adult ADHD is being ever more diagnosed. College kids consider Adderall and Ritalin as part of life of study, ADHD or not. Within a generation, barring DEA or FDA interference here in the US, we all may take these or newer drugs as we would vitamins.
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Don't believe the hype about modafinil. I take it every weekday to manage fibromyalgia fatigue and literally all it does is make me not tired. A lot of people seem to think it does magical things to your concentration and cognitive abilities, but I haven't experienced any of that.
 
Funny, while I dont use it daily, I notice the alertness or keeping awake effects to fade first and the mood lift and feeling my mouth is better connected to my brain when speaking persist. I cant say if it has ever helped with focus or task accomplishment though, but havent used for more than a week at a time.

Odd as be it amphetamine, methylphenidate (or various other pharm stims), or even oxycodone, the one effect I never seem to build tolerance to is the wakening aspect of these drugs. Wonder why its different for modafanil?
 
SixBuckets said:
Don't believe the hype about modafinil. I take it every weekday to manage fibromyalgia fatigue and literally all it does is make me not tired. A lot of people seem to think it does magical things to your concentration and cognitive abilities, but I haven't experienced any of that.
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When sitting exams at uni, I had to make sure I hadn't taken any moda as it would prevent me thinking properly. I thought of it as a 'dumb' drug and found it strange it was supposed to enhance cognitive abilities. I felt the same with methylphenidate.
 
During exam periods yes. I've ADD and would leave pretty much all study for all subjects to the last 2 weeks of the year. I'd then need to stay up all night to read and study the whole year and revise the lot. Moda allowed me to put in the hours to just about get it done. Would severely addle/inhibit my thought processes if I took it during the exams though.
 
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