Piracetam & Excitotoxicity: Cause for Caution?
I've been using piracetam for a while, but last night I thought of something that unsettled me. For those who don't know, one of piracetam's effects is to increase the efficacy of AMPA receptors, which open in the presence of AMPA or glutamate to permit calcium ions to flow through the cell membrane. This can be good for learning & memory, but what dawned on me is that it can also be bad: too much calcium influx is toxic and can lead to cell death.
This isn't necessarily anything to have a panic over, but I think it is a reason to be cautious about your doses if you're a person using any of the racetams without a pre-existing neurological condition: piracetam is said to be remarkably non-toxic since excesses get peed out harmlessly in someone with a fully functional renal system, but that doesn't happen instantly and it's still entirely possible that you could be doing harm to yourself if you take large doses. If you're healthy there's no reason to be taking more than a gram every 5 hours, and this is cause to err on the side of caution. And if you have a seizure disorder, it would probably be prudent to avoid it entirely since it would probably make mild brain damage more likely.
This isn't necessarily anything to have a panic over, but I think it is a reason to be cautious about your doses if you're a person using any of the racetams without a pre-existing neurological condition: piracetam is said to be remarkably non-toxic since excesses get peed out harmlessly in someone with a fully functional renal system, but that doesn't happen instantly and it's still entirely possible that you could be doing harm to yourself if you take large doses. If you're healthy there's no reason to be taking more than a gram every 5 hours, and this is cause to err on the side of caution. And if you have a seizure disorder, it would probably be prudent to avoid it entirely since it would probably make mild brain damage more likely.