Viagra helps with Alzheimer’s disease

sunshine5

Has anyone heard the research that shows that taking Viagra helps with AD?

Second question - does KRG Korean red ginseng help in slowing down MCI or AD?

If so, how long would it take to show any results/ slowdown? 

Gig Harbor

I haven’t heard about studies on either drug. I do think if they worked every neurologist would be suggesting them. I think that all doctors would love to have a treatment to recommend to their patients.

Dio

Hmmm, I wonder who put it out there that Viagra helps AD...Viagra's company?

Lane Simonian

Viagra inhibits superoxide anions.  Superoxides combine with inducible nitric oxide to form peroxynitrite which may be either directly or indirectly responsible for much of the damage done to the brain in Alzheimer's disease.  Viagra may lower the risk for Alzheimer's disease and perhaps slow down its progression--although the latter in particular has not been proven as of yet.

Korean red ginseng also known as panax ginseng is a peroxynitrite scavenger and helps to treat many of the aspects of Alzheimer's disease:

Panax ginseng C.A. Mey. is a well-known medicinal plant that contains ginsenosides, gintonin, and other components and has neuroprotective effects against a series of pathological cascades in AD, including beta-amyloid formation, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2021.688490/full

Korean red ginseng also decreases the death of neurons and increases the regeneration of neurons in the hippocampus

This long-term of Korean red ginseng showed a maximum improvement in cognition at 24 weeks that was sustained for two year:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3659550/

The first measurement in the graph in the article is at 12 weeks, but I would expect if there were a noticeable improvement it would start to appear at about a month.

This open label trial used two different doses of ginseng per day: 4.5 grams and 9 grams.  There was little difference in the effects of the lower dose and the higher dose.  4.5 grams is still a high dose.  Some people who have tried that dose for other conditions have told me that it made them jittery.  Short-term use of panax ginseng can potentially increase blood pressure, while longer-term use may lower blood pressure.  No major side effects have been reported from the few studies of ginseng for Alzheimer's disease.

The prejudice against natural products by some members of the medical community in the United States has hampered its use here.  Plus, many scientists don't trust studies where no placebo was used.  These are the main reasons that this treatment has been eschewed in the United States.

sunshine5

It’s been in the news. I also heard that latest research showed that viagra  slows  progression of AD. I asked if others heard about this!

Paris20

I cannot imagine giving that drug to an Alzheimer’s patient who has already lost all his inhibitions. It’s frightening but I admit there’s a joke in there somewhere.