The Benefits of Intranasal Insulin

[Lostfalco]

I've been discussing brain fog with a number of people on this forum lately and I wanted to share with everyone a substance that I've been getting A LOT of positive feedback on recently...intranasal insulin.

I've written about the numerous benefits and how to buy it legally over the counter without a prescription and make it at home for $25 here: The Benefits of Intranasal Insulin.

It's been tested in over three dozen randomized, double blind, placebo controlled human trials and has been repeatedly shown to enhance cognition without affecting blood sugar or insulin levels.

The reason it works is that intranasal administration of insulin bypasses the blood brain barrier and activates insulin receptors that are especially prevalent in the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and cerebral cortex.

It increases brain energy levels (ATP and phosphocreatine), significantly reduces neuroinflammation, and protects against neuronal oxidative stress by restoring antioxidants and energy metabolism (my blog post has citations for ALL of these).

Sounds like a pretty potent trifecta with a huge amount of potential to treat brain fog.

I also extensively discuss safety in the post because I know insulin triggers a lot of warning bells in people's minds.

Understandably so!

The blog post is still under construction (technically, I'm remodeling it) but I wanted to go ahead and share it with you guys because you can try it today if you want to and I think it has tremendous potential to help with brain fog (of course, nothing works for everyone).

I think this is especially true for those who feel like they've tried everything but nothing has worked.

Here are a few recent testimonials I've received (all quoted with permission):

“I have been using intranasal insulin for the past week or so, and am honestly shocked at its effectiveness. It seems to reduce the brain fog and neuroinflammation associated with my Sjogren’s syndrome.” -Sean P.

"I've been using intranasal insulin for around two weeks now and seeing very good results. Subjectively, my memory has improved so much in such a short amount of time that I can hardly believe. I say this as someone that has tried hundreds of nootropics." -Hormesis

"I've been taking INI for about 2 weeks now at 4 10IU doses a day. I've tried quite a few nootropics including some of what I consider to be the stronger/more noticeable ones like semax, selank, bromantane etc. INI has been the most noticeable so far. After a few days I noticed my mood leveling out, and I was waking up more refreshed from sleep. I feel like my memory has improved, but I haven't tested it to know for sure. It has helped improve my anhedonia though for sure." -Thoarke

I genuinely hope it helps you!

 

[Issie]

Following.

 

[Remy]

So @Lostfalco, do you still think 4 months is the upper limit of how long to do it?

Do you notice benefits immediately and then do they start lasting longer?

I wonder what the optimal way to determine a cycle length might be. Until my stomach looks like it did when I was 25??

I'm especially interested in this because I have GAD antibodies which are associated with developing Type 1 diabetes later in life. (LADA). If I could protect myself from that, it would be a Very Big Deal.

 

[Lostfalco]

Yeah Remy, 4 months (daily dosing) is the longest period of time it's been tested in humans so I would consider that to be the upper limit for now.

The cool thing is we are getting pretty close to 2017 and by the time you've tested it for 4 months the results from the SNIFF trial should almost be available. That will give us an idea of how it affects humans over the course of 1 to 1.5 years of daily dosing. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01767909

For me (and a number of others), the mood and energy benefits started within the first few days.

haha Yep. I'd say cycle off once you've got a shredded 8 pack going on. =)

Preventing type 1 diabetes would be amazing! It's hard to say anything definitive at this point but INIT I showed some promise as a vaccine. Sadly, the results from INIT II won't be available until 2024. I don't think it would be a major problem to imitate their dosing pattern if you wanted to though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INIT_II

"The treatment is self-administered using a nasal spray every morning for 7 consecutive days, and then once a week for 12 months."

 

[Remy]

OK, I did it!

It smells! And stings a little...waiting (patiently) for cure.

I'm terrible with nasal sprays. Does enough get where it needs to go if it ends up dripping a little? Or should I try a new technique? I'm just spraying it straight up now.

 

[Veet]

My most pressing symptoms these days are mast cell eruptions. I doubt if this has been addressed in any of the literature. Aside from my knee-jerk at using insulin, I'm concerned whether this could be a provocation for mast cell reactions. Also, you refer to 4-month course, pending research, and cycling. Do you need to take it daily to feel continued effects? If you dont take it for a day or 2, do you have worse symptoms/brain fog? Very fascinating possibility, thanks for posting.

Oh, I see on the Brain fog/ mast cell/glial thread this is where the topic first came up. So is the belief that the insulin is actually benefiting mast cell stabilization??

 

[Lostfalco]

OK, I did it!

It smells! And stings a little...waiting (patiently) for cure.

I'm terrible with nasal sprays. Does enough get where it needs to go if it ends up dripping a little? Or should I try a new technique? I'm just spraying it straight up now.

Yeah, it stings a little. Someone said that it smells like hospital. Pretty accurate imo. ha Dont worry, it's totally normal.

Yup, a little drippage is fine.

Remember to keep the dose pretty low on day 1. You want to check for allergies first so the lower the better. You can always go up from there and try different doses once you know it's safe for you.

 

[Lostfalco]

My most pressing symptoms these days are mast cell eruptions. I doubt if this has been addressed in any of the literature. Aside from my knee-jerk at using insulin, I'm concerned whether this could be a provocation for mast cell reactions. Also, you refer to 4-month course, pending research, and cycling. Do you need to take it daily to feel continued effects? If you dont take it for a day or 2, do you have worse symptoms/brain fog? Very fascinating possibility, thanks for posting.

Oh, I see on the Brain fog/ mast cell/glial thread this is where the topic first came up. So is the belief that the insulin is actually benefiting mast cell stabilization??

Hey Veet, the primary targets of i-insulin for our purposes here are microglia, not mast cells (of course, there is crosstalk between the two).

"We found that intranasal insulin restored insulin signaling, increased the levels of synaptic proteins, and reduced Aβ40 level and microglia activation in the brains of 3xTg-AD mice." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24918340

I have been able to skip days without noticing any drop off. I'm taking it more for nootropic purposes so your mileage will almost certainly vary. However, there is evidence of continuing effects after cessation in the scientific literature.

The brain fog two step post (as you mentioned) targets mast cell activation more directly. http://www.lostfalco.com/the-brain-fog-two-step/

 

[Remy]

@Hip, you might find this interesting too!

 

[Veet]

@Lostfalco sounds amazing. I'm up for it.

I tried methylene blue, it was cheap enough for me to experiment. My body responds + when I self-test, but I can't notice any benefit.

 

[Hip]

@Hip, you might find this interesting too!

It's very interesting. I have been wanting to try intranasal insulin for a few years now, but like many things, kept forgetting, and have not yet got around to trying.

It's pretty good that that you can buy OTC insulin in the US; unfortunately I don't think you can get it OTC in the UK. However, I have seen insulin for sale on various bodybuilding websites such as these:

http://www.roidsseek.com/hgh-and-insulin-387/humulin-r-4199.html
http://www.roidsseek.com/hgh-and-insulin-387/humulin-n-nph-8178.html

http://www.neomeds.com/peptides-and-anti-aging-350/humulin-r-3801.html
http://www.neomeds.com/peptides-and-anti-aging-350/humulin-r-3-ml-6065.html
http://www.neomeds.com/peptides-and-anti-aging-350/humalog-insulin-40-iu-5145.html

https://www.anabol-steroids.biz/product/humalog-insulin/
https://www.anabol-steroids.biz/product/humulin-r-eli-lilly/

http://alvgear.com/humulin-r
http://steelgear.net/peptides-pharmacy/humulin-r-insuline-steroid
http://www.originalsteroid.net/original-steroid/buy-humulin-r-26.html
http://roidspot.net/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=115

http://onlineshoppharmacy.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=107
https://www.buckadaypharmacy.com/Novolog/
https://www.buckadaypharmacy.com/Humalog/

http://www.buypharma1.com/Actrapid-HM-Penfill-Injection-p-2486.html
http://www.buypharma1.com/Lantus-Insulin-Glargine-Cartridge-p-1019.html
http://www.buypharma1.com/Apidra-Solostar-100IU-ml-Pen-Injection-p-2470.html

Note that Humulin R and Actrapid (in bold in above sources) are regular insulin products (identical to normal human insulin).

Note that some of the above sources are online pharmacies, and some sources are websites that sell products for bodybuilders (for the latter, I only give bodybuilding sources that have a top rating at eroids.com).

Prices are around $40 for 1,000 IU of insulin. If you are using a dose of 10 IU twice daily, 1,000 IU should last for 50 days.

I think I will buy some, and test it out.


Good blog article, @Lostfalco, on making a DIY insulin nasal spray. Have you tried this spray yourself, and if so, how did it affect your brain fog and various ME/CFS symptoms?

 

[rebar]

Any experiences to report with our community, as I await my nasal spray device.

 

[Lostfalco]

@Lostfalco sounds amazing. I'm up for it.

I tried methylene blue, it was cheap enough for me to experiment. My body responds + when I self-test, but I can't notice any benefit.

Very cool, Veet. I look forward to hearing how it goes for you.

 

[Lostfalco]

It's very interesting. I have been wanting to try intranasal insulin for a few years now, but like many things, kept forgetting, and have not yet got around to trying.

It's pretty good that that you can buy OTC insulin in the US; unfortunately I don't think you can get it OTC in the UK. However, I have seen insulin for sale on various bodybuilding websites such as these:

http://www.roidsseek.com/hgh-and-insulin-387/humulin-r-4199.html
http://www.roidsseek.com/hgh-and-insulin-387/humulin-n-nph-8178.html

http://www.neomeds.com/peptides-and-anti-aging-350/humulin-r-3801.html
http://www.neomeds.com/peptides-and-anti-aging-350/humulin-r-3-ml-6065.html
http://www.neomeds.com/peptides-and-anti-aging-350/humalog-insulin-40-iu-5145.html

https://www.anabol-steroids.biz/product/humalog-insulin/
https://www.anabol-steroids.biz/product/humulin-r-eli-lilly/

Prices are around $40 for 1,000 IU of insulin. If you are using a dose of 10 IU twice daily, 1,000 IU should last for 50 days.

I think I will buy some, and test it out.


Good blog article, @Lostfalco, on making a DIY insulin nasal spray. Have you tried this spray yourself, and if so, how did it affect your brain fog and various ME/CFS symptoms?

Thanks, Hip! I appreciate it.

I have been testing i-insulin out for all of 2016. I don't have ME/CFS but it definitely enhances my mood and brain energy levels.

I'm really interested in hearing how the insulins you linked work for you. A number of people from the UK have asked me for sources and so far I've just had to tell them that I wasn't aware of any. Definitely keep us updated!

 

[Remy]

Any experiences to report with our community, as I await my nasal spray device.

I'm on day 4, I guess? I went up to one spray morning and one spray evening yesterday.

While I'm a cranky old biddy, I don't really have a ton of brain fog. I'm hoping for the immunization against diabetes and shredded 6 pack effects...so it might take longer to see any results. I'm committed to giving it a solid try though!

 

[Hip]

I have been testing i-insulin out for all of 2016. I don't have ME/CFS but it definitely enhances my mood and brain energy levels.

Ah, OK.

Because your fascinating blog has a couple of articles on treating brain fog, and also on the possible links between brain inflammation and brain fog, I thought you might be an ME/CFS patient (as ME/CFS patients often assume their cognitive dysfunction could be underpinned by neuroinflammation).

May I ask, what created this particular angle of interest, of brain fog and the possibility that neuroinflammation may disrupt cognition? I see from your blog that you have a huge interest in nootropics (smart drugs) and brain optimization. I also used to be pretty interested in nootropics before I developed ME/CFS.

But for healthy people experimenting with cognitive enhancement and nootropic drugs, theories of brain fog and neuroinflammation are not the usual way of approaching and understanding this subject (by the way, your blog on the anti-neuroinflammation combo of ibudilast + galantamine as a means to cognitive boosting is really interesting). So I am just curious to know what got you thinking in terms of anti-brain fog and anti-neuroinflammation as a route to cognitive enhancement.

It could of course be the case that even healthy people with sub-optimal cognition are suffering some minor levels of neuroinflammation, so your anti-neuroinflammation approach might be hitting the nail on the head.



As an aside, before developing ME/CFS, my favorite nootropics were:

deprenyl 2 mg (I found it provided a great mood boost, libido boost, and increased creativity and lateral thinking, via it's dopaminergic effects), Q10 300 mg (I found this further boosted the dopaminergic effects),

piracetam 12000 mg (I found it hugely increased task focus, concentration, short-term memory and working memory, via its effects on the acetylcholine system), Lucidril (a good add-on to stack with piracetam, to further boost piracetam's cholinergic effects, but works well on its own too), choline bitartrate 500 mg (another good add-on for piracetam for increased cholinergic effects, but also works well on its own),

acetyl-L-carnitine 1000 mg (excellent for increasing your active vocabulary when writing or speaking; you can find the word you are looking for much easier when you take ALC, and there was study I read once that showed this), Bacopa monnieri (noticeably increases your enthusiasm and curiosity, so you find yourself getting engaged and interested in many activities; higher doses of Bacopa, say 10 to 20 grams, can have an MDMA/ecstasy-like boost to loving feelings towards other — although I don't have any direct experience of taking MDMA; I was always too wary and cowardly about trying psychedelic drugs).

I'd often take all the above nootropics together, to super-charge all my mental abilities; as I found these nootropics had a very good synergy.

The cholinergic-boosting nootropics like piracetam, Lucidril and choline bitartrate I found would make your mind razor sharp in terms of information processing and logical thinking; but on their own, these cholinergic boosters made you become a bit mentally dry and dull, like dry and logical engineer or nerd. However, I found once you added the dopaminergic-boosting nootropics like deprenyl, your thinking would would become more intuitive, creative and inspired, which then nicely balanced out the dry logical side that the cholinergic boosters produced.

In other words, in terms of the left-brain logic and linear information processing, I found the cholinergic boosters would ramp up the left-brain abilities; and in terms of the right-brain intuition and creativity, I found the dopaminergic boosters would ramp up these right-brain abilities. That why I liked to mix the cholinergic and dopaminergic boosters together, because it felt like I was optimizing both the left and right sides of my brain. I found you become very productive in this state. You become more precise yet creative.

(This notion of left-brain logic / right-brain intuition is a bit out of date and inaccurate these days, but I am wheeling out this out this old paradigm just to help illustrate this logic vs intuition idea).

Unfortunately since developing ME/CFS, because ME/CFS patients tend to start with such a low baseline of cognitive function, although many of the above nootropics still work for me, they no longer propel me into an optimized productive mental state that I used to achieve when healthy, but rather just help pull me up out of the "cognitive blur" or the "cognitive gutter" of ME/CFS, and towards a state of cognitive normality.


Anyway, I am very interested to see what intranasal insulin might do for the ME/CFS brain fog.




Interesting to see your blog post on the types of insulin used in these studies on intranasal insulin and cognitive enhancement.

As you probably know, insulin medications fall into different classes:

Rapid-acting insulins — take effect within 15 minutes, and last for around 4 hours. Examples: aspart (Novolog, NovoRapid), lispro (Humalog), glulisine (Apidra).

Short-acting insulins — take effect after around 45 minutes, and last for around 6 hours. Examples: regular insulin, aka: neutral insulin (Actrapid, Humulin R, Novolin R).

Intermediate-acting insulins — take effect after around 3 hours, and last for up to 14 hours. Examples: NPH insulin, aka: isophane insulin (Novolin N, Humulin N).

Long-acting insulins — take effect after around 2 to 6 hours, and last for up to 24 hours. Examples: glargine (Lantus), detemir (Levemir).

Source: Insulin Comparison Chart

My understand is that the short-acting regular insulin (brand names: Actrapid, Humulin R, Novolin R) is the same insulin as you find in the human body; whereas the other types of insulin products are in fact analogues of regular insulin, with a slightly different chemical structure that gives them a different onset of action and duration of action.

From your blog article, it looks like most studies opted for regular insulin products such as Actrapid, Humulin R, Novolin R, which are chemically identical to normal human insulin.

Though one study used the rapid-acting aspart (Novolog), one used the rapid-acting lispro (Humalog), a couple of studies used the intermediate-acting NPH insulin (Humulin N), and one used the long-acting detemir (Levemir). These are all chemical analogs of normal human insulin.

 

[Hip]

@Remy has experimented with ibudilast and galantimine.

Thanks. Found @Remy's thread here.

Also alldaychemist has insulin.

I noticed that, but the stuff ADC have in stock is a combination product called Huminsulin, which contains 30% neutral insulin (= regular human insulin) and 70% isophane insulin, which is a intermediate-acting insulin whose effects last for around 14 hours.

Still, it is a good price at $22.50 for 10 ml at 100IU/ml. And it might have more stable and longer lasting cognitive effects.

 

[Hip]

I bought some Actrapid insulin from www.buypharma1.com (one of my favorite pharmacies at the moment: fast, reliable and cheap). 15 ml of Actrapid at 100 IU/1ml costs $44, plus $14 shipping. The product comes in 5 x 3ml cartridges.

So next week I will be able to report on what intranasal insulin does for my ME/CFS brain fog.

 

[Veet]

@Hip Thank You for this insulin type info. I've been looking at it, was stymied by the types on offer....And I'll wait to hear your experiences before ordering.

 

[Hip]

Thank You for this insulin type info.

I think it would be a good idea to start experimenting with regular insulin (identical to human insulin). The $25 Novolin R insulin product that @Lostfalco is using is regular insulin, and so is the Actrapid I bought.

If this provides benefits for treating ME/CFS brain fog and mental fatigue, then later one could experiment with some of the long acting insulin analogues like glargine (Lantus) and detemir (Levemir), which last for 24 hours — a bit longer than the 6 hour duration of regular insulin.

One of the intranasal insulin studies used these long-acting insulin analogues, so presumably they are relatively safe for intranasal use. buypharma1.com supply Lantus, which is long acting.