What is Picamilon?

What is Picamilon?

Picamilon, also known as pycamilon or pikamilon or in chemical terms nicotinoyl-GABA, is one of the widely used drugs. It was first synthesized by the All Union Vitamin Research Institute in 1970 in the Soviet Union. The official rights for the drug is with a pharmaceutical company in Russia as Russia is the country where this drug was first tested. Further studies were undertaken both by Russia and Japan, and now it is sold as a prescription drug in Russia. In the United States of America, picamilon is used as a dietary supplement.

Picamilon is a combination of the GABA and niacin, hence the name nicotinoyl-GABA. GABA or gamma amino butyric acid is a neurotransmitter present in the brain, which carries the neural signals from the brain to the muscle or the effector organs through the neuromuscular junction. GABA has an inhibitory effect as it lowers the muscle tone as can be seen in patients with upper motor neuron lesions where the patient has spasticity in the muscles and generally GABA derivatives are prescribed to them. Niacin or vitamin B3 belongs to an important class of vitamins that are important for the coordination of the body.  Niacin is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the skin, muscles and even promotes widening of the blood vessels. Deficiency of niacin can cause pellagra, which generally occurs in the underdeveloped, or developing countries where the prevalence of poverty, malnutrition further aggravates the niacin deficiency. The effects of both the components when combined together gives us the picamilon drug.

Benefits:

• It is an excellent drug to cross the blood-brain barrier. The picamilon drug has significant effects on disorders of the brain wherein the cerebral blood flow has been disturbed such as the cerebral ischaemia.
• It has a significant effect on lowering the blood pressure due to increase in the blow flow to the brain which causes the disturbed neural signals to normalize once the cerebral blood flow has been restored.
• In psychological conditions, such as depression, anxiety or senile psychosis, it has shown good results. The picamilon has shown to have tranquillising and stimulating effects but unlike, other tranquillizers it does not induce drowsiness, muscle relaxation or lethargy.
• Picamilon has shown good results in alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Chronic alcoholics have been able to overcome the urge by the intake of the picamilon.
• Due to the niacin component, which is a potent vasodilator, and the ability of the picamilon to cross the blood-brain barrier at an effective rate, it is also used in the treatment of the migraine headaches.
• Other uses are when there is any kind of craniocerebral trauma, which causes increased cerebral bleeding. At this time as picamilon can cross the blood-brain barrier at a faster rate in comparison to other drugs, such as the papaverine, nialamide and complamin, it can restore the integrity of the cerebral tissues and prevent its further deterioration.

Picamilon is generally prescribed in 0.01gms, 0. 02gms and 0.05 gms of tablets and has a useful shelf life of about three years.

My Review

My first time trying Picamilon yielded results akin to what I would expect from a mild GABA inhibitory drug. I swallowed one capsule, and after about 45 minutes, felt more alert yet relaxed at the same time (similar to a nicotine nootropic), and overall, had a diminished sense of social anxiety, atop much more self-confidence when conversing with others. I later would research to find this is because of an increase in GABA receptors in the brain, and of picamilon’s mechanisom of action-it blocks excitatory neurotransmitters to help relax you, ie: clearer thinking, less anxiety, better social skills.

Final Thoughts

Picamilon is a great drug for the long term in those suffering from anxiety, anyone who is looking for a mild-moderate cognitive boost, and overall anyone who would like to improve their social skills long term by improving self confidence, and eradicating fear. We have picamilon available here in our nootropics store!