# ACE inhibitors for anxiety/depression?



## crayzyMed (Nov 2, 2006)

ACE inhibitors or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, are a group of pharmaceuticals that are used primarily in treatment of hypertension and congestive heart failure, in some cases as the drugs of first choice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACE_inhibitor

Ace inhibitors are widely used and not too hard to get.



> Titre du document / Document title
> The brain renin-angiotensin system : A target for novel antidepressants and anxiolytics
> Auteur(s) / Author(s)
> GARD Paul R. (1) ;
> ...


Not only for anxiety and depression, but also potential as nootropic:


> Effects of ACE-inhibitors on learning
> and memory processes in rats
> by
> Nikolova JG, Getova DP, Nikolov FP.
> ...





> Abstract The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors captopril and enalapril and the nootropic piracetam reduced the amnesiogenic effects of cerebral electroshock treatment in mice. These compounds also directly improved passive-avoidance learning if administered before the learning trial. When given immediately after the learning trial, captopril and piracetam were active, but not enalapril. Captopril, but neither enalapril nor piracetam, facilitated memory retrieval after a 2-month retention interval. Unlike those of piracetam, the memory-improving effects of captopril and enalapril are not established by aldosterone-receptor blockade, suggesting that the two types of drug act via different mechanisms of action.


And more good news:
http://www.theheart.org/article/988381.do


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## mikoy (Aug 12, 2010)

I will try some ACE inhibitor for my raynaud's/vasoconstriction. Maybe it will work for anxiety?


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## crayzyMed (Nov 2, 2006)

mikoy said:


> I will try some ACE inhibitor for my raynaud's/vasoconstriction. Maybe it will work for anxiety?


Try candesartan first, its a damn good anxiolytic, if that doesnt work well go to ACE inhibitors or ARB blockers that activiate the ppargamma lipophylic pathways, they lack most of the anxiolytic effects tough because ppargamma inhibits angiotensin II.


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## hughfam (May 31, 2013)

*Lisinopril and anxiety reduction*

I have recently (2 weeks) been switched from a beta blocker to an Ace inhibitor (Lisinopril). I have had a very dramatic reduction in my anxiety. It seems the beta blocker worsened my anxiety and over the last 2 weeks on Lisinopril it has improved dramatically. I have a very long history dealing with social issues, and a bipolar diagnoses without any kind of success from typical treatments. I have been more stable now than at any time I can remember.


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## hughfam (May 31, 2013)

hughfam said:


> I have recently (2 weeks) been switched from a beta blocker to an Ace inhibitor (Lisinopril)for hyper tension. I have had a very dramatic reduction in my anxiety. It seems the beta blocker worsened my anxiety and over the last 2 weeks on Lisinopril it has improved dramatically. I have a very long history dealing with social issues, and a bipolar diagnoses without any kind of success from typical treatments. I have been more stable now than at any time I can remember.


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## ricca91 (Mar 11, 2012)

Very interesting! I would like to know more about this and hear more experiences!


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

I wanna try losartan the ARB. There ton's of positive studies on that one. It's good for cancer, memory, sexual dysfunction, muscle atrophy. It even good to reduce hyperactivity apparently.


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## drquinnrivet (Oct 15, 2014)

*ACEI for depression and anxiety*

Hello , i just joined this forum as I was looking for information with regards to ACE inhibitors and antideppresion and/or anxiety and came across this forum.

To be honest I didn't really see my social anxiety until it was alleviated by taking enalapril, an ACE inhibitor. After only taking 10 mg per day for 2 days then decreasing it to 5mg due to a slight headache for the past day it seems as though I have my life back! I have no worrying, no fear of crowds and actually feel like going out and meeting people again and best of all my constant thinking of the past and being sad/guilty about certain things seems to be going away, I feel a relief!!

So why did I take it to begin with ? I study something called the superoxide molecule and it seems to be a unifying mechanism for a lot of diseases especially hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, neurodegenertive disease, etc. One enzyme that really increases the superoxide is an enzyme called NADPH oxidase which is amplified by, among others, angiotensin II. So I though I'd try a bit of an ACE inhibitor (decreases ang II) because of its strong antioxidant affect. I am normotensive so I started at 10mg for 2 days then went to 5mg and holy smokes I feel great, like pressure is off my shoulders.

I have lived and have gone through a lot of stress in the past 6 years and found my self to be hypersensitive to external influences so i just isolated myself from the world and stayed out of peoples karmic wheel so to speak. Now i feel like I'm ready for a girlfriend again after only 3 days on this drug, how wonderful. So I started looking into AngII and it's influence on the brain and wow what interesting science with regards to the influence of Ang II on the brain.

OK so I don't want to go on but if anyone is interested I can share the links I have found and my thoughts on what the mechanismmay be and open up a new though on a different type of depression/anxiety due to high levels of AngII i.e. stress/pressure depression.

All the best and thanks for this forum!
Quinn


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