Medical use
Both ephedrine and pseudoephedrine increase blood pressure and act as bronchodilators, with pseudoephedrine having considerably less effect.Ephedrine may decrease motion sickness, but it has mainly been used to decrease the sedating effects of other medications used for motion sickness.Ephedrine is also found to have quick and long-lasting responsiveness in congenital myasthenic syndrome in early childhood and also even in the adults with a novel COLQ mutation. Weight loss
Ephedrine promotes modest short-term weight loss, specifically fat loss, but its long-term effects are unknown. In mice, ephedrine is known to stimulate thermogenesis in the brown adipose tissue, but because adult humans have only small amounts of brown fat, thermogenesis is assumed  to take place mostly in the skeletal muscle. Ephedrine also decreases gastric emptying. Methylxanthines such as caffeine and theophylline have a synergistic effect with ephedrine with respect to weight loss. This led to creation and marketing of compound products. One of them, known as the ECA stack, contains ephedrine with caffeine and aspirin. It is a popular supplement taken by bodybuilders seeking to cut body fat before a competition. Recreational use
As a phenethylamine, ephedrine has a similar chemical structure to amphetamines and is a methamphetamine analogue having the methamphetamine structure with a hydroxyl group at the β position. Because of ephedrines structural similarity to methamphetamine, it can be used to create methamphetamine using chemical reduction in which ephedrines hydroxyl group is removed; this has made ephedrine a highly sought-after chemical precursor in the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine.
The authors conclude that current evidence does not show a benefit of either intravenous or oral corticosteroids for rate of recovery of vision (in terms of visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, or visual fields). There are a number of reasons why this might be the case. Epidemiology
Optic neuritis typically affects young adults ranging from 18–45 years of age, with a mean age of 30–35 years. There is a strong female predominance. The annual incidence is approximately 5/100,000, with a prevalence estimated to be 115/100,000. Society and culture
In Charles Dickens Bleak House, the main character, Esther Summerville, has a transient episode of visual loss, the symptoms of which  are also seen in people who have optic neuritis. Legal historian Sir William Searle Holdsworth, suggested that the events in Bleak House took place in 1827. In an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman ("Season of Miracles", season five), Reverend Timothy Johnson is struck blind by optic neuritis on Christmas Day 1872. He remains blind for the duration of the series. See also
Optic neuropathy
Visual snow

References


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