# VIP

Potent vasodilating neuropeptide used in mould-illness (CIRS) protocols under a doctor.

- Page: https://peprank.xyz/peptides/vip
- Category: Immune (Research peptide)
- Also known as: vasoactive intestinal peptide; aviptadil
- Routes: Nasal / IV
- Sequence: HSDAVFTDNYTRLRKQMAVKKYLNSILN (C-amide (28 aa))
- Safety tier: Strict: Caution · Balanced: Caution · Evidence only: Caution
- Risk axes (0 none to 3 severe): Seen harm 1, Mechanism 2, Data gap 1, Silent harm 1, Product 1
- Positive: 50% of 30 graded reports glowing or positive, shrunk toward the 49% all-report average by 8 reports' weight
- Rank: #13 of 61 research peptides
- Graded reports: 30 (Glowing 6, Positive 9, Mixed 2, Nothing 4, Negative 6, Bad reaction 3)
- Evidence: Human RCTs — Aviptadil RCTs in COVID ARDS were negative; CIRS data are uncontrolled case series
- Access: Prescription (compounded)
- Onset: Flushing and warmth within minutes of a spray; CIRS users mostly report benefits after weeks to 2-5 months, often after a rough first 2-4 weeks.
- Lasts: Half-life in blood is a minute or two and the flush lasts ~10 minutes, so CIRS protocols spray up to 4 times a day for months.
- Cost per month: ≈ €36–540 (researchers' estimate)
- Dose users report: 200–500 mcg/day (median 400 mcg, n=5)
- Updated: 2026-10-30

**Why Avoid under the strict bar:** Significant cardiovascular action (vasodilation/hypotension) and broad immunomodulation; a supervised CIRS therapy, not a general-health peptide.

## What users report

In the CIRS/mould community some describe it as life-giving ('could see clearly for the first time in a decade'). Others notice nothing or say it 'helped but wasn't a cure'. Many react badly if not fully detoxed first, and some had to titrate over months while watching for low blood pressure.

**Effects:** energy and cognition in CIRS; lower inflammatory markers (CIRS); visual contrast / fog lifting (anecdotal)

**Downsides:** light-headedness; diarrhoea; flushing; needs slow titration

**Risks:** Potent vasodilator: hypotension and tachycardia; Broad immunomodulatory and secretory effects (VIPoma-like diarrhoea at high exposure)

**Typical use:** CIRS protocol: titrated up to ~50 mcg nasal several times daily, only after exposure removal and lab-guided prerequisites.

**Getting it:** US compounding pharmacies make the nasal spray on prescription from CIRS (Shoemaker) practitioners; aviptadil itself is unapproved in the US, though an aviptadil-phentolamine injection is licensed for erectile dysfunction in the UK and Scandinavia. Grey-market vials are mixed into DIY sprays.

**Stacked with:** Cholestyramine or Welchol (binders) (The Shoemaker protocol puts VIP last, after binders, MARCoNS clearance and normal MMP-9; users who start early report the worst reactions.); Vilon (A long-COVID/ME-CFS nasal-spray combo from one widely shared post; its author later said only about a quarter of those who tried it responded.); KPV, BPC-157, LL-37 and thymosin alpha-1 (Peptide-clinic gut and immune stacks for SIBO, MCAS and mould illness, in which VIP's own effect cannot be separated.)

## Risk profile

- **Seen harm 1/3:** In the 461-patient TESICO trial of IV aviptadil in COVID respiratory failure, hypotension (58% vs 41%), diarrhoea and infusion reactions were more common and the composite safety outcome trended worse (OR 1.40, not significant); the CIRS nasal series of 20 reports no significant side effects, and the first-hand reports of weeks bedridden or returning seizures are confounded by CIRS itself.
- **Mechanism 2/3:** A potent vasodilator that lowered mean arterial pressure by 5-7 mmHg during infusion, with broad secretory and immune effects (VIPoma-like diarrhoea at high exposure).
- **Data gap 1/3:** IV aviptadil has RCTs of 196 and 461 critically ill patients, and an intracavernosal combination is approved in the UK; nasal use for CIRS rests on one uncontrolled series of 20.
- **Silent harm 1/3:** Hypotension, flushing and diarrhoea appear within minutes to hours of a dose.
- **Product 1/3:** Usually a compounded prescription nasal spray within the CIRS protocol.
- **Never if:** Low blood pressure or heart disease; Pregnancy or breastfeeding (no human reproductive data)

## Top reports

- Glowing, energy: “I’ve now started full-dose VIP and the first day I was on it, I could see clearly for the first time in a decade and my personality felt like it’s been coming back! A couple days later and I have energy!!!” — [r/CIRS](https://www.reddit.com/r/CIRS/comments/1v245wy/vip_is_amazing/)
- Glowing: “Within 5 minutes I got a flushed feeling of warmth throughout my whole body and have not had a loss of circulation since.” — [r/Raynauds](https://www.reddit.com/r/Raynauds/comments/1iinlpi/vasoactive_intestinal_peptide_vip/)
- Glowing, gut, 100 mcg/day: “I've been taking it for a month and I'm finally able to start treating SIBO, as well as take things that normally make me constipated, like TUDCA, MegaIGG 2000, and activated charcoal.” — [r/SIBO](https://www.reddit.com/r/SIBO/comments/1d7u02f/vip_peptide_for_constipation_is_a_godsend/)
- Glowing, neuroprotection: “I passed vision contrast, off binders, walking 5 miles a day. I had significant atrophy so that will take awhile. Hence, stay on vip. That has been my miracle treatment.” — [r/CIRS](https://www.reddit.com/r/CIRS/comments/1hk6yxw/anyone_have_depression_or_worsening_symptoms/m5aeotp/)
- Glowing, energy, 300 mcg/day rising to 500: “It made a massive difference. Started out as just random moments here and there after dosing of mental clarity, and improved VCS also started getting reduced pain and increase in lung capacity and I can exert my body again even started jogging and going on long walks.” — [r/CIRS](https://www.reddit.com/r/CIRS/comments/1n237x9/vip_before_and_after_stories/nbszpoi/)

## Studies

- [Shoemaker et al. 2013: VIP corrects chronic inflammatory response syndrome after exposure to water-damaged buildings](https://doi.org/10.4236/health.2013.53053) (open-label, n=20, 2013): Refractory CIRS patients on nasal VIP for 18+ months reported symptoms falling to control levels and normalised C4a, TGF-beta1, VEGF and MMP-9; uncontrolled, by the protocol's own author.
- [Youssef et al. 2022: IV aviptadil in critical COVID-19 respiratory failure, 60-day RCT](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36044317/) (rct, n=196, 2022): Missed its primary endpoint (alive and free of respiratory failure at day 60); a secondary survival benefit was claimed. No drug-related serious adverse events.
- [TESICO 2023: IV aviptadil and remdesivir for COVID-19 hypoxaemic respiratory failure](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37348524/) (rct, n=461, 2023): Aviptadil did not improve recovery or survival to day 90 versus placebo (38% vs 36% died).
- [Petkov et al. 2003: VIP as a new drug for primary pulmonary hypertension](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12727925/) (open-label, n=8, 2003): Inhaled VIP lowered mean pulmonary artery pressure and raised cardiac output in eight patients, with no side effects reported; never confirmed in a controlled trial.
- [Delgado & Ganea 2013: VIP, a neuropeptide with pleiotropic immune functions](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22139413/) (review, 2013): VIP dampens innate inflammation and shifts T cells toward regulatory types in animal models of arthritis, colitis and sepsis, alongside strong vasodilation.

## Sources

- [IV aviptadil in critical COVID-19 respiratory failure: RCT (Crit Care Med 2022)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9555831/)
- [A negative trial for VIP in COVID-19 respiratory failure (Lancet Respir Med 2023)](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(23)00218-7/fulltext)