Nootropics Mega-Thread

[Lynnel]

@Rilles  Ginkgo (And Radhiola also) can have a MAOI effect. Keep that in mind when using them.

@pluto I understand your idea about organic extract that are based on plants (e.g. radhiola) but how would you check the quality of synthetic compounds since they're supposed to be all the same ?

Edited November 23, 2018 by Lynnel

[Shqipe]

I use Sulbutiamine with great results - it's good to restore thiamine levels in the brain, which gets depleted if you eat a lot of pasta.

Then:

• Huperzine a
• Lions Mane
• Alpha GPC
• Bacopa
• Kratom
• Krill Oil
• NAC
• Tyrosine
• Ashwagandha
• Rhodiola Rosea
• Tribulus
• Magnesium Threonate - Good to fill up your brains magnesium levels
• Noopept

 

[Lynnel]

@moon777light  What brand did you purchase ?

You can always "risk" it and take chlorella or another chellator later to see if you feel better.

Also I've been wondering how reliable is consumerslab for opinions for instance ? Finding good nootropics brands seems to be a hassle.

Edited November 24, 2018 by Lynnel

[Pythagoras]

My thoughts on Noots after about 4 years of exploration:

1. Remember noots tend to treat people differently from one another.  This is one reason they're not as mainstream, as, say, aspirin.  I will give examples for myself that differ from most.

2. Build your stack one noot at a time.  Use other peoples' stacks as a reference, but don't take all new things at once.  Take the time to learn about each one, whether it should be cycled, proper dosage, vendors that have a good price and low contamination and side effects.  Often vendors sell noots in inappropriate dosages!  I've seen it in L-Theanin, gingko and Melatonin.  Also, don't ignore side effects.  Some noots are demonstrated to work, but have the potential to cause problems.  It's not worth it.

Along the same lines, don't buy those mixtures of noots.  What are the chances they're in the right proportions for you?  Look up their ingredients and try them out on your own to find your proper dosage.

3. Here are some key sources to learn from:

1. examine.org    Collects research about many chemicals including nootropics.  Before you buy something, read its page in full.
2. labdoor.com    Tests various brands of nootropics and supplements.  Don't overpay or buy contaminated stuff
3. r/nootropics    This subreddit is frequented by very bright people on the cutting edge.  Please spend a long time lurking and looking at old posts to see your question has been answered before posting.  Most of the users are experts trying to figure out how things work biologically and don't want to answer noobie questions unless you have already exhausted other sources.  So, please read-only for as long as possible.

4. Give yourself time to build your stack.  Your body and mind may not be able to handle certain noots in its current state.  As stated elsewhere, don't even bother with noots until you have a regular meditation and physical exercise practice going.  Your sleep/caffeine habits should also be completely in check.  Finally, get your eating habits top-notch.  Still eating sugar, dairy and meat?  Move away from that and onto greens, grains and beans.  Think like a dancer: you need to have good motion before you add speed.  Just getting your heart rate into the exercise zone for 10 minutes a day will do so much for you!

For example, one noot, say gingko, might help you with your memory.  Learn everything you can from it before adding, say, a racetam, that makes you more intelligent.  Spend a few weeks with it, then a few weeks without, then with and compare notes.  I highly recommend a journal.  Realize it's not just the substance, it's the whole system (stage yellow!) of you, the substance and your environment.  What works during a rough part in your life might not work now.  These substances aren't simple "upgrades."  They all work differently.  Some are upgrades, but others are antagonists, prompting your body to strengthen itself.  Others are regulators, some are unknown!  And some won't work right if your body can't handle it due to lack of nutrients or weak circulation.

5. I've stressed that our bodies are individual.  Let me tell you about differences between me and the majority of others:

1. Almost everyone loves L-theanine, but I've found it makes me super impatient and anxious.  It's hard for me to believe others say it makes them relaxed, ha!  But that's biology.  I keep trying smaller doses, but it always gives me a grumpy day.
2. Racetams: Leo said to avoid them, but I say try them out.  Absolutely vital is that you have a source of choline with them, or you may get bad headaches.  CDP choline isn't enough for me, so I take Alpha GPC.  One interesting surprise I had with racetams:  I wanted to use them to get better at differential equations.  Instead, I found they leveled up my emotional intelligence!  After about six months of increasing my empathy, I got more comfortable, learned to love myself a little more and then was able to get deeper into the math.  Noopept in particular gave me deep emotional understanding of others, although it's short-lived.  Meanwhile, Phenylpiracetam, one that is generally the most potent, has little effect on me.
3. Modafinal:  as they say, you have to sleep some time.  Personally, I don't take it multiple days in a row.  It is potent as hell, especially arma, but it does interfere with my sleep.  When I take it, I find I have to go to sleep right on time that night, at 10-11pm.  If I miss that window I'll be up until 3am.  And I find the effects last well into the next day.  At the end of the second day, I experience tiredness like you wouldn't believe!  I have to drop everything around me and take care of myself by sleeping!
4. Bacopa:  I used to not be able to take it. It hurt my stomach, but after a few years of improving my health overall, I tolerate it well and it removes quite a bit of brainfog.

6. Once again, about nutrition:  Look into Vitamin D.  Most doctors test you annually for it and the U.S. is chronically low.  D is a steroid hormone which makes hundreds of other systems work properly in your body.  Most people are badly deficient in it and also fiber.  So take care of your basic nutritional needs and your noots will work much better.  Don't think you can noot yourself out of bad nutrition, because you'll just burn yourself out faster. 

Edited November 26, 2018 by Pythagoras

[Leo Gura]

@Pythagoras Nice!

Solid advice

[Harikrishnan]

Took Modalert 100 from sunpharma today morning 2hrs in and i can see my mind is quiet but still am running here and there without focus am not concentrating on anything. I had my cup of spirulina and 2 spoons of peanut butter and 4 rotti. Before taking the pill.  I didnt eat too much. Maybe i need to clean up my diet little more. Or is it sunpharama pill just a below average pill compared to american pill. (10 pills cost me only 1.86 USD)

[Sahil Pandit]

@Harikrishnan You ate FOUR Rotis and you say you didn't eat too much?! 

[ZZZZ]

20 hours ago, Harikrishnan said:

Took Modalert 100 from sunpharma today morning 2hrs in and i can see my mind is quiet but still am running here and there without focus am not concentrating on anything. I had my cup of spirulina and 2 spoons of peanut butter and 4 rotti. Before taking the pill.  I didnt eat too much. Maybe i need to clean up my diet little more. Or is it sunpharama pill just a below average pill compared to american pill. (10 pills cost me only 1.86 USD)

Is that modafinil? Take 200 mg next time (or 150 on an empty stomach) just so you can better pick up on the effects for when you dose lower in the future. They can be very subtle, and they probably should be at proper doses. Don't over think it.

[Harikrishnan]

2 hours ago, ZZZZ said:

Is that modafinil? Take 200 mg next time (or 150 on an empty stomach) just so you can better pick up on the effects for when you dose lower in the future. They can be very subtle, and they probably should be at proper doses. Don't over think it.

Yes modafinil. I will try that next week after having solo journey and musroom trip.

[lmfao]

Just typing up this post as a brief "trip report" on armodafinil because its worked well for me.

Today's my first time trying armodafinil (I've never done modafinil) and I took a 150mg tablet about 8 hours ago. I took roughly 45-60 mins to kick in. The drug really does change your mental state. I felt a massive boost in concentration and also a subtle boost in motivation. It seems to have an effect on speed of cognition as well it seems. 

On a whim, I decided to clean my bathroom, bedroom and do my laundry. My bathroom and room were hella dirty and messy but it only took me 2 hours to clean it because I was focused and efficient. It would have normally taken me 3-4 hours to do what I did. 

Armodafinil is extremely potent and hence quite drastically changed my state of consciousness, so I find it hard to articulate how it has felt so far. One thing that I have found interesting is that I was experiencing a paradox between concentration/focus and monkey mind. Monkey mind in regards to negative feelings and thoughts were actually reduced, but monkey mind in regards to random shit was increased . Like I have this one song playing over and over again in my mind slightly louder than usual. Despite this monkey mind there is still intense focus. 

And wow, meditation was interesting for me. I meditated for 80 mins instead of 45 mins because it felt like time just zoomed by really quickly when meditating. 

Anyone who's established a routine of meditation, self inquiry, yoga and etc will have a common set of feelings/energies they notice in their body coming up in their practice over and over again. When I started meditation today, I noticed the "energy" (emotions and feelings) in the different parts of my body to be very different. There wasn't much pain and negativity in the start of my session (compared to normal). It felt like my body was overflowing with this cool, refreshing, neutral energy. Its like there's this subtle, cool refreshing energy which is constantly present in my experience from the drug. 

Meditation felt harder in some ways because my feelings, sensations and emotions were so unfamiliar to me that I didn't know what to do. I was getting lost in monkey mind for a decent chunk of time.  It got to a point where when I detected a familiar flavour of pain that I've encountered many times in previous sessions, I felt relieved because the flavour was familiar and it gave me the sense that I was in more familiar territory. The drug had already partially accomplished some of what I normally get after meditating. But since the essence of meditation never changes no matter what state of consciousness you're in, I was able to go as deep as I normally do and perhaps possibly deeper. 

2 hours after taking the drug I was starting to feel overwhelmed for 10-15 minutes. It was like I was overloaded with "restless" energy. I simultaneously had racing thoughts and good concentration, it felt very paradoxical. However, I quickly overcame the negative feelings I had and it feels great. Meditation has muted the monkey mind to a degree. There was an acute sense of single mindedness in any task I was doing and I entered flow in cleaning my room and washing dishes.

 

I've never even touched psychedelics, so I'm curious about how they compare in intensity to armodafinil. 

Edited November 29, 2018 by lmfao

[Sahil Pandit]

@lmfao This is exciting news! 

[Leo Gura]

@lmfao Next time take half the dose. A whole pill is too much. It will be to stimulating for most cases. But 1/2 or 1/4th is just right.

Try combining it with L-Theanine which should reduce the monkey mind.

1 whole pill of Armodafinil is like not even 1/20th as strong as a mild dose of psychedelic.

A decent dose of psychedelic will literally melt the walls of your room.

A decent dose of 5-MeO will make you forget you or your life ever existed. You will expand to fill the entire universe.

[lmfao]

@Leo Gura

5 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

@lmfao Next time take half the dose. A whole pill is too much. It will be to stimulating for most cases. But 1/2 or 1/4th is just right.

Try combining it with L-Theanine which should reduce the monkey mind.

1 whole pill of Armodafinil is like not even 1/20th as strong as a mild dose of psychedelic.

A decent dose of psychedelic will literally melt the walls of your room.

A decent dose of 5-MeO will make you forget you or your life ever existed. You will expand to fill the entire universe.

Yeah taking a full pill was hella potent. It's just not stable to take large doses frequently. Next time imma just do a tame 1/2 pill. I found the exacerbated monkey mind in conjunction with focus to be interesting. 

But amazingly enough, even after 18 hours of taking the pill and staying awake with armodafinil in my system I had lots of focus and concentration in my university lecture despite my sleepiness. 

And psychedelics sound fun. 

Edited November 29, 2018 by lmfao

[lmfao]

@Sahil Pandit

10 hours ago, Sahil Pandit said:

@lmfao This is exciting news! 

Thank you my brother

[ZZZZ]

I've been acing all of my exams since taking the afinils. Largely due to a change in my goals/motivation, but the extra alertness and additional "useful" hours I get at the end of each day have been undeniably helpful. 

 

Edit: just dont ignore your sleep. I can even nap on the stuff if I'm deprived at all. However, I am an easy sleeper 

Edited November 29, 2018 by ZZZZ

[thehero]

I'm takin lions mane but I dont feel shit 

[John Iverson]

On 10/22/2018 at 3:00 AM, Joseph Maynor said:

This is my current stack of cognitive supplements: (I take these every day)

Rhodiola
Huperzine A
Ginko Biloba
L-Tyrosine
L-Tryptophan
5-HTP
PQQ 
Choline
Bacopa
Glucuronolactone
Inositol
Alpha GPC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nootropic

Haha that's plenty ,you take it now for how long ? how are you right now , i want to know the long term 

[Sahil Pandit]

Day 1: L-Theanine + Caffeine

Only been about 2.5 hours since administering.

Pretty clear mental clarity and focus.

Felt a slight headache for the first 15 minutes upon intake.

Will create a 30 day report and post at the end of December.  

[Charlotte]

On 26/11/2018 at 9:08 PM, Pythagoras said:

Don't think you can noot yourself out of bad nutrition, because you'll just burn yourself out faster. 

This is brilliant advice. 

@Rilles did you use your "uh hum"... Colon cleansers?

@moon777light how did you get on with the lions main?

I carried on using it and found the same results so I didn't update as there was not much change. 

I did use it on a day I had a big test in college and found myself more grounded and not getting worked up at all when I came across a mind boggling question. I'll continue to use it. 

[John Iverson]

5 hours ago, Sahil Pandit said:

Day 1: L-Theanine + Caffeine

Only been about 2.5 hours since administering.

Pretty clear mental clarity and focus.

Felt a slight headache for the first 15 minutes upon intake.

Will create a 30 day report and post at the end of December.  

Make also report L theanine w/o caffeine pleace

i bought  huperzine a online ..delivery is on december 21 - january 4 2019 i am excited haha