…but the Drugs Like Me
“Twenty percent of scientists admit to using performance-enhancing prescription drugs for non-medical reasons, according to a survey released Wednesday by Nature, Britain’s top science journal.”
“Like the rise in cosmetic surgery, use of cognitive enhancers is likely to increase as bioethical and psychological concerns are overcome,” opined Nature in a commentary.
In the survey, 80 percent of all the scientists — even those who did not use these drugs — defended the right of “healthy humans” to take them as work boosters, and more than half said their use should not be restricted, even for university entrance exams. “
This brings me to the question of the day, ladies and gentlegrinders: What Nootropics do you take? I want to hear about what Smart Drugs, you, the Grinding audience regularly use or have experimented with. I’m prepping some Nootropic information for Grinding and while websites and Erowid and my slightly out-of-date personal experimentation is all well and good, too many people are just trying to sell you something when they talk about Smart Drugs, these days nothing beats real live information from active participants.
So Grinders! I want to hear about your Nootropic experiences for good or ill. The results (with credit where it is due) will help me get a better picture of what the state of the field actually is, right now. Feel free to reply here or email me at zerosociety@grinding.be — I’ll keep you anonymous if that’s what you want.
Because I want to know what works, and there’s no better way to figure that out than to ask those who are getting the results.
Coffee! (yeah, wimp.)
Can we expect an analysis of results to be posted here, Kevin?
The closest is caffeine. I didn’t even know there were others, to be honest.
Yes, I is a square. :(
Piracetam and DMAE form the core of my nootropic schedule. No doubt of the difference between days with them and without them. Placebo effect close to ruled out as when I miss the DMAE (a choline analogue), the most amazing headache in the world comes on and disappears within five minutes of taking the DMAE; happens even when I think I have taken the DMAE and then come home to find it sitting on the counter.
Combined with a light-sound machine, I can maintain a peak state for a good 8-10 hours without any discernible come down.
On top of all of this, no withdraw effects, unlike other cognitive enhancers like nicotine and caffeine.
Slightly off-topic, I highly recommend Siberian ginseng or Rhodiola rosea for anyone weight-training. A Russian study using a population of competitive speed skaters found the same strength and muscle mass gains in the group receiving Rhodiola as the group receiving steroids, both performing at a higher level than the control.
I’m another *racetam enthusiast.
I take a daily dose of Piracetam (~2400 mg with 800 mg boosters as needed), a general cognitive and memory enhancer. Piracetam is probably the golden child of Nootropics today yet is almost never mentioned in articles like the survey above. Instead, they choose to focus on amphetamines like Adderall and similarly dangerous drugs. Now, like most college students today, I’ll take an Adderall to finish a paper or the like. Piracetam, on the other hand, is comperatively safe (albeit with more unknowns) and the most dramatically effective of the daily supplement-like Nootropics that I have tried. In addition, anecdotal reports (and my own experience) indicate that Piracetam potentiates many other Nootropics (and a whole host of recreational drugs). Finally, add in its protection of the brain from damage due to oxygen deprevation (its common medical use), its legality in most of the world and how cheap it is in bulk powder form.
I supplement the Piracetam with Lecithin and DMAE to boost my levels of acetylcholine which is depleted at a faster rate by Piracetam resulting in headaches for some. I also take a variety of nutrients related to brain and nervous system function to compensate for my atrocious diet. Finally, I also take, once a day, 3 mg of hydergine (Ergoloid mesylates) which provides memory benefits but is a prescription drug in the US and many other places and thus more difficult to procure.
I’ve begun experimenting with other *racetams too. Today was my first trial of aniracetam which provides short (~2 hour) stimulant like benefits and I’ve recently ordered a quantity of oxiracetam which is supposedly very similar to Piracetam in effect but dramatically more potent by mass.
I wanted to make an addendum about where to find more information on *racetams. As a self professed transhumanist, when I first discovered them via a recreational drug forum, I was understandably excited. The thread did a great job of providing practical information on how to start a Piracetam regimen but is, unfortunately, not accessible to the general public. Erowid is a good source of scholarly and long format articles but not much practical information. Forums dedicated to intelligence enhancement and the like often have better practical information but I don’t have any specific ones to recommend. Wikipedia generally has very sparse articles on them. As for actually procuring the more readily available smart drugs, my source of choice is bulknutrition.com which sells them in dirt cheap powdered form which can be rendered as convenient as anything else with the addition of a twenty dollar capping machine.
6 Hour Power, coffee, choline, enough sleep.
Caffeine – Double americanos twice a day.
Modafinil – 4 days a week regularly, more if there are term papers like there are now.
Piracetam – Not daily, but 2 1000mg doses throughout the day, generally in a delicious smoothie.
Ginko – Every day. Who knows, it might work, and it doesn’t hurt.
Apparently the ginkgo didn’t help my typing.
Rhodiola Rosea is also helpful for psychological stress. There was an article about the herb in Science News which can be found here http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070922/bob8.asp
The stuff has some really interesting properties. I myself have used it and can vouch for the lowering of stress and anxiety, as well as the faster physical recovery from working out.
I just started taking Piracetam yesterday. I started off with an “attack dose” of 9600 mg spread out yesterday, and I’m switching to 2400 mg a day now.
I haven’t really noticed any effects yet. I’ll keep using it until my supply runs out at least.
Caffeine, Chocolate of the dark type and low doses of pulsed testosterone, as it helps cognitive and spatial function.
But I will try further substances
Also ginko, though I can’t really tell the difference. What I *can* tell the difference with is cod liver oil. Sounds horribly antequated, I know, but it’s amazing stuff. I currently take two 5ml spoonfuls at breakfast and in the evenings. My memory is better (I do a pub-quiz each week, so I’ve got a rudimentary way to measure this), my mood is consistently brighter (esp during winter – I’ve got SAD-lite) and I can process things far better.
The perfect example of this last one is that one week I’d run out, so had been off it for a few days. Went into the city centre on a Saturday afternoon, and suddenly the ease with which I normally track and analyse the movement of the crowd to pick my way through it became a massive struggle. I’d never noticed how easy I’d begun to find it until that point. Haven’t been without the stuff since. If you’re a veggie then I believe the Omega 3’s are also found in flaxseed oil.
@Cole – I’ve heard about the wonders of Rhodiola rosea. been trying to find a decent herbalist that stocks it.
@HiroPro – am curious as to the penetration of Modafinil in the College scene. has it supplemented NoDoze / Amphetamines yet?
@inVivo – can you elaborate on “pulsed testosterone”, this is new to me.
and me? i’m just on Fish Oil and Ginkgo.. but am looking into sourcing some Piracetam in the near future.
Testosterone is available as a gel. I use this to get certain levels, when I need them. It is different from depot injections, with wich one cant control the release, I am biologically female, so this what I do wont work if you are male.
Where do people get their Piracetam these days? Used it a few years ago and figured I might give it another shot, but all my bookmarks have gone dead.
@Quine: The bulknutrition.com site I mentioned above sells powdered piracetam for under $30 for a years supply and ships internationally.
@m1k3y: Modafinil is certainly not yet common amongst college students in my experience. Amphetamines are by far the most popular study pills and have all but supplanted NoDoze (at least for those not overly worried about legality). That’s not to say caffeine is not very popular, just more often in the form of energy drinks or good old coffee.
If you’re after piracetam in the UK, i’ve found some here http://www.bodytemple.co.uk/piracetam/buy/836/
scratch that, you can get the same much cheaper on ebay.
Thought you’d want to know, as a direct result of reading this post and its comments, as well as my own research in to the subject of smart drugs, I am shortly to begin experimenting myself. Please feel free to read my journal if it’s of any interest to you to monitor a ‘live test’.