22 replies to this topic

[fight4life]

Hey board,

Interesting to note that I went on ginkgo biloba and Piracetam about 6 months ago to see how it could help my speech problems. Now, I don't stutter, but I do tend to misspronounce words frequently, have a hard time starting sentences just getting the words out, getting speech to flow out, and can slur my words. This is actually genetic because I see my dad do the same exact things constantly. When it happens, it makes me come across as this insecure guy, know what I mean? So, I went on Piracetam + ginkgo and they both took away this about 80% of the time, but not to the point where I was able to flow out of my head when I am just ON and in the zone. I stopped taking Piracetam + ginkgo because classes are over and the speech problems are coming out.

I know that most of your speech production comes from Broca's area in the frontal lobe of the brain. If you want a cool picture/tutorial of this: http://www.ship.edu/...peechbrain.html

My question is, are there any nootropics that specifically help speech production, moreso than piracetam? I'm open to all suggestions.

Thanks

[mrak1979]

Interesting ... piracetam makes me more articulate and the right words come easier. What dose were you taking? I'm also interested to see if there is anything that has a similar effect on verbal ability.

[mrak1979]

Hmm.... so what are the symptoms of low dopamine levels?

[dkulesh]

why dont you find out what dopamine does and then take a wild guess, genius.

[fight4life]

I take Adderall on occasion and it doesn't really enhance my speach. I just took some Piracetam today after talking horribly all day long... basically, I talked to every single person in the bar sober... great times.

Edited by zoolander, 20 December 2006 - 09:45 AM.

[garethnelsonuk]

Have you considered speech therapy?

[stephenszpak]

fight4life

Have you ruled out all B complex defecincies, especially B12?

-Stephen

[garethnelsonuk]

The first thing to consider for speech problems would be to contact a speech therapist and get a few sessions with them. I received years of speech therapy when I was younger and would not be able to talk today without it - the improvements in speech from therapy with a professional are amazing.

It would be quite unusual to have a B complex defiency that only affected speech, so it makes sense if bad speech is the only symptom to treat it as a simple speech disorder and get the standard treatment for it.

[stephenszpak]

The first thing to consider for speech problems would be to contact a speech therapist and get a few sessions with them. I received years of speech therapy when I was younger and would not be able to talk today without it - the improvements in speech from therapy with a professional are amazing.

It would be quite unusual to have a B complex defiency that only affected speech, so it makes sense if bad speech is the only symptom to treat it as a simple speech disorder and get the standard treatment for it.

The B complex stuff is probably not the solution. This is hereditary though.
Anyway found this quickly:

Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin)

Deficiency symptoms are very slow to appear, taking as long as five years to manifest. They include...
...speech problems...

http://www.roex.com/...andminerals.htm

-Stephen

[mrak1979]

Dkulesh, i'm just trying to contribute to the forum and the flow of conversation as your "important suggestion" suggests. No need to be hater.

[dkulesh]

sorry i just thought by your "hmm", comment that you were somehow doubting my condition, was that not your implication? my apologies if i was mistaken. ... i had anxiety, debilitating social phobias, mild depression, and the stuttering i think was due to this as well, because it ended when i was put on meds.

[mrak1979]

no worries, misunderstandings happen all the time. What meds helped you, because I have similar problems.

[dkulesh]

the meds that helped me: abilify, great mood stabilizer, but it only worked for me when in combination with zoloft and lamictal, lamictal is also a mood stabilizer(officailly a siezure med) but it also has a slight anti-depressant effect. also meditation worked well as a compliment to the meds. about an hour a day and it basically takes some of the stress off naturally and will give you a temporary mood lift. (obviously great for concentration as well) . a lot of the social phobia related problems were helped by just talking about them to my shrink and realizing how irrational they were, cognitive therapy. hope this helps.

[phernandez]

Check this out . I'm not saying you have autism, but I used to have some speech impediments as a child, and I keep DMG on hand. TMG breaks down into DMG, so just buy some cheap TMG (trimethylglycine) which is also known as betaine or "betaine anhydrous". Take TMG with meals you will be astounded at how well you are able to digest. People should be taking these instead of rolaids. Good luck!

[phernandez]

the forum cut out my external link X-P < www dot autismwebsite dot com / ari / newsletter / dmg2 dot htm >

[garethnelsonuk]

Please do not rely on ARI for unbiased information. Look at an unbiased source before taking anything.

[garethnelsonuk]

fight4life - are you suffering any other symptoms of B12 or other vitamin deficiency?

If not, I would recommend you see a speech therapist. The difference is truly amazing and lasts for a lot longer than any nootropic or supplement can.

[mitkat]

I had (have?) a stuttering problem of sorts. I used to stutter like mad as a child (as I remember it), and a bit as a teen, but it's rare that you'll hear me do it if I'm not tired, hyper-excited, drunk, or altered by some force.

I looked to piracetam for a possible long-term solution to this problem, but alas, I found it to do nothing for me. A high quality fish oil has done me proper, and I do not stutter as much either way now - yes, actual objective opinions of other people, although the problem has been decreasing as I grow older.

I'll have to lay down the usual, a quality multi - containing b-vitamins and fish oil. Also, consider talking to a speech-language pathologist if it's getting ya down.

[synicus]

Of possible interest, Pyritinol:

http://www.pyritinol...ourettes-18.htm

[garethnelsonuk]

If you aren't already taking a decent multivitamin, B complex and fish oil then do so. That would be good advice for anyone regardless of conditions. For speech specifically though if there are no other significant symptoms then it would be quite logical to see a speech therapist.

Personally, I would not be able to talk today without the speech therapy I had as a child.

[fight4life]

Thanks for the advice everybody. garethnelsonuk, you bring up a good point. The problem is not that bad. I only slur/stutter my words 20% of the time and it is all due to a sense of nervousness. As in, there is a slight hint of nervousness and then it comes out. To give you an example, I was playing beach football yesterday and I approached two girls to join us. I told them they looked bored and carried on a normal conversation. The only thing that happened that was quite noticeable was that I said "we got a football game going on over there" but it came out sounding like "we got a fball game going on over there." Get that? Football came out soundinglike "fball." That and it was hard getting out the whole word "associates" when I was talking to a friend about his associates degree.

What helps me a lot is just going slower in pronuciation, even if it sounds like its overly slow, I can still use my hands/body language to be congruent with it. By the way, I'm one of the healthiest guys. I cook 100% of my food, eat 6 times a day (cook 42 meals on Sundays) take a good multi, fish oil pills, etc etc. I don't think vit B is the issue but I will take some later. By the way, B vitamins should be injected from my research because vitamin B pills are horribly absorbed by the stomach.

I think the best thing is to hit it from all angles. As in, biologically with piracetam, etc etc. Also, hit it psychologically by learning to talk slower, pronounce things clearer, project my voice better, and just practice practice practice.

Feel free to add any more. I'm reading up on the pyritinol now.

[garethnelsonuk]

Taking piracetam etc can't hurt (in most cases), but seeing a speech therapist will help you identify exact issues.

I hate to make a diagnosis of someone i've never met with my obvious bias (see my avatar) but have you considered aspergers? The fact you mention nervousness around girls is somewhat stereotypical.

www.thegeeksyndrome.com < take a look here and do the test if you're interested (I should declare my bias here as well as this site was designed by myself and my wife).

[outsider]

In my experience aniracetam works much better for speech improvement than piracetam.

With aniracetam I can clearly see speech improvement (as well as cognitive). And it improve dopamine metabolism and it is known too have a calming effect.

Now for Pyritinol:

"The journal Alzheimer's Research (2/3 1996) reported on a double-blind study conducted in the United States in which pyritinol was compared to Hydergine and placebo (a dummy treatment) in treating 100 patients with Alzheimer's disease. Two measures of cognitive function were used to assess treatment effects.
[...]
Particularly impressive was the superiority of pyritinol in the factor 'social behavior."