116 replies to this topic

[FrequencyX]

I noticed absolutely nothing when taking Vinpo, cognitive or otherwise.

[KimberCT]

Vinpocetine seems like it may have potential use for folks with cognitive problems (brain fog) due to anxiety.

i'll throw my personal experience in and say that it has the exact opposite effect.  if anything, the revamped metabolization of dopamine and pro-depressant qualities of it only go to make anxiety worse.

Social anxiety I assume?

[Pike]

Vinpocetine seems like it may have potential use for folks with cognitive problems (brain fog) due to anxiety.

i'll throw my personal experience in and say that it has the exact opposite effect. if anything, the revamped metabolization of dopamine and pro-depressant qualities of it only go to make anxiety worse.

Social anxiety I assume?

not at all. actually, i was relatively anxiety free at the time when i really gave vinpocetine a chance. but during that vinpocetine trial, i became very antisocial and developed social anxiety. it went away when i threw it out.

[Kemal Whyte]

Good thread to read. I was considering using this in my blends but does not seem worth it at all.

[SuperjackDid_]

Lift up from Piracetam fog , no notice any bad side effect yet , going to try this for brain blood flow a week and back to Piracetam ,safe ?

Effect is so good compare to Piracetam ,for glucose /oxygen /blood flow ,help my anxiety while off Piracetam ,but not sure about safety a week use .

[MrHappy]

Anxiety with this supplement likely relates to increasing neural bloodflow. It's likely not going to cause anxiety in most people. It can be very useful in treating tinnitus, also.

[Synaptik]

Tried vinpocitine, and didn't notice anything. Like zero effect. This is odd because I'm sensitive to almost all supplements in small doses. But vinpo and ginkgo - nothing at all. I have been using ginkgo for 10+ years everyday as my antioxidant of choice however.

[smithx]

It can be very useful in treating tinnitus, also.

That's why I started taking it, and it has really helped with tinnitus.

If vinpocetine is inadvisable, is there something else which would help with tinnitus?

[MrHappy]

Everyone is different. Stick with whatever works for you.

[magta39]

Possible substitute for vinpo's blood flow benefits is Bacopa:
Bacopa monnieri Increases Cerebral Blood Flow in Rat Independent of Blood Pressure.

Kamkaew N, Norman Scholfield C, Ingkaninan K, Taepavarapruk N, Chootip K.
Source

Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Science, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, 65000, Thailand; Academy of Science, Nakhonratchasima College, Nakhonratchasima, 30000, Thailand.
Abstract

Bacopa monnieri (L.) Wettst. (Brahmi in India and Thailand) is an ayurvedic dementia treatment, but its effect on cerebral blood flow (CBF) is still unknown. We sought to test its chronic and acute effects on CBF compared with Ginkgo biloba and donepezil. CBF was measured by laser Doppler from rat cerebral cortex after 8 weeks of daily oral dosing of these drugs. Systolic blood pressure was also measured using the tail cuff method or via arterial cannulation. In rats treated with B. monnieri (40 mg/kg), CBF was 25% increased [2927 ± 123 perfusion units, (PU)] compared with shams (2337 ± 217 PU, p < 0.05, nine rats). G. biloba (60 mg/kg) also increased CBF (by 29% to 3019 ± 208 PU, p < 0.05, nine rats). No clear effect was obtained with donepezil (1 mg/kg). Chronic administration of the preparations had no effect on blood pressure. In contrast, intravenous acute infusion of these herbals (20-60 mg/kg) had marked dose-dependent hypotensive actions (diastolic ~31 mmHg lower with 40 mg/kg of either extract), which correspondingly reduced CBF by ~15%. Likewise, CBF fell slightly with acute intravenous sodium nitroprusside and rose with noradrenaline. Donepezil (1 mg/kg) was slightly hypotensive without affecting CBF. Increased CBF with B. monnieri may account for its reported procognitive effect, and its further exploration as an alternative nootropic drug is worthwhile. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[stevep229]

Can agwoods study be found anywhere? I am very curious as to what its contents has to say. I have limited access with my phone, so i can not see whether or not his post has an attachment. Recently purchased vinpo for nearly 4$, and 4$ is worth appeasing my curiosity.

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[Climactic]

In defense of vinpocetine, I must say that it is known to be a potent anti-inflammatory, and this is good for the body and the brain. From http://en.wikipedia....ammatory_action :

Vinpocetine has been identified as a novel anti-inflammatory agent.^[5][6] Vinpocetine inhibits the up-regulation of NF-κB by TNFα in various cell tests. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction also shows that it reduced the TNFα-induced expression of the mRNA of proinflammatory molecules such as interleukin-1 beta, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1(VCAM-1). In mice, vinpocetine reduced lipopolysaccharide inoculation induced polymorphonuclear neutrophil infiltration into the lung.^[5][6]Neuroinflammatory processes can result in neuronal death in Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It has been suggested that "it would be interesting to test whether vinpocetine’s antiinflammatory properties would have a protective effect in models of neurodegenerative conditions such as AD and PD."^[6]

I have been on 30mg vinpocetine once daily for a few months now. While my mood has gone down during this time, this may also be due to other personal factors. I will stop vinpocetine for the next two months. If there is no subjective improvement in my baseline mental functions in these two months, I will see no harm in resuming vinpocetine for its known positive effects.

Edited by Climactic, 22 September 2012 - 03:09 AM.

[Mr. Pink]

i remember this thread from a long time ago. it freaked me out, and i went off vinpo and no changes for the better were observed. so i've been back on it for a while now. i notice increased bloodflow and better mood being on it. i have a dopeamine related depressive condition, so i would notice it if it was negatively effecting dopeamine or interfering with the action of wellbutrin.

[CIMN]

i dont think vinpocetine is bad, it seems it could be used to up regulate receptors.

[Brendo]

The half life of reserpine is 11 DAYS!

The half life of Vinpocetine is 2-3hours.

Theres still alot of assumption in that study saying the effects of Vinpocetine are Reserpine like and not enough proof.

and even if it is correct... Its like comparing chocolate to methamphetamine!!

[Climactic]

i've been back on it for a while now. i notice increased bloodflow and better mood being on it. i have a dopeamine related depressive condition, so i would notice it if it was negatively effecting dopeamine or interfering with the action of wellbutrin.

You never mentioned your dose. People may take 2.5-40 mg - this is a wide range. By the way, it's spelled dopamine, not dopeamine.

[Mr. Pink]

i've been back on it for a while now. i notice increased bloodflow and better mood being on it. i have a dopeamine related depressive condition, so i would notice it if it was negatively effecting dopeamine or interfering with the action of wellbutrin.

You never mentioned your dose. People may take 2.5-40 mg - this is a wide range. By the way, it's spelled dopamine, not dopeamine.

10-20mg a day

thanks, luckily I spelled it right on an essay question on the test I had last week regarding parkinsons disease

[donnie_d]

With the title and 75% of the start of the thread telling me to dump it then a final few coming back in defence has anyone continued with its use or abstinence.

[Climactic]

has anyone continued with its use

I use it at 30 mg once daily, and I am not depressed or demotivated. I am not terribly happy either - I may be about a 5/10 on the happiness scale - this might be close to average. I may have preferred an extended-release formulation if one was available. Vinpocetine is one of the few PDE inhibitor based nootropics I know of. I remind myself that I take it also for its anti-inflammatory effects. I'm unsure of whether to continue or discontinue it.

Edited by Climactic, 02 March 2013 - 05:58 PM.

[Strelok]

Yea, I'm trying to decide if I want to take some vinpocetine that I've had on hand. I also have some ginkgo that I just started taking, and am thinking it'd be a bit risky to take both concurrently.

[smithx]

I would use it again if the tinnitus I had returned. A few months of vinpocetine use got rid of it almost entirely.

[rasgyle]

Enhanced my tinnitus. Have had tinnitus for at least a decade, probably much longer. Took a long time to narrow down that the vinpocetine was causing 30 minute to hour long ringing episodes and orthostatic hypotension. I thought it was a major turn for the worse. Stopped vinpocetine 10mg daily. 10 days later in November 2012 began the long stillness, when the excision of these horrific half hour to all hour special ringing episodes came to pass, and the orthostatic hypotension was exiled. The terror came to an abrupt halt. But I still had the original degree of tinnitus attacks, I estimate, previous to taking vinpocetine. Suffice it to say, there were attacks, but like a boisterous kitten comparatively. In January, I began replacement of vinpocetine with ginko biloba extract, which stopped all tinnitus attacks altogether, perhaps permanently. I haven't had any at all at any time since early January. Either this is profoundly good fortune, or I think GB--for me--is the real tinnitus cure.

Edited by rasgyle, 04 March 2013 - 05:59 AM.

[donnie_d]

Thanks for the updates all, best luck with the tinnitus battle.

I think I may leave my stock in the back of my drawer and grab some ginkgo instead.

Thanks again for taking the time to post.

Edited by donnie_d, 04 March 2013 - 06:48 AM.

[Climactic]

I think I may leave my stock in the back of my drawer

This is odd because vinpocetine is often used as a treatment for tinnitus. A simple search of Google Scholar for these terms yields multiple articles of interest with proof of action. Also, I take 30 mg and I don't have tinnitus. Of course, I feel for the previous poster, but that experience is in no way automatically generalizable, nor is mine. Tinnitus is probably multifactorial and demanding a simple solution seems overoptimistic. All the best.

[donnie_d]

Thanks for the updates all, best luck with the tinnitus battle.

I think I may leave my stock in the back of my drawer and grab some ginkgo instead.

Thanks again for taking the time to post.

Just to clarify I don't have tinnitus, I am just reviewing the contents of my stack.

to date I haven't had any negative or overly positive experiences.

until this post was happily stacking it.

[mindmeld]

I started taking a nootropic called Neurostim recently (which contains Vinpocetine). Within a few days, my mood dropped, anxiety increased and I was irritable.

I should add that I take 20mg Citalopram (SSRI Antidepressant) daily and I thought It was due to a bad interaction between the two, however, upon reading this thread I think it was the Vinpocetine.

I planned to purchase AlphaBrain from Onnit, but see that contains Vinpocetine too (albeit less than Neurostim).

Now i'm not sure which Nootropic to purchase and running out of time (I'm a University student and have lots of work/exams coming up).

Any advice/tips? Also should I steer clear of Nootropics due to my 20mg Citalopram daily intake? I will be coming off them in the summer as I am no longer depressed.

[alecnevsky]

There may be something to this. I've experienced rather sluggish spatial working memory on my cambridgeciences benchmarks while on modafinil and vinpo. (Note: I usually experience the opposite on modafinil alone. ) D'oh! So vinpo works like reserpine and reserpine impairs spatial working memory. Good enough for me to stop taking it. Cai JX, Ma YY, Xu L, Hu XT. "Reserpine impairs spatial working memory performance in monkeys: reversal by the alpha 2-adrenergic agonist clonidine." Brain Research 1993 Jun 18;614(1-2):191-6. [abstract]


Ginko + Vinpo increasing WM performance. Not sure what's going on. Has anyone read anything about vinpo on WM particularly visuo-spatial?

Edited by alecnevsky, 18 March 2013 - 05:13 PM.

[magta39]

To experience only the positive effects of vinpo, mood and mental clarity, try using it sparingly. Try only taking 5mgs once every 3 or 4 days.

[overfocused]

So there seams to be no final conclusion here?, a quick search through pubmed has not caused me any further alarm.

I am having a good effect on mental clarity and memory of 10mg bid, although I do seam to have developed some sugar cravings on it. However the title of this thread made me wonder if I should ditch or perhaps cycle it.

Edited by overfocused, 15 July 2013 - 11:56 AM.

[magta39]

Right now I am cycling everything these days....I might do CiLTEP stack for 2 days, then one day of galantamine, then piracetam/high choline, etc. I think that is the safest bet to avoid tolerance and other issues.