37 replies to this topic

[stablemind]

Thanks mentatpsi for your research posts. I've been taking 800 mg Piracetam for about 14 months now. The first 3 months I was on it, I took 800 mg in the morning with 250mg alphaGPC. I noticed I was a lot more alert and motivated to get work done. However, months 3-10 I didn't notice any effect, and took breaks from it on the weekends, and at 1 point took a week off from it completely. I noticed no gain when resuming it. Months 11-12 I started having horrible headaches, which was from the AlphaGPC and stopped when I switched to CDP Choline. Starting at month 13, I noticed my extreme short term memory was great for small tasks (like brain games that use memorization of numbers in a 4x4 grid). However, my everyday useful memory was horrible, and still is, even since I stopped taking piracetam and cdp choline 2 weeks ago. Before I took piracetam, I could remember 5 tasks I needed to accomplish throughout the day. Now, 14 months later, I can remember 1-2 at most, and MUST write the other 3 down or I will forget. These are things as simple as remembering to pay a bill or call someone back. These aren't things that happen occasionally, these happen daily now.

Conclusion: When I first took piracetam, I was a huge fan of it. Now that I have taken it for 14 months, I want to warn other people from making the same mistake I did. It still might be useful for short periods of time, but in my case, long term use has HARMFUL effects.

Do you cultivate distractions? If you routinely work on multiple tasks without focusing on one thing for more than 20 or 30 minutes, or if your day is full of interruptions, maybe you've trained your mind to operate in a distracted state. There's a study referenced in another thread, too, with the finding that piracetam made ADD worse.

Are you serious? What's the link? From what I've read piracetam is used to treat adhd.

[student123]

racingmind, for the first 3 months I felt a little more social than usual, but after that it didn't change me. Conversationally it didn't change things except I found I stuttered a little less when starting sentences. I should have also included more about me: I'm 25, athletic (8% bodyfat) and am an undergrad. I started taking it as an ADD alternative (I have moderate ADD-I and stimulants give me hangovers when they wear off).

Also, here some links to studies done on piracetam and ADHD directly from mentatpsi's post:

[5] Effect of Piracetam on attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder
[6] Therapeutic efficacy of nootropil different doses in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
[8] The Effect Of Piractam in the development of Attentional Disturbances; Hyperactivity and absent-mindedness in children with Developmental Retardation

neuromancer, I don't think my environment is that distracting. Just lectures can get really dry, and its frustrating when I talk to other students in the class that understood everything being said, while I retain maybe 10% of it at most. I also process things slower, so while the professor is explaining how algorithm C works, I just understood algorithm A and am 2 topics behind.

I'd really like to hear any successes of nootropics that positively changed ADD or processing speed (that are safe of course, don't want liver or kidney's shutting down after 5 years because I took it for a month).

[stablemind]

racingmind, for the first 3 months I felt a little more social than usual, but after that it didn't change me. Conversationally it didn't change things except I found I stuttered a little less when starting sentences. I should have also included more about me: I'm 25, athletic (8% bodyfat) and am an undergrad. I started taking it as an ADD alternative (I have moderate ADD-I and stimulants give me hangovers when they wear off).

Also, here some links to studies done on piracetam and ADHD directly from mentatpsi's post:

[5] Effect of Piracetam on attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder
[6] Therapeutic efficacy of nootropil different doses in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
[8] The Effect Of Piractam in the development of Attentional Disturbances; Hyperactivity and absent-mindedness in children with Developmental Retardation

neuromancer, I don't think my environment is that distracting. Just lectures can get really dry, and its frustrating when I talk to other students in the class that understood everything being said, while I retain maybe 10% of it at most. I also process things slower, so while the professor is explaining how algorithm C works, I just understood algorithm A and am 2 topics behind.

I'd really like to hear any successes of nootropics that positively changed ADD or processing speed (that are safe of course, don't want liver or kidney's shutting down after 5 years because I took it for a month).

Damn I just bought piracetam and choline, and I was about to add that to my regimen. I guess I really have to be more careful when ingesting these types of cognitive boosting supplements... I have severe ADHD and I've found B-vitamins as well as fish oil to be crucial. I've recently discovered that I may be undermethylating , which is why I'm so slow at times. At first I thought it may be sluggish cognitive tempo, but no one really responds as well as I do so I'm doubtful. Are you sure that you are worse off than before you started piracetam? Perhaps this isnt' the best solution for ADHD.

[hooter]

I think the mistake most people make is taking choline with their piracetam and taking doses that are far too low. I really doubt it makes you worse once you are off it. Remember that piracetam gets stronger as you take it, so the nootropic effect now is more pronounced than when you began.

I've had every single problem described in these threads at one point or another and all of them have been solved by dropping choline, taking fish oil at the same time as piracetam and increasing the dose. You can easily bump your daily piracetam dose up to 10-15g.

I've read lots of posts with this sort of spooky fright, but where's the data?

I intend to take it forever. If long-term use of a nootropic that has been shown to be safe in 500+ studies makes me dumb then I'll appreciate the irony and put on a paper hat. If there was that much evidence for intelligence enhancing effects of Nikolai Tesla's freeze dried dandruff, I'd be snorting that right now.

cheers

Edited by hooter, 22 January 2012 - 09:57 AM.

[hooter]

I've personally been taking piracetam for about a year or two, and it seems to be getting stronger. I have over time become somewhat resistant to the headache/gastrointestinal side effects.

Any new long term use reports?

Edited by hooter, 22 January 2012 - 01:58 PM.

[Uncle]

I hope this doesn't seem like a silly question. I was wondering about the effects of alcohol & racetams. Is it advisable to steer clear of alcohol whilst on a cycle of say Piracetam?

Is the odd tipple of say 1 or 2 drinks ok?
Are spirits worse than beer?

Or doesn't it really much at all if you drink on them?

[Googoltarian]

People I know have mixed experiences with piracetam and alcohol, some get drunk very fast and others cant reach state of complete narcosis as they would like.

I personally don`t drink alcohol, but I can add that generally piracetam enhances psychoactive substances, for example normal tea have pronounced stimulating effect on me.

I`m on piracetam for one year.

[hooter]

Piracetam and alcohol is pretty enjoyable. However drinking more than a glass of wine or two beers is going to be toxic to some degree no matter what. Don't forget it's a solvent.