Piracetam non-responders
#121
Posted 27 December 2009 - 04:02 PM
#122
Posted 27 December 2009 - 04:27 PM
Okay guys it's time to nail the question of whether quality is our problem. If an active (trustworthy) member who has already said they respond well to piracetam on this board will pay for shipping, I'll send them some of my piracetam and some of my aniracetam, and we'll see how it works for them. Isochroma, perhaps?
I personally don't think this is necessary. I have used both 1fast400, smartpowders and official pharmaceutical grade UCB piracetam and find no qualitative difference. I think that the inherent variability of piracetam's effects are mistaken for differences in quality.
If the dose is judged by eyeballing the amount of powder, dose may change when you change suppliers because sometimes the powder is more dense (because of moisture).
#123
Posted 29 December 2009 - 02:39 AM
Okay guys it's time to nail the question of whether quality is our problem. If an active (trustworthy) member who has already said they respond well to piracetam on this board will pay for shipping, I'll send them some of my piracetam and some of my aniracetam, and we'll see how it works for them. Isochroma, perhaps?
I personally don't think this is necessary. I have used both 1fast400, smartpowders and official pharmaceutical grade UCB piracetam and find no qualitative difference. I think that the inherent variability of piracetam's effects are mistaken for differences in quality.
If the dose is judged by eyeballing the amount of powder, dose may change when you change suppliers because sometimes the powder is more dense (because of moisture).
I believe that there is probably no difference either (besides possibly levels of heavy metals and other contaminants) but this question has been raised and I want to put it to rest. I'm essentially offering free piracetam so it's not like there's anything to lose.
Dose is unimportant. If you respond well to piracetam, you respond well at pretty much any dose over 500mg. If you respond negatively, you respond negatively at pretty much any dose over 200mg.
#124
Posted 29 December 2009 - 04:03 PM
#125
Posted 29 December 2009 - 04:06 PM
Considering Isochroma had a meltdown months ago on this board and threatened to kill me and my staff, I'm not sure he'd be the best choice for an unbias opinion.
eh? haha
#126
Posted 29 December 2009 - 05:43 PM
If you look through that thread there were multiple names, including the one that STARTED the thread, that never posted again. It's obvious people are competition to me or have some personal vendetta and were posting for the sole purpose of slander. It makes me laugh. I went through this back in the day when I started 1fast/bn. Just part of it.
#127
Posted 29 December 2009 - 07:14 PM
Considering Isochroma had a meltdown months ago on this board and threatened to kill me and my staff, I'm not sure he'd be the best choice for an unbias opinion.
Why did he do that? What did he say? :/
#128
Posted 29 December 2009 - 11:55 PM
#129
Posted 30 December 2009 - 04:57 PM
He had some piracetam get stuck in customs during a holiday. They took their time releasing it. He was convinced it was all my fault. An employee marked the value lower to save on customs duty for him. He was convinced that is why it was stopped in customs, it wasn't. They released it without penalty. He blew up on the board, threaten to kill me. In the end, it turned out he had no phone so fedex had no way of contacting him. That's why it sat longer than it should have. I spent a ton of time dealing with customs and eventually finding the agent on the case. All of this was posted in the thread. On top of that, he had no paid for the item when it was shipped. So he was blowing up over something he hadn't paid for. Called me a crook, liar and someone that was stealing his soul and all types of crazy stuff. It was a metldown unlike anything I had seen. I even paid his customs/duties for the package. I eventually got payment during the process. By the end, he came to earth and acted like a normal person. He talked about suing me and all types of mess.
Wow. That's crazy. In which thread did this happen?
#130
Posted 02 January 2010 - 08:06 AM
#131
Posted 05 January 2010 - 01:37 AM
I also read awhile back about rats having their adrenal glands removed and thus causing piracetam to be ineffective.
Acantelopepope im considering supplementing with DHEA, Pregnenolone and maybe iodine, do you think this is sufficient in helping to retain piracetams effects? these are the only products available at present...Did they work for you?
Thank you
#132
Posted 06 January 2010 - 04:36 AM
But my daily routine could not facilitate alot of exercise and the cold shower wasnt causing much so I figured that my adrenal glands not producing stress hormones was the reason piracetam had lost its effect.
Could you clarify? I read your post as saying that after exercise and a cold shower you recovered positive effects of Piracetam. But the above sentence confused me. Please explain if I didn't understand, but if thats what you mean I wouldn't suggest taking DHEA or any other hormones. If you found a way to positively respond to Piracetam by all means just try to do that. It's much healthier than just taking hormones, and probably more reliable as well. There may be several other mechanisms being resolved by exercise apart from DHEA - e.g. aerobic exercise can have a tremendous modification on the acetylcholine (and acetylcholinesterase) in the brain.
That aside though have you done the pupil test post exercise?
The exercise point is a really good one though, I've been wondering about it for myself, because for the past year or so I've been really inactive. I'm pretty much healthy otherwise, weight diet etc. but this is definitely something something to consider and something missing for me. Could some more non-responders (and responders) weigh in with how active you are?
#133
Posted 06 January 2010 - 04:01 PM
Could you clarify? I read your post as saying that after exercise and a cold shower you recovered positive effects of Piracetam. But the above sentence confused me. Please explain if I didn't understand, but if thats what you mean I wouldn't suggest taking DHEA or any other hormones. If you found a way to positively respond to Piracetam by all means just try to do that. It's much healthier than just taking hormones, and probably more reliable as well. There may be several other mechanisms being resolved by exercise apart from DHEA - e.g. aerobic exercise can have a tremendous modification on the acetylcholine (and acetylcholinesterase) in the brain.
That aside though have you done the pupil test post exercise?
The exercise point is a really good one though, I've been wondering about it for myself, because for the past year or so I've been really inactive. I'm pretty much healthy otherwise, weight diet etc. but this is definitely something something to consider and something missing for me. Could some more non-responders (and responders) weigh in with how active you are?
Im sorry I didnt make that very concise let me start again, I had been taking 1 gram of piracetam even though it was yielding no positive results for about one month hoping that one day it would work, one evening I decided to go on a long run which lasted around 45 mins or so and found to my surprise the next day that after about an hour after taking the usual 1 gram of piracetam back came all the same cognitive effects and I an 100% sure that it was not placebo as im experienced with its positive effects , but because I never exercise a regular basis and the fact that I really pushed myself when I did go running, I attributed piracetam working due to the physical stress forcing my adrenal glands to work but I could be wrong I could have well been another factor that exercise influences, I didnt do the pupil test post exercise.
However I have a friend who has been taking piracetam for 2 years and he is getting great results but he doesnt exercise at all.
I decided to not take DHEA and instead take pregnenolone.
#134
Posted 11 January 2010 - 03:50 AM
#135
Posted 14 January 2010 - 06:19 AM
Just a quick update: I've given some of my piracetam/aniracetam to a couple different friends and it's been neutral responses all around. I've been reading lots of piracetam "history" as recorded in the words of forum members and a trend that I've noticed is that most of the negative responses began recently. There WAS reporting of irritability, depression, and brain fog back in mid 2008, but it was probably 90% positive response, whereas now the positive responders seem to be much scarcer. There are a number of ways to interpret this, and it may be nothing, but I've come full circle--now I can't dismiss the possibility of quality differences anymore. This is all I can say for now, but rest assured I'll be personally looking into this.
This enigmatic question has been haunting me for months now and I will get some definite answers.
On a side note, Isochroma's account has been deleted (the most vocal piracetam responder who appeared to have gone completely manic in the last few months) along with his posts. Fortunately for my research, I saved almost all his posts from early on and his piracetam-dedicated webpages (now offline) which make for fascinating reading. RIP, Isochroma. I sincerely wish you good luck.
#136
Posted 14 January 2010 - 01:35 PM
Have you tried the piracetam yet, babcock?
Just a quick update: I've given some of my piracetam/aniracetam to a couple different friends and it's been neutral responses all around. I've been reading lots of piracetam "history" as recorded in the words of forum members and a trend that I've noticed is that most of the negative responses began recently. There WAS reporting of irritability, depression, and brain fog back in mid 2008, but it was probably 90% positive response, whereas now the positive responders seem to be much scarcer. There are a number of ways to interpret this, and it may be nothing, but I've come full circle--now I can't dismiss the possibility of quality differences anymore. This is all I can say for now, but rest assured I'll be personally looking into this.
This enigmatic question has been haunting me for months now and I will get some definite answers.
On a side note, Isochroma's account has been deleted (the most vocal piracetam responder who appeared to have gone completely manic in the last few months) along with his posts. Fortunately for my research, I saved almost all his posts from early on and his piracetam-dedicated webpages (now offline) which make for fascinating reading. RIP, Isochroma. I sincerely wish you good luck.
Hey acantelopepope, Just fyi I overreacted with the test and kind of freaked out a little bit without thinking too much about it. The previous night I had partied with a few friends and had quite a few drinks. Next day( day I tested myself) I wasn't hungover but I'm sure I was dehydrated. I didn't seem to notice the dehydration all day as I only sat around and studied for a comptia certification exam I have tonight. In retrospect I'm realizing I must have been dehydrated when I did the test because I've performed it every single night this week (I've been actively making sure I'm staying hydrated at work) and every day my pupil fluctuates less. Actually the day after I performed the test the first time My pupil held for 30 secs or so without fluctuation, which from what I've read other places is the standard amount of time. Now i've been getting up to 45 secs or so and only having very minor fluctuations when it does start to fluctuate. As you've previously mentioned this test (if it works) will not work if you're dehydrated.
I also found that anchoring part of the flashlight against my face helps to keep the light steady which is actually a major factor. When the light isn't steady (even at a minor amount of unsteadiness) my eyes always fluctuate.
On another note, I'll be getting my CDP Choline tomorrow via UPS which will give me my three noot supplements I plan on taking in conjunction with each other (Piracetem, CDP Choline, Pyritinol). I will be out of town this weekend so for consistency I'm going to start the noots on Monday (1/18/2010) next week. I've been using some free online flash games to get some baseline scores for what my mind is currently able to process/remember. I have a thread about the games here. I will continue to use these games to see if I notice any improvements when I start taking the noots next week. I've got a excel file keeping track of all the data and I will also be keeping a journal of any perceptible changes in my mental state. Of course these are not measurable so that's why I'm trying to use the brain games to put a quantitative score on performance.
I'll also be regularly performing the eye test to see if I notice any changes and I'll document the results as well. I'll probably start up a thread when I get some data (~2 weeks in the future).
#137
Posted 14 January 2010 - 04:31 PM
Acantelopepope I also see someone has decided the piracetam source might be the issue. I brought some of from the original creator in order to test this a few days ago as while I am a responder the response feels unbalanced and 'dirty' compared to what it use to be.
I did the pupil test and my pupil fluctuates quite a bit.
I have Alpha GPC, 5htp and Mucuna powder, fish oil and two different sources of piracetam to experiment with over the next month or so, I also get daily exercise and eat well and hope to get some results cycling these.
#138
Posted 15 January 2010 - 03:01 AM
I bought a 500 gram tub of Primaforce brand Piracetam about nine or ten months ago after not using Piracetam for about 15 years. The Piracetam worked incredibly well for a few weeks until it stopped working and instead impaired my thinking. Since then, I have good results if I use it only once every two to four weeks. My girlfriend occasionally uses my Piracetam and always has good results.
#139
Posted 15 January 2010 - 05:28 AM
Just a scenario. But not that unbelievable, really.
Edited by acantelopepope, 15 January 2010 - 05:29 AM.
#140
Posted 15 January 2010 - 10:19 PM
Anyways, MSG and Aspartate are subjects worth being educated about regardless. I recommend anyone who is not completely satisfied with their daily health research them. There's a good youtube video about MSG here: Effects of MSG in Diet
This was an entirely non-scientific self study, but this is how I tested myself for MSG sensitivity.
1. Consume 2 packets of Ramen noodle powder (MSG one of the main ingredients)
2. Eat 1/4 bag of Doritos chips (MSG levels high)
Don't expect an immediate reaction. The next day after taking these high-MSG products I woke up groggy. My vision was blurry and there was an odd sensation of internal pressure coming from my eyes. With exercise at the gym, my muscles felt acidic (I'm in generally good condition). I felt anti-social. These effects were beyond the possibility of placebo.
It's food for thought... NPI
#141
Posted 16 January 2010 - 06:26 PM
Has anybody seen a doctor concerning their low aldesterone levels or made any further developments of its significance with Piracetam effectiveness?
Yes. I'll have my full results December 8th. So far it's established that I have an active Epstein Barr Virus, hemochromatosis, and hypothyroid... fun stuff all around, but I won't know about aldosterone or cortisol until December...
Regarding aldosterone in general, I have learned quite a lot about its biosynthesis from some monographs I got from a neuroscience professor... I've been meaning to update on here but I've had more pressing stuff to deal with...
A few quick points: serotonin is extremely important in the synthesis of aldosterone-- so it would be highly likely that those suffering from hypoaldosteronism would also have low levels of serotonin. It just so happens that piracetam also lowers serotonin levels in vivo: see John W.'s abstracts above.
Other than that, after all the people I've talked to both online and in person, I'm pretty convinced of a strong correlation between the pupil reflex test and piracetam's efficacy for many different reasons, quite a few of which I haven't shared on here... But I will say that there's every reason to believe that when these adrenal/hormonal/virus/deficiency problems are dealt with, piracetam should also work at full force. Now, sorting all those periphery issues out is less than simple.
I'd really like to see someone do more digging with google scholar about piracetam/aldosterone/serotonin connections. I'm pretty swamped with school right now, but I assure you this is not a false lead... and it would be very cool to figure out the relationship between these things.
I've started taking piracetam within the last week and am very happy with it's effects. I've been following this thread closely to try to understand the drug and how to maintain it's potency. Here's where I'm confused:
A study shows that low aldosterone negates piracetam's positive benefit.
Another study shows that low serotonin does the same.
Following other threads I've noticed that the B vitamins may be good for piracetam:
Niacin (B3) helped this guy get the effects back.
Methylcobalamin (B12) prevents excitotoxicity which may be an effect as mentioned previously in this thread of piracetam.
Following a hunch, I check to see which if any B vitamin played a role in serotonin. B6 helps to facilitate the synthesis of serotonin. On the other hand, according to this link, it lowers blood concentrations of aldosterone. So B6 supps would both help and hinder.
This is part of why I steered clear of nootropics several years ago, it seemed like a game of whack-a-mole.
Anyone with insight to help clear this up?
#142
Posted 17 January 2010 - 10:28 PM
You are definitely on the right track of research though. My personal feeling is that reducing B vitamin supplementation because B vitamins may decrease aldosterone would be silly. If you want to keep your aldosterone levels at a healthy, high level, spend at least a couple hours per day on your feet and work out with weights regularly. Don't overdose on Borage oil. Other than that, don't worry about it.
Aldosterone is crucial for piracetam's efficacy. However, I'm not so sure anymore whether it's the reason why we experience so many negative effects from piracetam. I'm leaning more towards excitotoxicity and chemical flaws in some of the batches we are supplied now. Of course, just as with most issues of this nature, the truth is probably contained within a combination of everything we've explored, in conjunction with the individual differences our bodies have and how they influence piracetam's mechanism of action.
Edited by acantelopepope, 17 January 2010 - 10:30 PM.
#143
Posted 17 January 2010 - 11:58 PM
Having turned to a host of other nootropics to try and salvage some sort of cognitive enhancement over the period of two months I consumed the following...
-Bacope=Little effect on memory and is something I will never take again as it almost made me abit delusional.
-Hydergine(4.5mg/day)=I seriously would not recommend as it caused me to almost faint and my heart to almost burst even at low doses and no cognitive effect at all.
-Tyrosine=Good for mood, no noticed cognitive effects.
-Theanine=Very nice effects, much greater patience and concentration, great for anxiety.
-DMAE=Great for like 3 weeks...then nothing, followed by brain fog.
I stopped taking these supplements for about 2 weeks and I decided to just take basic nootropics.
So I started taking
-choline bitartrate at 750mgs a day
-1 gram of omega-3
-B vitamin complex
-L-Theanine
The effects from sticking to this combination over the past week has far exceed my expectations, ive become as lucid as I was when on piracetam and my memory has significantly increased, I never thought I would get similiar piracetam effects again but this supplement regime has been perfect
#144
Posted 18 January 2010 - 12:18 AM
As it happens, your supplement regime, without the choline bitartrate, is what my research has been pointing towards.
Theanine is a promising supplement and I've read other reports of it greatly increasing the efficacy of piracetam. My suspicion is that this may be due to its function on the dopamine/serotonin CSF levels. Or perhaps more importantly, it may alleviate neurotoxicity. If you recall some of my previous posts, I've guessed that neurotoxicity may be responsible for some of the negative effects users experience while taking piracetam.
Here's an excerpt about L-Theanine:
"Research points to L-Theanine’s gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) production as the root to its inducement of relaxation. L-Theanine can increase brain GABA, dopamine, and serotonin. Reports also showed that L-Theanine can lower levels of 5-hydroxyindoles in the brain and inhibit glutamic acid excitotoxicity. L-Theanine also promotes healthy alpha wave production.
L-Theanine was discovered in 1949 as an element of Camellia sinensis, more commonly known as the tea plant. A company in Japan has recently developed a method to manufacture synthetic L-Theanine. On top of all of its positive effects, L-Theanine also has been shown to fight infections by boosting the disease fighting capacity of gamma delta T-cells."
And here's a study:
Protective effect of the green tea component, l-theanine on environmental toxins-induced neuronal cell death
Abstract
Several environmental neurotoxins and oxidative stress inducers are known to damage the nervous system and are considered major factors associated with the selective vulnerability of nigral dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease (PD). Gamma-glutamylethylamide (l-theanine), a natural glutamate analog in green tea, has been shown to exert strong anti-ischemic effect. In this study, we investigated the protective effects of l-theanine on neurotoxicity induced by PD-related neurotoxicants, rotenone and dieldrin in cultured human dopaminergic cell line, SH-SY5Y. Our initial experiments revealed that l-theanine (500 μM) attenuated both rotenone- and dieldrin-induced DNA fragmentation and apoptotic death in SH-SY5Y cells. In addition, l-theanine partially prevented both rotenone- and dieldrin-induced heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) up-regulation. Both rotenone- and dieldrin-induced down-regulation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2 (ERK1/2) phosphorylation was significantly blocked by pretreatment with l-theanine. Furthermore, pretreatment with l-theanine significantly attenuated the down-regulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) production in SH-SY5Y cells. These results suggest that l-theanine directly provide neuroprotection against PD-related neurotoxicants and may be clinically useful for preventing PD symptoms.
Finally, I want to let everyone know about an interesting result I had a few months ago by taking Phenibut powder before bed.
Knowing the risks of phenibut withdrawal, I was basically trying to knock myself out to get some solid sleep after a stressful week, so I took roughly 1.5 grams of phenibut at 10PM.
I didn't fall asleep until 4AM. My mind went into overdrive and I felt like I was on piracetam when its effects were still positive.
The next day I felt better than I had in months.
Sadly, the effect was short-lived, and since phenibut is habit-forming, I used it very sparingly after that.
The next time I used it, I had similar results, but each time my withdrawal was worse, so I eventually stopped using it and shrugged my shoulders at the inexplicable positive effects.
That's all for now. Anyone curious what's going on here yet?
#145
Posted 18 January 2010 - 01:22 AM
#146
Posted 18 January 2010 - 02:22 AM
Seriously, though, I don't believe it's logically sound to deduce that because the effects of cocaine excitotoxicity and possible piracetam excitotoxicity are not the same, that some of the negative effects people experience from piracetam are not excitotoxic in origin. What you're talking about with cocaine, when it becomes "less effective" and then you have to take more, could be explained by "tolerance" through various mechanisms. It may not be due to excitotoxicity at all, but rather excitotoxicity may just be an undesirable side-effect of cocaine over-use. Are you saying the excitotoxic effect of cocaine causes simple tolerance?
For everyone's education:
The wikipedia article on neurotoxicity: "Neurotoxicity can result from exposure to substances used in chemotherapy, radiation treatment, drug therapies, certain drug abuse, and organ transplants, as well as exposure to heavy metals, certain foods and food additives, pesticides, industrial and/or cleaning solvents, cosmetics, and some naturally occurring substances[b]. Symptoms may appear immediately after exposure or be delayed. They may include limb weakness or numbness, loss of memory, vision, and/or intellect, uncontrollable obsessive and/or compulsive behaviors, delusions, headache, cognitive and behavioral problems and sexual dysfunction."
On excitotoxicity:
"Excitotoxicity is the pathological process by which nerve cells are damaged and killed [b]by glutamate and similar substances. This occurs when receptors for the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate (glutamate receptors) such as the NMDA receptor and AMPA receptor are overactivated."
Edited by acantelopepope, 18 January 2010 - 02:25 AM.
#147
Posted 18 January 2010 - 04:10 AM
According to http://en.wikipedia....Biological_role ,"The acute oral toxicity for chromium(VI) ranges between 50 and 150 µg/kg". Depending whether the test was performed on a specific oxidation state or an average of all the oxidation states of chromium, having these levels could be a cause of premature dementia.
#148
Posted 18 January 2010 - 05:47 AM
#149
Posted 18 January 2010 - 07:57 AM
Doesn't acute oral toxicity mean taken all at once? If there were 224µg in 1000g, it would most likely be spread out over at least 4 months. Unless you're Isochroma.
I found the US EPA's maximum acceptable oral daily dose at http://www.atsdr.cdc...ofiles/tp7.html under Regulations and Advisories, Page 7, RfD. So if you weigh 90kg, the maximum daily dose would be 270ug. I still have suspicions about the product though. As far as I know, the analysis certificate could be easily changed in Photoshop or it is possible that one could pay a company to provide an illegitimate analysis certificate.
#150
Posted 18 January 2010 - 08:32 AM
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