Greetings everyone. I've been experimenting with various nootropics since november of last year, beginning with simple choline bitartrate and inositol for very mild social anxiety, before I was even aware of what nootropics were, or that they even existed. As everyone here should, I do a lot of research on anything I put into my body before doing so, and thus stumbled upon this site in my research of choline, discovering its nootropic qualities. I quickly became enamored with nootropics, particularly the racetams, and have spend many hours every day since then in my down time researching, assimilating and digesting information regarding them.
I ordered and indulged in my first trial with piracetam in early december, after using choline with great success on its own for several weeks. The first day I tried piracetam was incredible. The fluency of my speech was off the charts, I walked and talked with great confidence, and managed to get quite a bit done. Not only did I easily start conversations with strangers but it appeared I was almost drew people in to speaking with me. Women seemed more flirtatious, men seemed to want to be my "bro". The next few days were all the same, and then I ran out of choline bitartrate. Much to my dismay the effects were greatly diminished the next day and completely ceased to make any marked difference the day after that.
I continued to dose four times a day every day for months without choline, having read that choline is not necessary for piracetam to work, and should not be required unless you experience headaches from the piracetam, which I never had. I tried a myriad of dosages in an attempt to find my sweet spot, using 4.8 predominantly prior to my experimental dosage phase. I tried dosages from 100 mg to 15 grams in one dose, titrating upward each day. At none of the dosages did I feel anything, nor did I have any adverse side effects, including even the inkling of a headache.
I tried consuming my piracetam with l-glutamate, the result of which was a lifting in mood. However, upon separating the two supplements, I could completely attribute that effect to l-glutamate and not the piracetam or a synergy between them. I took calcium supplements, a b complex, and fish oil, all together, individually and in different combinations, yielding no results each time.
Last month I moved across the US, and as such did not want to lug around large bags of supplements and powders with me, so I took a break from experimentation as I moved. After settling in I purchased and ordered a mere 100 grams of piracetam from cerebral health, and knocked back 4.8 grams. The effects set in within about 10 minutes, and were exactly the same as they had been at the start of my trial some months ago. The effects did not take hold in subsequent days.
On a hunch I went to my local vitamin shoppe and picked up a bottle of alpha gpc after several days of not using piracetam, and took 1 gram immediately. Within 10 minutes, I felt as if I was on piracetam, I felt great, confidence was through the roof, music appreciation was profound, visual saturation was awe inspiring, especially that night as I was driving. Everything looked neon, crisp and vibrant. I continued to only use alpha gpc for the next couple of days, and the effects were consistent. I took up to 4 grams a day and never had any symptoms of acetylcholine overload, such as excessive sweating, fishy body odor, headache or tension in the neck or back.
Confused as to why I wouldn't have any sort of negative reaction even after such large dosages I came to the conclusion that my natural levels of acetylcholine were low, or I had curiously overactive acetylcholinesterace, quickly flushing any excess choline I had out of my system. I looked up acute acetylcholine deficiency symptoms, and realized I matched the list of symptoms perfectly, and had for quite some time. I noticed the only times I ever dreamed were on days were I had taken choline, that I had almost had, save for in my childhood, a very dry mouth, and was never able to properly make enough saliva. I always woke up extremely groggy and with a dry mouth, despite not sleeping with my mouth open. As if I had taken an anticholinergic sleeping pill every night. And I always had horrible insomnia. Supplementing with alpha gpc, and a slightly lesser degree choline bitartrate quickly alleviated any of these symptoms and I felt almost super human.
It is well known piracetam does not actually diminish ones active levels of acetylcholine, that is not where the headache comes from for so many users. The headache I submit is from piracetam relocating large quantities of acetylcholine to a specific area in the brain, of which, I apologize, I can not remember the name of at this time, possibly the prefrontal cortex. Leaving the rest of the brain effectively starved, at least for that specific mechanism of action, and only in people that already have adequate levels of acetylcholine for there to be a marked change in brain chemistry upon the administration of choline, but not enough, and not to little to avoid a headache. Which leaves two other castes of people. People, probably like isochroma, who naturally already have a large store of acetylcholine, with no need for supplemental choline. Since they already have such high natural reserves, the effects of piracetam are highly pronounced and do not produce a headache, as the rest of the brain still has ample acetylcholine despite piracetams repositioning of it. And then there are people who are non-responders predominantly and do not get a headache because they simply do not have enough acetylcholine in their brain for there to be a marked difference in brain chemistry upon the administration of piracetam. So, at least in that particular mechanism of action, piracetam effectively does nothing for these people. Co-supplementing with choline at the same time as piracetam still does not lead to adequate levels of acetylcholine for there to be any noticable effect on a per dose basis.
To test my theory I continued to mega dose alpha gpc alone, without the accompaniment of piracetam for several more days in an attempt to continue to boost up my choline levels. Once I tried piracetam again, it worked beautifully, as I had suspected, and has continued to work. Currently i'm taking 4.8 grams of piracetam every 6 hours, accompanied by 10 grams of choline bitartrate. I realize I have only a rudimentary understanding of brain mechanics and neuropharmacology, my entire theory may be exceedingly flawed, my train of thought and logical progression was based simply upon what I observed with my own body, and may be completely biased in this respect, however since this worked for me, I wanted to go ahead and share my findings with this community. Perhaps it will work for someone else, perhaps not for the reasons I suspect it worked for me, perhaps not at all. Thank you.
Edited by dirdir207, 05 April 2012 - 04:26 PM.
