72 replies to this topic

[abelard lindsay]

After I started taking Benagene I got severe stress headaches when lifting at the gym. This disappeared after I stopped. C60 made my Kidneys hurt. I suspect it caused me to chelate something that messed with my kidneys, as other people seem to love it. Yohimbine made me feel like I was going to have a heart attack for a couple of hours.

[jly1986]

4 weeks of large doses of Noopept (~100mg/day) and Lucidril (500mg) caused a lot of adverse effects for me: joint pain, depression, headaches, muscle spasms/twitching (especially eyelids), red eyes, inability to focus, dizziness, loss of balance, chemical taste.

Then I took a 1 week break, and the adverse effects went away. The only one that lingered was a really bad tasting chemical smell that would always be in my mouth. The closest thing it reminded me of was the taste of chlorine in my mouth and lungs after an exhausting workout swimming laps in the pool. It tasted like toxic chemicals were leaching out from storage in my body. I thought it would go away with more time, but it actually grew stronger and stronger as the days went by.

I'm back on my regiment again, but now only taking ~5mg/day Noopept and ~50mg/day Lucidril, and substantially less adverse effects. Chemical taste in the mouth/breath is still strong, though. But it seems a reasonable price to pay for the boost in mental motivation and energy I'm enjoying.

Edited by jly1986, 04 June 2013 - 02:13 AM.

[goobicii]

once I bought centrum multivitamin..... I was noob lol

[Raptor87]

Dmae= dissociation, hyperactivity, impaired cognition. Good for cleaning the house and weightlloss.

Ginseng= thats fucking migraine in a bottle, I become sick even when thinking about it.

[alan.r]

5-hour energy drink. In context, I am 48 and a recreational/competitive cyclist. For about three years when I was heading out on a hard ride, I'd take a 5-hour energy drink for a boost. It seemed to help, or the caffiene did at least.

Until last year when I did poorly in the end of season races, feeling sickly and just "not right". Recreational rides also felt lousy - when I took a 5-hour energy. It made physical efforts difficult and made the recovery period difficult as well. Anyway, now I swore them off and have had no trouble at all. Still pissed that a performance supplement would make me slower...but physiologies differ I suppose. I avoid caffeine entirely now.

And - nicotine. Which almost goes without saying, but it commonly used for its cognitive effects. As I was finishing college a few years back I was dependent on it as a mental stimulant, most particularly using it (smoking) while writing a large final theoretical piece. Once that was done I quit, and found that the withdrawal period was long and difficult, as far as mental depression. A year to get back to a good natural level.

Which was about as I expected...but going back to that paper, which was full of complex argument and long chains of reasoning, re-reading it I found that it was also riddled with logical errors, ommissions of fact and insufficiently supported statements, such that the whole thing needed reworked (for my own sake, at that point).

Now I find a particular type of reasoning to be evident in the smokers mind, such that it relies more on forceful statement rather than evidence, and that it deflects challenges with clever evasion or emotional appeal. Which is a most obnoxious set of habits to observe in another, once recognized, but entirely obnoxious to find in oneself. I blame the nicotine, and its characteristic effect on the brain's operation.

[alan.r]

I am still blown away by the popular concession of creatine as a harmless cognitive/muscular booster even though there are personal accounts from reliable sources and some research of its deleterious effects on the hair. It's likely that the bodybuilding bros and their aggressive marketing campaign makes everyone think this is an outlier effect, while I think it may be very real.

Are there any more testimonies re: creatine?

I've used creatine to good effect on "test days", and to get through finals. I don't recall dosage, but something like a teaspoon mixed in with yogurt the night before a big-stress test day was the regimin. The goal was to enhance focus and overall mental clarity. It always seemed to work, or at least there were never any negative effects.

At some early point reading about it I came across the advice that continued use was of no benefit; that it was one of those things you could take for a boost, but that the body would become aclimated (and it would become ineffective) if it was taken regularly, so I never did.

[alecnevsky]

I am still blown away by the popular concession of creatine as a harmless cognitive/muscular booster even though there are personal accounts from reliable sources and some research of its deleterious effects on the hair. It's likely that the bodybuilding bros and their aggressive marketing campaign makes everyone think this is an outlier effect, while I think it may be very real.

Are there any more testimonies re: creatine?

I've used creatine to good effect on "test days", and to get through finals. I don't recall dosage, but something like a teaspoon mixed in with yogurt the night before a big-stress test day was the regimin. The goal was to enhance focus and overall mental clarity. It always seemed to work, or at least there were never any negative effects.

At some early point reading about it I came across the advice that continued use was of no benefit; that it was one of those things you could take for a boost, but that the body would become aclimated (and it would become ineffective) if it was taken regularly, so I never did.

Ah. Interesting thanks. I think I am going to hold off on it. I think I get enough from the meats I eat. Hair health kind of trumps the muscle concerns.

[gt35r]

It would have to be sulbutiamine.

It caused severe drowisness. Could not take it for more than 2 days. The effect(s) began within a few hours.

[sthira]

Well, that taught me the hard lesson that supplements all suck. Basically everything I ever bought since then that wasn't original medication or manufactured by a pharmacy with really elaborate quality certificates was either ineffective or impure, or both. Especially (disguised) China bulk powders. From what I read, the majority of people go for those and I wonder how many are actually poisoning themselves and having the effects just by the power of belief.

Its exactly like drain cleaners (in Europe): they used to actually clean drains but not anymore, because they are supposed to be environmentally friendly or whatever argument to make manufacturing cheaper. Now people are so used to it, they know nothing else, and buy the shit anyway. Just like it would actually work. They are unaware of how crappy the product actually is. Its insane if you think about it.

I agree with you. But I wonder how much evidence there is for this position. Since nothing is regulated or standardized we really don't know one way or another. Maybe taking X supplement is harmless, maybe beneficial, or maybe harmful. No one knows. No one knows what they're taking. Yet we pretend we do. It's a strange world.

[ben121314]

25 to 75mg a day. I took it in a formulation with "FRAC" which is supposed to increase absorption; seemed to work.

[deeptrance]

Yohimbine is nightmarish for me. Definitely gets the job done with respect to getting my subordinate to stand at attention, but that's of no use because the tension, anxiety, and racing feeling overwhelms any interest I may have had in sex. I break out in cold sweats, I tremble, my blood pressure goes sky high... and all this occurs at a dose that is 1/4 of what is considered "normal."

St. John's Wort causes some bizarre responses in me, I've only taken it 3 or 4 times in my life because it was just too intense; anxiety, trembling, disorientation, dysphoria. I'm hypersensitive to SSRIs and once experienced serotonin syndrome after taking a starter dose of citalopram for a week, so maybe it's the SRI effects of SJW that gets to me.

Sunifiram led to a hyperactive glutamatergic condition that persisted for several days after I stopped taking the stuff. Initially the effects were very interesting and appealing but it went downhill fast, eventually leading to insomnia, non-stop agitation, ringing in ears, disorientation, depersonalization, and auditory distortions.

...supplements all suck. Basically everything I ever bought since then that wasn't original medication or manufactured by a pharmacy with really elaborate quality certificates was either ineffective or impure, or both.

I agree with you. But I wonder how much evidence there is for this position. Since nothing is regulated or standardized we really don't know one way or another. Maybe taking X supplement is harmless, maybe beneficial, or maybe harmful. No one knows. No one knows what they're taking. Yet we pretend we do. It's a strange world.

You can be fairly confident in what you're taking if you purchase from companies that regularly test for product quality, strength, and purity. I've found the bulk powders to be more reliable than bottled, capsuled products sold by companies who invest all their resources in packaging, marketing, and websites full of bullshit hype. I had far less success with supplements back in the days when I'd go to a store like GNC or purchase them from discount multi-brand online discounters. It's a pain in the ass to get reliable product information but if you want to try quality product then it's worth the effort.

Aolministrator, your experiences with ginkgo may have been due to ginkgolic acid, which is toxin that can cause severe allergic reactions. If you're extremely sensitive to this then it's unlikely you'd respond well to ANY ginkgo product, but if not then you might not have a problem with an extract that has an extremely low level of this chemical. Any company that sells ginkgo should be able to tell you how much ginkgolic acid is in their extract and provide evidence for this.

[Loveycat]

Gingko gave me awful headaches and nightmares. (several years ago) This seems like a shame, it seems to help so many people.

[Loveycat]

... 1 more to add... Ephedra tea. I used it for quite awhile. It was great for losing weight and for energy, but very easy to take too much and overdose.
Before it became banned in the state I lived in at the time (Ca.) I had a few pounds stored for the coming years.

Soon after that I had a horrible anxiety attack. I threw it all in the trash.