816 replies to this topic

[HoldingTheFaith]

Buy it on iherb babychris!

[jetmango]

Now you sound like a salesman :D

[Babychris]

Don't worry, I was just curious about the way they choose what to commercialise and what not.

[HoldingTheFaith]

Now you sound like a salesman :D

I wish I had something to sell lol right now I am only spending the money of my parents. Pretty depressing.

For Europe I think iherb is the best. If I lived in the USA for example I would consider better/cheaper websites such as pureformulas. Living here you have your limitations regarding supplements and it is likely to get worse. In the local spanish shops supplements are usually not better than placebo, which is much higher percent than in the international, internet or anglophone market, where you still will eat many placebos sadly.

If anyone knows a better option for Europe please tell me.

Edited by HoldingTheFaith, 01 February 2014 - 12:29 AM.

[machete234]

I'm taking it from yesterday - should be nice to use it from time to time, but I would not take the risk to downregulate GABA receptors ;]

Take taurine for a weak and then stop and see if you feel anything.
Slight GABA withdrawal is often neck tension, headaches, feeling weird etc

If you dont have that then its probably not that bad even though it technically does something on the gaba receptors.
In moderation drugs working on GABA receptors can still be ok, for example quitting valerian wont give you the shakes.

[jetmango]

Don't worry I know the symptoms very well

It is very strong. It's very potent, I would say on the same level as ashwagandha - maybe even stronger? No clue.

Also for me it works really fast.

I've took it for 6 days and stopped it due to increasing stomach / intestine pain, acidic urine and so on. My GF had the same pain - starting on the right side under the ribcage, where your liver is located.
Don't know how someone can survive taking like 4 grams of it [I've took 1000mg per day] daily for a month.. it would dissolve my stomach lol.

Got slightly anxious/nervous/agressive as this is how I usually react first to GABA downregulation.

Valerian is less potent GABA than this. But yeah, moderate use should be okay if someone fancy killing it's healthy bioflora. Now I'm rebuilding it by eating probiotics. My stomach is slowly getting back to norm. Regrettably I cannot trade this in - as I don't fancy stomach/intestine pain and diarrhea [feels just like you drunk 3 liters of juice from squished lemons, yuck] - I'd give it a 'no'.

Ashwagandha is therefore better option, IMHO. And Taurine - maybe as an urgent 'anti-anxiety' drug to keep with you all the time.

Of course if you don't have sensitive stomach it might be much better then

[Jeoshua]

Well I have recieved my KSM66 in the mail, and I must say, I am impressed. Today is my third day taking the Ash, first day taking it alone (as it is an off-cycle day on the rest of my stack), so I will be exporing it's effects on it's own. So far, I feel very stable. There is a mild amount of energy that it gives, but overall I feel very smoothed out. Yesterday I smoked a bit of weed with my roommate, and it's almost like the Ash took away the negative and draining aspects of the weed high and I just sat there feeling great. Its effects work well with CILTEP too (at least, my version of the stack) by eliminating the late-day anger and emotional drain, presumably through modulation of Cortisol levels and keeping down the amount of Catchecolines that get metabolized into Adrenaline (a process helped along by Cortisol and Adrenaline, itself).

Time will tell with this supplement, but thus far I am extremely excited about Ashwagandha. I thought this would be another Ginseing. It is not. It is far better.

[HoldingTheFaith]

How much Ash are you taking Jeoshua? I think I will do at least 500 mg and we´ll see.

[Jeoshua]

250 mg of KSM66, twice daily. Once in the morning (normally with CILTEP/Luteolin), once before bed (normally with Melatonin and L-Tryptophan).

I am extremely pleased with the quality of this stuff. It is one of the few supplements I have tried that really seem to have a noticeable effect on their own, and a wholly positive one thus far. Time will tell as to whether there are any side-effects, but thus far it's looking extremely promising.

[Andrey_81]

Small update... Normally I go to bed at 11::00 - 11:30 and I get up at 5:30. This is enough for me. I always follow this routine. Last Saturday I had a visit so I stayed awake till 4:00 in the morning. The next day I slept until 11:00. I don't remember when was the last time I was awake until 4:00. I also had 2 beers and don't remember when was the last time I took alcohol. What to say... Sunday was disaster for me. The whole day I felt like I was digging mines, without energy and anxious.

Nothing helped (coffee, rhodiola, aashwagandha, taurine). OK, I was much better when I took ashwagandha but not perfect. Today I woke op normally at 5:30 but I don't feel confidence like the week before and anxiety is present. I'm sure that my second dose of ashwagandha and coffee will help but I will wait few more hours. Is it possible that such a small 'change' in hours of sleep and 2 beers can make such mess in my head???

Edited by Andrey_81, 03 February 2014 - 11:25 AM.

[jetmango]

'what goes up, must come down'

[Andrey_81]

'what goes up, must come down'

This is not something I'm experiencing for the first time, I just want to say that small 'change' in my way of living (or only few beers) can have a bad impact. I should be better in few days. For me it is better to follow good habits.

Edited by Andrey_81, 03 February 2014 - 11:26 AM.

[HoldingTheFaith]

In my experience and from what I can see in others alcohol and staying up late are destroyers. Some people seem to tolerate it better, but personally I will hardly drink ever again and once I cure my insomnia I will become the most boring person, getting to sleep early like a grandpa. A healthy grandpa!

Edited by HoldingTheFaith, 03 February 2014 - 11:44 AM.

[Andrey_81]

Good news... I took ashwagandha 20 minutes ago with coffee. All back to normal, no more anxiety and much more focused. Confidence level 8/10.

Update: it's 13:15, confidence level 10/10. Zero anxiety. I'm up again

Edited by Andrey_81, 03 February 2014 - 12:12 PM.

[Jeoshua]

Update on my 500mg a day trial of KSM66 Ashwagandha:

I had a strange experience when taking 250mg KSM66 Ashwagandha and 1g of Lion's Mane before bed. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the Ashwagandha, but last night, I twitched. I don't mean a small twitch, or a tick, or something. At first I had a little flutter in my PC muscles, then it was like a mini-seizure where my whole pelvic area tensed violently and I rose off the bed around a foot. Kind of spooked me, I've never jerked violently like that on anything before. I'll be trying that again tommorow night, without the Lion's Mane, and see if it happens again.

During the day, both with and without other substances, the quality of the feeling that I get on Ashwagandha is excellent. I struggle to describe exactly how I feel, but there is a definite feeling like some form of fog were lifted... not brain fog, but more like body fog, if that makes sense? My senses are cleaner, and when taken in conjunction with the rest of my stack, it's like life someone passed everything through photoshop and put on some kind of edge sharpening smoothing filter.

[jetmango]

In my experience and from what I can see in others alcohol and staying up late are destroyers. Some people seem to tolerate it better, but personally I will hardly drink ever again and once I cure my insomnia I will become the most boring person, getting to sleep early like a grandpa. A healthy grandpa!

whilst I can tolerate staying late easily [for me the destroyer is early waking... i'm an owl. unfortunately in our f* up society u need to be bright happy extravert who is a morning bird in order to success lol] alcohol kills me, yeah - true.

it's such a bad drug ... and from the other side almost everyone is doing it - and it's sooo socially accepted. but I'm abstaining no matter what.


'life without drinking sucks, but it sucks twice as much when u do'

[HoldingTheFaith]

'life without drinking sucks, but it sucks twice as much when u do'

LoL true! I was an avid weekend drinker from 17 to 19, getting drunk at least once per week these years and I DO miss the feeling. But I was going out with people that I really didn´t fit with and moreover I was getting drunk to counteract my social anxiety which triggered physical symptoms such as very very copious sweating. Thanks to alcohol I had some sexual experiences back then in fact. But the hangovers that I had were too much, obviously the body was telling me nope nope nope.

Getting up too early when you haven´t slept enough is a killer too. Sleep is num 1 thing for me, or at least in the top 5.

Jeoshua I tried Lion´s Mane from Fungi Perfecti and it was yet another supplement that did ZERO for me... It seems fairly popular here. Maybe it was the brand.

Andrey we are glad that you are feeling good again! Cannot wait to try Ash but WILL have to wait lol around two weeks,,, ;/

Edited by HoldingTheFaith, 03 February 2014 - 03:40 PM.

[jetmango]

same here. drinking to relax after stressful week at my stupid work [quit that one, too - one of the better decisions in my life hehe ] - which caused even more harm to my body because alcohol is a depressant. and it kills brain cells. and many many other shitty stuff. and of course it's legal. :-/

In Ireland if u r not drinking u r either on prescripton meds and u can't lol or u r weirdo.

I was going out with people who were not from my world, but we sticked together just to "not drink alone" hahaha what an absurd it was...

regarding Ashwagandha I'm waiting for the packet from Organic India. Will post a report how it relates to Himalaya and KSM-66 after some time.

[Andrey_81]

...regarding Ashwagandha I'm waiting for the packet from Organic India. Will post a report how it relates to Himalaya and KSM-66 after some time.

Organic India? This is not an extract if I'm right. It's possible that it will be much milder than extract so it's possible that you will not feel expected effect. Waiting for your report....

[jetmango]

yeah, but I've felt Himalaya one .. and I'm rather sensitive. Don't need anything too strong.

[unregistered_user]

I'm finding the Himilaya brand makes me sleepy. I wonder if I'll respond any differently to the KSM-66?

Edit: What brand of KSM-66 are people using? Nutrigold? Swanson?

Edited by semi-retarded-individual, 04 February 2014 - 01:04 AM.

[HoldingTheFaith]

They are using Nutrigold. Swanson seems to be one of those crappy brands like NOW.

[Jeoshua]

Swanson isn't bad, but pay attention to what, exactly, it says on the label. Like most companies, what they sell is exactly what is says on the tin... so if it says "Ashwagandha, 500mg", they mean a plant named Ashwagandha, ground up, at 500mg. If they don't specify which part or go into specifics, assume the cheapest possible stuff.

The KSM66 that I am taking, on the other hand, says "KSM-66^® Ashwagandha Extract, 250mg (made with certified organic ashwagandha) (Withania somnifera) (root) (standardized to minimum 5% total withanolides)"

And it seems to mean business

[Healthyfreek]

Update on my 500mg a day trial of KSM66 Ashwagandha:

I had a strange experience when taking 250mg KSM66 Ashwagandha and 1g of Lion's Mane before bed. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the Ashwagandha, but last night, I twitched. I don't mean a small twitch, or a tick, or something. At first I had a little flutter in my PC muscles, then it was like a mini-seizure where my whole pelvic area tensed violently and I rose off the bed around a foot. Kind of spooked me, I've never jerked violently like that on anything before. I'll be trying that again tommorow night, without the Lion's Mane, and see if it happens again.

During the day, both with and without other substances, the quality of the feeling that I get on Ashwagandha is excellent. I struggle to describe exactly how I feel, but there is a definite feeling like some form of fog were lifted... not brain fog, but more like body fog, if that makes sense? My senses are cleaner, and when taken in conjunction with the rest of my stack, it's like life someone passed everything through photoshop and put on some kind of edge sharpening smoothing filter.

I can relate so much to what you have typed in here in terms of effects from KSM-66 ashwaganda. I hope I do not get addicted to this herb, since I feel amazing everytime I take this. Can you please give an update about how you felt today without the Lion;s Mane? I have been having 500 mg of KSM-6 everyday. Should I try to reduce the dosage to 250 mg and see if it remains effective?

[Jeoshua]

The strange experience with the mega-twitch seems to have been a fluke. I didn't take Lion's Mane last night, no twitching. I took Lion's Mane during the day with Ash, no twitching. Honestly I'm starting to think it had nothing to do with Lion's Mane at all, or was just some kind of "saturation phase" with one of the other substances I am taking. Maybe I had too much or too little of some mineral (like Potassium, for instance) and it caused a sudden depolarization of the nerves leading to my pelvic muscles as the voltage channels opened up and renormalized. At any rate, it hasn't happened again, and coincidentally enough, the benign tremor I normally have in my hands is greatly reduced, now.

[brink]

whats the brand you're taking jeoshua?

[unregistered_user]

Those of you having success with KSM-66. can you elaborate on what you are attempting to treat and what your specific reaction is? We have seen some glowing reports but they've been somewhat scant as far as specifics go.

Are you treating anhedonia? Lethargy? Depression? Attentional problems? Emotional issues? A combination of problems? These things would be helpful to know so we can ascertain why you perceive the response to KSM-66 to be so efficacious. For instance, if you are taking the KSM-66 to treat a mood issue but others here are looking for relief of another problem, it would be helpful to know what issue in particular KSM-66 is helping to address so we can keep your results in the proper context.

[Jeoshua]

I'm taking Swanson Ultra Ultimate Ashwagandha, a KSM-66 extract. I am taking it to combat anger, due to the conversion of Dopamine into Adrenaline, which is happening at an increased rate while using CILTEP. It's working very well. I still get upset when things are upsetting, but there is not the angry emotional fight or flight reaction that I had, before.

Edited by Jeoshua, 05 February 2014 - 04:23 AM.

[Healthyfreek]

I am taking Nutrigold KSM-66 extract mainly to address sleep issue. I have this very bad habit of checking my emails through out the night as I work for a company that deals with Asian Markets. After taking KSM-66, I noticed that I started to get sound sleep. I hardly wake up once in a while to check my emails. Another noticeable effect that I felt was for my immunity. I used to fall sick often previously, but now I am less prone to flu. I wonder if there is a connection between ashwagandha and immunity, or it might also be because of me working our religiously for past few months.

[Andrey_81]

Just to share my last night experience..
I went to bed at 11:00. I was in a deep sleep when my dog woke me up. It was 3:00 am (I usually get up at 5:30). I had to get up, let the dog out and then I came back to bed. After that I couldn't sleep. My brain was thinking about the work and lot's of stupid things. When I realized that there is no chance to fall asleep I took ashwagandha and within 5 minutes I was in a deep sleep. I got up at 5:30 without any problems and I still feel great.

You have to try this if you have insomnia problems or if you wake up during the night and if you cannot fall asleep.