I've read about 75% of the posts on in this thread since last year and was in the the VLK buy. Here are some reminders and my observations:
-There was no real "purity" test done on the VLK product that can be authenticated. A user named Joeyo supposedly tested it and said it "looked good", whatever that means. Another user at Longecity with access to lab equipment who was more forthcoming tested VLK and Nyles products and confirmed the spectra were nearly identical. We have their melting points. At some point in the future, if Neuralstem's NSI-189 ever comes to market, we could compare its "original" product with the data aggregated from the testing done on these bootlegged versions. Further testing on VLK's product would've been too cost prohibitive for a single person, and due to the strange nature of the VLK groupbuy, there was no CoA provided by the lab.
- There is a lab in Wuhan China that claimed to sell "NSI-189" (purity?) in bulk at very affordable prices. It's very possible all the TLRs, THT, Nutriactions of the world are sourcing their product from them for all we know.
- Looking at the published graph Neuralstem made of the results, there may be a subset of people who benefit tremendously from NSI-189, while are others had drops in depression scores fully within the range of placebos. The difference between placebo and drug at day 28 was a 5 point drop on the MADRS compared to placebo, and 4 points by day 84, although both placebo and drug were discontinued at day 28. Interestingly, the drug group had more cognitive gains compared to placebo. The most recently completed 1b trial had 18 patients on the drug at varying doses and 6 on placebo. This is a very small study and I would not over interpret it in any direction. Wait for the larger study enrolling hundreds of people in the next couple of years. The source for the data is here http://smithonstocks...id-subscribers/
- The "NSI-189" poll asking its users about their experience is probably heavily skewed toward the positive. There are people here saying it's helped them tremendously, while others say it did nothing/little or caused them a lot of anxiety. Last time I checked, the anxious/null effect people did not respond to the poll. There are also mixed reports on Reddit from people who know nothing about the Longecity poll. I would suggest caution in interpreting it, and think the most it can tell us is the list of possible side-effects, not their frequency or prevalence. Experiencing neuropathy was not due to a placebo, for instance, and I'm not lying about it.
People are free to do what they want, but I can't recommend taking the "NSI-189s" (and I will forever put the bootlegged versions in quotes until rigorously authenticated), at this point in time, for anything other than maybe a moderate-severe, treatment resistant depression, in cases when all other practical options have been exhausted. It's straight up reckless to combine it with other psychotropic pharmaceuticals. If you are only using it as a nootropic and are otherwise healthy, well, good luck, but the risk/benefit ratio just doesn't make sense to me. The substance I took from the VLK groupbuy caused me debilitating paresthesia/sunburn in my legs, arms, neck and torso which would get worse at night. This did nothing good for depression, obviously. Several months ago, the neurologist did a nerve conduction test on me and detected no significant damage, but told me it's very possible more subtle damage is there, undetected, causing the pain. Luckily, the pain and weird nerve sensations have been slowly going away since last May to the point where I no longer need neuropathic pain meds to control it. I now only get mild "heated" sensations occasionally in my legs after midnight. Perhaps in another 6 months it will be nothing but a bad memory, but it's not an experience you want to risk, believe me.
Foreseason, nerve pain is sometimes hard to tell from normal pain, and from what you described it's possible that's what you experienced. It could also be sharp, shooting or aching pains. Your experience reminds me of a user on Reddit who took another "NSI-189" bootlegged version and said he experienced terrible nerve pain after twisting his ankle or something. I don't think it lasted, but I wouldn't risk it.