My dosage schedule so far: 1/26 started NSI-189 5mg 2x, 1/30 7mg 2x, 2/1 10mg 2x, 2/10 15mg x2, 2/16 40mg 2x
Some things I've noticed:
I noticed a significant increase in hunger. Before I was only eating one meal a day (intermittent fasting) and not really feeling any particular hunger until then. Now I'm up to two, although I still keep them within an 8 hour period. Loss of appetite, food tasting bland, is a common symptom of significant depression, although I don't know what the mechanism of action is. Cortisol could be effecting this as well.
I've also noticed that it causes me to wake up much earlier than usual. For a time after starting I would wake up feeling sweaty and somewhat anxious, which I suspect was from a cortisol rebound:
https://en.wikipedia...kening_response
IIRC it was recently found to significantly reduce cortisol (commonly referred to as a stress hormone) levels, which was found to be the determining factor for whether subjects were responders. IIRC about half of those with (major) depression were found to hyper-secrete cortisol. Other conditions, such as anxiety, which has a high cormobidity with depression, and I suspect autism spectrum disorders, due to an enhanced fear response, which may be in part due to differences in the amygdala and the effect of memory formation and conditioning from negative events, and anxiety being a common part of it (there seems to be a deficit in the GABAergic system and an imbalance between glutamate and GABA). I have all three.
I also recently noticed the hypomanic effect after strenuous exercise, which I had experienced consistently before after heavy weight lifting sessions when I was using it over a year ago. IIRC in rats the greatest period of neurogenesis was found to occur during periods of highest physical activity. It was after a strenuous 5-6 hour hiking session in a regional park, with much of it very off trail (rough), and steep climbs. Should have been exhausted afterward, but I experienced a very noticeable boost in physical and cognitive energy that lasted about 4-5 hours. I was even able to run back and forth part of the way between a train station and grocery store, on the way back with a backpack loaded with food and some gear, and more food in a reusable grocery bag under the other arm, then running part of the way home after that as well, making good time on all. Energy continued at home.
One last thing I noticed after leaving Tilden park, starting from when I was in Downtown Berkeley, was that I could smell things! I noted before that I seemed to have an unusually weak sense of taste and smell, and this may be reversing. It was the scent of flowers I noticed multiple times while walking, and food. It was definitely a marked change, I hadn't noticed how dulled my sense of smell had become. As I mentioned before, loss of appetite, food tasting bland, is a common symptom of significant depression, although I don't know what the mechanism of action is, and taste is strongly tied to smell.