7 replies to this topic

[Sasha_]

Hi there,

So, I read about the benefits of DLPA, and thought about giving it a try on its own first, having in mind to introduce it to the CILTEP stack I occasionnaly take.(artichoke/forskolin)
Took 500mg with lunch, felt a nice warm happy rush within 30 min, which lasted approximately 3 hours, then felt kinda drained for the rest of the evening, and kinda "dumbed out".
Woke up this morning with that headache most nootropic users are familiar with.
So my question is, what happened ? Was it too big of a dose for a first time ?
Bad brand ?
I should precise I took in the morning before 120mg gingko + 60mg pycnogenol+ 300mg citrus bio-flavonoids. Although I don't believe any interaction could have occured with those.

Any thoughts, people ?

[DamnedOwl]

The nice warm happy rush you describe I got from the first time I took DLPA also, but it lasted most of the day for me though.

Next day I couldn't think straight.

Tried it again a week later, and that time I didn't even get the good part, and instead proceeded directly to the brain fog.

Needless to say, I haven't tried it since.

[BioFreak]

DLPA triggers dopamine release, in addition of being a precursor itself.
Here is what I think happened:
DLPA pushed dopamine out of the cell depots -> you felt good.
Next day, your depots were mostly depleted so your brain could not activate as much dopamine as necessary -> brain fog.

This is why its a good idea to combine it with tyrosine and cofactors (and l-cysteine as sulfur donor, and NAC as neuroprotectant)

[Sasha_]

wow, this is getting complicated ! What if I ditch DLPA and take L-tyrosine instead ?
Do I bypass the problem ?

[BioFreak]

The effects of tyrosine will be somewhat milder long term because it is only a precursor to l-dopa -> dopamine while DLPA also has a dopamine releasing effect. So combining both would give you stronger effects. Its a bit more complicated then that, but you get the idea.
You still need the other substances if you want to play it safe, and have long term effects.

[Sasha_]

Understood, thanks BioFreak !

[deeptrance]

DLPA triggers dopamine release

 

 

Do you have any references for this effect? I've done a lot of reading on dlpa and have never come across this assertion. What I've seen is that the d-phenylalanine has some interesting effects with respect to enkephalins and pain response, which is the main reason for my own choice of dlpa every morning at a dosage of 1 gram.

 

I experience the "warm happy rush" almost every time I take it, if I pay attention to it. It's not an overwhelming feeling, just very pleasant and relaxing in an energizing way. I have assumed that this feeling, which comes on surprisingly quickly (as little as 10 minutes), was due to some kind of stimulation of the "endogenous morphine" (endorphin) system via d-phenylalanine. I would also assume that there is no way I could experience a dopamine rush in such a short time because the l-phenylalanine has a few steps to go through before it is converted to dopamine and, in addition, I've never experienced any notable dopaminergic effect of taking l-dopa itself, or at least nothing like the warm pleasant sensations in the body that I get from dlpa.

[Peder Holdgaard Pedersen]

DLPA uses the same access channel to the brain as tryptophan. Don't take it with lunch, it will mess up your serotonin levels. Conversely, if you eat lots of sugar with a tryptophan source, amino acids get shunted into the muscles, increasing the availability of restricted access to the brain for tryptophan, raising serotonin levels - making you drowsy. You want the tryptophan going to the brain at the right level, so don't eat sugar with it unless you want to sleep, and don't eat DLPA with it at all really.

About your morning headache, serotonin is the precursor to melatonin, so low brain serotonin might have messed up your sleep.

Edited by Peder Holdgaard Pedersen, 28 September 2014 - 04:42 PM.