Gee, I do wish I had some more of those characteristics.
But, it isn't that way. My heart is truer than it ever was, and more stable; yet when emotion which has true and valid roots in rationality presents, its power is more evident than before.
In short, I woke up. In a society of sleepwalkers, it was an amazing thing to slowly over the course of over a year, come to find out that my senses and sense that had been diminshed by ageing and numerous other abuses were returning, except even better than they were at their best many years ago!
Today I'm starting the build process on a new machine I invented while awakening from sleep four days ago
Manias of all kinds are, above all else, characterized by mood elevations and other changes that are unsustainable and detrimental to the physical organism. Whether induced by drugs or internal dysfunctions, they are like depression degradation processes that damage the organism, or are a result of damage to the organism.
In contrast, the increase in mental functionality I've experienced since starting piracetam over a year ago, has been one building block per day. An absolutely precise step-up each day, like a kind of stairway to heaven. Rather than being inherently dysfunctional or dysregulatory, my efficiency and function have become more regular and consistent. Never once has the cyclicity of various manic/depressive disorders presented, and neither has the crash which inevitably results from the use of drugs or other practices that deplete energy reserves or metabolic capacity - often mitochondrial.
Furthermore, fundamental improvements in sleep, dreaming, memory consolidation, writing, integrative thinking, and planning have become more obvious by the day. It's hard to even compare my capacities today to those before starting the regimen.
I now write long blog posts and forum articles on a variety of topics of interest every few days, while before it was every few months, as just one small example.
Another effect I noticed is that everyone I see and interact with seems to be slowing down. Like slugs they seem to be becoming dumber and slower with each passing day. I spend a bit more time being frustrated with their slowness, their lack of systemic, global and comprehensive cognition, etc. Some time ago, I was one of those dullards too.
Sleepwalking through life.
Now I'm walking in my dreams through many lives, into many places new & fascinating. The steady lift continues, more subtle than before, but consolidating gains made over time into a new synthesis, a new being with better fundamental function than before.
That is what I call true health, and I hope that everyone can achieve it through the dedication necessary to maintain a steady regime without interruption or sabotage by factors which decrease or destroy the value of nootropics.
Some of the biggest nootropic sabotage factors I've seen so far:
1. taking alcohol/caffeine/amphetamines/other stimulants
2. not taking enough piracetam (saturation dose recommended: 4g+ every 3 hours all day)
3. not taking a dose right before bed to enjoy the higher sleep quality and waking clarity (maintains stimulant-on-awakening addiction).
4. irregular dosing (skipping or late on doses)
Combining irregular dosing, underdosing, concomitant stimulants and the result is little or no benefit, or suboptimal benefit for most nootropics, especially piracetam. Caffeine use causes a crash/tiredness cycle which prevents the true value of piracetam from ever becoming evident.
The reason this is so, is because piracetam is not a stimulant. Instead it is a regenerative. But if the brain is constantly drained by stimulants/alcohol, the slow stepwise regen cycle of piracetam won't ever really get anywhere. That's because even with piracetam, stimulants produce too much cumulative damage to the metabolic and other machinery of the brain, faster than it can recover. It's a losing game for the user in the end.
With mitochondrial machinery overused, too many receptors destroyed and what receptors remain desensitized, adrenal function compromised, the helping hand that nootropics provide is blunted and eventually becomes worthless or even worse: by partially refunctionalizing certain systems, it reveals the destruction of others when they naturally attempt to co-activate, causing negative symptoms.
It's like a boat full of holes; piracetam may slowly pump water out, but it's easy to overwhelm its small yet cumulative effect by drilling holes with caffeine, etc.
Edited by Isochroma, 21 November 2009 - 01:17 AM.
