201 replies to this topic

[Godof Smallthings]

Candidatus, I am getting worried for you, it has been a long time since your last update. Is everything OK?

[Godof Smallthings]

Does anyone here know Radek, more than just from this forum?

 

The break is out of character - up until his last post, he did frequent (weekly) updates throughout his entire experiment - and now they have suddenly stopped without any kind of notice.

 

No updates on his main site either.

[VastEmptiness]

Does anyone here know Radek, more than just from this forum?

 

The break is out of character - up until his last post, he did frequent (weekly) updates throughout his entire experiment - and now they have suddenly stopped without any kind of notice.

 

No updates on his main site either.

WhatsApp shows him being online last time at 01.03. - I don't know how this is measured, but If he hasn't used his smartphone for 20 days then I'm really really worried. Anybody more contact to him than online?

[VastEmptiness]

radek responded today, seems like he's more than fine 
 Screen Shot 2015-03-27 at 16.23.02.png   24.13KB   11 downloads

Edited by VastEmptiness, 27 March 2015 - 07:31 PM.

[Candidatus]

Hey guys,

 

I´m sorry I haven´t made an update during the last few weeks. As VE posted, I´ve been very busy with my new job - had to travel abroad for training and even the job itself is very time consuming. So I had to discontinue the Cerebrolysin cycle and I even skipped some parts of my brain training routine for a while. 

 

The initial plan was to keep brain training and my blog a full time activity for at least 1 year. Obviously, I can not maintain this commitment due to time constraints but after this hectic period, I have made a resolution that I will keep (at least a better part of) my routine consistent.  

 

Many people have been asking if my brain training has any transfer effect to normal life. I had no answer but now, after a month of intense workload and inconsistency of my brain training, I know better.

 

Observations:

 

1. Some of the changes I experienced indeed seem to be (semi-)permanent. I´m calm(er) under external stress, I can focus better and I don´t experience much anxiety. Also, my critical thinking is better under stress (mostly because I can remain calm).

 

2. The effects from the first point have slowly faded during the time I have not been doing NFB training, HEG training and n-back. (and irregular meditation)

 

3. Coffee is a bitch and I feel like regular consumption makes my brain slower in the long run.

 

4. Cerebrolysin has a negative impact on verbal fluency (I´m not the first one to report this) and it speeds up habit building (both positive and negative - coffee "addiction" being one of them). It seemed to have extremely powerful synergistic effects with rigorous brain training (during the first week or so where I was still very strict) - mostly apparent during n-back and meditation.

 

5. I feel like I have some catching up to get back to the level I was on just 5 weeks ago.

 

 

So at the moment, I feel like most of my routine is/was extremely beneficial for a busy lifestyle with a lot of responsibilities and external stress. The investment (both time and money) into the training is just plain worth it.

 

First when I started with brain training and this 1 year project, I´ve done it mostly out of curiosity. Now, I´ll continue doing it out of necessity. I would like to keep min. 4 hours of mental and physical training every day. (2 hours morning + 2 hours evening)

 

Unfortunately, I won´t have time to do much research and keep up with recent studies to the degree I originally wanted but I´ll stick with my brain training and some experiments so at least, I´ll be able to share my progress. 

 

Cerebrolysin: I have to travel abroad during April so I can´t continue with Cerebrolysin cycle, but May should already be ok. I have a 6-week supply left.

 

Final words: my goal is to stay consistent and track my progress in the long run. In the beginning, I was hoping to get some mind-blowing results in 1 year and just keep the whole project interesting but now I see that it is much more important to just stay consistent, track the progress and perhaps look back after 5 years to really see the difference. So I´ll keep the monthly progress updates on my blog and post more frequently here on longecity. Hopefully, we´ll still be able to keep this thread alive and interesting 

 

 

 

 

[regan03]

Glad to see you're back!

 

Did you use an syringe filter for cerebrolysin? I noticed you've had another cerebrolysin trial in 2012, did you use a filter back then?

 

I'm willing to start a cerebrolysin cycle in a few weeks and from what I've read everybody is recommending to use a filter. Is it mandatory? The problem is that there are no filters for sale in my country. I've asked my physician whether it's safe to do this without a filter and he told me there's no need to worry since the vial is designed to be safe enough to not allow micro glass fragments to get into your body through IM. I mention that I have never done an injection to myself.

 

PS: I hope you'll get my concern despite the awful grammar

Edited by regan03, 27 March 2015 - 10:33 PM.

[Candidatus]

@regan03

 

Thanks!

 

I´ve never used a filter with Cerebrolysin. I don´t know if it´s wise but:

 

1. I never experienced any problems and

2. I usually split the 10ml into two doses. One rests in a transparent vial for a day before it´s used and I´ve never seen any micro shards sitting on the bottom.

 

So don´t take my word for it but I think it´s safe enough. On top of that, I take 120k Serrapeptase units each day to prefent scarring. (the Doctor´s Best brand).

[VastEmptiness]

I guess you read that already? https://brain-traine...ymptoms-n-sleep SMR at C4 seems to make a huge difference for me. However, I'm not tracking anything it's just that I didn't wake up the last nights in between which I usually do. I'll be trying out the different options and report back. It was interesting to see how much emotion was released catharticly after reducing muscle tension with the SMR. guess theres a hope for my chronic pain too.

 

btw: both, the brain-trainer system and TAGsync are hitting really hard after the first month. I'm off medication and probably won't be using Modafinile for a longer time, because I'm somewhat overstimulated already (SMR helps here alot too). feeling somewhat brainfogged (out of ketosis atm) but nevertheless fully energetic and not tired at all all day. even had a night of insomnia again. I even reduced caffeine usage drasticly, often using tea instead of coffee and that is after basicly not being able to go through the day without coffee. i had really high hopes in neurofeedback but i'm impressed how quick&strong the effects are. TAGsync is just out of this world, perfect meditations every time, love it. theres alot of room here for upping gamma synchrony across networks, so i'll see how far i can push cognition. theres already a really strong effect on motivation and the ability to organize my day, time, etc. it's hard to describe but it's affecting the way i deal with the world in a positive way.

the more i understand of peter's system, the more i'm impressed how unifying his approach is. there's basicly material for all of my symptoms in the training plan, which i can now emphazise on depending on results. very happy you linked me there, man. looks like i'm finally getting a functioning brain after all these years :D

Edited by VastEmptiness, 10 April 2015 - 02:03 PM.

[Bobity]

@ Candidatus

 

What a great thread with so many fabulous contributions.  The world is a much better place for it.

 

I was inspired into spend money on NFB by this thread : http://www.longecity...and-discussion/

 

So I ordered TAGsync from Douglas Dailey at the beginning of April and then a Cap, TLC7, HEG etc from Brain Trainer -  but there is a supply problem from pocketneurobiotics...  could be the end of May - which was a bit of a pisser - but the hiatus is giving me a chance to get a flavour of what I've let myself in for - I'm delighted to be finding such vibrant new shit to engage & excite me.

 

Looking forward to another great adventure.

 

 

[Matty72]

CBL day #2

 

 

However, I felt very refreshed so it was no issue. Took another dose of CBL, then I've done focus training with nir-HEG, where it took me record time to reach the max (112 - for some reason, I can never go above this level, when I reach 112, the score falls back to baseline). 

 

 

 

 

Hey Candidatus I've seen that you use Brain-Trainer, do you train HEG using their LIFE game?

 

I have exactly the same issue, for me I get to a point somewhere below 111 total ratio (110.5-6 to be more precise) and then I fall back usually to around baseline level but if I've really been pushing it then I can fall to a level someway below and much lower than I could ever go just by trying to dive.

 

Thing is it doesn't matter how quickly I climb, sometimes it could be slow and hard work and maybe my brain has got tired, but other times I've just pushed to that limit really quickly and felt like I could have just kept going.

 

I spoke to Karen at BT and she said they hadn't come across this before and I emailed Pete with some screenshots from when I'd done a long session and he said 'Oh it looks like you trained for longer than advised' but I'd explained in my email that even if I'd only trained for 40 seconds and hit point it would still happen.

 

I'm finding it frustrating, I'm not sure  whether there's an absolute limit in my PFC that can't be pushed beyond but it doesn't seem to fall into other people's experiences from reading accounts of people pushing up their ratio way beyond that figure.

 

Have you ever tried to train straight back up again, or at least as quickly as you are able? What I've found is that then I will get up to a point a little lower, maybe around 109 before experiencing the same very sudden drop but these are the times when my ratio plummets well below baseline. My initial ratio is usually around 97/98 and I've got down as low as 85 at one of these times, but I haven't been able to get anywhere near to that kind of figure just 'trying' to dive.

 

I'm interested to see if anyone has any ideas.
 

[VastEmptiness]

 

 

I have exactly the same issue, for me I get to a point somewhere below 111 total ratio (110.5-6 to be more precise) and then I fall back usually to around baseline level but if I've really been pushing it then I can fall to a level someway below and much lower than I could ever go just by trying to dive.

this is exactly what happens for me and radek. for me its the exact same point as well, just below 111, thanks for measuring he said it's not due to the life game because he gets the same behaviour with other protocols so it seems to be a hardware/firmware issue. i wonder that peter hasn't heard about it, maybe they only train really old and sloppy brains that never reach 111

while i find it annoying is well, it doesn't seem to be much of a problem with training; the relative values still work and you can still train after that (usually resets to something like 100), however it messes up comparability.

 

i cycle alot of sites lately (F3,F4,Fp1 low, Fp2 low // F7, F8, Fp1 hi, Fp2 hi)  and tend to train the harder ones, so i don't hit 111 often. what i really train now for is a point at where the brain kind of "unlocks" to the bloodflow. theres mostly one point in training after that it gets much easier on all sites. might just be me but it feels like i benefit alot of getting this block out of the way once in the morning.

[Matty72]

Hi VE, thanks for your answer.

 

At first I was convinced it was some kind of technical issue, probably caused my improper usage!

 

But when BT said that they'd never come across it I suddenly got to thinking that the readings must be correct and it must be a personal thing. I'd read HZA's HEG thread on bullet proof and he talked about getting up to a ratio of 160/70 but from memory he had a starting ratio of 140, so then I was really confused.

 

I've already started training F7 and F8 a lot more than Fpz for the reasons that you mention but I'll experiment with more sites now, makes sense.

[VastEmptiness]

But when BT said that they'd never come across it I suddenly got to thinking that the readings must be correct and it must be a personal thing. I'd read HZA's HEG thread on bullet proof and he talked about getting up to a ratio of 160/70 but from memory he had a starting ratio of 140, so then I was really confused.

Note that we might be on different hardware/firmware here and that you, I and Radek are probably on the same (said 111 marks the limit as well), getting said issue. It's def. not your brain. Also If you are getting huge spikes and lows in the beginning is normal, I can tell that my brain after a few months became much more stable which is probably one of the effects we are looking for.

 

Maybe we should talk to the manufacturers, i'd like to know if there is a fix. I have no idea how HEG works and/or is produced, but I'm getting constant values so if he's getting 170 that would mean he had almost double the blood in his forehead. So i rather guess theres a difference in measurement.

[Matty72]

 

But when BT said that they'd never come across it I suddenly got to thinking that the readings must be correct and it must be a personal thing. I'd read HZA's HEG thread on bullet proof and he talked about getting up to a ratio of 160/70 but from memory he had a starting ratio of 140, so then I was really confused.

Note that we might be on different hardware/firmware here and that you, I and Radek are probably on the same (said 111 marks the limit as well), getting said issue. It's def. not your brain. Also If you are getting huge spikes and lows in the beginning is normal, I can tell that my brain after a few months became much more stable which is probably one of the effects we are looking for.

 

Maybe we should talk to the manufacturers, i'd like to know if there is a fix. I have no idea how HEG works and/or is produced, but I'm getting constant values so if he's getting 170 that would mean he had almost double the blood in his forehead. So i rather guess theres a difference in measurement.

 

 

I read somewhere (maybe on BT) that the ratio will be around 100 for everyone when they take an initial baseline (not sure if this is just on the LIFE game design, or any BT HEG design), which suggests that the figure isn't based on any kind of absolute measure of blood flow, which makes sense if you, me and Radek are all getting an initial ratio of close to 100, which I'm guessing that you both are. I assume that you're not finding that you're initial baseline reading is increasing as you train more?

 

 

It would be interesting to ask HZA about his experiences, he wasn't using LIFE,  also I found some guy's blog/diary about using HEG and he was talking about raising it to 185, and his initial baseline when he first started was 98 (Project gf it's called). So I was feeling pretty puny with my maximum of 111 and  12% session rise

 

On the Life design on Bioexplorer the trend graph is defaulted to show an upper limit of 111, and I wondered whether that was affecting things and not allowing readings beyond, so when I discovered that right clicking on the graph allowed me to adjust the parameters, or set it to auto, the first time that I trained after that I was sure that I would bust through 111 and when I didn't I was pretty surprised and disappointed.

 

But I still found it difficult to think that this was a coincidence and not in some way connected.

 

The thing is if you take off the band in the middle of training the ratio shoots up and down and it goes really high, way beyond 111, so it can measure it at higher levels.

 

I might email Pete, if he now knows that it's not just me but it's happening for a few people then he would probably want to look into it. Especially as on the BT site where he discussed HEG/ LIFE, he says that there's different ways to judge progress but probably the best and easiest is increases in total ratio score, which obviously we can't ever judge, all we can do is compare speed, and total ratio for the more difficult placements as you mention above that don't get to 111.

 

When you say you think it's a fault in the hardware/ firmware are you talking about the Qwiz? I'm not too strong on this kind of thing but I was thinking it might be the bioexplorer design. I wish I could understand the signal diagram pane but it's a language I don't speak!

[Chris_T_Malta]

 

Here's the test:
http://advancedpsych...verman.test.pdf
http://www.alienvir.us/braverman/

 

 

I just made this Braverman's test - seems I am GABA dominant and mostly GABA deficient. Not sure if that makes sense!

[Matty72]

 

 

Maybe we should talk to the manufacturers, i'd like to know if there is a fix. I have no idea how HEG works and/or is produced, but I'm getting constant values so if he's getting 170 that would mean he had almost double the blood in his forehead. So i rather guess theres a difference in measurement.

 

 

Hey VE, I emailed Pete and he got back to me to say that he's passed on the information to Karen and Rah and to let everyone else know.

 

I have no idea who Rah is though????

[VastEmptiness]

 

 

Here's the test:
http://advancedpsych...verman.test.pdf
http://www.alienvir.us/braverman/

 

 

I just made this Braverman's test - seems I am GABA dominant and mostly GABA deficient. Not sure if that makes sense!

 

actually that makes perfectly sense. the first part defines nature and is more like a typology (like http://www.16personalities.com/- actually those types correlate with braverman types), the second part is about symptoms associated with the 4 main neurotransmitters. the GABA symptoms are typical for stress and probably very common.

 

meditation/body-relaxation/HRV-training alongside some supplements like theanine are some of the most effective ways i know to balance GABA.

 

 

 

When you say you think it's a fault in the hardware/ firmware are you talking about the Qwiz? I'm not too strong on this kind of thing but I was thinking it might be the bioexplorer design. I wish I could understand the signal diagram pane but it's a language I don't speak!

 

 

any of the hardware. might be the headband, might be the processing by the q-wiz. i think we can rule out the design because radek had the same behaviour on a different design from a different company. yeah the signal diagram of the life game is pretty confusing. i still have no idea what attention index is all about etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe we should talk to the manufacturers, i'd like to know if there is a fix. I have no idea how HEG works and/or is produced, but I'm getting constant values so if he's getting 170 that would mean he had almost double the blood in his forehead. So i rather guess theres a difference in measurement.

 

 

Hey VE, I emailed Pete and he got back to me to say that he's passed on the information to Karen and Rah and to let everyone else know.

 

I have no idea who Rah is though????

 

they have more people working in tech support, some more IT'ish people i guess. was in a chat with 3 women at some point. guess its one of them. (rahel?)

[Matty72]

 

I have no idea who Rah is though????

they have more people working in tech support, some more IT'ish people i guess. was in a chat with 3 women at some point. guess its one of them. (rahel?)

 

 

Hey mate,

 

They're pretty strong on getting this resolved at Brain-Trainer.

 

I've been emailed a few times now by Deborah (Rah!) and she's asking is anyone getting above 111/112, are we all using the Qwiz, are we all using Mode4.

 

Obviously it's just you and me in the conversation at the moment, but I guess the information about Radek using different protocols from other companies provides a strong clue for them.

 

She asked about coming onto the forum to discuss but it's only me and you talking about it so not sure that would help her that much. Maybe you could email her as well? I'm not sure the best way to proceed.

 

Also hza's early experiences could be  of interest, as he had a whole thread on Bullet proof where we was getting way above that figure.

[airplanepeanuts]

I wonder what happened to that guy.

[VastEmptiness]

I wonder what happened to that guy.

ha, you're not the first to wonder if his brain circuits just burned through or something with all that training. unfortunately for us and good for him - radek got a job that is seemingly more attractive than finishing his project. he was doing very well last time i've talked to him. actually he's one of the guys that inspired me the most to get serious about biohacking which then again had led me to getting really good results. would love to see him pick up the trainings at some point.

Edited by VastEmptiness, 02 November 2015 - 11:42 PM.

[Lsdium]

Damn it, read the whole read, loved it! Too bad this prosject is on pause.

 

Anyone know any other interesting threads like this one on Longecity?

 

[Neal Piche]

@Candidatus

 

I realize that this was a couple years ago, but I am interested to know what sound files you used with your DIY PEMF machine that gave you the good sleep results.

 

Thanks