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Nootropics

gwern.net

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Re: Nootropics

#51

Post by aidenn0 »

throwaway123912 wrote: post #14
elevensies wrote: post #3

Melatonin has made it possible for me to sleep much more consistently which has been a huge help, since I saw Gwern's post on it a while ago.

Melatonin has worked wonders for me as well. However it's worth mentioning that the 3mg capsules I bought are WAAAY too strong and cause me to wake up with a dry mouth and a headache after a couple of hours of intense dreaming and nightmares. Instead now I split the caps open and take a tiny fraction of the melatonin every night. It takes me a few weeks to go through a single capsule.

Trader Joes sells 500mcg tablets.

Re: Nootropics

#52

Post by pmoriarty »

RachelF wrote: post #38
fowlerpower wrote: post #28

Does anyone else think this shit is totally bat shit crazy? I may be of the minority here but I am definitely not the minority in the real world. If you care about health why not exercise and eat healthy and never take any type of drug for any reason unless you are sick.

Most of us take drugs like caffeine and alcohol pretty often. The person who made this site has been willing to test, meticulously document and analyse his results. He's pretty informed as to the side-effects, so no, I don't think he's "bat shit crazy", he's doing us a service.

" Most of us take drugs like caffeine and alcohol pretty often."

Not to mention foods that people take to make themselves "feel better" (ie. modify mood), like chocolate or ice cream (or chocolate ice cream! mmmmmm).

Re: Nootropics

#53

Post by marodox »

daveguy wrote: post #47
RachelF wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of us take drugs like caffeine and alcohol pretty often. The person who made this site has been willing to test, meticulously document and analyse his results. He's pretty informed as to the side-effects, so no, I don't think he's "bat shit crazy", he's doing us a service.

His testing and analysis are not exactly rigorous. Even with an N=1 he comments about how he can smell the difference between the placebo and treatment. In his most highly rated drug, modafinil, he took it on 8 different days and could tell which one it was 5/8 times. 8 days, couldn't tell the difference 3/8 times and it is his most highly recommended drug. He definitely needs to try drug free, exercise and sleep ove…

He probably has tried drug free, exercise and sleep over a month.

Re: Nootropics

#54

Post by ebbv »

fowlerpower wrote: post #28

Does anyone else think this shit is totally bat shit crazy? I may be of the minority here but I am definitely not the minority in the real world. If you care about health why not exercise and eat healthy and never take any type of drug for any reason unless you are sick.

You're not alone but unfortunately there's a lot of people on this site who are extremely irrational but think they are very rational.

Re: Nootropics

#55

Post by flukus »

badminton1 wrote: post #29

Did he perform all these experiments on himself? It's hard to conduct these experiments with a population of 1 and no control group.

Actually it's incredibly easy, just not statistically relevant.

Re: Nootropics

#56

Post by 0xffff2 »

aidenn0 wrote: post #49
RandomInteger4 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you take a consistent low dose of Adderall at least, there should be nothing wrong with taking it every day and might actually be preferable that way, otherwise you're in for a rollercoaster effect. The longer you're on though, up to a point at least I imagine, assuming the dose is consistent, you will have a greater withdrawal period that will really suck compared to if you only use them recreationally, which I c…

Different drugs affect people differently. I was rendered incapable of driving safely with a moderate dose of Addreall (30mg), and still felt somewhat unsafe with a low dose of Adderall(15mg). The main effect was that I could no longer subconsciously distinguish moving objects from non-moving objects (I had to think "is that car parked or moving" rather than being able to just tell by looking). My weight is 105kg.

Is 30mg really a moderate does? When I had a pers ription for Aderral, 20mg was enough to make me feel like I was going to die.

Re: Nootropics

#57

Post by pw »

cavisne wrote: post #16

Its concerning to see Modafinil on the same list of "defaults" as caffeine and vitamin D. They are on a different scale when it comes to the effect on your brain. That aside, my anecdotal experience of mod is its basically a waste of time. Sure you stay awake longer but we can all easily procrastinate a day away regardless, it wont make you any more focused or any smarter. If you for some reason need to improve your…

I think there are some studies that show modafinil leads to a boost in IQ by a couple of points (although it sounds like that effect tapers off if you're already very intelligent).

What makes you say the effect on the brain of modafinil is "on a different scale" than caffeine?

Re: Nootropics

#58

Post by stormbrew »

throwaway123912 wrote: post #14
elevensies wrote: post #3

Melatonin has made it possible for me to sleep much more consistently which has been a huge help, since I saw Gwern's post on it a while ago.

Melatonin has worked wonders for me as well. However it's worth mentioning that the 3mg capsules I bought are WAAAY too strong and cause me to wake up with a dry mouth and a headache after a couple of hours of intense dreaming and nightmares. Instead now I split the caps open and take a tiny fraction of the melatonin every night. It takes me a few weeks to go through a single capsule.

I split the 3mg sublingual tabs into quarters. I often split them again and take part when I go to bed and the other part after reading and getting a bit drowsy. Seems to do some good (N=1 and all that).

I definitely think that if you're taking them under the tongue the doses they sell them in are much too high. Probably make more sense if you're swallowing them.

Re: Nootropics

#59

Post by unimpressive »

0xffff2 wrote: post #56
aidenn0 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different drugs affect people differently. I was rendered incapable of driving safely with a moderate dose of Addreall (30mg), and still felt somewhat unsafe with a low dose of Adderall(15mg). The main effect was that I could no longer subconsciously distinguish moving objects from non-moving objects (I had to think "is that car parked or moving" rather than being able to just tell by looking). My weight is 105kg.

Is 30mg really a moderate does? When I had a pers ription for Aderral, 20mg was enough to make me feel like I was going to die.

>Is 30mg really a moderate does?

No, it's not. It's far from unheard of to start getting hallucinations on 30mg of amphetamine.

In the 30's and 40's Benzedrine was generally prescribed in 5 or 10 milligram tablets.

Re: Nootropics

#60

Post by carbocation »

fowlerpower wrote: post #28

Does anyone else think this shit is totally bat shit crazy? I may be of the minority here but I am definitely not the minority in the real world. If you care about health why not exercise and eat healthy and never take any type of drug for any reason unless you are sick.

Gwern gives disclaimers, and indeed I agree with them that there is no reason to think that any of these tests should have any external validity. So, this is a series of anecdotes like Erowid - interesting to some, perhaps, but hopefully recognized as not being medical advice (since it would run far afoul of medical norms to recommend these drugs).
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