Nootropics • Hacker News Board

Re: Nootropics

#61

Post by perfectfire » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 4:55 AM UTC

I've been on (legally, with a prescription) Modafinil (4 straight days of nausea), Armodafinil (made me really sleepy), Dextroamphetamine (3 times including right now), Adderall (constantly felt sick), Adderall XR (even worse than Adderall), Ritalin SR (about the same as Adderall), Bupropion twice (Wellbutrin, no noticeable effect). Pretty much everything other than Dextroamphetamine either made me feel sick or strangely for Nuvigil made me sleepy. All of them, except Wellbutrin, Provigil (which I didn't take long enough to notice it's primary effect) and Nuvigil could keep me awake. At least at first.

The first few times you take it or you go up a dose it feels pretty amazing. For some reason I want to say it feels like your head is full of light, but don't even know what that's supposed to mean. There's some extra energy and a little more motivation, but if you're looking for a pill that will turn you into a super-productive maniac look elsewhere. It mostly just keeps you awake and what little extra motivation you gain will be offset in part or in full by being more more easily distracted. I've never noticed any sort of increase in cognitive function. What I have noticed is that I get exhausted from physical effort very quickly.

When I take it long enough I start to pick off all of my facial hair (there was maybe a year where I never shaved, but had no facial hair), and lose a lot a weight quickly. Recently I dropped around 40 pounds in a few months.

Re: Nootropics

#62

Post by astazangasta » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 4:55 AM UTC

pmcginn wrote: post #41

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.

If you care about light why not work outside in the sun and not use electricity and lightbulbs unless there's an eclipse? I can't even tell if you're serious. Trying to improve on nature is the foundation of science.

> Trying to improve on nature is the foundation of science.

This is an interesting statement. I would say, trying to improve on nature is one particular notion that was instrumental in the history of science. Specifically, we can trace this back to alchemical beliefs in the notion of perfecting the human soul/body/etc. via aqua regia and so on, which were about achieving an "art" which would exceed the limits of what we are given by Nature.

Much of what is "science", however, does not come from this school of thought. The quiet life of a naturalist, delighting in the observation of an ant colony or the nesting habits of a bird species, seems to have little to do with trying to improve on nature and is much more of a piece with simply enjoying being close to it.

Re: Nootropics

#63

Post by pmoriarty » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 4:58 AM UTC

"Limitless" is a fun movie to watch for anyone interested in this subject.

Re: Nootropics

#64

Post by notapirate » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 4:58 AM UTC

Reading gwern for hours is mind numbingly amazing in and of itself.

Bonus points to anyone who knows his real name, fan club located in #gwern on freenode especially after the darknet markets research.

Is this an alternate reality where HN is actually Slashdot circa 2008, I can't tell right now.

Re: Nootropics

#65

Post by badminton1 » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 5:00 AM UTC

flukus wrote: post #55

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.

Well, remember it requires prescription only medication.

Re: Nootropics

#66

Post by ajkjk » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 5:02 AM UTC

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…

If you know someone who has better data, I'm sure everyone would like to read it.

You have to at least be impressed with the level of rigor he did manage for a person working alone to test hundreds of chemicals.

Re: Nootropics

#67

Post by notapirate » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 5:03 AM UTC

Reading gwern for hours is mind numbingly amazing in and of itself.

Bonus points to anyone who knows his real name, fan club located in #gwern on freenode especially after the darknet markets research.

Is this an alternate reality where HN is actually Slashdot circa 2008, I can't tell right now.

Re: Nootropics

#68

Post by DanBC » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 5:03 AM UTC

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.

Melatonin in the us is weakly regulated so its hard to know hoe much, if any, you're getting.

Re: Nootropics

#69

Post by thatswrong0 » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 5:04 AM UTC

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.

I don't see why you couldn't eat healthy, exercise, and take melatonin (for example). He brought up an excellent point in his essay about melatonin that although being purely "natural" may be beneficial, we don't live in a natural world. We expose ourselves to blueish light far more than our ancestors.. so why wouldn't it make sense to counteract that artificial influence with something like melatonin? There's nothing to indicate it isn't safe, and it seems to have a measurable impact. I would feel crazy dismissing it purely because it's not "natural".

Re: Nootropics

#70

Post by jonathankoren » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 5:05 AM UTC

marodox wrote: post #53

daveguy wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Where's the write up?

Many people, including myself, find exercise to be mind numbingly boring, and intellectually insulting. (Pick up a weight and put it down? That is quantitatively zero work, buddy. No thanks.) Never underestimate the motivation to find a quick fix.