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What artificial stimulants do you use?

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Re: What artificial stimulants do you use?

#51

Post by randallsquared »

steve wrote: post #47
randallsquared wrote: post #5

I used to be a caffeine junkie. Weirdly, however, after hitting a rough patch this year and deciding that I couldn't afford 4 2L bottles a day any more, I found that I was no less productive without it, and I'm far less anxious. I have an occasional caffeinated soft drink or green tea, still, but the non-stop highly-caffeinated Randall days are no more.

there are caffeine pills that are cheep as dirt.

Yeah, but I found that even with the addiction, I wasn't interested in tasteless delivery devices. :) Diet Mountain Dew is fine, and Lipton's Diet Green Tea (which has less caffeine) is fine, but given that it doesn't really help me much, pills are too much trouble.

Also, it only took me about 3 days to feel normal, and a coupla weeks to not really want it very much, after 5 years of averaging between 3 and 4 2L Diet Mountain Dew a day. It helped that my wife was very vocal about how much less stressed I seemed; after I was off of it, she suggested I just stay off even when I can afford it, so I'm doing that for now.

Re: What artificial stimulants do you use?

#52

Post by ed »

brent wrote: post #32
omouse wrote: post #31

You don't need any god damn thing for creative stimulation. If you can't get yourself creative, drugs, booze, whatever isn't going to help.

There is a long history of artists, musicians, and writers that would completely disagree with that statement.

For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity or perception to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable: intoxication. (Friedrich Nietzsche)

Re: What artificial stimulants do you use?

#53

Post by christefano »

rms wrote: post #43
christefano wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second the mate. I love espresso and would drink it all day if I could, but it often leaves me feeling dehydrated. Mate has mateine, by the way, not caffeine (mateine is a stereoisomer of caffeine). I don't know it has different properties and that's the reason or if it's the plethora of other constituents, but in my experience mate gives me a mild, persistent buzz all over my body as where caffeine goes straight t…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate#Chemical_composition... It's the other alkaloids that contribute to the effects that are different than coffee.

It's great seeing erowid as a cited source. Thanks for the info.

Re: What artificial stimulants do you use?

#56

Post by mikesabat »

i definitely don't encourage the use of prescription drugs, but if you find yourself getting distracted often at work Aderral is amazing for staying focused and working long hours.

Talk to your doctor. Side effects include launch parties and series B funding meetings. Not a pharmacist.

Re: What artificial stimulants do you use?

#57

Post by portLAN »

euccastro wrote: post #42
portLAN wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DHA and EPA from marine algae instead of fish are available now (google it). Algae is where the fish get it anyway.

I read somewhere that you're better off eating carnivore fish because the DHA and EPA are more concentrated than in herbivore fish or algae. Unless you're talking getting them from pills, in which case I guess it doesn't matter much. P.S.: You should still avoid big species like tuna or swordfish, since they have high concentrations of mercury.

When you take pills, you get however many milligrams of the substance are in the pills. You're probably thinking of flax oil and other sources of ALA, which your body must convert itself into EPA and DHA. Yes, one of the reasons to get it from algae directly is you avoid the environmental pollutants that accumulate in the marine ecosystem as you go up the food chain (PCBs, dioxins, mercury, etc.).

Re: What artificial stimulants do you use?

#58

Post by rms »

christefano wrote: post #53
rms wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate#Chemical_composition... It's the other alkaloids that contribute to the effects that are different than coffee.

It's great seeing erowid as a cited source. Thanks for the info.

I hadn't followed it through to the source when I posted the Wikipedia link. That was a pretty cool little paper one of the mysterious admins of erowid wrote.
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