"nootropics are substances which purportedly improve mental functioning with relatively few side effects when used responsibility."
hello: LSD?
Nootropics Survey Results And Analysis
71–80 of 105 posts
Re: Nootropics Survey Results And Analysis
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unless possessing prescription-only medicine is illegal where you live (doubtful), you can just order it on the internet. I don't think it's a restricted drug anywhere.
Be careful, in the country I live in (Austria) it is illegal to import prescription drugs. Customs made me pay a fine of about 60$ for trying to import Melatonin (and I didn't get the Melatonin either).
Amazing. In the US, melatonin just sits there right on the shelf where anybody who feels like can buy it for a couple bucks. No prescription, no ID, and extremely cheap.
Re: Nootropics Survey Results And Analysis
#73Okay, I have read the fine blog post (which took a while to load). The article leads off by defining nootropics as "substances which purportedly improve mental functioning with relatively few side effects when used responsibility." The blog post author mentions a few small-n, limited duration studies, and then describes his voluntary-response survey methodology: "I asked people in the two largest online nootropics co…
I'm sorry, but that's a terrible comment. Medical progress often starts with observations, and is confirmed by trials. Penicillin is one such example. To discount the value of observations is to ignore an important part of the discovery process. There is extremely limited data available around the use of nootropics for mind enhancement (as opposed to in medical use for treating illness). In the absence of of such dat…
Observations are one thing, attempts to do any kind of serious study on the results are another. It is not meaningful to do statistics on data that bad.
Re: Nootropics Survey Results And Analysis
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
The difference between caffeine and modafinil come down to two things for me - - length of effect (caffeine seems to pick me up for had ran hour to an hour with a 30 min lead time - vs 12 hours with modafinil with a 45-1hr lead time) - side effects (if I am really tired and have to get a big day out, I might end up havering somewhere between 6-12 'doses' of coffee. Cf. 200 mg modafinil- by 3/4 through the day on the…
One other big difference, in my experience but also heard the same from others, is that caffeine makes it hard to sleep (like cocaine, etc.) whereas modafinil doesn't, it just makes you not think about the fact that you need to sleep. If you take modafinil too close to when you decide to go to bed you'll be able to go straight to sleep, even if the effects of the drug only just kicked in, which is very different to g…
Ah yes I forgot to mention the sleeping.
I've also been able to get great effects (in terms of 'recovery') by taking modafinil before bed if I only have between 1-3 hours available to sleep, then getting up and having a good productive 18 hour day. Although I dream a lot more, but I consider that a bonus.
Haha 'coke mouth' is overly chatty, will speak at length about anything. Sorry for the lingo
Re: Nootropics Survey Results And Analysis
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Using nicotine gum, you can avoid the typical health hazards of tobacco products. I personally found that caffeine wasn't comparable to nicotine, the former just keeps me awake, while the latter can keep me focused and motivated for several hours.
Not a good idea. Nicotine gum is not too good for gingival health. Nicotine patch is consider the safest form of nicotine delivery. Also the most expensive. E-cigarette is a good 2nd option. Vape unflavored or menthol, because the health effects of flavorings are still out there. Vendors have mostly stopped using diacetyl in their flavorings. Diacetyl gives that vanilla aroma, but also responsible for popcorn lung. S…
> the health effects of flavorings are still out there
This is very true. I have been very concerned with "vapers" I know buying cheap juices from China - to me this is rolling the dice, almost as bad as smoking!
You will find that reputable juice mixers will generally make statements about their ingredients. My usual favourite (indigo vapours - I have no commercial interest, just a customer) for example explicitly state that they do not use any flavour containing diacetyl, acetyl propionyl or acetoin.
Flavours which may contain aldehyde elements are a concern, but what is much more my concern with e-cigs is the long-term effect of propolene glycol inhalation, and potentially significant formaldehyde levels potentially produced by the heating and/or oxidation of the base liquids. There's a decent amount of research ongoing in these areas.
Despite these issues I am reasonably confident that e-cigarettes are within a safety range I am comfortable with if (and only if) used with high-quality liquids.
Re: Nootropics Survey Results And Analysis
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not a good idea. Nicotine gum is not too good for gingival health. Nicotine patch is consider the safest form of nicotine delivery. Also the most expensive. E-cigarette is a good 2nd option. Vape unflavored or menthol, because the health effects of flavorings are still out there. Vendors have mostly stopped using diacetyl in their flavorings. Diacetyl gives that vanilla aroma, but also responsible for popcorn lung. S…
> the health effects of flavorings are still out there This is very true. I have been very concerned with "vapers" I know buying cheap juices from China - to me this is rolling the dice, almost as bad as smoking! You will find that reputable juice mixers will generally make statements about their ingredients. My usual favourite (indigo vapours - I have no commercial interest, just a customer) for example explicitly s…
I wasn't even aware of the formaldehyde issue. Here I thought propylene glycol is much safer than vegetable glycerin because of the acrolein.
Re: Nootropics Survey Results And Analysis
#77Just to let everyone know, a very very rare but very serious side effect of modafinil is Stevens–Johnson syndrome and other potential life threating skin conditions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevens%E2%80%93Johnson_syndrom...
I am not trying to discourage use.
Re: Nootropics Survey Results And Analysis
#78Okay, I have read the fine blog post (which took a while to load). The article leads off by defining nootropics as "substances which purportedly improve mental functioning with relatively few side effects when used responsibility." The blog post author mentions a few small-n, limited duration studies, and then describes his voluntary-response survey methodology: "I asked people in the two largest online nootropics co…
The author would do well to study fundamental principles of statistics...
If only the author understood this. Then he might have written this in the fifth paragraph: "They tend to “outpace” the scientific literature, using some substances that haven’t yet been shown to work...people combine a bewildering variety of chemicals without being sure which ones work better than others or even whether any of them work at all.
This survey does not intend to rectify this state of affairs"
He might also have written in the conclusion: "Overall I was not too impressed with the results of this survey. No unexpected substances jumped out as promising, there was a very wide distribution from “useless” to “life-changing” in nearly everything except the -afinils, and it was very hard to find much of a dose-response relationship anywhere."
"Other goals for the future are to drag people kicking and screaming into reading directions so I know everyone’s rating off the same scale..."
Not every blog post needs to rise to the level of double blind clinical trial.
Re: Nootropics Survey Results And Analysis
#79The definition of nootropics used here excludes them (too many adverse health effects), but I wonder how the drugs on this list compare to e.g. amphetamines in terms of pro-productivity effects.
The problem with amphetamine is, when they do work, the crash is horrible. When the crash goes away, it no longer does anything. So you have to up the dose and the cycle starts again. Some people use NMDA antagonist to reverse tolerance, but lets just say that they do a lot more than reverse your tolerance. In the end, most user end up with a permanent tolerance that no amount of drug vacation will lower. I'm not eve…
you need to keep your ph levels in check for amps to absorb properly. if I have orange juice, I feel nothing working.
can you share some links to the dopamine leakage you mentioned, that sounds terrible.
Re: Nootropics Survey Results And Analysis
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some people are less sensitive to caffeine. Maybe you're one of those. Personally I'd like to try it, but it's prescription-only where I live...
Unless possessing prescription-only medicine is illegal where you live (doubtful), you can just order it on the internet. I don't think it's a restricted drug anywhere.
It is a Schedule 4 drug in the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Schedule_IV_drugs_%28US...
Same schedule as Xanax,Valium, Ativan, Ambien...