Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

troof.blog

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 183 posts

Re: What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

#161

Post by taeric »

Aurornis wrote: post #155
taeric wrote: post #14

It is frustratingly hard for me to trust most any nootropic discussion nowadays. Without many large random trials, there are as many questions as answers afterwards. It doesn't help that I'm on Adderall, but if left to my own devices, would absolutely skip it. I'm assuming I benefit in the able to think way from it. Largely the only reason I know I missed a dose is if I find I lose my patience quickly with others.

> It doesn't help that I'm on Adderall, but if left to my own devices, would absolutely skip it. The difference is that you’ve taken it medicinally for years, whereas most nootropics users are early users who are experimenting with high placebo priming. Stimulant prescriptions have a high churn rate because many people take their first few doses and feel euphoric, then think it’s going to be like that forever. Fast f…

Even when I started Adderall, I never felt anything amazing from it. Self reporting mood, as it were, I would think it is not working. It is only that I know I have more patience with things going wrong, that I know it is doing something.

That said, sounds like we are largely in agreement? I have gotten where I assume everything is dominated by noise.

Re: What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

#162

Post by MangoToupe »

the_sleaze_ wrote: post #158
MangoToupe wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so easily avoided eating non-processed bread. How do you make bread without flour? Flour is a processed food.

While yes, flour is ground and therefore processed - I think we all mean bleached, stabilized and enriched flour.

> I think we all mean bleached, stabilized and enriched flour.

The entire point of this conversation is that the meaning of "processed" is entirely unclear, and I still don't understand what beef you have against bleached, stabilized, and enriched flour.

I'd put any amount of money that whatever your concerns are can be addressed with the aphorism "everything in moderation".

Re: What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

#163

Post by hattmall »

Aurornis wrote: post #152
icameron wrote: post #113

They work until they don’t in my anecdotal experience. Any substance it seems the first time is the best. Then, slowly, my brain chemistry adapts, and it becomes less effective. Sometimes a higher dose works for a while. But it never lasts. Then side effects start to build up, and before long it’s counterproductive. SNRIs worked, until after a few months I lost all my endurance (running) and libido. Kratom was wonder…

> They work until they don’t in my anecdotal experience. Any substance it seems the first time is the best. Then, slowly, my brain chemistry adapts, and it becomes less effective. It’s wild to me that the nootropics community evolved into a hybrid between the recreational drug community and supplement enthusiast communities while forgetting all of the lessons people learned in those communities long ago. So much of t…

I think the difference is definitely that Phenibut enhances cognition. It doesn't just reduce anxiety and at small doses the anxioltyic effect is mild while the cognition boost is noticable. Things like Xanax and Etizolam or Valium don't have the same cognition boost unless someone is suffering from anxiety and even that is often overruled by the sedative properties.

Kraton I couldn't make the same argument and not familiar with tianeptine / gas station scag.

Re: What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

#164

Post by QuantumGood »

hackingforfun wrote: post #144
stronglikedan wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any brands that you would consider high quality? I'm currently using Nutricost, but only because it was the cheapest, and I didn't know they were allowed to fiddle with quality on these things.

Nootropics Depot [0] appears to be a high-quality vendor. They claim to test every batch of every ingredient in-house for all of their supplements. [0] https://nootropicsdepot.com/l-theanine-capsules/

I have personally found them to be a high-quality vendor [/anecdata]

Re: What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

#165

Post by smokeydoe »

cjbgkagh wrote: post #145
bluecalm wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modafinil 50-100mg or micro dose of long release amphetamine like Vyvanse.

Was just about to say this, Modafinil is my stimulant drug of choice. 100mg. Really smooth and lasts all day. I do need to take amitryptiline to help sleep but I have noise intolerance related sleep issues anyway and the combination of the two meds is complementary. My only regret is not starting sooner - I had a rather anti drug bias and saw needing medication as a weakness.

Just an anecdote, but Modafinil is one of the worst stimulants I have tried. It’s great as a one-off tool for something like staying awake to drive late at night, but every time i have taken it I get intense depression and aggravation for the next 2 days. It’s really strange. Things that normally do not worry me cause great mental suffering. If it wasn’t for that and the deep sleep impact, it would be great. I read the half life is ~16 hours.

Re: What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

#166

Post by kccqzy »

Aurornis wrote: post #152
icameron wrote: post #113

They work until they don’t in my anecdotal experience. Any substance it seems the first time is the best. Then, slowly, my brain chemistry adapts, and it becomes less effective. Sometimes a higher dose works for a while. But it never lasts. Then side effects start to build up, and before long it’s counterproductive. SNRIs worked, until after a few months I lost all my endurance (running) and libido. Kratom was wonder…

> They work until they don’t in my anecdotal experience. Any substance it seems the first time is the best. Then, slowly, my brain chemistry adapts, and it becomes less effective. It’s wild to me that the nootropics community evolved into a hybrid between the recreational drug community and supplement enthusiast communities while forgetting all of the lessons people learned in those communities long ago. So much of t…

That's an insightful observation! I have several friends who are into nootropics and would recommend to me various things they are trying. I simply limited to things that can be bought at Whole Foods or CVS; I trust that these places only sell me supplements or OTC drugs, not potentially dangerous prescription drugs.

Re: What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

#167

Post by kccqzy »

MangoToupe wrote: post #162
the_sleaze_ wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While yes, flour is ground and therefore processed - I think we all mean bleached, stabilized and enriched flour.

> I think we all mean bleached, stabilized and enriched flour. The entire point of this conversation is that the meaning of "processed" is entirely unclear, and I still don't understand what beef you have against bleached, stabilized, and enriched flour. I'd put any amount of money that whatever your concerns are can be addressed with the aphorism "everything in moderation".

The aphorism "everything in moderation" is useful only because it doesn't specify what amount would be acceptable as moderation. Is having a slice of bread a day considered moderation? What about five slices? Is having 10 grams of sugar a day moderation? What about 50 grams? The meaning of "moderation" is conveniently unclear.

Re: What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

#168

Post by OuterVale »

channel_t wrote: post #118
negativepanda wrote: post #44

There's one very simple "nootropic" that I've discovered many years ago and have been doing most days of the week. Buying a cup of coffee and taking a walk in nature. It makes me feel better than just coffee or just walking in nature. Another benefit is that in the days I can do this, I have something to look forward to since waking up.

Good simple nootropic, but I like the cup of coffee even better with a 200mg capsule of a high quality L-Theanine to give a zen-like calm to the stimulation of the caffeine. Underrated as heck IMHO.

I am still yet to see any decent studies into whether or not L-Theanine actually does anything at all. Studies never seem to find anything statistically significant, yet so many people swear by it. I'm inclined to say it is placebo.

Good recent writing on the topic: https://dynomight.net/theanine-2/

Re: What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

#169

Post by cjbgkagh »

smokeydoe wrote: post #165
cjbgkagh wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was just about to say this, Modafinil is my stimulant drug of choice. 100mg. Really smooth and lasts all day. I do need to take amitryptiline to help sleep but I have noise intolerance related sleep issues anyway and the combination of the two meds is complementary. My only regret is not starting sooner - I had a rather anti drug bias and saw needing medication as a weakness.

Just an anecdote, but Modafinil is one of the worst stimulants I have tried. It’s great as a one-off tool for something like staying awake to drive late at night, but every time i have taken it I get intense depression and aggravation for the next 2 days. It’s really strange. Things that normally do not worry me cause great mental suffering. If it wasn’t for that and the deep sleep impact, it would be great. I read t…

AFAIK highly depends on the person, I've given 1/4 or 1/2 doses to people and the most common reaction is that it is like a coffee. It seems the strong reactions are a minority of users. Specifically for me, I have long term dopamine dysregulation, so it hits really strong. Without the amitriptyline there is no way I could say on it.

Re: What I learned gathering nootropic ratings (2022)

#170

Post by nerdsniper »

smokeydoe wrote: post #165
cjbgkagh wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was just about to say this, Modafinil is my stimulant drug of choice. 100mg. Really smooth and lasts all day. I do need to take amitryptiline to help sleep but I have noise intolerance related sleep issues anyway and the combination of the two meds is complementary. My only regret is not starting sooner - I had a rather anti drug bias and saw needing medication as a weakness.

Just an anecdote, but Modafinil is one of the worst stimulants I have tried. It’s great as a one-off tool for something like staying awake to drive late at night, but every time i have taken it I get intense depression and aggravation for the next 2 days. It’s really strange. Things that normally do not worry me cause great mental suffering. If it wasn’t for that and the deep sleep impact, it would be great. I read t…

Any dopamine booster (agonist / reuptake inhibitor) has wildly different effects on different people. Or across different times in their life. Anecdotes are good to share, because they illuminate the variety of experiences that one should be prepared for.

Even Vyvanse vs Adderall XR are reported to have markedly different effects on the same person -- and after metabolic conversion, they're supposed to be the same active ingredient with fairly similar time release duration.

Post reply on HN