Additional stuff

My experience so far has been with piracetum, hydergine, DMAE, L-Glutamine (which, I think, is the same as PCA), and choline. So far the results have been mixed. Of course, so have the substances. My approach has been to try out some of these first, to try for immediate (and easily obtained) effects, with an eye toward getting more scientific over time. My impressions:

PIRACETUM
I have had at least one extraordinarily good experience which I believe was caused by piracetum. I "attack" dosed at 4g, then took .8g three times per day for two days. On the third day, out of the blue, I suddenly started feeling great, energetic, fast, etc. It was a feeling similar to caffiene, but without as much adrenal response. In keeping with other accounts that I have heard, music became very intense, and I had a strong desire to play it very loud. I tried playing the guitar and it seemed to come more easily to me. Unfortunately, this eventually went away, and I haven't had a similar experience since, although I haven't pushed it much. It seems that my verbal memory (vocabulary) has increased slightly, in keeping with the research, but it is not a clear difference, if one even exists.

DMAE
From what I can tell, DMAE works as advertised, with two main effects: (1) it seems to slowly build a stimulation, which, while not constant, is persistant, (2) it seems to regulate and reduce need for sleep. These effects have appeared while taking ~300 mg of DMAE/day, along with 3g choline (+1g B-5), and varying amounts of piracetum. Therefore, it is hard to sceintifically attribute the effects to DMAE. However, intuitively (knowing varying doses, etc), it seems to me that DMAE has provided the bulk of these effects.

HYDERGINE
I have yet to experience the much touted synergy between hydergine and piracetum, even after taking 4.5 mg hydergine + 4g piracetum. I do know that the warnings against taking too much hydergine, esp. at first, should be taken seriously. It can make you nauseated.

OTHERS
L-Glutamine was the first thing that I tried. I percieved no effect from this whatsoever. I'd be interested to hear about experiences with arginine pyroglutamate, since that is supposed to be the more potent form. I've always taken the choline + B5 with some combination of the above, so it would be hard to break out the effect. My episodic memory of the past seems enriched, but that remains hard to discern.

That about does it. So far, DMAE seems like the only real win, since it appears to cut need for sleep by a bit---therefore, more day to work with. More experimentation will certainly be conducted.

---

From: Max More
Subject: Smart Drugs
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 91 11:23:25 PDT

> Has anyone here who's tried these substances (vasopressin and
> other nootropics) had encouraging and unambiguous results?
> Max More

My own experience is with piracetam, centrophenoxine (Lucidril), and vasopressin (Diapid). Piracetam might have had some effects, but made my eyes so red on the days that I took it that I decided it was not worth continuing. Vasopressin, as Max said, is mainly useful when the brain's supply of neurotransmitters is either depleted (following a caffeine or other stimulant binge) or suppressed (by alcohol or other CNS depressant) -- I consider it the long-sought "sober-up" treatment.

Centrophenoxine gave me the most dramatic results -- I did not measure them by any kind of psychometric tests, but I felt more alert, and experienced faster and more reliable recall than previously. Since Lucidril works by making a permanent brain change (enabling brain metabolism to remove life-long accumulations of the aging pigment lipofuscin from the neurons), its effects are cumulative -- you continue to feel sharper even after you quit taking the drug.