Do you have a nootropic stack that you take regularly? How long have you been taking it, and how has it helped you? Has it harmed you?
I am not sure if herbs like St John’s Wort count as nootropics… but for the purposes of this thread let’s assume they are.
I was taken in by all the tall talk about Piracetam, and took it for a while, years ago. I am neither smarter nor wiser, just older. Side-effect, maybe? I also took prescription Modafinil; now this is an effective drug. It made me awake-r and feeling good, but eventually, I noticed it exacerbates tic-like sensations and worsens (somehow) my chronic neck pain. So no more Modafinil for me.
A month back, with some extra cash to blow, and serious competition at the workplace, I came back to Piracetam 800mg + Citicoline 500mg per day, plus one capsule SJW for kicks. I am feeling no smarter (or even any different) yet, but maybe it is too soon.
I have not tried the more powerful ones like Aniracetam, PhenylGABA etc. Anybody with experience is welcome to weigh in. TIA.
In college I liked the combo of bacopa, piracetam and DMAE. However it wore off if I took it everyday. But for short bursts like studying sessions it was useful.
Right now I take vitamin D, Magnesium, fish oil and a few other things for various forms of mental and physical health.
I used to really like adrafinil. I could take 150mg on a night where I only got 2 hours sleep and I’d function fine. Ever since Olmifon stopped making it, the market is flooded with garbage that doesn’t work. I can get modafinil but never tried it instead.
Years back I’d gotten myself the garbage Adrafinil and naturally it didn’t work and I threw it away very shortly. Legit Modafinil is awesome, but it exacerbated my OCD/tic-like symptoms and made my mind race, instead of focusing it down. YMMV.
It’s a transhumanist term intended to make the consumption of unregulated ‘supplements’ of questionable efficacy sound more science-y. Like how PR people like to say that some area of competence is “in our DNA” even though they can barely spell DNA.
I don’t regularly take any these days, I always try some if I am attempting to counter side effects from a medication or something that needs or may need correction. I was taking Inositol, for anxiolytic properties. Milk Thistle when I was a heavy drinker, Turmeric when I was a heavy smoker, Ginko Biloba during school to help my short term memory, Melatonin (does that count?) I still take some days when I oversleep and need to get to bed early the next night. I found a strange website before that has information on a lot of nootropics, lycaeum.org, It’s mostly stuff for burnouts but it does prove to have some useful information when you can find cites.
I had some success with modafinil a few years ago. Tried piracetam, too, but that didn’t do much for me.
I microdose sometimes, either with LSD or (very rarely) with mescaline.
As for yer regular garden variety supplements and such, I drink coffee and/or tea, and I take magnesium, vitamin D and l-theanine. I’m quite tempted to try out creatine and l-citrulline, too, since I’ve gotten a lot more active in the last year or so.
