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Quitting all supplements, racetams, nootropics cold turkey

quitting supplements quitting nootropics quitting racetams

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#1 ULTRA_VULGAR

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Posted 26 May 2016 - 05:56 PM


After years of reading about and eyeballing the nootropics and brain health landscape, I finally jumped in by ordering over $200 worth of supplements from PC about 12 months ago. Since then, I've always been on at least one racetam, cycle phenibut every 1-3 months, and I've been sampling a series of the best antioxidants, neural protectants, brain boosters and smart drugs. The cognitive results have been amazing. I am working more efficiently and getting more done with less stress. 

But all of the benefits that nootropics have brought into my life aren't without complications. My complexion has gone to shit. My acne is out of control. My skin is dry all of the time. I've seen a dermatologist, doctors, none of them knew what to make of it, nor were they familiar with the supplements I was taking. I get less sleep and find that I require a morning racetam or some form of nootropic to start my day - or even start my brain. My motivation is dwindling, but my love for my job is not. I feel like I'm losing the edge that nootropics originally gave me, despite the fact that I cycle each and every supplement to prevent tolerance, even those which purportedly build no tolerance. 

In the last 30 days, my daily supplements have included phenibut (currently tapering, but does wonders for my anxiety), tianeptine (which is currently all gone), noopept, omega-3, multivitamins, acetyl l-carnitine, vinpocetine, l-theanine and occasionally caffeine and/or sulbutiamine. I take ashagawa (sp) and melatonin before bed as needed. 

So, starting June 1, I plan on ceasing all supplements in order to revisit my brain's "natural state". To be honest, the idea of losing all of my mental energy scares me to death, but I feel like this is something that I have to do. I'm already tapering the last of my noopept and phenibut  - my tried and true dailies. I've closed my accounts with my nootropic providers. I've been exercising regularly and eating relatively healthy for the last 12 months and will continue to do so. I plan on only taking a multivitamin (generic, probably Kroger brand) and creatine for workouts for all of June while I catch up on all of my brain health research (I have about 100 articles saved in my "read later" folder) and reevaluate my nootropic regimen before even considering going back on a nootropic, and even then, being more mindful and diligent with my closed loop brain health log, in which I write down every dose, pre-mental state, evaluate the effects, then adjust accordingly. 

If anyone is interested I'll update this post next week and let you know how it goes.


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#2 jroseland

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Posted 26 May 2016 - 08:40 PM

Generally Nootropics are very safe but everyone has there own mechanism of dependance.

With the exceptions of the Tianeptine and Phenibut you are not really taking anything with a high risk profile.

I've used 70 smart drugs over the past 5 years almost daily but have cycled off several times.

Be sure to post a follow-up report of how your focus, motivation and memory rebound in the coming months.

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#3 Kinesis

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Posted 27 May 2016 - 09:33 PM

Yes, I'm interested in your progress. I've been considering a bit of housecleaning myself. FWIW, it sounds like you've planned well by getting your diet and exercise program under way first. I wish you the best.

#4 ULTRA_VULGAR

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Posted 23 June 2016 - 01:27 PM

Apologies for the prolonged updated, but you'll understand why in just a moment. I wasn't able to actually quit everything because 1.) I still had some sulbutiamine, caffiene and theanine left (waste not, want not) but more importantly, I ghostwrite books for a living and from out of the blue got a HUGE contract for a book just land in my lap. So, while I may have had a few days worth of the three listed above, I ordered 250 mg of tianeptine from eBay so I could power through this last project. (yes, ebay sells legit noops) It took me four and a half days to write my clients book and it's well on its way to becoming a bestseller in the self-help ebook category. Yes, I've been told I write kind of fast. (Thank you, tianeptine!)

So, June 5th I felt great when I woke up, despite not having a nootropic in the house, except for acetyl l-carnitine, which I need to take daily unless I want to spend the rest of my days wandering from room to room looking for my car keys. I also continued to take creatine in the morning and a multivitamin, but nothing. else So the following two days involved me telling all of my clients that I would be on vacation for the rest of the month. Because  I knew what was coming. 

I've been taking a variety of nootropics over the last year, mind you, and have always been on some kind of racetam. I was a drug addict in another life, and although I only used drugs to get shit done back then, the point is I already knew cutting noops out of my life would have some kind of mental or physical withdraw sympoms. On the third day, I felt apathetic, unmotivated, and there were these mild waves of depression that would come and go as well as a mild brain fog, which was dense in the morning then lightened up by mid-day, but I was trying to lower my caffiene tolerance by stcking to tea. Worst of all, my anxiety, which I had managed to successfully dodge for the last 12 months by turning off the lights whenever it would drive past my house (as well as daily phenibut/fasco) returned in full force.

I slept more that week than I had in years, but I also run between 3 to 5 miles every morning and if I have the energy, a strength training exercise, but usually this wouldn't get past 20-40 pushups a few times a week. After 4 or 5 days (kind of lost sense of time for a while) the apathy and mild depression was gone, but I was still very unmotivated to actually accomplish anything. I set up several dates with girls from Tinder and never followed through, thinking, eh, what's the point? My inbox overflowed with potential job offers, but I couldn't be bothered to open them. The meals I cooked, while usually the healthiest and freshest stuff under the sun, quickly degradated to granola bars and bags of trail mix. Still arguably healthy, but lazy. 

Nearly all negative withdraw symptoms disappeared after about 12 days, but I was still slow. This certaiintly wasn't my brains natural state as I remember it to be. Not to brag, but I took a few IQ tests in college and scored a 123 (that was about 8 years ago). I play a variety of different "brain games" on my phone and those scores were all roughly 2/3 of what I usually score. I would have taken the Cambridge test, but that thing just takes so long... I wonder if I somehow caused damage to my brain in the last year, or if this lack of mental energy would eventually clear up on its own. 

My abstinence ended on Tuesday, June 21, with my beloved noopept. Mostly due to the extreme boredome of stay-at-home vacations. I had caught up on all of the books I had been meaning to read, organized the heck out of my, well, entire house, and probably pissed off a lot of girls on Tinder. But most importantly, I proved to myself that I could stop taking all brain boosters, because as a former addict, it's important for me to retain a sense of control. 

While it's nothing like the abysmal deeps of withdrawing from meth and heroin simultaneously, my brain wasn't happy with me. But here is the thing, I'm not sure what cause what. It might have been the 250 mg of tianeptine I devoured in a 5 day span. Or simply caffiene withdraw. There is no real way of discerning what supplement cuased which symptom, but I'd like your opinions on that. Who else has similar nootropic withdraw stories?

Question for Jrose, how long do you usually cycle for and how periodically? 



#5 Organism

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Posted 05 July 2016 - 07:35 PM

No insights, but props for objectivity and being able to detach yourself and adequately plan/prepare.

With those qualities you should've no problems improving upon ur relationship with nootropics and receiving even more benefits in the future

#6 gamesguru

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Posted 28 April 2017 - 10:56 PM

probably pissed off a lot of girls on Tinder. 

fuck em they act like shit on there anyways tinder introduced a deplorable revolution in the West.  texting and fat acceptance are the symbols of our misfortune.

 

as for the depression, going from healthy meals to granola bars is only going to reinforce the negative cycle as i'm sure you're aware.  sadly i'm not able to offer better advice than to motivate your shit bro.  dont be pinning yourself in the rump in the first place.. maybe have a look at the natural test boosters thread?


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#7 jroseland

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Posted 30 April 2017 - 02:13 PM

Apologies for the prolonged updated, but you'll understand why in just a moment. I wasn't able to actually quit everything because 1.) I still had some sulbutiamine, caffiene and theanine left (waste not, want not) but more importantly, I ghostwrite books for a living and from out of the blue got a HUGE contract for a book just land in my lap. So, while I may have had a few days worth of the three listed above, I ordered 250 mg of tianeptine from eBay so I could power through this last project. (yes, ebay sells legit noops) It took me four and a half days to write my clients book and it's well on its way to becoming a bestseller in the self-help ebook category. Yes, I've been told I write kind of fast. (Thank you, tianeptine!)

So, June 5th I felt great when I woke up, despite not having a nootropic in the house, except for acetyl l-carnitine, which I need to take daily unless I want to spend the rest of my days wandering from room to room looking for my car keys. I also continued to take creatine in the morning and a multivitamin, but nothing. else So the following two days involved me telling all of my clients that I would be on vacation for the rest of the month. Because  I knew what was coming. 

I've been taking a variety of nootropics over the last year, mind you, and have always been on some kind of racetam. I was a drug addict in another life, and although I only used drugs to get shit done back then, the point is I already knew cutting noops out of my life would have some kind of mental or physical withdraw sympoms. On the third day, I felt apathetic, unmotivated, and there were these mild waves of depression that would come and go as well as a mild brain fog, which was dense in the morning then lightened up by mid-day, but I was trying to lower my caffiene tolerance by stcking to tea. Worst of all, my anxiety, which I had managed to successfully dodge for the last 12 months by turning off the lights whenever it would drive past my house (as well as daily phenibut/fasco) returned in full force.

I slept more that week than I had in years, but I also run between 3 to 5 miles every morning and if I have the energy, a strength training exercise, but usually this wouldn't get past 20-40 pushups a few times a week. After 4 or 5 days (kind of lost sense of time for a while) the apathy and mild depression was gone, but I was still very unmotivated to actually accomplish anything. I set up several dates with girls from Tinder and never followed through, thinking, eh, what's the point? My inbox overflowed with potential job offers, but I couldn't be bothered to open them. The meals I cooked, while usually the healthiest and freshest stuff under the sun, quickly degradated to granola bars and bags of trail mix. Still arguably healthy, but lazy. 

Nearly all negative withdraw symptoms disappeared after about 12 days, but I was still slow. This certaiintly wasn't my brains natural state as I remember it to be. Not to brag, but I took a few IQ tests in college and scored a 123 (that was about 8 years ago). I play a variety of different "brain games" on my phone and those scores were all roughly 2/3 of what I usually score. I would have taken the Cambridge test, but that thing just takes so long... I wonder if I somehow caused damage to my brain in the last year, or if this lack of mental energy would eventually clear up on its own. 

My abstinence ended on Tuesday, June 21, with my beloved noopept. Mostly due to the extreme boredome of stay-at-home vacations. I had caught up on all of the books I had been meaning to read, organized the heck out of my, well, entire house, and probably pissed off a lot of girls on Tinder. But most importantly, I proved to myself that I could stop taking all brain boosters, because as a former addict, it's important for me to retain a sense of control. 

While it's nothing like the abysmal deeps of withdrawing from meth and heroin simultaneously, my brain wasn't happy with me. But here is the thing, I'm not sure what cause what. It might have been the 250 mg of tianeptine I devoured in a 5 day span. Or simply caffiene withdraw. There is no real way of discerning what supplement cuased which symptom, but I'd like your opinions on that. Who else has similar nootropic withdraw stories?

Question for Jrose, how long do you usually cycle for and how periodically? 

This is why I don't read a lot of self help books! LOL 

 

If going off Racetams is detrimental for you... Don't go off them! 

 

When I cycle off Nootropics it's not so hard on me. I think that over time you internalize a lot of the discipline and focus that Nootropics imbue. When I'm cycling off I just do 30 days of no booze/no fap to stay really motivated.







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