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Piracetam irritability related to low carb diet?


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#1 health_nutty

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Posted 26 June 2010 - 11:42 PM


I get irritability if I take normal doses of Piracetam (800mg and above are not good). I'm wondering if it is related to my lowish-carb diet (around 100g of carbs mostly from veggies and some fruit)? I read some Piracetam user experiences saying they have a stronger reaction to low blood sugar (and they feel better after eating carbs). I wonder if Piracetam is utilizing more glucose in the brain so if you are lower carb you feel the negative effects? I've very curious to hear what other have to say about this.

Edited by health_nutty, 26 June 2010 - 11:42 PM.


#2 Mindweaver

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Posted 27 June 2010 - 12:04 AM

I just suggest keeping the doses to 800MG a day if this is a problem. I noticed that when my regime contained 2400-3200mg a day, I became irritable, had mood swings, etc. When I lowered my dose, it took a day or two to get used to having to go all day with just one dose, but now I feel great all day from 800mg in the morning. I continue to take ALCAR at normal doses (500mg/2x a day)

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#3 chrono

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Posted 27 June 2010 - 02:16 AM

In another thread I mentioned that glucose and pyruvate (and ALCAR) are what contribute the acetyl moeity to acetylcholine synthesis. The availability of these acetyls is probably more of a rate-limiting factor than how much choline is available (I think it's usually in excess, as far as this equation is balanced). Lack of ready availability may mean the brain has a hard time synthesizing new ACh quickly enough when it's depleted at an abnormal rate, as probably happens with piracetam. ALCAR might help, but is the least-preferred of these 3 substrates by a significant margin.

I'll be interested to find out if there's any correlation here. An interesting experiment would be to try it again after going to a higher/balanced carb intake.

#4 health_nutty

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Posted 27 June 2010 - 02:24 AM

I'll be interested to find out if there's any correlation here. An interesting experiment would be to try it again after going to a higher/balanced carb intake.


I'll up my carb intake a bit with complex carbs: fruit, oats, yams, etc. I've been meaning to do this anyways. I'm trying to avoid all simple carbs and wheat. This means sometimes its just easier to say to say no to carbs entirely (at least for that meal). This gives me extra motivation.

#5 health_nutty

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Posted 28 June 2010 - 03:52 PM

Piracetam seems better on a bit high carbs than I was getting. I took 800mg and am getting none of the irritability I was getting previously.

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#6 chrono

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Posted 15 July 2010 - 06:12 AM

Right now, I'm thinking that there's definitely potential for a connection here.

I've mentioned that reducing (eliminating, really) excessive sugar intake about a year ago may have led to me require an acetylcholine booster, whereas before I'd taken piracetam for a long time without one. ALCAR worked immediately and completely, and remained effective for about 7 months by itself.

Pasta has been my staple food for most of my life. Even though my diet was fairly "balanced" in a traditional sense, I was pretty easily getting the majority of calories from carbohydrates. Over the past month or so, I've phased out pasta almost completely. I'm not low carb by any stretch, but probably have the macronutrients more or less balanced.

In the past two weeks, piracetam usage has become problematic for me. I don't get the irritability that you and others describe, but have other negative effects. In short: lack of desire to do anything (having trouble enjoying activities), mental fatigue but inability to sleep, verbal confusion, and general decrease in executive quality.

My first sad thought was that piracetam had stopped working for me, as a few others have reported in the non-responders thread. But at least partially-successful experiments with lecithin and Alpha GPC (along with my ever-present ALCAR) have convinced me that I've become suddenly burdened with the kind of cholinergic problem many beginning piracetam users have.

One of the implications of this experience is that ALCAR worked for me as a choline source by itself because I was on a relatively high-carb diet. It's still doing something, as 7 months ago I couldn't stand taking piracetam for more than 3-4 days before the effects described became almost mentally debilitating.

Anyway, just wanted to add that to this thread, for the sake of compiling data about dietary influence.




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