I will try and keep this concise, yet detailed to paint you an accurate picture. Hello, first of all, my name is John. I first discovered the power of nootropics back last summer (summer of 2012.) I hadn't tried any yet, however. I transferred colleges and moved out to UT at chattanooga, and began taking something known as Windmill: Focus Formula. It contains Huperzine A and a myriad of others. I cannot post a link, as I am a new member, but am sure it won't be difficult to find with a quick google search. Prior to taking this, I was always quite average in reading, verbal fluency, motivation, etc. After a week or two of taking these, WOW! Things really took off for me. I was absolutely blown away by the results My verbal fluency increased tenfold, I was far more outgoing and sociable, my thought-action reportoire was more expansive than it ever had been, I was so incredibly motivated. I was doing well in school, and was EXTREMELY interested in everything.... almost too attentive and interested some days, if that makes sense. This went on for two wonderful months, and then one day, this focus formula began making me very, very tired. I stopped taking it around the end of October 2012. The overall fatigue grew worse, then it transformed into a remarkable brain fog and bizarre feeling of derealization. Intracranial pressure began occuring, complete lack of memory. I began doing things such as putting the box of cereal in the fridge, going to play a song in my car from my ipod that was already playing- It just didnt register to me. Those are very minor example, I just cannot remember anything right now. I had neurofeedback testing done that showed my beta waves were remarkably low. This brain fog and derealization grew much worse and very debilitating to the point I could no longer continue school. I did late withdrawals from a couple reading-intensive courses, finished out the other ones. I then subleased my apartment and moved back home in with my folks. I had to withdraw from University this semester, which is the last thing i ever planned on doing. Here it is, March, and all of these symptoms and still here and even more severe. In addtion to the chronic symptoms such as decreased thought-action reportiore, poor verbal fluency, very poor memory recall, intracranial pressure (usually made much worse with temperature shifts, such as the heater coming on in my car), I also have a very stiff neck all the time. (My regular chirporactor says there is no structual cause for it.) I've seen number of people, had numerous tests. The only abnormality found in the past 3-4 months of testing has been found last week and I am deficient in vitamin D (panel showed 27, with normal range 30-90.) MRI and EEG were normal. A couple months back I took up paleolithic diet, so I eat very well, and supplement with a number of things including ashwaganda, lions mane, multivitamin, probiotic, turmeric, oil of oregano, fish oil, magnesium/vitamin c, d3 drops, resveratrol, and b12. I did my best to not come to the forums and tried seeking help from "medical professionals" however everyone has told me there is nothing wrong with me. Sorry for the longwinded post, just figured I should explain a bit about the situaiton if I should hold any hopes of receiving sound advice. Here recently I have been considering trying some more nootropics, just to see if they will help, as I am about out of options. The majority of days I do not feel "in my head" enough to even drive, almost as if I feel really, really intoxicated. I thank you for whoever took the time to read this, and look forward to discussing with you all.
Kind Regards,
John Holloway