6 replies to this topic

[Ghostrider]

I started taking Tyrosine two days ago. I started at 1 g, then moved to 500 mg yesterday. Yesterday and the previous day, I felt really good, mentally fast and agile throughout the day. 500 mg Tyrosine was better than 1 g tyrosine in fact. I took 500 mg tyrosine + 500 mg ALCAR + 250 mg ALA this morning and have felt mentally fatigued all day. Has anyone else felt this? Is there a way to safely get the mental high that I felt yesterday, every day? I attribute the mental high as coming more from Tyrosine than from ALCAR. Have I become resistant to Tyrosine? Does anyone use Tyrosine daily? Also, how safe is taking 500 mg Tyrosine daily? Is there a better way to achieve the same effect?

[zoolander]

I started taking Tyrosine two days ago. I started at 1 g, then moved to 500 mg yesterday. Yesterday and the previous day, I felt really good, mentally fast and agile throughout the day. 500 mg Tyrosine was better than 1 g tyrosine in fact. I took 500 mg tyrosine + 500 mg ALCAR + 250 mg ALA this morning and have felt mentally fatigued all day.

If you are experimenting with supplements you should generally start out at the lower dosage and increase. This is a safer approach. Additionally you should not change anything else that you are doing at the time.

Did you take the ALCAR + ALA on the other days that you took L-tyrosine?

Is there a way to safely get the mental high that I felt yesterday, every day?

First....Eat well. Sleep well. Exercise.

Have you tried DL-phenylalanine (DLPA)? at 500-1500mg/day?
Have you tried chocomine?

I attribute the mental high as coming more from Tyrosine than from ALCAR

It's likely.

If you wanted to find out what is effective and what is not effective then I would stop all supplement intake for 1-2 weeks. This will give you body a well deserved rest if you have been taking supplements for a while. (Note: The wash out period for some supplements may be longer)

Do not stop taking any perscribed medications unless you speak with your doctor about it.

During your break, eat well and sleep well. Try to keep things consistant. Go to bed at the same time every night if you can and wake naturally i.e. without an alarm.

Just on a side note....here is a good way to work out your approximate predisposed daily sleep requirements without paying thousands of dollars in a sleep lab. It takes about 2 weeks.

You must keep things constant. Minimise or stop your use of stimulatant. Go to bed at the same time everynight

1. For the first week (days 1-7) sleep 10 hours each day. This should make up for any lost sleep. Its ok if you wake before the 10 hours but try not to sleep beyond the 10 hours per night.

2. In the second week (days 8-14) go to bed at the same time every night and wake naturally i.e without an alarm. When you wake, note how many hours that you slept that night. Do this for 7 nights. On the morning after your last sleep (Day 15), add the amount of hours slept on each of the nights (days 8-14) together. Then divide this amount by 7 (for the amount of days) and you should have a rough (or as close as you will get outside of a sleep lab) value for what you daily sleep requirements are.

Ok...where were we.....thats right you were taking abreak from your supplements....
After you have taken a break from your supplements, introduce the supplements one by one. Not day by day but one by one. For example try supplementing with just tyrosine for a few days to a week. Follow the instructions for the supplement (empty stomach or with food) and take subjective notes in a journal. Then do the same thing with another supplement. It is a long and tedious process but if you are new to supplements it is a good way to start.

You are looking for a particular result and that is a mental high. Try the above until you find that mental high.

I hope this has helped

[Ghostrider]

Zoolander, thanks. Sleep was definitely part of the problem. I feel somewhat depressed and mentally slow today. But part could be due to the bad weather after a week of sun. I seem to have required a lot of sleep today and have very little motivation to do anything. The opposite effect compared to the past two days. Although, I have taken the same amount of supplement. I know that I generally need around 8-9 hours of sleep to be optimally productive. I can run off of 7 hours, but productivity really drops below 7 hrs. I will try your sleep experiment though. My fear is that modifying my neurochemicals through supplementation could cause my body to over-compensate in unfavorable ways. So my primary concern at the moment is whether or not L-Tyrosine is safe. Did you notice fading effects overtime -- beyond a readjustment of your baseline?

[zoolander]

I take many supplements. With tyrosine I initially noticed a kick for a few days which, as you mentioned, readjusted my baseline.

I take supplements 5 days a week and have 2 days off. I do this for 3 months and then have 1-2 weeks off. I am currently working long hours and have irregular sleeping hours as a result. I do not think my subjective response to supplements is of any use to anyone at the moment.

Once again, I hopethe above info helped.

[doug123]

If you are trying tyrosine and looking for really noticeable effects...I'm not sure it will deliver at relatively low dosages. The research suggests that 150mg/kg delivers a stimulant effect. If you are really interested in a safe stimulant -- you might want to try modafinil. But as far as tyrosine goes -- it should be taken in doses of at least 1 gram -- on an empty stomach -- as other foods might interfere with absorption.

Nutr Neurosci. 2003 Aug;6(4):237-46. 

Effects of tyrosine, phentermine, caffeine D-amphetamine, and placebo on cognitive and motor performance deficits during sleep deprivation.

Magill RA, Waters WF, Bray GA, Volaufova J, Smith SR, Lieberman HR, McNevin N, Ryan DH.

Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA.

Cognitive and motor performance are critical in many circumstances and are impaired by sleep deprivation. We administered placebo, tyrosine 150 mg/kg, caffeine 300 mg/70 kg, phentermine 37.5 mg and D-amphetamine 20 mg at 15.30 h following overnight sleep deprivation and compare their effects on cognitive and motor performance in healthy young men. Tests of visual scanning, running memory, logical reasoning, mathematical processing, the Stroop task, four-choice serial reaction time, time wall take, pursuit tracking, visual vigilance, Trails (B) task and long-term memory were evaluated at standardized intervals before, during and after sleep deprivation and drugs. Performance decrements with sleep deprivation occurred in visual scanning, running memory, logical reasoning, mathematical processing, the Stroop test, the time wall test, tracking and visual vigilance. Interestingly, with sleep deprivation some tests improved and others did not deteriorate. Improvements with medication following sleep deprivation were seen in running memory, logical reasoning, mathematical processing, tracking and visual vigilance. Although less effective than D-amphetamine, tyrosine improved performance on several tests. We conclude that all drugs tested improved at least some aspects of cognitive and motor performance after sleep deprivation. As a naturally occurring amino acid, and thus amenable to nutritional strategies, tyrosine may deserve further testing.
Publication Types:

* Clinical Trial
* Randomized Controlled Trial


PMID: 12887140 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[Ghostrider]

I am beginning to think that caffine in the form of a soda or coffee is the best stimulant in terms of the ratio: effectiveness/safety.

[zoolander]

Adam, whilst the research for madafinil is looking good it costs $140 for a months supply. That is US dollars and I live in Australia. So I am looking at perhaps AU$175. So I looking at AU$6 a day. Not an option.

I am not looking for a pharmaceutical to pick me up either. For now I would stick with L-tyrosine