9 replies to this topic

[victortsoi]

In short, I've probably taken every possible supp I could find to improve my cognitive abilities, including experimenting with every popular racetam and Alpha-GPC for almost a year, along with a lot of other things.
Now my problem is not that I don't like my supplements or that I don't think that they help me enough, but that a lot of the effects are inconsistent and I hate having to figure out how much choline to take with how much racetam at what time and with what food. This problem is especially exacerbated when I am taking exams and I have to gamble on my stack either making me zombified or on the ball...
I don't think that the nootropics themselves are the problem, it is just that due to the endless combinations and formulations of these products, supplementing has taken a kind of OCD quality in my life.
I rarely take off days from my stack. How should I go about tapering? I am going on vacation to a fun place next week for about a week so hopefully I can use the novelty of the trip to mask whatever "withdrawal" I may experience. Is this a wrong decision? Have I screwed my memory from taking agpc and racetams for a year? How long to totally adjust?

[Baten]

Normally, you shouldn't have any "withdrawal", and you should revert to the original state in about two weeks at most.

[victortsoi]

I have taken short breaks, and I feel far slower during these (~3 to 4 day max) breaks. It even feels as if the way I think is completely different when I am off a racetam, i.e, its not the "horsepower" of my ability to think, but the vehicle....I hope you can understand the analogy...

[Baten]

I have taken short breaks, and I feel far slower during these (~3 to 4 day max) breaks. It even feels as if the way I think is completely different when I am off a racetam, i.e, its not the "horsepower" of my ability to think, but the vehicle....I hope you can understand the analogy...

Well yeah, the first days can do that. I actually remember experiencing the same.
What helped me recover was 400mg of riboflavine a day. Keeps my brain in check, not really a nootropic, but makes sure your brain has adequate ADP.
I buy these at a local pharmacy, they make 200mg capsules not found on the 'net but kind of expensive. I occasionally take 2 months of 400mg, and afterwards 200mg daily to maintain.
Riboflavine/B-2 is water soluble, so just drink enough water. Of course this is all anecdotal, it's what helped me when I quit my nootropic stack cold turkey.

[victortsoi]

Thanks for the advice...lol, I hope that at least maybe my new "baseline" will have some sort of positive long term potentiation

[gamesguru]

You probably haven't screwed your memory up by taking these things (no one knows for sure), but it will be an experience analogous to learning to walk again after hip replacement surgery. It won't be intense withdrawals, but it will be a confusing, almost eerie state of mind. As was said, it probably won't last more than a couple weeks. You're free to taper if you want, but it shouldn't be necessary. Personally, I would taper down over 3-5 days, and take nothing the last two days of vacation. If you plan to stop taking everything, I'd improve my diet and exercise routine if at all possible, just for the health benefits, and to even out any rough edges.

[victortsoi]

The adjustment period, from what I remember from my last cold turkey, is that day 1 isn't so weird since there are probably vestiges of the stack in your body (or their effects have been ongoing). The second or third day is when it gets really noticeable. I'm not taking much on my trip since I don't want to deal with taking too many pills on an airplane. Dasheenster, do you have a story? Thanks

[gamesguru]

My only story is that I've gone cold turkey about 3-4 times in the last 3 years, only to relapse within a few months. OCD/anxiety probably kept telling me I needed something to help my body. Each time I return, my stack changes a bit, but it was only in the last three months that I ditched choline, piracetam, bacopa and others (like you, i was mad that I couldn't get reliable results day in and day out). I tapered off the piracetam and choline, dropping 800mg/100mg of each daily until I was off. The bacopa I quit cold turkey, no side effects. The slight enhanced recall is still with me after more than 6 weeks, but I'm not going to miss it even if it starts to dissipate. I wouldn't even say there's withdrawals to most nootropics, it's more of just learning to function as the afterglow dissipates. The "weird feeling" can last up to 10-20 days, depending on what substances you were taking. If you're lucky, you'll feel like your old self (before you ever dabbled with nootropics) within 4-7 days.

I still take ones that are more reliable, but they generally don't improve my thinking/general health, so as they run out, I probably won't reorder...it's just a waste of money on things that don't work. I don't think psychiatrists/therapy do too much either...so I'm just relying on common sense, self-control, and good luck. If anything, the stacks I would take would make me more unstable and make it harder to focus on school. Having OCD definitely didn't help my efforts to not let my stack consume my life.

Edited by dasheenster, 12 August 2012 - 06:54 PM.

[victortsoi]

I guess the crux of the problem is that I want these chemicals to help me think but I spend most of my time thinking about how to take the chemicals...counter-productive. If I could just take one pill in the morning and have it be the same every day it would be different. With racetams you have to measure the powder, take a choline source...ugh...

[gamesguru]

Hmm, it's certainly part of the problem. However, I've noticed that even if you have a strict dosing schedule, pack all your capsules the night before, and keep your mind preoccupied with other things besides how the nootropics will influence you...you still have to deal with the inconsistent effects. There's just too many reactions going on in our body for these chemicals to have a reliable and regular effect. It's a big mystery.