Ask HN: Anyone use brain drugs such as piracetam here?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=509451

by visdo • 17 years ago

15 10 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

If you have ever used these kind of drugs, what's your experience?

jcapote• 17 years ago

I too am curious after hearing numerous people rave about this "drug" (seems more like a supplement to me)

rms2• 17 years ago

Supplement is a word invented by the government.

There are three types of things that people consume. Food. Medicine. Supplements. The government has a list of every object encompassing those categories. If it is not one of those things, you are not allowed to discuss consumption of it because it is not on the list.

Supplements, like piracetam, are blessed to be on the approved list. It's not a drug, it's not a food, but you buy it at the grocery store and eat it so it must be a supplement. Wikipedia does classify it as a drug but it is not treated as a drug in the USA.

Herbal medicine is something of a different category but just about everything recognized from Eastern medicine is on the Supplements list anyways.

smellersinc• 17 years ago

My mom takes piracetam like aspirin. She's 61 and still learning new stuff to keep up with the advancements in her professional field.

jambalaya2• 17 years ago

I take doses of Greens+ from time to time. I like it. I tried Piracetam and others but didn't put the effort in to identify how they affected me.

alecst• 17 years ago

Do your perceived effects of Greens+ match the (somewhat inconclusive) results of this study? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15217524?dopt=Abstract...

I'm interested in trying it and would appreciate any extra information.

jambalaya2• 17 years ago

In terms of energy yes I perceive positive effects and personally think it's powerful stuff and am try to dose it when I'm sluggish.

I know you didn't ask but I like sharing :) I also love eggs, especially pasteurized egg whites, and place them in the same category. To me pasteurized egg whites are equally as powerful. I would liken it to caffeine with no negatives but I don't like the sensation all the time.

Veggies like broccoli and spinach to a much less immediate effect. I would place berries higher than veggies. I take fish oil. Mayo Clinic recommends it.

And of course exercise. I weight lift like you see in the olympics, albeit with much less weight. It's a very efficient weight lifting related exercise. There's also sprinting, akin to spinning but fuller body, and swimming.

So that's my core physical body and mind well being philosophy :)

chris11• 17 years ago

I haven't personally tried piracetam, but erowid has a good section on piracetam and other nootropics. It generally seemed from Erowid that nobody had any bad experiences unless they were also on hard drugs.

Piracetem:http://www.erowid.org/smarts/piracetam

Nootropic Vault:http://www.erowid.org/smarts/smarts.shtml

rms2• 17 years ago

Do a majority taking neutrotransmitters feel there has been some improvement in mental condition? I suspect most people do not. If it is not unhealthy to take one neurotransmitter, how many in combination become unhealthy? I would expect the benefits of these drugs to become more apparent when they were in combination with each other but any potential negative effects could also be magnified in combination.

You could fund research into what cognitive enhancement drugs did in healthy populations. Undergraduates would line up to be paid to take these drugs.

There's also the underlying ethical question of dosing people with combinations of neurotransmitters. We haven't studied it yet so we don't know what the side effects are. Is animal research appropriate? Do any of these drugs work on other primates? Has anyone ever tried to teach monkeys mathematics? http://www.scribd.com/doc/13134612/Naturrecom456702a argues for more study into the area, though they use as examples drugs of much more proven ability for cognitive enhancement than piracetam.

asciilifeform• 17 years ago

Didn't seem to work particularly well for me.

Do read this, though: http://yarchive.net/med/nootropics.html

icey• 17 years ago

I've tried piracetam, and didn't really notice any difference greater than eating breakfast and/or getting a good night's sleep would give me.

Ask HN: Anyone use brain drugs such as piracetam here?

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