

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

If you have ever used these kind of drugs, what's your experience?
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jcapote
I too am curious after hearing numerous people rave about this "drug" (seems
more like a supplement to me)

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rms
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.

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rms
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.

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chris11
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>

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jambalaya
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.

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alecst
Do your perceived effects of Greens+ match the (somewhat inconclusive) results
of this study?
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15217524?dopt=Abstract...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15217524?dopt=Abstract&holding=f1000,f1000m,isrctn)

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

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jambalaya
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 :)

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

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asciilifeform
Didn't seem to work particularly well for me.

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

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icey
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.

