The biohack.me forums were originally run on Vanilla and ran from January 2011 to July 2024. They are preserved here as a read-only archive. If you had an account on the forums and are in the archive and wish to have either your posts anonymized or removed entirely, email us and let us know.
While we are no longer running Vanilla, Patreon badges are still being awarded, and shoutout forum posts are being created, because this is done directly in the database via an automated task.
How can I safely experiment with nootropics?
Okay so I am thinking about starting a nootropic trial and I am currently researching the risks to it. My concern is I will discover allergies I didn't know I had, that's is not something I am aiming to do. Is there a way to test my reaction to individual ingredients with out ingesting to much?
Sincerely,
John Doe
Comments
Displaying all 14 comments
-
Like you say: without ingesting too much. Start with a very small amount, less than whatever is an active dose, and see how you react. Gradually increase the dose until you either reach the active dose or have an adverse reaction.
The only nootropic stuff I've had an issue with was elevated histamine from Noopept.
-
Depends on what you are taking. There is a huge amount of writing out there from people who have experimented with noots. The allergic reactions to the non-plant based noots is exxtreeemely low. Like, it's usually someone just taking a lot of different things. You can only cram so many powders in your face...If you are really concerned about allergic reactions go the simple allergy route. rub it on your skin. wait. touch it on your tongue. wait. take a small does. wait. etc.That being said, do your research and move forward in a way that sounds reasonable. For instance, piracetam has a really high dose, akin to a tablespoon. It also has a short halflife inside the body and has not been shown to cause allergic reactions on it own. Adjust your protocol accordingly.
-
Okay thank you, is there any labs that can verify what I bought is what's in my hand?
-
Rather than allergies, side effects would be a bigger issue - i've found the two big ones to be headaches and nausea from some things.Excessive choline has also at times triggered a mild depression, if you don't know to look out for it then it can cause psychological issues and proper depression.
-
Good point. It's important to take notes and pay attention to how things interact, not just with each other, but with your own body chem.Ugh, excessive choline. I was not paying attention once and measured out my creatnine and choline, switched.... 6g of choline is not your friend.
-
Is there a way you could color code the powder without mucking with your measurements too much? Like food dye or something?
-
There is always the amazing "write your labels properly and also mark your doses" method. Piece of tape on the container and lid, does wonders.
-
Okay vary good, points but what I was asking is how do I know what I bought from a vendor is choline and not cyanid? Speaking of which are the odds of that happening? I am looking at this as my starting point: PRL-8-53. I can't seem to find any online or at least from a place that will sell it to me.... Has anyone made any?
-
The thing to do is to use vendors that are trustworthy and stay away from "too good to be true" deals.A few trustworthy vendors that i've used myself:Relentless Improvement - best for nootropicsLEF (Life Extension Foundation - they also support some important research, i'm a member and have been for a few years) - best for general supplementsawakebrain.com - good for russian import nootropicsDisclaimer: I can't vouch for the quality of ANY vendor, these are just ones i've used myself and trust, you need to decide yourself who you trust.
-
Okay thank you for directing me to those vendors. Can I even import things into the us from Russia? Also please correct me if I am wrong but doesn't mass spectrometry tell you what is in a substance? If not is there a 100% way to make sure that what you have is what you have? There could be a lot of money in that....
-
JohnDoe yea same. I just bought some nsi-189 and hope its not anything else. There are some ways to tell by yourself, like color, weight, and unfortunately taste which is obviously not good if its cyanide. I have a trusted vendor, but I would still like to get it verified before I begin.
-
The reputable vendors have independent CoA (Certificate of Analysis, if I remember correctly) that they will send you a copy of. The Nootropics subreddit /r/Nootropics has some information on that process, and I added a couple of suppliers I use (and trust) to the wiki here.
Mass spec will tell you what is in a sample, to some extent, but requires a reference sample to compare. So if the lab has a reference for e.g. piracetam, then they can compare something that's allegedly piracetam and see if they match, or compare your sample to a reference library to find out what it is. If that doesn't work, it gets significantly more difficult.
There have been reported instances of miss-identified substances getting into people's hands, including a company (Cerebral Health, now BioScience Nutraceuticals) that was supplying diphenhydramine (effective dose around 25mg) as pyritinol (600mg dose). 600mg of diphenhydramine is a serious anticholinergic deleriant trip.
I put some tasting notes on the nootropics reddit a while back. Taste is not a great way to detect what a specific nootropic is, because most of them taste like salted robot ass.
-
Who the hell sells diphenhydramine as a nootropic? It's like the complete opposite, that's not just a mistake that's active malice.
-
Could it be for a sleep aid? I have seen sleep aids sold as nootropics. Also what would happen you think if you took PRL-8-53 and you started to slowly remove its components one at a time (as chemistry allows) to see what would happen if certain parts are removed. Maybe something could be discovered like a trend in memory enhancers, or a super drug even who knows. Sincerely, John Doe
Displaying all 14 comments