DOSE:	1 g	oral	Piracetam
	1 g	oral	Vitamins - Choline
	2.5 mg	oral	Pharms - Selegeline
	100 mg	oral	Picamilon
			Modafinil

BODY WEIGHT:

185 lb

I've been experimenting with some nootropics over the last few months. In general, they have provided a mild but significant boost to my mental health, energy, and focus, with no side effects and at a very low price. They're now a part of my daily routine and I'm happy that I gave them a try.

I started with a combination of 1g piracetam and 1g choline citrate a day. I chose those doses just because they each came with a 1g scoop. After a week of 'I'm not sure' and 'Maybe I feel something', I eventually started to get a consistent boost every time I took them. It was subtle, to be sure: my mind felt clearer, I was more able to concentrate on things, and I was in a slightly better mood. In a way it was like the feeling of recovering from a hangover.

Then I added 2.5mg/daily of deprenyl (selegiline). This took an effect straight away: my mood stabilised and got sunnier, and colours became richer and more engaging. I tried taking 5mg/day but that didn't offer much of a benefit over 2.5, and I don't want to get dependent on it. This, combined with the piracetam and choline, felt like a psychological moisturiser: it soothes the rough patches and sore spots in my psyche, and makes things feel smoother and more fluid. I got noticeably more resilient: it made me able to shrug off things that would have gotten under my skin without it.

From there I added, at the same time, 300mg/daily of sulbutiamine and 100mg/daily of picamilon. I'm less clear about the effect that these had, just because their effects mixed in with all the other nootropics. They seemed to potentiate the others, making the general effect stronger and longer-lasting. I ran out of sulbutiamine a week ago, and haven't found much of a difference without it; but perhaps I'll notice it in the weeks to come. Picamilon does have a mild but significant anti-anxiety effect, provided I stick to low doses.

Finally, I started taking modafinil intermittently, in doses from 50mg to 200mg in a day. It's pretty strong: I'm much more motivated to get boring or annoying tasks done; I'm awake for long hours even if I'm working hard; and, strangely, it suppresses my appetite too. It can be 'messy' if I'm feeling anxious or stressed: like caffeine, it can add to those feelings rather than helping me to deal with them. But on the whole it's been a great help when I've been studying and writing essays, and since it has no real impact on my mood I'm not worried about dependency or addiction here. I've taken it three days in a row before and then gone back to my normal lifestyle without noticing any problems. I sometimes notice a drop-off in my motivation the day after using it, but that's very slight, and could just be from all the work that I've done. It's more expensive than the other supplements here, but 200mg/day is the same price as a double espresso, so I can justify it to myself (and I'm a broke-ass student).

YMMV, as always with supplements. These have helped me out. That said, I have a pretty healthy diet, exercise a lot, and don't drink or do drugs too often; their effect would probably be less noticeable on a person with a crazier lifestyle. But thankfully they're cheap enough that I can try them out without going bankrupt.

Exp Year: 2012	ExpID: 95388
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 25
Published: Apr 28, 2017	Views: 4,610
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Vitamins - Choline (467), Piracetam (95), Pharms - Selegeline (228) : Retrospective / Summary (11), Performance Enhancement (50), Combinations (3), Not Applicable (38)