From: ccat@wet.UUCP (Chris Beaumont)
Date: 31 Aug 91 04:48:10 GMT
Cognition-Enhancement Drugs
This text has been excerpted from MEGABRAIN REPORT: THE
PSYCHOTECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER.
Included here are dosages,
precautions, and mail-order sources for three intelligence
and
memory enhancing substances. Please feel free to duplicate this
excerpt and put it onto other bulletin boards or conference
systems. For a copy of the
full length article, including
references, contact MEGABRAIN REPORT, POB 2744,
Sausalito, CA
94965, Phone: (415) 332-8323, FAX: (415) 332-8327.
The authors of this article are Michael Hutchison and John
Morgenthaler. Michael
Hutchison is the editor and publisher of
MEGABRAIN REPORT and can be contacted there
(see the address
above). He is also the author of the books, MegaBrain: New Tools
and Techniques For Brain Growth and Mind Expansion, The Book of
Floating, and
the recently published Anatomy of Sex and Power: An
Investigation of Mind Body
Politics.
John Morgenthaler is the co-author with Ward Dean, MD, of a
full
length book on over thirty cognition enhancing compounds. The book
includes an index, references, and sources of compounds. John can
be contacted at POB
483 Santa Cruz, CA 95061, Phone: (800)
669-2030, MCI mail address: 3144541. A free copy
of the book goes
to anyone who posts this article to another bulletin board or
conference system.
COGNITION-ENHANCEMENT DRUGS
by Michael Hutchison and John Morgenthaler
Picture this: You have
a business meeting tomorrow with your
Japanese distributor. This meeting requires that
you be in top form
for some critical negotiations. You have several reports to go
over, many facts to memorize, and above all you have to get some
rest.
Your first step? A trip to the drug store, of course. A meeting
like
this is much too important to take on without fine-tuning your
biochemistry. You must
create the optimal neurochemical conditions
for learning and creativity. You ask the
druggist, who then points
you towards the shelf of cognitive enhancement
compounds. You load up your basket with bottles of piracetam,
vasopressin, hydergine,
choline, DMAE, and maybe a little
centrophenoxine.
After
arriving home, and taking the appropriate doses of each of
these you go into your study
to slip on your cranial electric
stimulator along with your light and sound device. You
know from
your experience and that of many pioneers in the consciousness
revolution that this particular combination of chemicals and brain
machines has a
synergistic effect that will create the optimal
psychobiological state for the tasks
that lie ahead. You can be
sure that your Japanese counterparts are engaged in a
similar
manner.
After an hour in your study you feel very
different. You are
relaxed, yet alert and creative. Your brainwave activity has
altered, and an EEG would show that it has become more regular and
has increased
in amplitude in certain frequencies, causing you to
feel simultaneously profoundly
relaxed yet in a state of intense
concentration, loose and creative as well as mentally
quick and
alert. A brain-mapping device would show that the two hemispheres
enormous
increase in the amount of information flowing between the
hemispheres. At the same
time, the rate of metabolism and the
energy level of your brain cells has sharply
increased. You are now
in the optimal state to imprint new memories, to plan new and
more
creative strategies, to visually rehearse every detail of your
upcoming meeting…
Sound far-fetched? Well, both the brain machines and
the
cognitive enhancement compounds already exist. Megabrain
described a
variety of devices that show evidence of enhancing
cognition (for a summary of several
recent studies suggesting that
CES devices can have clear cognition-boosting effects
see the
"Research Update" elsewhere in this issue); and the book also
mentioned the cognition-enhancing effects of such neurochemicals
as vasopressin
and MSH-ACTH 4-10. Since then other mind-
magnifying drugs have emerged as well as even
more astonishing
evidence of their ability to amplify learning, memory and
thinking. What we don’t know is how to best use them together, or
even whether they
should be used together.
That’s what we want to find out. The problem, as
many of you are
aware, is that it is extremely difficult for those interested in
performing research into the effects of brain machines to obtain
the necessary
funding and support. Mainstream science,
particularly those elements in control of
doling out grants and
funds to support research, and many of the universities and
institutions engaged in research, seem to have little interest in
investigating
these machines. What research is done usually
involves the therapeutic applications of
the devices rather that
the induction of peak performance brain states.
On the other hand, huge amounts of money are being spent for
research
into cognition enhancing drugs. But much of the research
is being done by the big
pharmaceutical companies, who are racing
with each other to develop patentable memory
enhancement drugs and
to obtain FDA approval for these compounds. Since the FDA is
primarily oriented toward treating diseases in a medical context,
and has not
shown much interest in giving its approval to drugs
that simply improve people’s
memories or boost intelligence, the
pharmaceutical companies are directing their
efforts toward gaining
approval for their cognition-enhancement drugs as
treatments for medical problems such as Alzheimer’s disease,
multiple-infarct dementia
and senility. Since financial analysts
estimate that such cognitive drugs could quickly
produce sales of
well over a billion dollars a year in the U.S. alone, and
ultimately outsell antibiotics and tranquilizers, the competition
is fierce, and these
companies are in no mood to investigate ways
their substances might work
synergistically or in combination with
other substances or other mechanisms such as
mind machines.
Also, since their efforts are directed toward drugs that
are
patentable, these companies have little interest in exploring the
cognition enhancement properties of substances that cannot be
patented. Vitamin C is a
good example: in a controlled study in
which healthy individuals were tested both for
levels of vitamin
C and IQ, those with higher levels of the vitamin averaged 5
points
higher in IQ; when those with the lower levels of the vitamin were
given vitamin C supplements, their IQ scores
increased by over 3.5 points. In some way,
Vitamin C is a
cognition-enhancing substance. But, of course no one can patent
vitamin C, which is cheap and readily available.
In another
example, one widely available and unpatentable
substance (DHEA) is rumored to have
demonstrated in a recent study
some success in, among other things, treating AIDS, as
well as
cognition enhancement; however, the drug company involved in the
experiments is now apparently trying to conceal the
discoveries about DHEA until it can
develop some variant that is
patentable (i.e. has commercial value), and has obtained a
court
order forbidding the scientist in charge of the study to even speak
with anyone about the matter.
WE HAVE MET THE GUINEA PIG AND IT IS US
And so, MEGABRAIN REPORT has concluded that if we really want more
doing it
ourselves. Thus we ask you to join us in a series of
surveys, tests and assessments
designed to explore the interactions
between brain machines and cognitive enhancement
compounds. This
is not to say we are advising you to take any of the cognition-
enhancement substances we describe. No! We do not advise you to
take these
compounds, just as we do not advise you to use mind
machines or do anything to enhance
your mental
functioning. High level mental functioning can be exceedingly
dangerous and have frightening and unpredictable side effects, as
individuals from
Socrates to Jesus to Galileo have discovered.
However, we do have reason
to believe that many of you are by
nature curious, given to exploration and even
experimentation–
that, in fact, many of you are already making use of some of these
cognition-boosting nutrients. This being so, it seems clear to us
that you
have information that would be of interest and value to
the rest of us. It’s also clear
that if there are
hundreds or even thousands of you with such information, then by
gathering it together, we can synthesize it, analyze it, begin to
search for
trends, tendencies, proclivities, and perhaps even make
some important connections.
The first part of the survey is intended to be an open-ended
exploration rather that a rigorous scientific study or an attempt
to confirm an
existing hypotheses. We hope not for solid
conclusions or hard data, but rather to
discover and delineate some
interesting avenues for future research.
In a later issue, we will report on the early survey results. It’s
possible–though we cannot guarantee it–that in
investigating the subjective responses
we hope to receive from
MEGABRAIN REPORT readers we will discover some trends. We can
use
this information to guide us in designing a more focused study for
part two of the survey.
For example, we might receive many reports that
the effects of
piracetam are amplified when used with the light and sound
devices. Then we could plan to focus more deeply on the
particular machine/compound
interaction, investigating the
interactive effects over differing periods of time,
using
different sound and light frequencies and modes, and in various
areas, such as memory, reaction speed, creativity and so on.
In this
issue, we will introduce some of the more interesting
compounds for cognitive
enhancement, provide information about how
to obtain each of them, present some methods
for assessing and
evaluating your own brain state and tracing your progress, and
present a simple questionnaire. These self-assessment methods and
our initial
survey appear at the end of this article. First we will
describe a few of the most
promising cognition enhancing
substances.
NOOTROPIC DRUGS
PIRACETAM
"Last year a friend took me to
hear Sun Ra and his Intergalactic
Arkestra as a birthday present. I had just received a
bottle of
800 mg tablets of Piracetam. My friend and I each took nine of the
entering
the hall. The music began 30 minutes later. I found myself
able to concentrate as never
before. I was
completely lucid with absolutely no sense of intoxication. For the
first time in my life I could hear each individuals horn’s timbre
(Sun Ra has
about 10 horn players, often all playing massed
harmonies.) My friend has worked as a
professional
saxophone player. He, too, reported extraordinary hearing and
concentration abilities. My ears felt as though the were being
stimulated from all
directions at once, but the feeling was
entirely pleasant. I was enthralled."
Piracetam has been the subject of intensive research for over 15
booster and cerebral
stimulant, but also, even in massive acute
and chronic dosages, appears to be nontoxic
and to produce no side
effects (it’s so nontoxic one FDA employee reportedly
possibly have any
pharmacological effects and must be
physiologically inert). It is so remarkable in its
effects and
safety that its discovery by UCB Laboratories in Belgium sent
virtually every other major pharmaceutical company scrambling to
develop its own
cerebral stimulant. This "Smart pill race" has
resulted in the creation of a
new drug category called the
nootropics, from the Greek words noos (mind) and tropein
(turn),
meaning "acting on the mind".
Some of the
nootropic drugs being tested now on humans include
vinpocetine (being developed by
Ayerst Laboratories), which speeds
up learning, improves memory and recall and seems to
block the
action of substances that disrupt memory; aniracetam
(Hoffman-La
Roche), which appears to be about ten times more potent
in improving and protecting
memory than piracetam,
pramiracetam (Warner-Lambert/Parke Davis), which seems to
improve
learning and memory by enhancing the firing of neurons in the
hippocampus (a key to the formation of long-term memories), and
oxiracetam
(Ciba-Geigy), apparently two to three times as
powerful as piracetam (intriguingly,
research shows that when
oxiracetam is given to pregnant rats their offspring proved
more
intelligent that control groups–similar findings have been
reported
for the offspring of pregnant rats kept in "enriched
environments," as
described in the "Research Update" elsewhere in
this issue). All of these
substances seem remarkably nontoxic and
free of side effects.
sale in the US,
but, keenly aware of the multi-billion dollar
potential of nootropics, the drug
companies are pouring big bucks
into research that will satisfy FDA requirements by
proving how
they work (still not well understood), and by proving their
effectiveness in treating medical problems such as Alzheimer’s
disease and senility. In
this article we will focus on the most
extensively tested and widely available
nootropic compound,
piracetam.
Piracetam has been proven to
boost learning and memory in normal
subjects as well as those who suffer cognitive
deficits, and is
also a cognitive enhancer under conditions of hypoxia, or too
little oxygen (recent expeditions to climb Mt. Everest have
included piracetam
as an "essential" medication to treat
frostbite and memory lapses causes by
altitude). A variety of
clinical studies with human subjects, including studies of
young
healthy volunteers, healthy middle-aged subjects with some memory
decline, elderly subjects, elderly subjects with senility, and
alcoholics, have proven
that piracetam enhances cortical
vigilance, improves integration of information
processing,
improves attention span and concentration, and can produce
dramatic improvements in both direct and delayed recall of verbal
learning.
It’s effective in the treatment of dyslexia, stroke, alcoholism,
vertigo, senile dementia, sickle-cell anemia, and many other
conditions, enhances the
brain’s resistance to various injuries
and boosts its ability to recover from injuries,
protects the brain
against chemicals such as barbiturates and cyanides, and is
widely
used throughout Europe and Latin America (where it is sold over the
counter).
The subjective effect described by a lot of people is that
it
"wakes up your brain". In fact, it selectively stimulates the
anterior or frontal part of the forebrain–that part of the brain
that has evolved most
recently, rapidly and remarkably in the
course of our evolution from ape to human, and
which is the seat
of our "higher functions."
Piracetam works in a number of ways to increase energy within the
brain. First, it
steps up the production of adenosine
triphosphate (ATP), the energy storage and energy
generating
molecules within our cells. It also boosts cerebral metabolism by
brain’s use of
glucose, and increasing the brain’s oxygen
utilization. It also seems to enhance
protein syntheses in the
brain (it’s been proven that protein synthesis is an essential
step
in laying down long-term memories).
SUPERCONNECTING THE
BRAIN. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of
piracetam is that it has been proven to
increase the flow of
information between the right and left hemispheres of the
brain.
As a result of experiments with human subjects one researcher
concluded that piracetam causes the hemispheres to become
"superconnected."
Since there’s increasing evidence that high level
brain states–brilliance, insight,
creativity, flow, peak
performance, being "in the zone"–are a product of the
integrated
and synergistic functioning of both hemispheres simultaneously, we
memory but
creative or syntheses thinking.
Piracetam’s capacity to superconnect the
hemispheres becomes even
more intriguing in light of the evidence indicating that many
of
the most widely used mind machines and techniques for brain
enhancement
(such as binaural beat frequencies and the sound and
light machines) function in part
by facilitating integrated
hemispheric functioning. This raises the possibility that
since
both the machines and piracetam seem to facilitate
interhemispheric
communication, there might be a potentiating or
synergistic effect when such mind
machines are used in
combination with piracetam, resulting in a quantum leap in
brain-
enhancement effects.
PRECAUTIONS: Piracetam may
increase the effects of certain drugs,
such as amphetamines and psychotropics. Adverse
effects are rare
but include insomnia, psychomotor agitation, nausea, headaches and
gastrointestinal distress.
DOSAGE: Piracetam is supplied in
400mg or 800mg tablets. The usual
dose is 2400-4800 mg per day in three divided doses.
Some
literature recommends that the first two days a high "attack" dose
should be taken. We have noticed that when some people first take
piracetam they
do not notice any effect until they take a high
dose. Thereafter, they may notice that
a lower dosage is
sufficient. The drug takes effect in 30 to 60 minutes.
SOURCES: piracetam is not sold in the US. It can be purchased over
the
counter in Mexico or by mail order from the address below.
.
.
HYDERGINE
"I first
tried Hydergine six years ago during a visit to see my
Dad at Christmas. He and I
started taking 9mg and results were
apparent to us both within two days. He was in his
40s, and began
to remember events from when he was in his 20s as clearly as if
they’d happened yesterday. What was interesting was that the events
were nothing
outstanding–just ordinary times. In other words, the
everyday events had been stored
away all these years, it just took
some chemical prodding to jog them loose into the
conscious mind.
I was in my early 20s and had similar memories going back to my
childhood years. A unique opportunity had been presented to us to
sit down and
really share in the joys that our life had brought us.
What a gift!"
A wealth of research going back over 20 years suggests that
Hydergine may
be what psychologist-pharmacist Ross Pelton calls
"the ultimate smart pill."
The substance, whose generic name is
ergoloid mesylates, is made from a natural,
organic source: the
ergot fungus of rye plants (it was discovered at Sandoz
known for his
discovery of another ergot derivative, LSD 25). It
increases mental abilities, prevents
damage to brain cells, and
may even be able to reverse existing damage to brain
cells.
Hydergine acts in several ways to enhance mental capabilities
and
to slow down or reverse the aging processes in the brain. A few of
the
huge number of beneficial effects scientists have
attributed to Hydergine include:
increased protein syntheses in
the brain; reduced accumulation of lipofuscin in the
brain;
increased quantities of blood and oxygen delivered to the brain;
improvement of memory, learning and intelligence; beneficial
improvements in brainwave
activity; increased metabolism in brain
cells; normalization of blood pressure; and
increased production
of such neurotransmitters as dopamine and norepinephrine
and also associated
with arousal, alertness, elation and
pleasure). Hydergine also functions as a powerful
antioxidant and
thus protects the brain against the damage caused by those
infamous rascally free radicals (unstable and extremely reactive
molecules produced by
normal metabolism, which cause damage
associated with aging, cancer and cardiovascular
disease).
One way that Hydergine may enhance brain functioning is by
mimicking the effect of a substance called nerve growth factor
(NGF). NGF
promotes the growth of dendrites–the long branching
fibers by which neurons receive
information from other neurons.
Scientists studying the effects of learning on the
brain have found
it is directly related to dendritic growth. Hydergine seems to work
by the same neurochemical pathway as NGF to produce neural growth.
scientists have also
studied its effects, both short term and long
term, in normal healthy humans; these
studies noted
significant improvements in a variety of cognitive function,
including alertness, memory, reaction time, abstract reasoning and
cognitive processing
ability.
PRECAUTIONS: If too large a dose is used when first taking
Hydergine, it may cause slight nausea, gastric disturbance, or
headache.
Overall, Hydergine does not produce and serious side
effects, it is non-toxic even at
very large doses and it is
contraindicated only for individuals who have chronic or
acute
psychosis.
DOSAGE: The US recommended dosage is 3mg
per day, however, the
European recommended dosage is 9 mg per day taken in three
divided doses. Most of the research has been done at levels of 9
to 12 mg per
day or higher, and there is some evidence that 3 mg
per day is simply insufficient for
significant cognition-
enhancement effects. It may take several weeks or even months
before Hydergine produces noticeable effects. Hydergine (though
not its
generic counterpart) is available in a sublingual form,
and there is evidence that
sublingual doses reach the brain in
greater quantity.
SOURCES: Hydergine is available in the USA with a doctor’s
prescription, and approved
by the FDA for the treatment of senile
dementia and insufficient blood circulation to
the brain–your
doctor may not be familiar with the uses discussed. It can also be
purchased over the counter in Mexico or by mail order from overseas
(see
below). In many cases these mail order companies sell the
generic form, Ergoloid
Mesylates. The FDA has rated the generic as
biologically equivalent to the Sandoz
product. More testing needs
to be done on the question.
.
.
.
VASOPRESSIN
"The most immediate result I get from using vasopressin is
increased clarity and
alertness. I can be logical without the usual
speediness associated with caffeine use.
After five minutes I’ve
noticed that I’m busily accomplishing tasks that I’d been
putting
off for a week. The duration is about two hours for the energetic
feelings. Overall, I feel my short-term memory recall improving
over the past two weeks
of using vasopressin. It seems that the
longer I use it, the more I can rely on my mind
to be a portable
note pad."
"I have smoked pot on
a more or less (usually more) daily basis
for 20 years. When I read that vasopressin is
inhibited by pot, I
found a source for buying some. Now I notice that when I use
vasopressin with marijuana I still get stoned, but I have little
or none of the
‘dummying down’ effect of the pot. And what a
surprise to find that vasopressin
intensifies orgasms!"
Vasopressin, called "the memory
hormone," is a natural brain
peptide, stimulated by acetylcholine and released in
the
pituitary. It actually helps create, imprint, and store memories,
and
is essential to remembering. Apparently vasopressin is
involved in picking out and
chunking together related bits of
information from the stream of consciousness,
integrating these
chunks into coherent structures, and then "imprinting"
these images
or concepts into long-term memory by transforming
electrical
impulses into complex proteins that contain memories
and are stored away in the brain.
The act of remembering the stored
information is also mediated by vasopressin.
Over 20 years ago scientists discovered that vasopressin had
extraordinary effects on the memory of laboratory animals–
preventing chemically and
electrically induced amnesia, actually
reversing amnesia, and dramatically boosting the
memory and
intelligence of normal animals. These findings spurred much
research into the cognition-enhancement effect of vasopressin on
humans. Among the key
findings are that small doses of the
hormone can have striking success in quickly
reversing traumatic
amnesia (amnesia caused by injuries such as car crashes), can
reverse age-related memory loss and actually restore lost
memories, and can
produce sharp improvements in learning and memory
using measures such as abstract and
verbal memory,
organizational capacities, recall, attention, concentration, focus,
short-term memory, optical memory, and long-term memory. It also
boosts
performance in such areas as reaction speed, visual
discrimination, and
coordination.
Vasopressin pours out during moments of trauma or
extreme
arousal, which may explain why those times seem to be so deeply
imprinted in our brains, and are remembered with such clarity.
Vasopressin is also
released by cocaine, LSD, amphetamines,
Ritalin, and Pemoline (Cylert). Those who make
frequent use of
these drugs deplete their brain’s vasopressin supply. The result
is depression, and a decline in cognitive function. The frequent
user’s response
to this depression is to take more of the drug,
thus trying to wring more vasopressin
out of their depleted brain:
ultimately the well runs dry. Vasopressin, however, is not
a drug
but the actual brain hormone that has been depleted, so it can
produce dramatic and virtually instantaneous improvements in mood
and mental
functioning.
Unlike stimulants, alcohol and marijuana do not deplete
but
actually suppress the release of vasopressin, which could account
for
the loss of memory many have noticed when drunk or stoned, or
when trying to remember
events that occurred while they were high.
Vasopressin can reduce the harmful effects
of these drugs and
enhance alertness, reaction speed and concentration.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that vasopressin can produce a state
of
euphoria accompanied by self-confidence, energy,
assertiveness, and a sensation of
extreme mental clarity. Many
believe it is ideal for situations in which lots of new
information needs to be processed and remembered–such as
studying for an
exam, learning a language, ploughing through
difficult or complex works. Some use it
for more mundane
purposes, such as when they have to drive late at night and want
to remain alert.
PRECAUTIONS: Vasopressin can occasionally produce
the following
side effects; runny nose, nasal congestion, irritation of the nasal
passages, headache, abdominal cramps, and increased bowel
movements. Angina
sufferers should not use vasopressin, since it
can trigger angina pains. Vasopressin
has not been proven to be
safe for use during pregnancy.
DOSAGE: Vasopressin usually comes in a nasal spray bottle. Most
studies showing memory
improvement have been done with a dose of
12 to 16 USP per day, which is one whiff in
each nostril three to
four times per day. Vasopressin produces a noticeable effect
within
seconds.
SOURCES: Vasopressin (known as Diapid and
produced by Sandoz) is
available in the USA with a doctor’s prescription, but keep in
mind
that your doctor may not be familiar with the uses we have
discussed
(it is approved by the FDA for treatment of diabetes
insipidus). It can also be
purchased over the counter in Mexico or
by mail order from overseas (see below).
.
.
.
HOW
TO OBTAIN COGNITION-ENHANCEMENT SUBSTANCES BY MAIL ORDER.
While some of
the substances described above are not available in
the U.S., or are available only by
prescription, it is easy and
quite legal to obtain these substances by mail order. One
reason
some of these substances are not available in the U.S. is that they
have not yet gone through the extraordinarily expensive and lengthy
process required to
obtain FDA approval. This does not mean however
that it is not quite legal to use these
substances. And some of the
substances have been approved by the FDA for limited
medical
application. This does not mean that it is not quite proper to use
these substances for "unapproved" purposes.
In the April, 1982
issue of the FDA Drug Bulletin, the agency
included a policy statement clarifying the
question of
"unapproved" uses for drugs, clearly stating that
"’unapproved’
uses may be appropriate and rational in certain circumstances,
and
may, in fact, reflect approaches to drug therapy that have been
extensively reported in medical literature… Valid new uses for
drugs already on the
market are often first discovered
through serendipitous observations and therapeutic
innovation." In
sum, the FDA clearly approves of the "unapproved" uses
as an
important means for innovation and discovery.
Also,
though it is not widely known, a July, 1989 FDA ruling now
makes it quite legal to
import effective drugs used elsewhere but
not available in the U.S. The FDA now allows
the importation and
mail shipment of a three month supply of drugs, for personal
use,
as long as they are regarded as safe in other countries. The new
ruling, FDA pilot guidelines chapter 971, was made as a result of
heavy pressure from
AIDS political action groups, which insisted
AIDS sufferers were denied access to
potentially life-saving
substances that were widely used abroad but were still
unapproved
for use in the U.S.
InHome Health Services, a
mail order pharmacy in Switzerland, is
one of a number of companies established in
response to this new
FDA ruling. InHome carries a wide variety of drugs for
cognitive
enhancement, life extension, and the treatment of AIDS which are
not available in the US.
All of the drugs discussed here can be purchased
without a
prescription. You can request a full price sheet by writing to:
InHome Health Services, Dept. E, POB 3112, CH-2800 Delemont,
Switzerland. Those who
want to order some of the substances
described above right away may send a personal
check for the amount
of the item(s) plus $13 for shipping. Some sample prices (in
June,
1990) are:
* Centrophenoxine (250mg x 60) $19
* Hydergine (4.5mg x 28 tablets) $16.50
* Phenytoin (Generic Dilantin, 100mg x
100) $8.80
* Piracetam (800mg x 60 tablets) $16.60
* Sulbutiamine (200mg x
30) $12.50
* Vasopressin (5ml spray) $8.75
You must include
the following signed statement with your order.
"I hereby declare that the
products I am purchasing are not for
commercial resale. They are for my personal use
only. The supply
ordered does not exceed three months usage, and they are used with
the consent of my physician."
Another company with higher
prices, but possibly faster service is:
INTERLAB
PO Box
587
Newport Pagnell
Bucks MK 16 8AA England
Again include this signed statement with your order: "I hereby
declare that the
products I am purchasing are not for commercial
resale. They are for my personal use
only. The supply ordered does
not exceed three months usage, and they are used with the
consent
of my physician."
~References:
Piracetam
Anderson, K., Anderson, L. Orphan
Drugs. Los Angeles, CA: The Body
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"A Drug for the Mind." Chemtech. June 1980, pp. 360-65.
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Pellegata, R., et al. "Cyclic
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Pelton, R.,
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Wurtman,
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Zhang, S., et al. "Effects
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Hydergine
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Otomo, E., et al. "Comparison of Vipocetine with
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Pelton, R., Pelton, T.C. Mind Food
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Rao, D.B., Norris, J.R..
"A Double-Blind Investigation of Hydergine
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Spiegel, R., et al. "A Controlled Long-Term Study with
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Vasopressin
De Wied, D., et al. "Vasopressin and Memory Consolidation."
Perspectives in Brain Research. New York: Elsevier Scientific
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Gold, P.W., et al. "Effects of l-Desamo-8-Arginine Vasopressin on
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—
–
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Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1991
01:31-EDT
From: Clayton.Bridges@GOOKLA.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU
To:
extropians@gnu.ai.mit.edu
Subject: Mind Enhancers
Message-Id:
<683357518/clay@GOOKLA.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU>
Status: OR
My experience
so far has been with piracetum, hydergine, DMAE,
L-Glutamine (which, I think, is the same as
PCA), and choline. So far
the results have been mixed. Of course, so have the substances.
My
approach has been to try out some of these first, to try for immediate
(and easily
obtained) effects, with an eye toward getting more
scientific over time. My impressions:
PIRACETUM
I have had at least one extraordinarily good experience which I
believe was caused by piracetum. I "attack" dosed at 4g, then took .8g
three times
per day for two days. On the third day, out of the blue, I
suddenly started feeling great,
energetic, fast, etc. It was a feeling
similar to caffiene, but without as much adrenal
response. In keeping
with other accounts that I have heard, music became very intense, and
I
had a strong desire to play it very loud. I tried playing the guitar and
it seemed to
come more easily to me. Unfortunately, this eventually went
away, and I haven’t had a similar
experience since, although I haven’t
pushed it much. It seems that my verbal memory
(vocabulary) has
increased slightly, in keeping with the research, but it is not a clear
difference, if one even exists.
DMAE
>From what I can tell, DMAE works
as advertised, with two main effects:
(1) it seems to slowly build a stimulation, which, while
not constant,
is persistant, (2) it seems to regulate and reduce need for sleep. These
effects have appeared while taking ~300mg of DMAE/day, along with 3g
choline (+1g B-5), and
varying amounts of piracetum. Therefore, it is
hard to sceintifically attribute the effects to
DMAE. However,
intuitively (knowing varying doses, etc), it seems to me that DMAE has
provided the bulk of these effects.
HYDERGINE
I have yet to experience
the much touted synergy between hydergine and
piracetum, even after taking 4.5mg hydergine +
4g piracetum. I do know
that the warnings against taking too much hydergine, esp. at first,
OTHERS
L-Glutamine was the first thing that I tried. I percieved no effect from
this whatsoever. I’d
be interested to hear about experiences with
arginine pyroglutamate, since that is supposed to
be the more potent
form. I’ve always taken the choline + B5 with some combination of the
above, so it would be hard to break out the effect. My episodic memory
of the past seems
enriched, but that remains hard to discern.
That about does it. So far, DMAE seems like
the only real win, since it
appears to cut need for sleep by a bit—therefore, more day to
work
with. More experimentation will certainly be conducted.
CB
From dkrieger%monty@rand.org Tue Aug 27 15:06:50 1991
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To: extropians@gnu.ai.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Rolling
Stone article (Was: Re: Smart Drugs…)
In-Reply-To: Your message of Mon, 26 Aug 91 16:36:06
PDT.
<9108262336.AA02226@cypress.mpr.ca>
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 91 11:23:25 PDT
From: David Krieger <dkrieger%monty@rand.org>
Status: OR
–Your message
was: (from janzen@mprgate.mpr.ca)
[This is from Max More, who asked me to forward it to the
list:]
> Has anyone here who’s tried these substances had encouraging and
vasopressin and other nootropics ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>unambiguous results?
> Max
More
My own experience is with piracetam, centrophenoxine (Lucidril), and
vasopressin (Diapid). Piracetam might have had some effects, but made my
eyes so red on the
days that I took it that I decided it was not worth
continuing. Vasopressin, as Max said, is
mainly useful when the brain’s
supply of neurotransmitters is either depleted (following a
caffeine or
other stimulant binge) or suppressed (by alcohol or other CNS depressant)
—
I consider it the long-sought "sober-up" treatment.
Centrophenoxine gave me
the most dramatic results — I did not measure
them by any kind of psychometric tests, but I
felt more alert, and
experienced faster and more reliable recall than previously. Since
Lucidril works by making a permanent brain change (enabling brain
metabolism to remove
life-long accumulations of the aging pigment
lipofuscin from the neurons), its effects are
cumulative — you continue
to feel sharper even after you quit taking the drug.
dk
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"Yours truly and sign it!" | Dave Krieger
Views expressed are not those | Internet:
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of Paramount Pictures Corp., RAND, | "How can you be in two
places at once
or the author’s Mommy… | when you’re not anywhere at all?"
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