Smart Drugs (nootropics)

Phosphatidylserine is a phospholipid found in membranes of brain cells. It is thought to increase neurotransmitter activities, dopamine release and acetylcholine release. Dean writes in Smart Drugs II: Thomas Crook and his colleagues did a study on 149 individuals who met their criteria for age-associated memory impairment. These people had no overt illnesses but showed signs of the memory loss that normally occurs with aging. Each individual was given either phosphatidyl serine (100 mg three times daily) or a placebo for 12 weeks. Those who took the phosphatidylserine improved on a series of tests designed to measure performance related to learning and memory tasks of daily life. (Dean p.75)

Ginseng is an herb that has been used in Chinese medicine for years to treat both fatigue and stress; it has now become very popular in the United States as well. Scientists often refer to ginseng as an adaptogen as it helps the body to adapt to different situations and states. There is much research that suggests that ginseng helps to improve mental performance while under stress. Stress depletes norepinephrine, which results in mental fatigue and loss of concentration. Ginseng is able to increase norepinepherine when the body is under stress. (Pelton p. 174) Many feel that the most effective form of this herb is in a 100 mg standardized extract of Korean Ginseng.

http://www.ncbi .nlm.nih.gov/en … 7&dopt=Abstract

http://www.ncbi .nlm.nih.gov/en … 1&dopt=Abstract

Alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) has been shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in a controlled study. It also has shown to increase cognition (moderately) in aging women.

http://www.ncbi .nlm.nih.gov/en … st_uids=9110909

http://www.ncbi .nlm.nih.gov/en … st_uids=9110909

"The men in the study with higher levels of bioavailable testosterone, the testosterone that can reach the brain, did significantly better on these cognitive tests than men with lower levels," said lead author Kristine Yaffe, MD, UCSF assistant professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology and biostatistics, and chief of geriatric psychiatry at SFVAMC.

http://www.docg uide.com/news/c … 5256B9D004AE02B

You guys knew I couldn’t leave that one out!!!

twat,

You been busy. I’ll need to read some to comment. I don’t have time at the moment.

I only looked at one or two links.

Seems that bromocriptine and selegeline are prescription drugs that may have off label uses to enhance libido and orgasm.

apparently tyrosine and phenylalanine (precursers to dopamine) also have an effect.

Here is some of the links cut and pasted describing the effects you asked for:

Libido wonder drug
The new drug Dostinex (cabergoline by generic name) has the greatest potential for sexual enhancement since Viagra hit the market. However, its mode of action is completely different. Dostinex is a dopamine agonists, and it works by enhancing desire and orgasm, not just erections, as it is the case with Viagra. Our new domain Dostinex.net provides information on how to use the medication for sexual enhancement, and on how and where it can be obtained easily for prices as low as 80 cents per 0.5 mg, the standard dosage.

What is Bromocriptine? Bromocriptine by Lyle McDonald describes the problem of getting very lean and burning body fat, is keeping it off. Bromocriptine: Bromocriptine is an Old Drug with New Uses explains the physiological reasons behind dieting failures, along with discussing a potential fix. Although Bromocriptine is traditionally used to treat a number of different disease states such as hyperprolactinemia, Parkinson’s disease and acromegaly, Bromocriptine is capable of doing so much more.
Bromocriptine explains how people over the millennia have tried to lose weight and burn body fat, only failing to achieve their goals. While it’s been convenient to blame losing weight failures on a lack of willpower, burning body fat is turning out to be much more complicated than that. Bromocriptine reveales new research which finally explains the reasons and physiology behind dieting and burning body fat failures. It turns out that many of the problems are in your brain.

Bromocriptine Reveals:
The evolutionary reasons that your body makes it much harder to lose fat than to gain it.
Bromocriptine tells how the two primary hormones, insulin and leptin, that your body uses to monitor whether or not you’re over- or under-eating and gaining or losing fat.
Bromocriptine states how those hormones change your brain chemistry and metabolism to derail your training and nutrition efforts; that is, how your brain is controlling most of the problems in the first place.
Why both fat and lean individuals have the same ultimate problem with dieting, even if the causes are completely different.
How the drug Bromocriptine, can fix it all, allowing you to ‘trick’ your body into thinking things are normal, even if they aren’t.
How to use Bromocriptine for various goals including fat loss, muscle gains, diabetes treatment, and restarting your hormones after a steroid cycle.
About the potential benefits and risk of using Bromocriptine.
How bromocriptine might enhance sexual function and allow the complete deletion of fat cells once and for all.

As an ‘exciting’ bonus, you’ll also get an Appendix addressing the failed attempt by Ergo Science to get FDA approval for Ergoset (tm), a special form of bromocriptine, for the treatment of Type II diabetes.
Yes, that’s sarcasm, that section of the Bromocriptine book is dull as hell, but it’s all there.!

Bromocriptine, a parkinson medication that enhances sexual functions
Bromocriptine is a well-established drug for two conditions, increased levels of the hormone prolactine and parkinsonism. The best-known brand name is Parlodel. Bromocriptine also has a sexuality enhancing effect, though it is not commonly sold for that purpose. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that in many people, bromocriptine will increase sexual response. The reason why the drug is not specifically sold as impotence or frigidity medication: a sufficient number of studies to achieve FDA approval for the specific purpose of sexual enhancement have not been conducted.
In view of the enormous marketing success of Pfizer’s Viagra, many pharmaceutical companies may be tempted to distribute substances that could be proven to enhance sexual response.

The sexually enhancing effect of bromocriptine is very different from the effect of Viagra (generic name: sildenafil citrate). Viagra works primarily on the sexual organ, providing chemically for better rigidity, or some rigidity in the first place. Bromocriptine, on the other hand, primarily works on the brain, making a person more receptive for sexual stimulation and creating a frame of mind for more powerful orgasms. Both effects are a logical consequence of the way, bromocriptine is traditionally used… to lower levels of the hormone prolactin, and to increase levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

High levels of prolactin are generally associated with a decreased sex drive. So, by lowering levels of prolactine, especially when they are high, bromocriptine is regularly credited with increasing the interest in sex.
A similar effect is achieved by bromocriptine through the neurological route. Bromocriptine is used as a medication in parkinsonism because it will cause higher levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Parkinsonism is a disease caused by dopamine levels that are too low. Low dopamine levels normally also cause a loss of interest in sex, and an increased sex drive is a commonly known “side effect” of parkinsonism medications. (One person’s side effect is another person’s cure.)

Even amino acids that are used by the body in the production of the neurotransmitter dopamine, such as tyrosine and phenylalanine, are credited with causing an increased interest in sex, though the effects may not be as dramatic as those of sildenafil citrate (Viagra).
While the increase in sex drive caused by bromocriptine may be hard to measure, the effect on orgasms is more obvious. A considerable number of people who have tried bromocriptine have reported that orgasms become more powerful ironically because they are better controlled. There may be several almost-orgasms before the real orgasm happens, and the real orgasm may be accompanied by a histamine reaction which is more clearly felt (stuffed nose).
Obviously, we do not endorse this. However, even in countries where prescription drugs are indeed only sold on prescriptions, it is within a physician’s discretion to prescribe a drug for conditions for which it has not originally been approved.

Nootropics do not pose a quick and easy fix for the taker. A user does not have the luxury of going to some street corner in the inner city for their latest supply like one can do for heroin and cocaine. Cognitive enhancement drugs don’t have a quick high like crack cocaine or even a quick onset to realize its effects. Very rarely hours after taking a nootropics agent will the user realize any affect. Most often it takes several days to weeks for a drug to be realized by the user. This delayed onset is similar to some popular drugs in the SSRI category like Prozac and Paxil. Only a few smart-drugs like Vasopressin, which was originally a diabetes insipidus drug, can be taken 15 minutes before recall is needed and has a working duration of but a few hours.

The vast majority of smart-drugs require a constant intake to work. At least one daily dose is required for the nootropics agents to work. Most often multiple doses are needed spaced evenly apart like every six to eight hours. Unlike steroids, a user does not cycle-off these drugs. If one stops ingesting these drugs, the effects usually fade away in approximately one month with a few exceptions like Deprenyl with its dopamine boosting powers start to recede at its normal rate.

The Food and Drug Administration of the United States doesn’t care for smart-drugs at all. Claiming that not enough objective research has been conducted for nootropics. These drugs with any long-term side effects from constant ingestion are completely unknown. The field of research doesn’t go back far enough to adequately document what has happened. The FDA cites that almost all of the research has been on animal models comprised of rats and monkies, with a lack of testing on humans. The FDA likes to point out that there are proven serious side effects with all these medicines as it is, let alone what long term ones may arise years from now.

Obtaining nootropics is done by several different means. Some substances like Ginseng or other herbs can be purchased in health food store outlets like GNC. The pharmaceutical smart-drugs are more difficult to get a hold of it. A sympathetic doctor can prescribe whatever drugs are available in the United States and you then take them for the unattended results you hope to get. This sympathetic figure is mostly seen with the elderly as opposed to the younger users. While some drugs unavailable in this country are obtainable in Mexico and Canada, even without the need for a prescription as they are sold over the counter. The last way is by a three-month exemption for personal use only to import the drug without a prescription into the United States. The exemption is granted for drugs not obtainable in the United States that can treat a serious medical condition that has no approved pharmaceutical remedy here in this country.

This has lead to the formation of offshore pharmacies that operate entirely off the Internet. These companies are mostly in Europe, operating from Scandinavia, the UK Channel Islands, and both Central and Eastern European countries. These companies air ship your nootropic substance right to your doorstep and it is all-legal due to the ninety-day supply rule. Unfortunately this had led to people profiteering on smart-drugs by buying an inventory far larger than a three-month supply and selling it for large profits back here. Both the FDA and the Postal Inspectors are no working to crack these smart-drug rings operating in America for its violation of federal law.

Nootropics require that the user be very literate and informed on these issues. Literacy refers to both the conventional ability to read as well as the ability to search the Internet for any and all information. This is to keep track of the latest research that finds its way to the nootropic taker. Interactions and newly observed side effects must be kept abreast of with the Nootropic lifestyle. People who regularly take these drugs must take care to notice any interactions with other nootropics, drugs, or foods that may cause serious health consequences. Books and websites substitute usually for medical supervision and become the gospel to the people of this lifestyle.

The nootropic industry is supported by thousands of web sites offering information and the actual product. Support networks like in the form of chat rooms specifically dedicated to the subject help guide those unfamiliar with the cognitive enhancing items. Internet giant Yahoo has its own fan run and moderated site entitled Smart Drugs. Monthly periodicals like the Smart Drugs Monthly feature reviews and experiences of those who have taken nootropics.

The FDA estimates that there are approximately 100,000 nootropic takers in the United States. With 10,000 individuals taking smart drinks comprised of amino acids to get a similar effect as smart-drugs. A sizable number of this group are elderly people who feel less sharp than they used to but are devoid of the standard mental impairments that follow that age. Baby boomers are one of the larger groups that take nootropics. They do so to reverse the aging process and its toll on their huge population. Drugs like Deprenyl, which combat Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, look very attractive to this aging population. College students are also a sizable population familiar with these type of cognitive agents. The students desire to squeeze more school into their busy schedule. The desire to take a magic pill and with little to no effort ace the mid-term is definite motivation for these high school and college students. Testing higher on exams and entrance tests is just what these kids believe the drugs will do for them. Plus the idea to prevent age related decline to a culture that worships its youth is very appealing.

The down side of smart-drugs.

Nootropics on the pharmaceutical level pose a possible hazard due to the large number of unknown variables. New foods, drugs, herbs, medical conditions, or other nootropics may interact with one another. Insufficient research on consequences for humans self-administering these drugs is just one of the problems. The chances that foreign made nootropics are contaminated or actually cut with something inert to try and defraud the unprotected buyer are some real possibilities.The high level of technical knowledge of brain and body chemistries needed to safely administer these drugs are lacking for the street corner cerebral alchemists of tomorrow. Anything the can possibly augment the brain and its function may also be able to impair these same workings. Most people are not educated enough to do modify their serotonian, dopamine, and noradrenaline levels by themselves.

Nootropics sounds very similar in potential to those that abuse prescription drugs like Viagra, Zoloft, Xanex, and Prozac. This desire to always be in prime condition sounds familiar to those who do stimulants as well as those who chase anxiety away with depressants. This life style drug is something with real addictive possibilities and may become a problem in drug counseling in the not to distant future.

Before any of you guys get in trouble with this interesting thread. I suggest you check whatever substances you are thinking of possibly using against the list. Beware of the lower the scheduling # the deeper the shit is with the product.

TT - Lots of good stuff you’re posting. You’re a research demon. Are you just staying in practice until school starts again?

Thanks Ike! I do appreciate it. I just got bored. Have not really left the house for a few days, so making good use of the time. Wanted to add to this article as best I could now that I am out of school. I don’t want to even think of books or school for a few more weeks.