Hi, I'm stuck in a mixed freeze/shutdown state and derealization and depersonalization and anxiety. Leaving the house causes me great anxiety and overstimulation, I have such a sensitive nervous system at the moment, extremely sensitive. All stimulants in minimal doses make him feel worse.

I did too many somatic techniques and this caused my symptoms to worsen.

Do you have any supplements to get out of this state?

I take;

75mcg dose of vitamin D3

1000mg vitamine B3 niacin

Complex of high dose zinc, magnesium and calcium

Magnesium bisglycinate (high dose, 750/1000mg?)

Lions mane high dose (not sure 10, drops)

Vitamin B12 (not sure how much)

Just bought an energy booster since my new job doesn't allow coffee during work time :/ with: Guarana+maté+green tea, maca, Ashwagandha , vitamin c and natural caffeine (all in one pill).

I will also start with 1000/1500mg of NAC and cycle it to prevent anhedonia for my addictions

I take 20mg of Vyvanse and once I'm doing better I will taper off.

My main problems are: extreme fatigue, hair loss, recovering from burn out (working too much 50/60h on minimum wage), joint pain, addiction to coffee and nicotine, scatterbrained ADHD, brain fog.

I already avoid sugar and gluten, will need to improve on eating more.

Does anyone have some constructive feedback or health with similar health issues? I'm a woman, 25 and I'm 55kg/167cm. Not sure if it's relevant lol.

A preceptor at our internship recommended me the stuff about a month ago because he noticed I like drinking coffee. It's as cheap or cheaper (5 php per 2 grams sachets) than Nescafé classic but not as bitter, so I bought some. Didn't think too much about the ginseng that was in it since it was never indicated how much was in the coffee. I kinda assumed that it was just a marketing gimmick and the amount of ginseng was too small to actually have an effect that's why the product never indicated it.

Then about a several days ago, or a week of consistently drinking the coffee. I started to notice some positive and negative effects. My vision was clearer and was more focused and was able to handle stressful situations better. But I had a consistent mild tension headache and insomnia. The insomnia is manageable as long as the first thing I do in the morning is drink the coffee, I think the ginseng effects wears off after 12-15 hours.

Read a bunch of articles from the National Library of Medicine (NCBI) because why not. It pretty much confirmed that the effects I was experiencing was real and not placebo.

I also learned that it also has other effects such as being anti-carcinogenic (reactive oxygen species and free radicals something something) and raised blood pressure if your BP was low, and lowered it if your BP was high, I forgot what the specific term in the articles used. I had my blood pressure checked about 6 weeks ago and I got 90/60, maybe I'm more focused because it raised my BP to normal???

Which brings us back to the original plan of mine of using piracetam and other racetams. Kinda gave up on trying to get it since it's a prescription drug in my country, and some of the other racetams are indicated as anti-convulsants and anti-epileptics.

Planning on adding either Gingko biloba (GB) or Bacopa monniera (BM) on top of the ginseng because one of the articles mentioned about taking these two. Basically going full herbal becayse they're cheaper and more accessible for someone like me. Maybe some B vitamins as well to help with nerve function.

Planning on cycling it. For three weeks:

• All three on Sunday and Monday

• Vit B and (GB/BM) on Tuesdays and Thursdays

• Ginseng coffee only on Wednesday and Friday

• None on Saturday

• Then a week off, maybe some B vitamins every other day.

TLDR;

OP drinks coffee with ginseng because he's a cheapskate. Does a deep dive on the stuff. Gives up on piracetam because it needs a prescription in his country. Plans on adding either Gingko biloba or Bacopa Monniera and B vitamins.

Every time I take ashwagandha, magnesium glycinate or L theanine, after a couple days of use I begin to feel extreme anhedonia/depression. It’s not just being numb but it genuinely causes me to feel low and have depressive thoughts. The first couple days it’ll be fine then it goes downhill. It’s driving me insane because these are things that everyone else seems to love and do good with. Magnesium glycinate causes horrifying nightmares and l theanine caused suicidal thoughts?? I have debilitating anxiety (my physical anxiety is the worst) so I’m just trying to find something to calm me down (I already take adhd meds and don’t wanna add on another medication on top of it like anxiety meds). The only thing that has worked that is non pharmaceutical is CBD but it’s so expensive. It’s like my own biology is my enemy because why do these good things make me feel so bad? I’ve tried and tested multiple times to make sure it wasn’t a placebo, went off a supplement for 1-3 months, tried it again but nope. The depression came back. And when I went off them I felt normal again. I really need some advice and something I can take that won’t cause this

I have debilitating anxiety that impacts every facet of my life. I’m on Rexulti, gabapentin, Effexor, and Strattera for anxiety, depression, and ADHD.

What has worked best for you?

On and off stimulants since a kid cause of “adhd” definitely got that shit now

Smoked weed last 5 years but last two got way more chronic. morning time smoked, during day, and before sleep. high % weed like 50-60 plus

Frequent masturabtion because of weed no self control worse with vyvanse, felt like a dopamine junky out of control. worse part of this was it was stacked weed in morning with pre workout 300mg before gym with masturabtion afterwards sometimes nicotine added like the fatigue from this all was next level having bad diet and sleep as well all together making me feel extremely unhealthy

Anything you guys recommend to take after quitting these

Hi, I'm interested in things lie Tropoflavin, Bacopa, Semax, Selank, NSI-189, TAK-653, Dihexa, ACD-856 and all other similar compounds. They seem like very interesting substances with fascinating mechanisms of action, so I'm interested in what effects each of them have, how powerful those effects are, how they differ, which are recommended and anything else there is to know about them. I'm personally more interested in these for their potential effects on depression, executive function and anxiety, so I'd like to know more about that, but I want to know about all compounds and their effects, regardless of how much they could help in that regard.

Looking to try these together to help with language learning. I’m currently trying to learn two languages in school and am struggling with speaking and retaining information. ideally, i was thinking TAK-653 would better improve my processing, memory, and focus—while aniracetam was doing more of the social aspect via verbal flow, anxiety reduction, and speaking ease. I was looking to pair either (or both) of these with Nefiracetam, but i’m aware both TAK and aniracetam are positive AMPA modulators which may not be good or needed. Wanted to see what others thought of the combination. Thank you!

Anybody have experience with this? If so, what were the effects? And which vendor did you purchase from?

This is so stupid. Any recommendations for alternative providers?I just want Propranolol.

Why do I crash after taking armodafinil? From what I've looked up so far, its not something that particularly causes you to crash, and presumably whatever fatigue that is being experienced really is just sleep debt - but I find that hard to believe. It's a very particular/unique kind of drain that happens, it feels like some kind of comedown.

I take 75mg of armodafinil, almost immediately after waking up and I take it for a varied amount of days in a week. This past week I took it 4x, the week before 2x. I took a break from it for afew weeks before then.

Anyways I'm just trying to understand if this is expected? Or what I should be doing to mitigate it?

This company seems to be ghosting- like almost removed all traces of their existence. Any recommendations for replacing their coffee enhancer?

It claims to contain 500 mg Lion's Mane, 500 mg cordyceps, 250 mg rhodiolife, 200 l-theanine, and 100 mg Cognatiq (whole coffee fruit extract).

Thanks for any suggestions!

Anyone that can vouch for any of these vendors?

Synthetika https://synthetikaeu.com/en_US/p/Bromantane/7842

Rexar https://www.rexar.nl/en/buy-bromantane.html

Has anything drastically helped your sleep? I have never been a great sleeper, but it has certainly gotten worse with age and after having children (my children fortunately sleep through the night) but I just constantly wake up every 45 min. I do go back to sleep but my sleep is extremely fragmented, and I do not get a lot of deep sleep.

So I've gotten a pretty good dail on what helps me stay focused and be productive during the day.

I can confidently say with my stack and I can stay focused and switched on all day.

I can focus at 4-5pm just as well as I can at 9am.

Would you bring this up in an interview?

Then the more open question is.. Have you ever brought your nootropics use up in job interviews?

I mean I guess I wouldn't list my full stack word by word.. That'd probably be seen as a bit unhinged..

And I probably wouldn't talk about research chems if you're taking any ( ie Tak-653) or any peptides if you tae them... Etc

Edit -

OK yep it's weird and not what you want to bring up in an interview.

I'll still leave this up though. Loving some of the replies haha.. Some of you guys are brutal 😂🤣

Hello i’m a little new to the nootropics space, and i heard inter-nasal insulin can function as a nootropic i already have some novo R on hand but its in auto injectors, can use those or do i need the vial version also does anyone have a guide for me to follow along on making it into a nasal formulation and general tips and suggestions

I’m going to try piracetam for consistent slow processing speed, lethargic body and mind and poor memory, stimulants produce no positive effect for me, does anybody have any experiences taking piracetam with t4 thyroxine? The guidelines seem to be mixed

If I sleep 8-9 hours, I'm legendary. Cut that back by 1-3 hours? I'm a miserable mess. Can't function. No genius(I'm not actually a genius, you could probably tell... just feel like one when I have a full nights sleep & get stuff done, unlike today..... FML). 

I don't have sleep apnea. I don't have depression(Chronic stress? Everyone has that but I wouldn't say mine is debilitating). I eat healthy. Blood tests? Totally fine

I've finally decided I don't wanna live like that anymore. I have surrendered myself to Nootropics. The benefits outweigh the risks(Hopefully you'll suggest some things that aren't going to turn me into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. I'm not even a teenager...)

I don't mean vitamins & minerals. I've been doing all manner of supplements/ minerals/ vitamins for the last 6 years(Probably tried 60-80 supplements). Caffeine doesn't work. 

I'm talking about the next level. I've already tried:

NA Semax spray / NA Selank  spray from SemaxPolska

Noopept powder from Euro-Nootropics(tried it both sublingual & dissolved and ingested)

Not too much of an effect from either of them.

What's your go to Wakefulness promoter? I don't wanna go down the amphetamine analogue road of ritalin/methylphenidate. I'm looking at

FlModafinil

Adrafinil

Bromantane

Phenypiracetam

Cyclazodone or NM Cyclazodone 

Fladrafinil

Hydrafinil

PPAP HCL

If I become legendary after your advice, I'm giving you a million dollars.

Thanks.

I don't know who this guy is - or what he usually talks about, for all I know his other videos are fine.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WPcw4c90fU0

For me it's a case in point; these M.D. influencers are either out-of-touch, or they just don't care that they are propagating casual inaccurate informatiom.

To use a news story of poisoning-death to somehow claim that benadryl is "one of the most dangerous drugs you can take". These people are just bad at journalism.

Billions of people take this OTC product now and again. Sure, perhaps there's dementia risk and other risks with regular use. That doesn't mean "this is one of the most dangerous drugs you can take".

Those of you that do well on l-theanine, what do you use in its place when you need to cycle off it for a while? What are some good alternatives. It’s clearly time for me to take a break because it’s no longer helping me the way it used to.

I have read a few posts about what some people thought or used for helping their memory in the 2025 posts, but haven't seen much of anything with memory this year and wanted to start the discussion.

I am in the US and looking for something to give my memory more edge as I have a ton of info to get into my brain as a medical student. If anything has substantially worked for you or see something I should add in my stack, please let me know!

I have ADHD and take Aderall daily but here is my current stack I take in the morning:
- 10 g creatine monohydrate
-1x fish oil (sports research triple strength)
-100% B vitamin complex
-vitamin D3 and K2 (sports research)
-1 capsule of magnesium threonate (sports research)
-L-lysine (for canker sores)

And if I drink coffee, I will have 100 mg L-theanine.

Besides the obvious (sleep, exercise, water), what would a 'set and forget' stack look like for you?
Not aiming to improve certain areas, just a well rounded combination of chemicals/techniques that you think are essential.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been researching and putting together a structured nootropic protocol to support my daily focus, mental clarity, and productivity during intense work sessions, and I wanted to share my plan with you to gather some community feedback and personal experiences. Here is my current protocol and setup:

Substance: Noopept Product / Form: Sublingual tablets (dissolving entirely under the tongue) Dosage: 10 mg daily Timing: Taken approximately 25 to 30 minutes before starting work or high-focus tasks to optimize absorption and onset. Cycling Strategy: Planning a cycle of 4 to 6 weeks on, followed by a 2 to 4-week break to maintain receptor sensitivity and prevent tolerance buildup. My Goals: I am mainly looking for clean, sustained mental clarity, improved concentration, and efficient task-switching without jitteriness or energy crashes. My Questions for You: What are your personal experiences with sublingual administration compared to oral ingestion? Did you notice a difference in potency or onset time? How has your experience been with a 10 mg daily dose? Is it generally well-tolerated for daily use within a short-to-medium-term cycle, or do you recommend splitting it / adjusting the schedule? Are there any specific pitfalls, side effects, or stacking tips I should watch out for during a 4–6 week cycle? I’d love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and any advice you might have. Thanks in advance!

The reviews seem mixed on 7,8-DHF, but I am more inclined to try it than 4’-DMA-7,8-DHF because I am very susceptible to sleep disturbance, and the latter’s longer duration seems to cause insomnia for some people - also because the former is naturally occurring,

Why am I interested in this? I have long covid, which causes excruciating headaches, brain fog, and short term memory issues. I also take Adderall (sleep disturbance preceded this addition and it doesn’t make it worse if I take it in the morning only). I am hoping this can also help to mitigate any side effects from the Adderall, which vastly improves my quality of life. I take several other supplements for this purpose.

Anyway, I’m wondering if this can complement my existing anti inflammatory and antioxidant stack. I see a lot of people saying they take it sublingually for better absorption. Does it have an off-putting taste? I’m also hearing suggestions to space out around 3 days per week instead of taking it daily. I am interested in hearing other people’s experiences and suggestions for how best to use this supplement. Bonus points if you are also suffering from long covid or short term memory issues.