Thursday, November 22, 2012

Pramiracetam & Lion's Mane - Review, Effects, Dosage



Pramiracetam belongs to the Racetam families, which are nootropics. Nootropics are thought to increase the ability of the brain to fight alzheimers, increase memory, and even increase cognitive function. Below I will address these, and my personal experience with them.

If you only care about the Pramiracetam reviews skip to the Big Bold Blue Letters below. Otherwise here is some background on the racetams.

So, I don't know how the racetams work, and frankly I'm not interested. However, I'm interested in if they work, and to what degree. 

The reason I first got interested in the racetams is back about 4 years ago, when Piracetam started to get big. I was just entering my second year of college and I felt a bit stupid - like I was slowly losing my cognitive luster of yester-year. It was kind of a paranoid, delusional thought that brought me to the interwebz to find something to help, and I got on the band wagon, bought 500grams (yeah... that is a lot!) of piracetam, as well as acetylcholine (more on this later).

After about a week of solid use at the recommended dosages and even greater than those, I lost interest. Not much was happening. It was kind of like a caffeine high for about 15-30 minutes after ingestion, and then nothing. Every once in a while I would try it again, and it was just not doing anything.

I went back to research nootropics again after a year or so of disappointment from piracetam and saw new ones had entered the market - oxi- and aniracetam. I bought both. Again, nothing much was happening. I found myself studying just as hard, getting less results, and in some instances, my ability to focus was lowered. This wasn't what I had expected, and kind of scared me even more - what if these were doing some kind of damage?! (Don't worry I doubt that to be the case)

So in all my research what I came up with was there are two really important factors in nootropics - the nootropic itself, and a substrate on which it can work with - that acetylcholine I talked about before.

Acetylcholine is strongly tied to memory - we absolutely need it to make new memories, and its used in both long term and short term memory. 

Racetams increase blood flow to the brain (be warned to not drink or take drugs on these, as the effects can dramatically change). This became apparent one day when I had taken my usual dose of piracetam, aniracetam, and oxiracetam and later, in order to study, ingested some ritalin. The most awful, pulsating headache I've ever experienced followed me throughout the rest of the day - Never was this to be repeated again.

Working out on racetams made me simply want to keel over.

After 4 years of cold-shouldering the substances, once again it was brought to my attention that a new racetam was on the scene. Pramiracetam. I decided to give it a whirl.

Pramiracetam
After about 1 week of taking pramiracetam daily, I wasn't getting any effects I wanted. My studying wasn't better, I didn't feel more ambitious, and my memory wasn't enhancing. No noticeable effects. I continued the use, but something just wasn't right. It was almost as if I could concentrate less with pramiracetam. I would find myself in front of the computer screen, barely able to keep my body from going limp, and wanting to lay down on the floor from being tired.

I didn't have much pressing matters, so I continued on with the dosage, but also found this in my search - Lion's Mane mushroom. It is reported to be a rare compound that actually influences Neural Growth Factor - the holy grail of enhancing cognitive ability. I started taking the racetam and this supplement in tandem. Still feeling tired, after about a weeks worth of both in combination I stopped. 

Then something amazing happened.

It was my first day I had stopped taking the supplements, and I felt "normal" - no tiredness, no wilting in my chair. I felt good. I felt better than good. In fact, I felt very on top of everything - but my question:

Is this an effect of the supplements, or me just being back to normal?

I tested this, and I started to take these supplements on an every-other-day basis. What ensued was incredible. On the days I take the supplements I feel a bit cloudy - liek I'm not taking much information in. On the days I'm off the supplements I feel normal - and by normal, I mean I feel how I should feel. Information gets stored much quicker, I'm able to "connect the dots" easier. How can I REALLY test this though?

Plant Biology 101: 
First Midterm Grade: B- [Only taking pramiracetam, acetylcholine]
I had studied for this test for a solid week. I came out of the test thinking, "My god - am I really that stupid?" I felt absolutely terrible after taking it, I had studied so much and got a less than decent grade.

Second Midterm Grade: A [Piracetam, acetylcholine, Lion's Mane]
I didn't study at all for this test the night before, and for only about 2-3 hours the day prior. I was finding myself able to fully remember entire complex scenes, cycles, and structures only after one or two looks. The entire calvin cycle was memorized under 4 minutes. Photosynthesis was under 10. 

I had never felt this in control of my memory before. 

I was able to look at page of notes, copy the page of notes, and then spit out the information verbatim, only 5 minutes after. This was unprecedented for me.

So you must have the question - is it the Lion's Mane, the Racetam, or both?

I do not know, but I believe it to be both working synergistically. 

I think there is something amazing here. Please, do yourself a favor, and get some of these supplements if you need the extra memory. 

Good luck.



3 comments:

  1. I don't understand mate. You said you felt, "Cloudy" but at the end you recommend getting some of these supplements...? So it works when your not taking them? But the days you take them they don't work??

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    1. I take pramiracetam every other day, I take lion's mane every day. I feel cloudy the day I take the pramiracetam and the day I do not I feel way above normal. I think pramiracetam's effects are complex, but the total combination I'm taking together is really, really incredible.

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  2. Hey man, where did you buy pramiracetam? Having difficulty with school, would like to know where I could find this.

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