I have expertimented with nootropics quite a bit. I've tried piracetam, pramiracetam, supplemented with Alpha-GPC, vinpocetine, ginkgo biloba.
Verdict: Ginkgo = useless. I was not able to determine if vinpocetine was useful on it's own, since I combined it with racetams, it did not seem interesting enough to continue experimentation.
Both piracetam and pramiracetam are very interesting. When choosing an acetylcholine precursor please consider Alpha-GPC, it is definitely worth every penny. Choline bitartrate, citrate and lecithin are not very bioavailable.
To get the maximum effects of racetams you have to keep taking them for at least a month, while ajdusting your dose. Different people find the peak of the effects at different dosages in terms of mg/kg. With racetams the relation of the dosage to the effects are a bell curve - there is an optimal dose - the further you lower or increase it, the less efficient the nootropic will be. Also, some people respond to some racetams better than others - so if after a month you have felt no effects, you can try switching racetams.
What you can expect to experience once the racetams start having effect is heightened perception of sound and vision (including to more saturated colors), more intricate abstract thinking, using a much wider vocabulary than you usually do, one gets the impression the perfect words just magically roll of the tongue, faster reflexes, heightened spacial perception (try playing table tennis
). You can develop very good visual memory (for example I tried to close my eyes and remember my great grandmother's house and I could vividly remember details of the yard, the house, her face, etc).
There are also neutral/negative effects (based on your personal judgement) - you can get utterly emotionless and calculating, in nootropics communities it's often called the "Spock feeling". You can get very irritable, people annoy you by engaging in pointless babbling (or at least that's how you percieve it). Your dreams can become extremely lucid and you remember details - this is espacially the case if you take large doses before going to sleep. But bear in mind, for some people piracetam can have a slight stimulant effect, making it a little hard to fall asleep (note this has nothing to do with the nerulogical mechanisms involved with amphetamines, caffeine or other CNS stimulants).
If you do not supplement with enough Alpha-GPC (or other ACh precursor) you can get headaches or experience sleepiness, which cannot be aided by aspirin/caffeine respectively.
As for pramiracetam, it must be noted that it's much more powerful and it is best cycled every other day. The other thing I used to do is take a small dose of piracetam - ~800mg and like 100mg of pramiracetam. In terms of effects, pramiracetam appears to emphasize on abstract thinking and emotionlessness (it's a word, I checked) more so than piracetam, but it seems to lack some of it's other effects, like increased dream recall and ehnanced verbal skills.
PLEASE NOTE: Racetams do very little for motivation. If that is your goal, some people claim temporary success with Modafinil. However, bear in mind these simple supplements are not magic pills, they will not make you a genius or something. If you put work in changing how your mind works, or want to develop some kind of mental skill or just need a little boost - they will be in your aid, if used properly and patiently.
Racetams have been studied for many years now, they are extremely safe pharmacologically. Please note, they may diminish any alcohol tolerance you may have built over the years, so be careful. All in all, it would be a bad idea to do a lot of drinking or marijuana smoking while on a nootropic stack.
Another note, if you chose to take ALCAR, please don't forget to supplement it with anti-oxidants.
Imminst (immortality institute) has a rather large forum on Nootropics, I suggest you read up there, if you are interested, since it's one of the few places (i've seen) where people with neurology and pharmacology training interpret scientific literature for the layman.
I hope that helps a bit, I'll be glad to answer any other question about racetams if you have any, since I am rather fascinated by the subject myself
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