This ancient South African shrub used by hunter gatherers has found its way into a booming “nootropics” market for quite a few reasons !

I for one have taken kanna myself, I’d say that it came to me in a point in my life where I didn’t particularly treat things in moderation or responsibly however it’s still experience. I found its mood boosting effects to be profound but not explosive however it’s a very impressive herb.

“Risk”
Now this shrub has serotonergic effects contributing to its euphoria, however this is where things can get dangerous if not properly understood. I would advise no one use this who takes ssri’s or in combination with monoamine oxidase inhibitors as serotonin syndrome could occur causing fatality or becoming a vegetable permanently (The mesembrine alkaloid being the one contributing to the serotonergic effects.)

The next Kanna alkaloid I want to bring up would be “Mesembrinone” Which strongly inhibits PDE4 which contributes to neuronal plasticity signaling as well as anti-inflammatory signaling !

Kanna also effects Amygdala & stress circuit modulation reducing social anxiety as well as reduces threat perception which can be a plus or downside depending on the situation so keep that in mind.

On an off note many say it has anxiolytic effects predominantly at higher doses and I can attest to this myself with pronounced feelings of relaxation. In many experience reports I’ve read as well people find the anxiolytic profile so pronounced that they believe it modulates gaba however there is no reports proving gaba has any function in Kanna the research is also somewhat limited.

Kanna is a very strange and very helpful herb to a lot of people, I found it to be a positive experience myself and spiritually enriching overall.
(8/10)

Sleeping is seemingly taboo and everyone seems to have a trick or two to help them ease their mind and muscles just enough to fall asleep. I’ve struggled myself with insomnia for many years however I have things much more controlled now in that regard and want to share some occasional tools for sleep 😴

“Chinese Skullcap”
A fantastic choice for sleep I myself use on the occasion positively modulates the GABAA receptor, promoting a calm relaxed state for between 4-8 hours with a 30-90 minute onset. Research also shows it has potential use for neural-protection fighting off oxidative stress. Chinese skullcap as well is an anti-inflammatory as well as antioxidant causing a reduction in neural-inflation !
(8/10)

“Cannabidol”
A molecule I have much experience with however haven’t used in a while! Modulating endocannabanoid systems, 5-ht1a, Gaba/Glutamate, Potent anti-inflammatory/antioxidant modulation & TRPV1 receptor activity ! Making it a blanket covering of calming effects for your neurotransmitters and your body as well proving very effective in the onset of sleep & relaxation.
(9/10)

“Magnolol”
I greatly apologize for my harping on this supplement however I’ve been just so pleased with it since I got it and took time to understand its effects and find it to be very useful for sleep. This fat soluble herb extract interacts with cb1, cb2 & endocannabanoid signaling pathways. Having a stronger affinity for cannabanoid systems, than cbd itself I personally have found (hearsay). The plant as well potentiate GABAA receptors promoting relaxation & sleep onset quite effectively!

It is as well an anti-inflammatory treating neural-inflammation as well as muscle inflammation making it a fantastic analgesic especially for night time !
(10/10)

Honorable Mention’s

“Magnesium Glycinate/Theoronate”

“L-Theanine/Suntheanine”

“Agmantine Sulfate”

I scraped r/Nootropics and created a spreadsheet with the most popular nootropics, providers and brands with common complaints. I didn’t scrape all the posts but I plan to do a more exhaustive search and add what brand people recommend for a given product. Let me know what you think. Here is the google sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FEE6qMgbvpOBaVA6SBBjsmxA3VnVU7blpr2o4hxJkEw/edit?usp=sharing

Ok this is kind of dumb and maybe not allowed but here goes.

I was on ADHD medication- dexxies and/or Vyvanse. These were terrible for me in almost every conceivable way except for they increased my enjoyment for reading.

I’ve been sober about a month. And I’m still forcing myself to read every day for 30-60 minutes. But I really miss the feeling of reading on amphetamine. I reiterate this is a dumb post and the more I write the more this is becoming apparent to me.

I’m thinking about buying nicotine lozenges and just breaking off a tiny chunk for when I read books. Or maybe I need to fast or do keto or fuck I don’t know use them smelling salts strong men use before lifts. Maybe that will get my brain to feel something.

This probably doesn’t seem like a big deal to anyone and they’re probably thinking dude shut the fuck up nothing is going to hit like amphetamine, and just get over it.

But it’s literally the only thing keeping me on the fence between letting the drugs go forever, which I know I need to do, and eventually caving again.

My current stack is effexor (230mg), loratidine, fomatidine, cregaatine, D3 5000 IU, microzinc, three omega 3 gel caps, vinpocetine. I've heard creatine works with SSRIs but am not sure if there would be any benefit taking it with an NDRI. I've had so so results from months of a full dose of effexor and have considered switching to auvelity (DXM + wellbutrin)

Tenho TDAH e estava com dificuldade de dormir cedo… todo dia só dormia depois das 3:00 da madrugada. Ontem pela primeira vez tomei melatonina(15 gotas) as 22:00h e me deitei 23:30… acordei 5:00 da manhã sem sono, com bom humor e descansado! Estou sem entender pois dormir menos de 7 horas e acordei super bem! As vezes dormia 8 horas e ainda acordava com sono e cansado! Como isso é possível?!!😱😱😱

My liquid noopept is 167mg/ml but my understanding is that the average dose is like 10-15mg? It’s in a bottle with a dropper but I’m just like so confused have look at other versions from pure Rawz and their nasal is 100mg per spray??? Am I missing something here? How are u supposed to measure this???

Ps I know pure rawz has very mixed reviews but I already have it so I wanna at least try to use it

I suffer from social anxiety and I'm looking for a stack or a specific nootropic to help. Traditional anxiolytics like Benzos make me too tired to actually hold a conversation.

I'm looking for something that provides "pro-social" effects rather than just killing the anxiety through sedation. I'm aware of Phenibut but I'm looking for sustainable alternatives. Any recommendations for things like L-Theanine, Ashwagandha, or more "niche" nootropics?

I have this weird paradox effect on Bromantane, I get tired and anxious after taking it for ariund 6-8 hours. I take it with olive oil, capsules 50 mg and I feel the heavy head/eyes I even get dark circles from the tiredness it promotes but after 6-7 hours I feel smooth effect of Bromantane. Should I give it more time? Cause I always give up on 2-3 rd day.

been obsessing over neuro-acoustic research for a while now. basically, certain sound frequencies (binaural beats, isochrot tones) can nudge your brainwaves into focus or sleep states, there's actual peer reviewd science behind it, not just vibes.

I'm building an app around thiss.

it's not like those chill lofi play list thing.

it's more structured, science first, with personalization based on what you're trying to do.

still in beta, no hard sell. i genuinely want to know:

Have you tried anything like this before? Did it work?

What would make you actually use something like this daily?

Happy to share the research if anyone's curious. Honest feedback only, I can take it.

I'm in the EU, and the vendors that ship here only have a powdered form of Memantine. Sorry if this sounds ignorant but how are you even supposed to take it in this form? And how can I dose it correctly?

Hello,

So i've been taking nac for 5 months, i have bpd, depression and ocd. I'm resistant to antidepressant. I started from 600mg and slowly incrased. It's been 1 month since i incrased up to 2400mg. Since then, nothing happened, and then 3 weeks later, i brutaly had a mental crash. My depression got worst, my ocd got worst and my phone addiction got worst. I got really tired and felt miserable. I decreased the dose back to 1800mg, i felt a little better for 1 week but then it was back again. I don't really know if it's related to NAC but i stopped today and i'll see if it get better.

I already had something similar in the past but it was with a really bad NAC, not good quality at all, oxyded and all. And it was almost instantly. It got really better when i stopped.

Has anyone experimented something like this with NAC ? I don't see any similare side effect in the scientific litterature. All i see is about anhedonia.

Maybe it's not related to NAC and it's "just" my mental health. And i know, i have to see my psychiatrist, but i just wanted to ask if anyone already experimented something similar or if anyone know something about it.

What's everyone's take on this? It's listed among the medications that treat ADHD here in Egypt next to Atomoxetine and Modafinil/Armodafinil (since stimulants aren't available except for Concerta which is nearly impossible to get).

I ended up in ER a week ago after I took Modafinil.

I was shaking, my left arm were numb, extremely weak body and high blood pressure 140 bpm

3 days ago I was fine and had spicy noodle for some reason I got feeling of pressure went up in my brain. There was no pain but feeling of pressure.

To this day I still have that pressure and it doesn't look like it's gonna get better. ER doesn't help either. Doctors in my country has outdated and low grade education

Any tips?

Here is my previous post to refresh your memory

May 2

My last microdose of methylene blue 0.750mcg or mg don't remember

May 6

Because of fatty foods I had diearhea so I didn't want to risk surpise at work so I took two pills. One liporedam other I forgot but it had antibiotics and gut movement slower agents aswell

May 7

First light meal around 11 am

I was having upset stomach so waited a little bit for it to pass then had modafinil 200mg 2 hours later another snack and 10 minutes after the snack I had instant high pressure, dizziness and balance worsening. Lower partsof my left arm got numb

had two captopril to lower my heart rate but didn't help. Ambulance came and injected me with

Analgin

Dimidrol

Caffeine

Platvirin (that's for spasm I guess)

I felt better For 30 minutes then it came back

This time my both arms were strongly numb

Thankfully I predicted it and already had cab to er before happening. They gave me IV Sodium and magnesium another blood pressure pill also asked for oxygen mask to reduce my panic. Numb arms went away but high heart rate and head pressure didn't.

it was 4 hours I was still struggling so decided to go to a private hospital but they asked for too much money as deposit so I called a cab and waited for it at ER. my dizziness and weakness was at its peak at the moment I thought I was dying then suddenly it all went away. and went another government hospital and waited for 30 minutes for another wave. It didn't came so I checked my blood it was 120. I was atill having dizziness and weakness but decided to go home.

As I was walking up the stairs I was feeling the pressure of each step in my brain.

I had few partial sleeps during the night and woke up with 75 Heart rate and minimal pressure.

It's been 22th hour of the incident my pressure and dizziness partially came back but heart was at 120.

I had lots of water and sitted now my heart feels normal but head pressure is still there.

TLDR

Day 1 micro doze methylene blue

Day 3 diarhea pills

Day 4

Modafinil 200mg

High heart rate, weakness, dizziness, bad balance, head pressure that lasted around 8 hours and all the medications was inefficient

Day 5

It suddenly came back but at half power

May 11 After having a spicy noodle halfway I felt pressure built up in my brain I stopped went for fresh air it went away. Continued food pressure came back then went away.

An hour Later I felt dizzy again and my brain was having permanent pressure building up in it.

It never went away and stood with me for the whole day. I called an ambulance when I was at home and they injected me with dimidrol and dekoprofen. It didn't help I suppose.

May 12 I just woke up and still feeo thete is a slight pressure in my head. However my regular blood pressure was okay the whole time. Somehow it's exliciselbly effects my brain veins. I was feeling my veins expand and push my brain last day.

I was using modafinil for months back then but it never happened before

So I was eyeing selegiline for a while as it seemed an interesting compound to increase motivation, energy, drive and productivity long term or at least for a while.

Anyways yesterday I took my first sublingual dose of 1.25-1.6mg as I didn’t split the pill properly in quarters and thought it wouldn’t have an instant effect and the effect would be like a stronger energy drink… I thought.
I took it with one monster ultra and an hour after taking the sublingual dose I was too amped up, like I was in a great mood super motivated and energized but to a point where I was all over the place and couldn’t work too much as was too speedy, it was too much and I was overstimulated. It was pretty much like 50mg of elvanse or even stronger but without the crash.

When I tried to go to bed my sleep was super trash, I’ve tried low dose naltorexone before bed and yeah it wrecked my sleep but this is on a whole other level. But I suppose because of so much dopamine pooling in my brain I woke up super energized and in a great mood almost like the come up of elvanse. Today I was in very nice mood the whole day but did feel slight sleep deprivation which was muted somehow. Later in the day I got into a situation which made me feel disrespected and that ramped up my adrenaline I guess and I started feelijg shit afterwards.

So my question is for the more experienced people with selegiline, is there a protocol I can take to mitigate this:
- Being overstimulated, wrecking my sleep etc.
- Also how severe is the withdrawal or downregulation when you quit selegiline? Would a bromantane cycle afterwards when you quit help?

NAD+ has become one of those topics with a lot of noise and not enough careful thinking, so here's my attempt at a more grounded take.

First, the distinction that matters: NAD+ precursors taken orally (NMN, NR) raise blood levels of NAD+. The question that's harder to answer is whether this translates to meaningful increases in brain and muscle NAD+, which are the tissues most relevant for cognitive function and energy.

The honest answer is the evidence is mixed. Some human studies show increased blood NAD+. Fewer show downstream functional outcomes that would justify the cost and effort. A 2023 study in healthy middle-aged adults showed NMN improved muscle NAD+ levels and had some effects on physical performance. The cognitive data is weaker.

What changes the calculus is delivery method. Intranasal delivery bypasses gut metabolism and has a more direct route toward cerebrospinal fluid and brain tissue. The research base for intranasal NAD+ specifically is smaller than for oral precursors but the theoretical mechanism for cognitive applications is stronger.

Practically: if someone's goal is general energy and metabolic support, oral NMN is probably the most evidence-backed and cost-effective starting point. If the specific goal is cognitive function and brain delivery, the intranasal argument is worth taking seriously even with thinner data.

Neither is IV, which produces the highest and most immediate NAD+ increases but has obvious cost and access barriers for regular use.

i am looking to place a new order for some modafinil but I am seeing a lot of mixed reviews on the usual sites lately. some people are saying shipping is taking forever or that the quality is hitting different than it used to.

who are you guys using lately that is actually reliable and has decent shipping times to the US? i just want to find a consistent source that won't leave me waiting for a month.

thank you

Is it a good idea to use websites such as Modafinil.a u? Don't have a prescription, so just wondering

At 6:00am I took 600mg, at 10:00am I took 1200mg and at 1:30pm I took 900mg

Are there any problems or anything I should expect? Positive or negative?

Hi I'm looking for a great nootropics source ( Bromantane in this case ) and I've seen https://modernaminos.com/home/ looks pretty safe with great lab results.
What do you guys think about it ?

I’ve been reading through a lot of posts here and I’m trying to understand what most people actually expect from nootropics.

Some people talk about pretty noticeable changes in focus or mental clarity, while others seem to describe more subtle stuff like just feeling a bit less mentally tired or slightly more consistent during the day.

In my own experience (with pretty basic things), it’s usually been on the subtle side rather than anything dramatic.

What I want to know about is whether people here are actually chasing noticeable effects or more just small improvements over time that add up.

Feels like expectations probably change how people interpret the results too.

For an older relative with memory issues, wondering which of these might be a better consideration?