Nootropics and Cognition – Retrospective and Commentary

This is Part 1 of a 2 Part series on Nootropics
Read Part 2 Here

A major benefit of the accelerating future is the ability to overcome limitations. One such limitation is cognition and our ability to retain and recall information. Already we have many opportunities to upgrade our wetware – the wide world of pharmaceuticals. There are a number of drugs out there that will improve focus and recall, from coffee to adderall, but there are few that truly create long term improvements and changes. Long term improvements means effects that last long after the drug has been eliminated from your system, and even after a treatment regimen has been stopped. There is one class of drugs or supplements that can do this: Nootropics.

Two years ago I decided to give one particular Nootropic a try in an attempt to improve my memory. I was feeling as if my brain was nowhere near where it was at when I was younger. I felt slower, less focused, and less productive. Granted, I had a lot more going on in my life – new relationships, new hobbies, new priorities – not to mention a few years of substance use (those goddamn free radicals will get you!), but I felt that it was necessary to improve by whatever means necessary. No – it wasn’t just necessary, it was my obligation to myself and to the species.

So I hopped online and ordered myself some piracetam. For the unacquainted, piracetam is a nootropic that has been lab tested and proven to speed intraneuronal communication, slow brain aging, and increase oxygen supply. Some researchers believe that it improves communication between the two brain hemispheres. This improves memory storage and recall. Some of you may know that common memory tip look right and left rapidly if you can’t recall something on the tip of your tongue. Piracetam works with the GABA system (this is important to know for anyone who enjoys a stiff drink!) and uses a great deal of Choline so its necessary to augment your dosage with Choline. Adding more chicken and eggs to your diet may help, but its necessary to take a choline supplement. Here is a post to a discussion board when I began the upgrade process:

I just recieved my order of piracetam and citicoline and i’m excited to start a dosage schedule tomorrow morning. I’m thinking 250 mg of choline and an attack dose of 1600-2400mg of piracetam for a couple of days, tapering down to 250 mg choline and 800 mg piracetam. Apparently the choline will potentiate the piracetam. I’m hoping this will not only make me sharper but also reduce or eliminate my reliance on caffeine to study. Any thoughts on this combination specifically, or other nootropics and cognitive enhancers?

To get the best effect you should start out with an “attack dose” and then slowly taper down to a regular dose. The dose should be taken every morning along with breakfast. A few weeks into my dosage schedule, I wrote:

ive been taking 250 mg choline and 1600 mg piracetam every morning for the past couple of weeks. at this point placebo affect can be ruled out and i can say that it is definitely active. my ability to remember idea from lectures and quickly recall the details conversations has improved a great deal. i suggest it.

I noticed immediately that piracetam was making me more awake and more focused. This immediate effect was clearly placebo. Over time though, i realized that the placebo effect could be ruled out and I was retaining an ability to recall conversation details, names, and faces much more easily. Additionally, I was able to remember details from lectures even when not taking notes. When I got an A in a quant heavy class on operational improvement – a topic that didn’t interest me very much – I was convinced of the efficacy of piracetam. In fact, I started on piracetam at the beginning of the school year and during the second semester of classes I earned my second highest GPA.

One major side effect I noticed was that rather than reduce my use of caffeine, I felt piracetam synergized well with coffee. Coffee produced less classic anxiety symptoms and it seemed to do much more to help me focus and stay awake. A lot of the benefits I realized could have been related to increased focus (I have a number of ADHD symptoms that I have learned to manage without medication). Its not clear whether my focus was improved by the piracetam alone or its effect on caffeine. At the end of the school year and a few weeks into my internship I felt that I no longer needed the cognitive enhancement and I was still interested in kicking the caffeine habit. I tapered off slowly and eventually stopped taking piracetam, but I never could quite kick the coffee habit for good. Here was my last piracetam related post on the discussion board mentioned earlier:

As far as an update on my progress with piracetam, i think i made some significant gains through it and then plateaued. i stopped just over a month ago and i didn’t seem to lose any sharpness. However, i find caffeine was much more enjoyable whilst dosed with piracetam. Additionally, i did go through a slight withdrawal from the piracetam in the form of “shaky hands” and mild tremors in hands. It was not that noticeable to me, but others close to me did notice it. It did stop after a few weeks and it should be noted that i quit drinking caffeine around this same time. I have subsequently started piracetam again on an as needed basis. i find it helps me truly wake up if i’m not well rested and as i said earlier, makes caffeine so much more enjoyable.

In retrospect, I realized that the hand tremors were related to stress (including the stress of piracetam and caffeine withdrawal) and not the piracetam. However, I believe that there was some withdrawal from the piracetam which caused increased stress levels that led to the tremors. I still get the tremors once in a while when very stressed, but I have mostly learned to manage my stress well enough to avoid it. As an aside, the GABA effect of piracetam affected the way alcohol worked on my body. I felt less desire to drink but when drinking would be affected more easily. I also experienced easier to manage hangover symptoms and a better ability to tolerate the sleep depriving effects of drinking before bed.

If you can tolerate it, there a lot of lifestyle changes that will improve cognitive function almost immediately. Cutting out recreational drugs and alcohol would do almost as much as any drug or supplement that you try, at least in the short term, but for us mere mortals this is no easy task. Exercising more, sleeping regularly, and eating well will likewise do a lot to help. Ultimately though, Nootropics do work and I can recommend* Piracetam (and choline) based on my experience. I don’t take them anymore because I don’t have the desire to, but I may start up again. The great thing about piracetam is that almost two years after stopping my dosing schedule, I retain a number of the cognitive gains I made. In another decade or two and we’ll have a ton of new drugs, technologies, and upgrade potential to play with. For now, however, nootropics offer the best solution to upgrading our cognition. In future posts I’ll discuss my experiences with dopamine agents to improve focus, from stimulants like caffeine and nicotine to adderall and exotic supplement stacks.
* Please note that I am not a doctor and the above is a personal experience. The effects I have had with the substances listed above may not necessarily be the same you experience. Please do your own research and consult with your physician(s) before taking any new substances. Upgrade responsibly.

This is Part 1 of a 2 Part series on Nootropics
Read Part 2 Here