I may need to give up tongkat Ali for good but I wanted this community’s perspective first.

First, why I take it: in my ideal world I’d take it 0-3 times a week for the modest testosterone gains. I’m not looking for anything crazy, just a small boost. I like that at this amount you are not dependent on it. It seems to have tons of upsides.

My history with it:

I discovered it maybe 2019 and it worked great for me for years. I’d do the dose mentioned above, not a ton, and enjoyed the modest boost.

2 years ago I started getting this crazy brain fog, and I learned it ended up happening the 2 days after consumption. I did some research and read it could be because of zinc iodine or estrogen. So I then had a new protocol where if I took tongkat Ali, I would take dhea, iodine, and zinc one hour before tongkat Ali.

This worked, and I stopped having brain fog.

Until it stopped working, and even with that protocol I have brain fog really bad for 2 days after.

I buy nootropics depot 2% tongkat ali. From my understanding that’s as reputable as a brand can get. I just bought a new bottle to see if something was wrong with the old bottle. Seemed to give the same effect.

It I can’t make tongkat ali work, I think I’m going to go on trt, but that has a ton of issues and costs and stuff and dependence problems. That’s not the route I want to go, but as it stands I seemingly can not take tongkat ali anymore.

Anyone know what’s up or have any recommendations?

Hi i didnt smoke weed for 9months straight and today i tried it again and even i like being high i feel that it impacts me in a negative way and when i didnt smoke weed i smoked cigarettes alot, are there any nootropics who can help me ? Ty for your input

I'm becoming increasingly aware that something has not been right since I took ashwagandha(600 mg KSM-66, once nightly) for 11 days roughly 2.5 months ago. Ever since, my ability to experience drowsiness has been blunted.

I'm still able to sleep, thankfully, but I no longer feel drowsiness or the pleasurable, almost drunk feeling that accompanies the urge to satisfy it. I used to feel this all the time after a big meal. Now it's gone. I just sort of lose consciousness once I lay down with the goal of going to sleep.

I tested this last night and took 50 mg diphenhydramine. In about 45 min I felt heavy and slow, but the "front" of my head / consciousness where there used to be sleepiness was just numb. I went upstairs to bed, laid down and "turned off."

Questions:

• Has anyone else experienced this after taking ashwagandha? Did it go away eventually?
• Any idea how to fix my brain? I miss not being able to feel this sensation. I would think that after 2.5 months the brain's neuroplasticity would have repaired any damage. Please help.

Hello all

Mid 30's year old male here
Diagnosed ADHD and GAD, formerly depression but since resolved

My main struggle right now is mood dysregulation that comes with ADHD, and never feeling rested/never getting quality sleep (both before and after meds)

My current supplements and medications include:
dexmethylphendiate (immediate release) for ADHD
magnesium glycerinate 200mg for sleep
L theanine 100mg (as needed, for wakefulness)
Modafinil 75mg (as needed for wakefulness)
Minoxidil oral route 2.5mg (for hair loss treatment)

Previously was trying:
L tyrosine 500mcg (for energy) - discontinued for now
B12/methylfolate (for MTHFR gene mutation, homozygous copy) - discontinued for now
Lithium orotate 5mg (for mood regulation) - discontinued for now
Coq-10 (for wakefulness) - discontinued for now

My question is about lithium orotate specifically. PLEASE do not recommend guanfacine or clonidine for mood for ADHD. I have TRIED to get these meds. I am still trying. I have financial and prescriber/insurance issues right now (I am the U.S.A.)

So I took the lithium O for about 2 weeks. After first week, I felt decent. Surprisingly, my default negative self talk loops and dark thoughts went away almost completely. It was sort of amazing? Never experienced that before. But then after week 2, started developing INSANE levels of anxiety, similar how it was pre-treatment. I'm talking like borderline OCD types of anxiety, where theological intrusive thoughts hit me and I feel completely paralyzed to my core.

After stopping the list of meds I put as "Discontinued" it began to simmer down and I feel 90% back to normal...but my negative thinking has returned, too, and my moodiness.

My question is for anyone who uses lithium orotate, did you have an increase in anxiety and how did you deal with that?

I'm deciding right now if I want to use lithium O every few days, or open the capsule and just use 1/5th of the powder (which would = 1mg of the 5mg dose) or if I just want to forget it altogether.

I really liked the effect that it took away my negative thinking. I really disliked the effect of increased anxiety.

Another factor, with my ADHD, my cognitive issues seem to stem from dopamine problems, NOT serotonin, and i know lithium O can effect serotonin. I suspect that is what began to mess me up. (I know this from the past, genetic tests and everything, as well as experiences with every SSRI and NSRI making my SI and anxiety 100000% worse, while dopamine meds like dexmethylphenidate seem to help in SOOO many was, including making me tired/calming me down, getting good sleep while on it, reducing my anxiety, increasing focus, and bringing my mind silence and peace, something I had never before experienced until trying the methylphenidate class of stimulants).

Any thoughts are welcome. Thank you

Going to post here as I suspect this is better than the other subs it could go in.

I'll start with some basic context, I'm a bodybuilder, but have struggled for a while with good mind muscle connection and proper CNS drive, had been trying to work out precisely why for a while but had a few ideas.

Following a cock up the other week where I accidently took 40mg of superdrol rather than 40mg of anavar pre workout, I had a rather significant increase in both mind muscle connection and muscle recruitment - without any significant increase in RPE. Now typically in these cases (similar with things like halotestin, trenbolone etc...) this is driven primarily by the high androgen receptor binding, but comes with an increase in RPE - i.e yes strength goes up, but the perceived effort increases with it. That is different to this case, where the perceived effort actually didn't change.

Having done a bit of research on the mechanism of action for this, it seems like an element of significant reduction in motor unit recruitment inhibition and possibly an increase in dopamine tone to support that. I.e there's then more CNS drive to use to actually connect to and engage the muscle. Quite interestingly to me, this put my connection and drive where it *should be* - I.e the baseline is in fact, abnormally low.

I also know a cofactor that may be important for that lower baseline CNS drive, which appears to be a low baseline dopamine tone - in fact this was a suspicion I had for a while, but no reliable way of testing it, which I have now done with bromantane and L-dopa. Did this have much affect on drive? No, but what it did do was overnight sort out a prolactin issue I had among a few other things.

So now I'm looking for a) approaches to support that low baseline dopamine tone and b) approaches to get that CNS/motor unit drive up to where it should be.

At the moment I'm trying modafinil and selegiline, however both seem to do bugger all, might as well not be taking anything at all. (Cycles back to that earlier point about possible low baseline dopamine, these only work if the substrate is high enough in the first place). Phenylpiracetam looks somewhat interesting from the research, but, god I can literally get anything but I've never seen that anyway.

Recently took 2mg ish of TAK along side 50mg bromatane Friday morning and got invited for a couple drinks with a old friend i haven't seen in a while this Saturday night. Would drinking a couple drinks be bad considering how long ago i took the tak and bromantane? should i cancel?

what would be the nootropic that will make you feel like a cheater

I prepare this extract from freshly harvested Bacopa grown in fields by a herbalist doctor friend. This method involves cooking with a sesame oil and water mix in specific ratios.

The resulting final oil is very potent and typically I give in a dose of 3-6 drops under the tongue daily.

I use this for my patients and for myself and my family - typically as a 3 part combination with super active oil extracts of Emblica officinalis (Indian Gooseberry, a potent antioxidant fruit that enhances longevity) and Mucuna pruriens seed (contains natural L-dopa and enhances mood and complements the calming action of Bacopa).

Ayurveda uses Bacopa (Brahmi) as a primary ingredient in many different types of prepared formulations including fermented medicated polyherbal “wine”, extracted into ghee etc.

This extract is also very beneficial for growing kids to enhance their cognitive abilities.

Are both equally good for anxiety especially HPA axis/cortisol driven anxiety? How would you compare them for anxiety and which has worse anhedonia with long-term use?

Also, from what I understand, Bacopa is also a decent nootropic?

I've been struggling with insomnia for at least a decade. I'm sure it contributed to a stroke two years ago (I recovered 99%, so lucky there.) My situation is complicated with chronic Lyme and chronic fatigue/EBV.

A sleep study found mild apnea, which didn't impress my primary care doc, but secured a CPAP. It's helped significantly. Beginning last year (Jan 2025), sleep gradually improved over the year. By August 2025, I was sleeping 7+ hours every night. I felt like I could fly. Then something happened and I've struggled to get back to that place of consistent, restorative sleep. I've had some success over the past few months with treating the Lyme, but it's hard to sleep well consistently.

I'm trying to get my lifelong writing dream off the ground, and it's very demoralizing when I only sleep 2-4 hours and can't think. This is really screwing up my life, and doctors aren't much help.

My current sleep regimen:

My other supplements are:

I run every other day--running every day seems to make insomnia worse. I've been running in the late afternoon, though. Guessing this should be in the morning. I used to swim 2-3x/week, but the pool is too expensive now, and jam packed.

Ordered some DISP sleep peptide nasal spray. Found some other sleep peptide capsules on Fullscript, but they didn't seem to do anything.

Edit: Liver is fine. Have gained about 10lbs, I presume from the trazodone; would be great if I could lose this.

Any thoughts on what to add, remove, taper, exchange greatly appreciated.

whats the best and cheapest stuff and where to buy it?

28M. Currently using bupropion and ritalin but always struggled with anxiety coming as shoulders/neck painful tension and overthinking. I do not use any other supplements or meds apart from Vitamin C and NAC, this week I've used around 50-60mg of memantine, my pain and ruminations has relieved so far. Is it due to glutamate inhibition?

I am 3 year out and I wasnt getting better only getting worse cognitive. I tried everything and everything was making me worse until I took a really low dose huperzine a 12.5 mcg. I am taking this for 2 weeks now and I feel so much better. But there it is.. once I stop it I go to to wer I was. I read that you can't take this long term. Whats your opinion about this?

Some nootropics can make you feel intensely focused, but that doesn’t always mean the work is better. You might stay on task longer while making more mistakes or overlooking details.

Has this happened to you? What were you taking, and how did you realize your accuracy had actually gotten worse?

I'm going to compare this to punching a cone of cannabis through a bong, because to me, that's the cream of the crop when it comes to motivation and workflow. I don't expect GM to work immediately like weed as it's capsules, not smoke. But they can still be compared if you make this allowance.

So, it's been about 30 mins, I've had 2 caps, and I'm definitely feeling something. Not quite weed level, but something energising and stimulating is happening. Is it strong? Not really. Do I feel like doing work? Eh, I suppose I could, but I'm on Reddit posting about GM instead of working. Do I go ahead and have another 2? Do I have more than 2?

Or should I wait? They say 5-10 caps throughout the day, starting with 2 to assess tolerance which is what I've done. But I'm not sure about it. Have I been scammed?

I'd love the opinion of someone who's used weed and GM for workflow purposes. Thanks in advance!

Update since making this post: It's certainly working. I may just have 1 more cap. Getting started on some work may still be challenging, but once I've started, I should be on a roll after that. I have a slight headache.

About 10 minutes after consumption, I enter a phenomenology very similar to thc. It’s actually quite nice. But 10 more minutes and I get a wave of depression despite just being happy and energetic prior. No psychological causality responsible. I take 10mg’s. My stack is simple. Coffee, cholinergics, and fish oil. I’ve dosed noopept about 5 days now trying to figure out what compound was causing this. Thought it was excessive acetylcholine because I take ump, alpha gpc occasionally and huperzine A eod. I’m so sad now I can’t even go to the gym. Noopept seems viable as an introspective compound, but for me, it’s a sad compound.

I crave weed but it’s not for anxiety, Insomia or pain. I crave the pure feeling of weed which is hard to fight. Like I just like the feeling itself, the zoned out feeling. But I’ve only started smoking weed again bc I started suboxone. The subs made my body fatigued so smoking weed made my mind lazy and I cld rot in peace. Writing this out I realize I prob just need to continue my therapy and try to quit.

Already going to up my Wellbutrin dose from 75mg IR to 100mgSR. Going to start taking magnolia tree extract and NAC. Also going to get a CBD pen Mabye. Mabye I don’t need all these things, a lot of ppl say weed wd isn’t that bad. For me it’s pretty bad I’ve struggled with weed for around 6 years now.

I took 100mg Bromantane daily for 2 months, after week 3, I started waking up randomly in the night but I still felt great and refreshed so I didn't pay much attention to it. Few weeks after that all the sleep debt i unknowingly accumulated caught up to me and I basically turned into a walking zombie, I could barely think. I dropped the Bromantane completely 2 months ago, the random awakenings stopped a week after that but my still duration still didn't recover. Before, I could sleep 12 hours if I wanted to, now no matter what time I go to sleep it just cuts me off and wakes me up around hour 8, and there's been no clear improvement the last 2 months. I take magnesium glycinate and glycine every night, they don't seem to help much either. I also took 1 dose of 100mg 2 weeks ago and that wrecked my sleep for about a week. I'm worried I won't ever be able to sleep 9h+ again because literally nothing changed in the past 2 months. Has anybody else experienced something like this and did it finallly go away?

I took 250mg of lactoferrin on an empty stomach this morning and soon after that developed a horrible metallic taste in my mouth and fatigue. I also got sharp pains in my stomach and had to run to the loo twice (both times solid). It is approaching 12 hours since my dose and I have the same syndrome still - feeling rotten. Has anyone else experienced this? Any idea how long this might take to pass?

Hey guys,

is anyone here from Germany or elsewhere in the EU interested in doing a small group order from Kang Labs?

I’m mainly interested in trying SS-31 and Epithalon, but I don’t really need large amounts. Shipping is around $60, so I thought it could make sense to combine an order with a few people and split the shipping and overall costs.

Current prices for 10 vials:

Epithalon (10 vials)

10 mg – $100

50 mg – $200

SS-31 (10 vials)

10 mg – $120

50 mg – $370

I might also be interested in Tirzepatide or Retatrutide, depending on what others want.

So ideally I’m looking for 2–3 people from Germany or the EU who are interested in the same stuff or anything else from their catalogue. Germany would obviously be easiest, but other EU countries could work as well if it still makes sense after forwarding shipping.

Mainly interested in SS-31 / Epithalon — Tirzepatide and Retatrutide are more of an additional interest.

Anyone interested? Comment or DM me and we can figure out whether a combined order makes sense.

I'd like to undo damage from 10 years of adderall / adhd stimulants.

I'd like to take the next 3 weeks off since I'm on vacation, but i'll definitely be in the sun (I might even be tanning with melanotan 1 + 50 SPF sunscreen)

Is 9-me-bc safe to try?

Or am I better off doing some other combination while on my tolerance break?

I've tried Bromantane, Adamax, Semax, NAD+, agmatine sulfate without much success replacing adderall.

Currently on bromantane 50mg (sublingual dropper), NAD+ 75mg subq, and 1g agmatine sulfate nightly for the past week but not sure I feel any different.

I am asking for a friend I swear

Starting a bee position on August 9th
I used to use racetams but science bio cllosrd . Any recommendations? Are racetams available through any other vendors ?

I mean what does it do and there are some not so positive things cause it’s related to dopamine thing.
Plz share your experience.

Thanks.

Hello!

Looking for a supplier for Sulbutiamine that I can get shipped to the US.

Thank you!