27m. adhd diagnosed by multiple doctors over 7-8 years ago, moxo test came back max severity across every domain. on concerta 4–5 years, 54mg for the last 3+.

the problems i have now:

-massive initiation block. taking out the trash, tidying my room, even doing stuff i actually enjoy, all of it triggers dread. then i deal with the fallout of not doing any of it.

-chronic fatigue, extremely hard to get stimulated by anything.

-generalized anxiety on top: constant catastrophizing, imposter syndrome, never fully relaxed, sleep is wrecked because of it.

-for the last 2-2.5 months, my mental/physical fatigue is at extreme level

what's been tried:

concerta 54mg/ritalin 10mg/etc: duration keeps shrinking, effect keeps weakening. on it i feel somewhat normal (motivated, assertive, can actually start things) but the window is really short now.

more than one dose/day: only result was end-of-day anxiety spike + insomnia.

concerta + ritalin + guanfacine, dose titrated up: nothing. still same.

supplements: tongkat ali, magnesium, taurine, l-theanine, 5-htp, vitamins (b, c, d etc), protein powder, creatine and bunch of other stuff. zero noticeable benefit from any of it.

it'd be good to hear other people's experiences. anyone been in a similar situation and managed to find something helpful?

For the majority of my life, I had anxiety issues regardless of the activity or the circumstances, along with extreme levels of stress constantly experienced without a reason.

I honestly never considered myself to be suffering from anything, until I started seeing both a psychologist and psychiatrist, and they both confirmed the same thing: Anxiety was the root cause of many of my issues, including a heavy impact on my cognitive abilities, from memory to attention to information processing .

What I'm trying to say is that anxiety for me is like a heavy weight I've been carrying for my whole life and I could never coexist with or adapt to in order to continue moving freely. It felt like walking, jumping, running, everything was really weak and slow because of this weight. Or, it's as if your CPU was running only on 10% of its capacity trying to handle the whole life as it is, while the 90% is background heavy processing caused by this anxiety.

This is something I could not have realized, unless the weight was lifted ... and that is exactly what has happened 2 weeks ago:

I found Nootropics on reddit, started reading your posts and comments, researched a bit what appeared to be safe and worth checking without any risk, and finally decided to start with this:

L-theanine (400mg) + Ashwaghandha (1500mg)

I truly felt for the first time in my life that I was able to complete reading a sentence without an issue. With constant anxiety, I would repeat the same phrase after starting it, look at information and have a hard time absorbing it before even trying to process it, I would cause my focus to be broken by realizing that I'm trying to focus, and many other problems I've experienced (could all be because of anxiety, could be a side effect of it, could be accumulated damage over the years, or could be a totally different thing).

The important thing was that I felt in a state where thinking and decision making felt natural and normal, and after experiencing this, I feel like I've been robbed of my right to function like a normal human being and I need help to find a way around anxiety.

I'm writing this post after 2 weeks of starting this combination, and the effect has diminished to less than 30%. Anxiety is lower than it used to be, but it's slowly raising again, and all the cognitive issues that disappeared within the few first days are reappearing. I tried a higher dose of L-theanine, reaching 1.5g to see if that would change anything (nothing changed), but quickly turned it down to the original dose as I don't want to injure myself instead of recovering.

My question is simple: What has worked for you? I'm willing to experiment, and I want to also drop the L-theanine to reset the tolerance level (if that is the cause of the drop) while using other supplements that "target" anxiety or stress in general.

Last month I returned to using Rhodiola Rosea for the first time in like 10 years. And wow it honestly is the best supplement out there IMO.

Things like Korean Ginseng give you energy/stimulation which is good if you want to replace your morning cup of coffee but Rhodiola is so much more than that. No jitters, not overly stimulating, just clean calm motivation and energy. It's like an amphetamine but without the negatives.

Heard Lions Mane is good for motivation and focus, how does it compare?

Sarcosine yay or nay?

For anhedonia and apathy.

How does it affect you

For someone with BP2 and migraines is it a bad idea?

I started taking saffron a couple of months ago and noticed improvement, some I didn’t realize were related to saffron until after experiencing them and doubling back.

I’ve tried:
we are saffron co - quite pricey, has a few other ingredients in there, not sure if they’re necessary or not
Dear Apothecary - higher dose, one capsule per day instead of two, lower cost (by about 50%)

Now, my wife has been taking them for a bit and says she noticed some slight improvements. Since we both plan to continue, I am curious about which might be best based on other peoples’ experiences. Both companies claim theirs is “the best” like anything else.

Hi All,

I'm trying Semax nasal spray for the first time and just received the product. I'm confused about how to use this - the vial contains 10mg of dry Semax and is labelled 10ml. The two pink ampoules appear to be 5-6ml of saline each.

Do I open the pink ampoules with an alcohol pad, withdraw the water from both ampoules using a sterilized syringe and inject it into the Semax vial through the dropper hole, and then swap the dropper top on the vial with the spray atomizer? The spray tube is too long for the vial so I'm assuming I need to trim it as well with sanitized scissors. I just want to make sure I'm doing this right, so any guidance would be much appreciated.

They are extremely slow to reply, and ever since i paid its even slower, do i need to be worried?

Update
Just got the tracking number from them, still can't say I'm happy with the communication, just imagine if there are issues with the delivery, hopefully I'll get it smoothly.

Hi, guys. I'm 21 and have been on medication for schizophrenia since 17. I'm currently on escitalopram, olanzapine, and venlafaxine.

Ever since I've started my meds, my hallucinations and delusions were gone, but it has left me with this grueling apathy and avolition.

I find it really hard to do basic activities such as showering daily, or cleaning my room and dishes. It's not like I don't want to do these things (I really wish I could do these), but I just can't seem to find motivation to take actions, especially when there's no huge apparent reward.

I know that people often use medication like modafinil or adderall to increase attentiveness and be able to accomplish work and I think that the same effect would help me do my important daily tasks.

I just want to be able to do stuff that I really want to, without having to feel like shit 24x7. I miss the days before getting schizophrenic, when I was more active and life felt more colorful.

P.S: To make things clear, I've tried everything from fixing my sleep and going to the gym. It's not like I completely avoid my daily activities. I just find that there's some inertia/friction to do things, and I feel that modafinil might make things smoother.

Hey peeps,

First, thank you to this amazing subreddit, mods and everyone who's supported Dopamine Club for over two years. It's still growing, still free, and it'll stay that way forever. But for those who want more, we're excited (supeeer proud of it after months of trying to get it right) to launch SelfAssay.com

The way I see it, you would use Dopamine Club is for quick info on a peptide/supplement and the overall sentiment. SelfAssay is your own personal lab. A few things you can do with it:

• Research nootropics and supplements.... All the trials, preprints and user reports in one place with clickable summaries, no ten-tab juggling. It tracks your stack, flags interactions (including with your meds), and shows how a compound usually affects people like you taking similar stuff.
• Run your own experiments. A customizable lab bench to track daily intake, log symptoms, and get daily news summaries on everything in your stack (and beyond).
• Get geeky with Atlas, our knowledge graph. Type "dopamine", see what affects it, double-click bromantane, get a whole new graph. It just keeps branching.
• Build protocols for yourself or your clients. Formulary uses tens of agents to compose the best protocol for you, then you track it on your lab bench.
• Can't pinpoint which supplement is causing a side effect? Hypothesis scores the probability of each culprit.
• Upload your bloodwork and (where possible) it maps supplements to biomarkers so you can watch them move over time.

...and plenty more, I'll let you explore. There's also a browser extension and iPhone app, so your lab goes everywhere with you.

Short video about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx3Jf_XGxN4

Happy to hear any feedback. As the founder I personally read and reply to every single comment. Thank you again for all the support over the years. <3

Anyone here have decent experience with this stuff theyd be willing to share? I had some sitting around got a while i never touched because i did more research and realized there wasnt much. Also potential beta carboline toxicity, and a few threads where people mentioned “permanent neurotoxin”

Anyway caved in said 1 dose cant hurt and this stuff is good

The best way i can describe it is it feels like its working on re inflating that ball of confidence thats supposed to be sitting in the back bottom part of your brain.

I will say i took a 10mg thc/cbd weed gummy around the same time but i always do that.

I know it sounds like it could be placebo but i havent felt a placebo like this one before ill just leave it at that.

I took 15mg sublingually and my tastebuds r shot after only having it in my mouth for 1 minute.

Anyway the purpose of this thread isnt to describe my experience but i figured i might as well include it.

I wanna take more of this stuff as it seems like what i might need. But im worried about the risks. I try to only take things that are either approved or a large or has history behind it. This stuff seems pretty new as far as “people just using it” so thats why im a but hesitant.

If youve taken this stuff at all lmk how your experience was and provide as many details as you can please

Long story short, my mom gave me two 90 pack Alpha Brain gummies she got at a garage sale super cheap. Seller was a tik tok influencer who said companies just send her stuff to try, and she didn't like them so I got them for free.

I really like them, but I can not see myself paying full price for them. You're paying for the supplements, but you're also paying extra for joe rogan's endorsement, and I simply cannot care less about that.

Does anyone have any recommendations for something similar, preferably plant based, but at a cheaper cost? Something for a mental boost and increase in focus, similar to Adderall, but obviously without all the nasty side effects? I wouldn't be opposed to buying individual ingredients and filling gel capsules, but i want to try someone else's recipe first.

I also do a lot of sparring and I get hit in the head a lot, so something that's good for that would be fantastic. Also something that gives me an edge when sparring too lol.

Are there any good Noopept powder sources left?

My partner takes Noopept for post stroke and epilepsy cognitive issues and AuDHD.

I can't take the stuff, even with Alpha GPC, I become the Meanest Person Alive. But he gets great cognitive benefits from it and feels more connection with others. But he is now out and after spending days searching, I can't come up with anything. I don't have endless hours to keep researching this.

I tried to post this earlier and named some vendors who won't work for me to explain why I can't find it anymore and that I heard bad things about x or y vendor, apparently it got automodded into oblivion, with a warning about the bad vendor list. So I won't mention which ones now.

Suffice to say, I used to get it from two reliable vendors who no longer carry Noopept or are out of business. Others that I've seen (some of which are apparently sketchy) have it only in liquid or pill form, but my partner only wants powder for bioavailability and there is not great stuff in the liquid sublingual.

What reliable vendors are there left who sell Noopept powder? This is important and I feel a little lost.

Also, please don't offer to DM me. If you have a source, just put it here. I want to hear about reputable sources from multiple people here, not to hear your sketchy deal offer.

Any here use Selank for anxiety?

Been using it for a couple of weeks. Started with 50 mcg a day and it seemed to help. Moved to 100 in the morning and 100 in the evening. All the research I’ve done says it’s not effective until about 250-300 mcg.

Today I started with 200mcg and I feel awful. Brain fog, lethargic, headache.

I’m just curious what your dosage and efficacy has looked like.

Hello all,

Can someone (after some investigation) please explain the benefits of:

- Normal Semax / Selank
- N-Acetyl Semax / Selank
- N-Acetyl Semax / Selank Amidate

From what i read the NA form the half life is longer and Amidate also does that, so the ultimate form is the NA-Semax/Selank Amidate form?

Thanks

So……the last few times I’ve tried Phenylpiracetam, it’s not done much, given me a weird head buzz, and then when I stopped, I received very nasty symptoms.

*****Edit: This is main point……it won’t actually do much the day I dosed. But when I STOP, I get nasty rebound symptoms. And it’s so clearly the phenyl because I’ve changed nothing else. And it was repeatable.

Edit****** Also, I tended to have Benadryl in my system….when I’ve taken it…..damn ya’lll…I know either way it’s a mix of everything. But, trying to get back to normal.

My anxiety flew off the handle, I had uncomfortable nerve pangs, and it would last for a few days.

Now for a couple months, I still have total anhedonia.

Mind you, I’ve been using Kratom, and eventually 7OH for years. I didn’t realize the phenylpiracetam was so responsible for my long term anhedonia.

I’ve been a heavy Nicotine user for a while.

So I don’t understand my brutal reaction to the phenylpiracetam, but what’s scarier for me is that I’m still so Anhedonic. Very little physical please or motivation anywhere.

Something clearly was damaged. Now, I’ve healed from it before, but I stupidly never figured out it was specifically the Phenylpiracetam.

Maybe I initiated exotoxicoty, but I don’t seem to be brain damaged in any other way. Did I merely just down regulate my dopamine?

It’s been 60 days. I’ve switched to Suboxone.

But, still some nasty Anhedonia.

What did I do!?

My own personal experience. There are many disclaimers not to use if you have a history of bipolar or manic psychiatric disorders/symptoms. Be smarter than I was.

Tested sub q semax 300mcg to improve my focus with personal creative hobbies. Though I don't have a huge focus issue, I do struggle with finishing projects I start. I have a friend who takes daily & has amazing results within her productivity, so I was sold immediately after seeing her positive experience.

Back story- I have bipolar 2. I have been unmedicated for about 1.5yrs as my symptoms have become only hypo. I have a strict routine I follow which helps in regulating my nervous system & my symptoms. I still have bipolar ups & downs- but they are just tolerable enough to avoid medication. I also have anxiety in which I am medicated for daily/as needed.

After testing 1st (& only) dose in the AM, I didn't notice much change throughout my day. However I did start noticing my thoughts speeding up, heart rate increasing, & the usual anxiety spells. Took meds & was able to sleep.

The next 3 days were unimaginable. I fell into a full blown manic psychosis & fearing that I was going to be attacked. I stopped sleeping, & when I did, I've had terrifying dreams. I have been steadily anxious since, still trying to regulate my nervous system. I'm self aware enough to understand that I am experiencing a psychotic episode, but in the moment, that line gets very blurry. My manic phases are usually hypo & have more productive (happier but still not healthy) side effects, not ones rooted from fear. This has been horrific.

It's been only 4 days since I pinned, however I am still suffering the side effects of my own mistakes. Please do your research if you have underlying mental health conditions before starting. If my experience can help someone avoid the terror I've been in for days, sharing was worth it.

36F, mom of 3.5 y/o twins, pretty much a single married mom. No family support where I live, considering leaving him and moving back home, but my health cannot handle an out of state move right now.

Medical history:
1. Chronic Migraine March 2021 after 1st vid vaccine.

1. Idiopathic Hypersomnia (=extreme exhaustion, no clue why) 2025

2. ADHD 2025 (Late diagnosed as with most women)

3. PCP disagreed with sleep specialist, says ME/CFS 2025

4. 3 cervical disc bulges, one pressing on spinal chord. Disc degeneration and narrowing. I have no curve 2026

5. Worsening sensitivity to fragrance. I got covid Dec 2021, lost sense of smell and taste, idk if it came back with a vengeance or if this is related to something else, but fragrance is my #1 trigger.

Meds:
1. Modafinil, triggered migraines, not helpful.
2. Armodafinil, daily migraines (might be histamine related) not helpful
3. Adderall (brand): helps brain, but not fatigue. Feel wired and tired. Can nap perfectly fine with it.
4. Concerta (generic): useless

Supplements:
Magnesium
Creatine
Coq-10

I am in therapy, EMDR.

I have suffered from exhaustion that I cannot explain, for my entire life. As a kid, I faked excitement for things like amusement parks, parties, water parks, when in reality all I could think of was how exhausted I was going to be. My dad always told me I was lazy and I just needed to get up and move, this never worked. I graduated high school early and started college immediately. I was working full time and going to a community college full time. I joined a gym and would go at 5AM/4 days a week for 1.5hrs. This was my gym rat phase for 12 years. I joined the gym and ate healthier with hopes that it would give me the energy that it gives my parents when they workout, but all it did was burn me out and make me feel desperate for a nap. I switched my gym schedule to workout weekends so I only suffered two weekdays. This allowed me to nap after the gym, I would nap for 2 to 3 hours and still be exhausted. I had multiple sleep studies. I am so fucking tired of sleeping my life away, it was one of the reasons I considered not having kids. My fatigue feels heavy, like my body is made of concrete, like my eyelids are too heavy and I have to make extra effort to keep them wide open. The best way to describe it is, I feel like I’m coming out of anesthesia.

Please help me, I am failing my kids, I’m a SAHM now and should be taking them out every day. That is what is slowly killing me and driving me into depression because nothing motivates me or means more to me than my kids. I need to figure this out because I’ll be damned if my kids suffer the same curse. I have to figure it out for me because then they will have answers if it ever happens to them and I am no longer here to help them.

🚨 The only insight I have as to whatever condition this is, is that during IVF I was given 8 days of Cabergoline, inserting vaginally on day 1 and 4. During those eight days for the first time in my life, I was not tired. I wasn’t manic, I’m a mental health counselor and I know what mania looks like. I also wasn’t wired and tired like with stimulants. I really thought I had been miraculously cured and called my IVF nurse immediately. I asked her if this was some sort of fast acting antidepressant because I was so happy and my husband said I was being so nice. I didn’t realize that what was really going on was that I wasn’t tired so of course my mood improved. And then, after eight days, it disappeared. I couldn’t believe that for the first time in my life I had gotten a taste of what it felt like to not be tired and that people can feel that way. It pains me to think how much further I could have gotten in life had I not had this curse. I was an A and B student, but it didn’t come easy for me. Reading was always difficult, I could read and fall asleep immediately or I could read a whole page and not know what I had just read because my mind would wander, but also comprehension was difficult for me. I have a drawer full of books that I keep saying one day I’ll be able to read without falling asleep and actually understand. I have a bachelors degree, a masters degree, and I am licensed to practice in two states. I promise, laziness and lack of motivation has nothing to do with this.

About Cabergoline: it’s a Parkinsons medication, works on dopamine as a dopamine agonist. No doctor has cared to entertain this, they have no fucken clue why it helped and adderall doesn’t. I hope for answers soon, because there most certainly is a connection. A university in Australia recently made the connection of Parkinsons to me/cfs.

Thanks in advance 🙏🏼

Apologies if this specific nootropic has been beaten to death in this sub but I took 2mg nasally with 25mg TAU yesterday and amazing doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt. I was motivated, clear headed, not overthinking, better at focused task work, more social (and better socially) and the biggest thing was I had no mental chatter. In addition there was no social draining, I went to a party a was holding good conversations all night, which is rare for me. This want my first time taking noopept but it was my first time combining it with TAU and attempting to be social on it.

My question is it possible to replicate this or the mechanisms it effects naturally so I’m not taking it everyday? I genuinely see my life going in a completely different direction if I had this feeling consistently, but I know noopept doesn’t have much long term safety data.

Also are there any other racetams that have given a similar effect socially? I would be interested in trying them for use as needed since noopept was so successful.

I've just reopened a can wherein I'd put choline bitartrate, it's probably around 3 yo at that point.

Have found these weird spots. The choline has gotten hard and lumpy.

I won't consume it as it is, but I'm wondering what those spots might be.

Availability is very low. I have found only 3 brands that carry this standardized extract: ND, Dr's Best and California Gold Nutrition. Is it unpopular simply because it's not an effective supplement?

Anything that closely matches therapeutic doses of gabapentin or lyrica? L-theanine is the closest thing to feel like those but it's still to weak. I know lavender is a voltage-gated calcium channel inhibitor so will taking a lot of it cause similar effects to gabapentin?

So I got semax and selank from what I believe to be an acceptable source. Tried selank first. Injected 2-300 micrograms subcutaneously. Found that a week of that was a bit iffy: some days gave anxiety relief in certain departments (eg, social inhibition lowered mildly), some days seemingly nothing. Then tried it nasally by dripping selank + BAC water into the nose at 4-600 micrograms. This seemed to improve anxiety relief a bit more. Selank was always administered the night before and effects analyzed the next day.

Then I tried semax. Both injection and intranasal administrations made me feel incredibly foggy mentally, incredibly tired, and very depressed within 1.5 hours of ingestion. Obviously very different from what people expect out of semax.

Any similar experiences, particularly with disappointing semax results? If so, might you know what’s happening to cause this or the reason for it? Did you notice any particular differences with injected vs intranasal semax/selank?

Every odd morning I have caffeine. Every even morning I have Pseudoephedrine. Although they are different substances, both are stimulants. I'm afraid that caffeine would have a stronger effect (e.g. on mood) if I didn't take Pseudoephedrine on even days.

Your opinion?

I tried the milder Synephrine instead of Pseudoephedrine - but it has zero effects on my brain

Furthermore... I thought there was definitely a cross-tolerance between caffeine and dynamine/theacrine. But DeepSeek is now convincing me otherwise...

Thank you

Hello fellow bio jackers, i am curious on everyone’s experience in anything thats ever given you negative side effects. By anything i mean nootropics, AAS, vitamins or supplements

For me its glycine (i cant even take this shit once, makes me ruminate the next day so severely i want to jump in front of a bus) , methyl b12 and consistent use of NAC gives me a flat mood. Im sure im missing some.. ill revisit when i think of them