textfiles/drugs/mgabrain.txt

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Cognition-Enhancement Drugs



This text has been excerpted from MEGABRAIN REPORT: THE
PSYCHOTECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER. Included here are dosages,
precautions, and mail-order sources for three intelligence and
memory enhancing substances. Please feel free to duplicate this
excerpt and put it onto other bulletin boards or conference
systems. For a copy of the full length article, including
references, contact MEGABRAIN REPORT, POB 2744, Sausalito, CA
94965, Phone: (415) 332-8323, FAX: (415) 332-8327. 

The authors of this article are Michael Hutchison and John
Morgenthaler.  Michael Hutchison is the editor and publisher of
MEGABRAIN REPORT and can be contacted there (see the address
above). He is also the author of the books, MegaBrain: New Tools
and Techniques For Brain Growth and Mind Expansion, The Book of
Floating, and the recently published Anatomy of Sex and Power: An
Investigation of Mind Body Politics.

John Morgenthaler is the co-author with Ward Dean, MD, of a full
length book on over thirty cognition enhancing compounds. The book
includes an index, references, and sources of compounds. John can
be contacted at POB 483 Santa Cruz, CA 95061, Phone: (800)
669-2030, MCI mail address: 3144541.  A free copy of the book goes
to anyone who posts this article to another bulletin board or
conference system.


COGNITION-ENHANCEMENT DRUGS
by Michael Hutchison and John Morgenthaler

Picture this: You have a business meeting tomorrow with your
Japanese distributor. This meeting requires that you be in top form
for some critical negotiations. You have several reports to go
over, many facts to memorize, and above all you have to get some
rest.

Your first step? A trip to the drug store, of course. A meeting
like this is much too important to take on without fine-tuning your
biochemistry. You must create the optimal neurochemical conditions
for learning and creativity. You ask the druggist, who then points
you towards the shelf of cognitive enhancement
compounds. You load up your basket with bottles of piracetam,
vasopressin, hydergine, choline, DMAE, and maybe a little
centrophenoxine.

After arriving home, and taking the appropriate doses of each of
these you go into your study to slip on your cranial electric
stimulator along with your light and sound device. You know from
your experience and that of many pioneers in the consciousness
revolution that this particular combination of chemicals and brain
machines has a synergistic effect that will create the optimal
psychobiological state for the tasks that lie ahead. You can be
sure that your Japanese counterparts are engaged in a similar
manner.

After an hour in your study you feel very different. You are
relaxed, yet alert and creative. Your brainwave activity has
altered, and an EEG would show that it has become more regular and
has increased in amplitude in certain frequencies, causing you to
feel simultaneously profoundly relaxed yet in a state of intense
concentration, loose and creative as well as mentally quick and
alert. A brain-mapping device would show that the two hemispheres
of your brain were in a state of "superconnection," with an
enormous increase in the amount of information flowing between the
hemispheres. At the same time, the rate of metabolism and the
energy level of your brain cells has sharply increased. You are now
in the optimal state to imprint new memories, to plan new and more
creative strategies, to visually rehearse every detail of your
upcoming meeting...

Sound far-fetched? Well, both the brain machines and the
cognitive enhancement compounds already exist. Megabrain
described a variety of devices that show evidence of enhancing
cognition (for a summary of several recent studies suggesting that
CES devices can have clear cognition-boosting effects see the
"Research Update" elsewhere in this issue); and the book also
mentioned the cognition-enhancing effects of such neurochemicals
as vasopressin and MSH-ACTH 4-10. Since then other mind-
magnifying drugs have emerged as well as even more astonishing
evidence of their ability to amplify learning, memory and
thinking. What we don't know is how to best use them together, or
even whether they should be used together.

That's what we want to find out. The problem, as many of you are
aware, is that it is extremely difficult for those interested in
performing research into the effects of brain machines to obtain
the necessary funding and support. Mainstream science,
particularly those elements in control of doling out grants and
funds to support research, and many of the universities and
institutions engaged in research, seem to have little interest in
investigating these machines. What research is done usually
involves the therapeutic applications of the devices rather that
the induction of peak performance brain states.

On the other hand, huge amounts of money are being spent for
research into cognition enhancing drugs. But much of the research
is being done by the big pharmaceutical companies, who are racing
with each other to develop patentable memory enhancement drugs and
to obtain FDA approval for these compounds. Since the FDA is
primarily oriented toward treating diseases in a medical context,
and has not shown much interest in giving its approval to drugs
that simply improve people's memories or boost intelligence, the
pharmaceutical companies are directing their efforts toward gaining
approval for their cognition-enhancement drugs as
treatments for medical problems such as Alzheimer's disease,
multiple-infarct dementia and senility. Since financial analysts
estimate that such cognitive drugs could quickly produce sales of
well over a billion dollars a year in the U.S. alone, and
ultimately outsell antibiotics and tranquilizers, the competition
is fierce, and these companies are in no mood to investigate ways
their substances might work synergistically or in combination with
other substances or other mechanisms such as mind machines.

Also, since their efforts are directed toward drugs that are
patentable, these companies have little interest in exploring the
cognition enhancement properties of substances that cannot be
patented. Vitamin C is a good example: in a controlled study in
which healthy individuals were tested both for levels of vitamin
C and IQ, those with higher levels of the vitamin averaged 5 points
higher in IQ; when those with the lower levels of the vitamin were
given vitamin C supplements, their IQ scores
increased by over 3.5 points. In some way, Vitamin C is a
cognition-enhancing substance. But, of course no one can patent
vitamin C, which is cheap and readily available.

In another example, one widely available and unpatentable
substance (DHEA) is rumored to have demonstrated in a recent study
some success in, among other things, treating AIDS, as well as
cognition enhancement; however, the drug company involved in the
experiments is now apparently trying to conceal the
discoveries about DHEA until it can develop some variant that is
patentable (i.e. has commercial value), and has obtained a court
order forbidding the scientist in charge of the study to even speak
with anyone about the matter.


WE HAVE MET THE GUINEA PIG AND IT IS US

And so, MEGABRAIN REPORT has concluded that if we really want more
research into mind-machine mind-food interactions we'd better start
doing it ourselves. Thus we ask you to join us in a series of
surveys, tests and assessments designed to explore the interactions
between brain machines and cognitive enhancement compounds. This
is not to say we are advising you to take any of the cognition-
enhancement substances we describe. No! We do not advise you to
take these compounds, just as we do not advise you to use mind
machines or do anything to enhance your mental
functioning. High level mental functioning can be exceedingly
dangerous and have frightening and unpredictable side effects, as
individuals from Socrates to Jesus to Galileo have discovered.

However, we do have reason to believe that many of you are by
nature curious, given to exploration and even experimentation--
that, in fact, many of you are already making use of some of these
cognition-boosting nutrients. This being so, it seems clear to us
that you have information that would be of interest and value to
the rest of us. It's also clear that if there are
hundreds or even thousands of you with such information, then by
gathering it together, we can synthesize it, analyze it, begin to
search for trends, tendencies, proclivities, and perhaps even make
some important connections.

The first part of the survey is intended to be an open-ended
exploration rather that a rigorous scientific study or an attempt
to confirm an existing hypotheses. We hope not for solid
conclusions or hard data, but rather to discover and delineate some
interesting avenues for future research.

In a later issue, we will report on the early survey results. It's
possible--though we cannot guarantee it--that in
investigating the subjective responses we hope to receive from
MEGABRAIN REPORT readers we will discover some trends. We can use
this information to guide us in designing a more focused study for
part two of the survey.
 
For example, we might receive many reports that the effects of
piracetam are amplified when used with the light and sound
devices. Then we could plan to focus more deeply on the
particular machine/compound interaction, investigating the
interactive effects over differing periods of time, using
different sound and light frequencies and modes, and in various
areas, such as memory, reaction speed, creativity and so on.

In this issue, we will introduce some of the more interesting
compounds for cognitive enhancement, provide information about how
to obtain each of them, present some methods for assessing and
evaluating your own brain state and tracing your progress, and
present a simple questionnaire. These self-assessment methods and
our initial survey appear at the end of this article. First we will
describe a few of the most promising cognition enhancing
substances.

NOOTROPIC DRUGS

PIRACETAM

"Last year a friend took me to hear Sun Ra and his Intergalactic
Arkestra as a birthday present. I had just received a bottle of
800 mg tablets of Piracetam. My friend and I each took nine of the
tablets (an "attack dose" they call it in the literature) before
entering the hall. The music began 30 minutes later. I found myself
able to concentrate as never before. I was
completely lucid with absolutely no sense of intoxication. For the
first time in my life I could hear each individuals horn's timbre
(Sun Ra has about 10 horn players, often all playing massed
harmonies.) My friend has worked as a professional
saxophone player. He, too, reported extraordinary hearing and
concentration abilities. My ears felt as though the were being
stimulated from all directions at once, but the feeling was
entirely pleasant. I was enthralled."

Piracetam has been the subject of intensive research for over 15
years, and has not only proven to be a powerful intelligence
booster and cerebral stimulant, but also, even in massive acute
and chronic dosages, appears to be nontoxic and to produce no side
effects (it's so nontoxic one FDA employee reportedly
claimed that since huge doses produce no toxic effects, it can't
possibly have any pharmacological effects and must be
physiologically inert). It is so remarkable in its effects and
safety that its discovery by UCB Laboratories in Belgium sent
virtually every other major pharmaceutical company scrambling to
develop its own cerebral stimulant. This "Smart pill race" has
resulted in the creation of a new drug category called the
nootropics, from the Greek words noos (mind) and tropein (turn),
meaning "acting on the mind".

Some of the nootropic drugs being tested now on humans include
vinpocetine (being developed by Ayerst Laboratories), which speeds
up learning, improves memory and recall and seems to block the
action of substances that disrupt memory; aniracetam
(Hoffman-La Roche), which appears to be about ten times more potent
in improving and protecting memory than piracetam,
pramiracetam (Warner-Lambert/Parke Davis), which seems to improve
learning and memory by enhancing the firing of neurons in the
hippocampus (a key to the formation of long-term memories), and
oxiracetam (Ciba-Geigy), apparently two to three times as
powerful as piracetam (intriguingly, research shows that when
oxiracetam is given to pregnant rats their offspring proved more
intelligent that control groups--similar findings have been
reported for the offspring of pregnant rats kept in "enriched
environments," as described in the "Research Update" elsewhere in
this issue). All of these substances seem remarkably nontoxic and
free of side effects.

As yet, there is no nootropic drug that is approved by the FDA for
sale in the US, but, keenly aware of the multi-billion dollar
potential of nootropics, the drug companies are pouring big bucks
into research that will satisfy FDA requirements by proving how
they work (still not well understood), and by proving their
effectiveness in treating medical problems such as Alzheimer's
disease and senility. In this article we will focus on the most
extensively tested and widely available nootropic compound,
piracetam.

Piracetam has been proven to boost learning and memory in normal
subjects as well as those who suffer cognitive deficits, and is
also a cognitive enhancer under conditions of hypoxia, or too
little oxygen (recent expeditions to climb Mt. Everest have
included piracetam as an "essential" medication to treat
frostbite and memory lapses causes by altitude). A variety of
clinical studies with human subjects, including studies of young
healthy volunteers, healthy middle-aged subjects with some memory
decline, elderly subjects, elderly subjects with senility, and
alcoholics, have proven that piracetam enhances cortical
vigilance, improves integration of information processing,
improves attention span and concentration, and can produce
dramatic improvements in both direct and delayed recall of verbal
learning.

It's effective in the treatment of dyslexia, stroke, alcoholism,
vertigo, senile dementia, sickle-cell anemia, and many other
conditions, enhances the brain's resistance to various injuries
and boosts its ability to recover from injuries, protects the brain
against chemicals such as barbiturates and cyanides, and is widely
used throughout Europe and Latin America (where it is sold over the
counter).

The subjective effect described by a lot of people is that it
"wakes up your brain". In fact, it selectively stimulates the
anterior or frontal part of the forebrain--that part of the brain
that has evolved most recently, rapidly and remarkably in the
course of our evolution from ape to human, and which is the seat
of our "higher functions."

Piracetam works in a number of ways to increase energy within the
brain. First, it steps up the production of adenosine
triphosphate (ATP), the energy storage and energy generating
molecules within our cells. It also boosts cerebral metabolism by
improving cerebral microcirculation (blood flow), increasing the
brain's use of glucose, and increasing the brain's oxygen
utilization. It also seems to enhance protein syntheses in the
brain (it's been proven that protein synthesis is an essential step
in laying down long-term memories).

SUPERCONNECTING THE BRAIN. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of
piracetam is that it has been proven to increase the flow of
information between the right and left hemispheres of the brain.
As a result of experiments with human subjects one researcher
concluded that piracetam causes the hemispheres to become
"superconnected." Since there's increasing evidence that high level
brain states--brilliance, insight, creativity, flow, peak
performance, being "in the zone"--are a product of the integrated
and synergistic functioning of both hemispheres simultaneously, we
might suspect that piracetam enhances not only simple learning and
memory but creative or syntheses thinking.

Piracetam's capacity to superconnect the hemispheres becomes even
more intriguing in light of the evidence indicating that many of
the most widely used mind machines and techniques for brain
enhancement (such as binaural beat frequencies and the sound and
light machines) function in part by facilitating integrated
hemispheric functioning. This raises the possibility that since
both the machines and piracetam seem to facilitate
interhemispheric communication, there might be a potentiating or
synergistic effect when such mind machines are used in
combination with piracetam, resulting in a quantum leap in brain-
enhancement effects.
 
PRECAUTIONS: Piracetam may increase the effects of certain drugs,
such as amphetamines and psychotropics. Adverse effects are rare
but include insomnia, psychomotor agitation, nausea, headaches and
gastrointestinal distress.

DOSAGE: Piracetam is supplied in 400mg or 800mg tablets. The usual
dose is 2400-4800 mg per day in three divided doses. Some
literature recommends that the first two days a high "attack" dose
should be taken. We have noticed that when some people first take
piracetam they do not notice any effect until they take a high
dose. Thereafter, they may notice that a lower dosage is
sufficient. The drug takes effect in 30 to 60 minutes.

SOURCES: piracetam is not sold in the US. It can be purchased over
the counter in Mexico or by mail order from the address below.

HYDERGINE

"I first tried Hydergine six years ago during a visit to see my
Dad at Christmas. He and I started taking 9mg and results were
apparent to us both within two days. He was in his 40s, and began
to remember events from when he was in his 20s as clearly as if
they'd happened yesterday. What was interesting was that the events
were nothing outstanding--just ordinary times. In other words, the
everyday events had been stored away all these years, it just took
some chemical prodding to jog them loose into the conscious mind.
I was in my early 20s and had similar memories going back to my
childhood years. A unique opportunity had been presented to us to
sit down and really share in the joys that our life had brought us.
What a gift!"

A wealth of research going back over 20 years suggests that
Hydergine may be what psychologist-pharmacist Ross Pelton calls
"the ultimate smart pill." The substance, whose generic name is
ergoloid mesylates, is made from a natural, organic source: the
ergot fungus of rye plants (it was discovered at Sandoz
laboratories by the visionary chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann, also
known for his discovery of another ergot derivative, LSD 25). It
increases mental abilities, prevents damage to brain cells, and
may even be able to reverse existing damage to brain cells.

Hydergine acts in several ways to enhance mental capabilities and
to slow down or reverse the aging processes in the brain. A few of
the huge number of beneficial effects scientists have
attributed to Hydergine include: increased protein syntheses in
the brain; reduced accumulation of lipofuscin in the brain;
increased quantities of blood and oxygen delivered to the brain;
improvement of memory, learning and intelligence; beneficial
improvements in brainwave activity; increased metabolism in brain
cells; normalization of blood pressure; and increased production
of such neurotransmitters as dopamine and norepinephrine
(neurochemical messengers essential to the formation of memory,
and also associated with arousal, alertness, elation and
pleasure). Hydergine also functions as a powerful antioxidant and
thus protects the brain against the damage caused by those
infamous rascally free radicals (unstable and extremely reactive
molecules produced by normal metabolism, which cause damage
associated with aging, cancer and cardiovascular disease).

One way that Hydergine may enhance brain functioning is by
mimicking the effect of a substance called nerve growth factor
(NGF). NGF promotes the growth of dendrites--the long branching
fibers by which neurons receive information from other neurons.
Scientists studying the effects of learning on the brain have found
it is directly related to dendritic growth. Hydergine seems to work
by the same neurochemical pathway as NGF to produce neural growth.

While Hydergine is widely used for the treatment of senility,
scientists have also studied its effects, both short term and long
term, in normal healthy humans; these studies noted
significant improvements in a variety of cognitive function,
including alertness, memory, reaction time, abstract reasoning and
cognitive processing ability.

PRECAUTIONS: If too large a dose is used when first taking
Hydergine, it may cause slight nausea, gastric disturbance, or
headache. Overall, Hydergine does not produce and serious side
effects, it is non-toxic even at very large doses and it is
contraindicated only for individuals who have chronic or acute
psychosis.

DOSAGE: The US recommended dosage is 3mg per day, however, the
European recommended dosage is 9 mg per day taken in three
divided doses. Most of the research has been done at levels of 9
to 12 mg per day or higher, and there is some evidence that 3 mg
per day is simply insufficient for significant cognition-
enhancement effects. It may take several weeks or even months
before Hydergine produces noticeable effects. Hydergine (though
not its generic counterpart) is available in a sublingual form,
and there is evidence that sublingual doses reach the brain in
greater quantity.

SOURCES: Hydergine is available in the USA with a doctor's
prescription, and approved by the FDA for the treatment of senile
dementia and insufficient blood circulation to the brain--your
doctor may not be familiar with the uses discussed. It can also be
purchased over the counter in Mexico or by mail order from overseas
(see below). In many cases these mail order companies sell the
generic form, Ergoloid Mesylates. The FDA has rated the generic as
biologically equivalent to the Sandoz product. More testing needs
to be done on the question.

VASOPRESSIN

"The most immediate result I get from using vasopressin is
increased clarity and alertness. I can be logical without the usual
speediness associated with caffeine use. After five minutes I've
noticed that I'm busily accomplishing tasks that I'd been putting
off for a week. The duration is about two hours for the energetic
feelings. Overall, I feel my short-term memory recall improving
over the past two weeks of using vasopressin. It seems that the
longer I use it, the more I can rely on my mind to be a portable
note pad."

"I have smoked pot on a more or less (usually more) daily basis
for 20 years. When I read that vasopressin is inhibited by pot, I
found a source for buying some. Now I notice that when I use
vasopressin with marijuana I still get stoned, but I have little
or none of the 'dummying down' effect of the pot. And what a
surprise to find that vasopressin intensifies orgasms!"

Vasopressin, called "the memory hormone," is a natural brain
peptide, stimulated by acetylcholine and released in the
pituitary. It actually helps create, imprint, and store memories,
and is essential to remembering. Apparently vasopressin is
involved in picking out and chunking together related bits of
information from the stream of consciousness, integrating these
chunks into coherent structures, and then "imprinting" these images
or concepts into long-term memory by transforming
electrical impulses into complex proteins that contain memories
and are stored away in the brain. The act of remembering the stored
information is also mediated by vasopressin.

Over 20 years ago scientists discovered that vasopressin had
extraordinary effects on the memory of laboratory animals--
preventing chemically and electrically induced amnesia, actually
reversing amnesia, and dramatically boosting the memory and
intelligence of normal animals. These findings spurred much
research into the cognition-enhancement effect of vasopressin on
humans. Among the key findings are that small doses of the
hormone can have striking success in quickly reversing traumatic
amnesia (amnesia caused by injuries such as car crashes), can
reverse age-related memory loss and actually restore lost
memories, and can produce sharp improvements in learning and memory
using measures such as abstract and verbal memory,
organizational capacities, recall, attention, concentration, focus,
short-term memory, optical memory, and long-term memory. It also
boosts performance in such areas as reaction speed, visual
discrimination, and coordination.

Vasopressin pours out during moments of trauma or extreme
arousal, which may explain why those times seem to be so deeply
imprinted in our brains, and are remembered with such clarity.
Vasopressin is also released by cocaine, LSD, amphetamines,
Ritalin, and Pemoline (Cylert). Those who make frequent use of
these drugs deplete their brain's vasopressin supply. The result
is depression, and a decline in cognitive function. The frequent
user's response to this depression is to take more of the drug,
thus trying to wring more vasopressin out of their depleted brain:
ultimately the well runs dry. Vasopressin, however, is not a drug
but the actual brain hormone that has been depleted, so it can
produce dramatic and virtually instantaneous improvements in mood
and mental functioning.

Unlike stimulants, alcohol and marijuana do not deplete but
actually suppress the release of vasopressin, which could account
for the loss of memory many have noticed when drunk or stoned, or
when trying to remember events that occurred while they were high.
Vasopressin can reduce the harmful effects of these drugs and
enhance alertness, reaction speed and concentration.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that vasopressin can produce a state
of euphoria accompanied by self-confidence, energy,
assertiveness, and a sensation of extreme mental clarity. Many
believe it is ideal for situations in which lots of new
information needs to be processed and remembered--such as
studying for an exam, learning a language, ploughing through
difficult or complex works. Some use it for more mundane
purposes, such as when they have to drive late at night and want
to remain alert.

PRECAUTIONS: Vasopressin can occasionally produce the following
side effects; runny nose, nasal congestion, irritation of the nasal
passages, headache, abdominal cramps, and increased bowel
movements. Angina sufferers should not use vasopressin, since it
can trigger angina pains. Vasopressin has not been proven to be
safe for use during pregnancy.

DOSAGE: Vasopressin usually comes in a nasal spray bottle. Most
studies showing memory improvement have been done with a dose of
12 to 16 USP per day, which is one whiff in each nostril three to
four times per day. Vasopressin produces a noticeable effect within
seconds.

SOURCES: Vasopressin (known as Diapid and produced by Sandoz) is
available in the USA with a doctor's prescription, but keep in mind
that your doctor may not be familiar with the uses we have
discussed (it is approved by the FDA for treatment of diabetes
insipidus). It can also be purchased over the counter in Mexico or
by mail order from overseas (see below).

HOW TO OBTAIN COGNITION-ENHANCEMENT SUBSTANCES BY MAIL ORDER.

While some of the substances described above are not available in
the U.S., or are available only by prescription, it is easy and
quite legal to obtain these substances by mail order. One reason
some of these substances are not available in the U.S. is that they
have not yet gone through the extraordinarily expensive and lengthy
process required to obtain FDA approval. This does not mean however
that it is not quite legal to use these substances. And some of the
substances have been approved by the FDA for limited medical
application. This does not mean that it is not quite proper to use
these substances for "unapproved" purposes.

In the April, 1982 issue of the FDA Drug Bulletin, the agency
included a policy statement clarifying the question of
"unapproved" uses for drugs, clearly stating that "'unapproved'
uses may be appropriate and rational in certain circumstances, and
may, in fact, reflect approaches to drug therapy that have been
extensively reported in medical literature... Valid new uses for
drugs already on the market are often first discovered
through serendipitous observations and therapeutic innovation." In
sum, the FDA clearly approves of the "unapproved" uses as an
important means for innovation and discovery.

Also, though it is not widely known, a July, 1989 FDA ruling now
makes it quite legal to import effective drugs used elsewhere but
not available in the U.S. The FDA now allows the importation and
mail shipment of a three month supply of drugs, for personal use,
as long as they are regarded as safe in other countries. The new
ruling, FDA pilot guidelines chapter 971, was made as a result of
heavy pressure from AIDS political action groups, which insisted
AIDS sufferers were denied access to potentially life-saving
substances that were widely used abroad but were still unapproved
for use in the U.S.

InHome Health Services, a mail order pharmacy in Switzerland, is
one of a number of companies established in response to this new
FDA ruling. InHome carries a wide variety of drugs for cognitive
enhancement, life extension, and the treatment of AIDS which are
not available in the US.

All of the drugs discussed here can be purchased without a
prescription. You can request a full price sheet by writing to:
InHome Health Services, Dept. E, POB 3112, CH-2800 Delemont,
Switzerland. Those who want to order some of the substances
described above right away may send a personal check for the amount
of the item(s) plus $13 for shipping. Some sample prices (in June,
1990) are:

* Centrophenoxine (250mg x 60) $19
* Hydergine (4.5mg x 28 tablets) $16.50
* Phenytoin (Generic Dilantin, 100mg x 100) $8.80
* Piracetam (800mg x 60 tablets) $16.60
* Sulbutiamine (200mg x 30) $12.50
* Vasopressin (5ml spray) $8.75

You must include the following signed statement with your order.
"I hereby declare that the products I am purchasing are not for
commercial resale. They are for my personal use only. The supply
ordered does not exceed three months usage, and they are used with
the consent of my physician."

Another company with higher prices, but possibly faster service is:

INTERLAB
PO Box 587
Newport Pagnell
Bucks MK 16 8AA England

Again include this signed statement with your order: "I hereby
declare that the products I am purchasing are not for commercial
resale. They are for my personal use only. The supply ordered does
not exceed three months usage, and they are used with the consent
of my physician."

~References:

Piracetam

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Vasopressin

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=============================================================================

My experience so far has been with piracetum, hydergine, DMAE,
L-Glutamine (which, I think, is the same as PCA), and choline. So far
the results have been mixed. Of course, so have the substances. My
approach has been to try out some of these first, to try for immediate
(and easily obtained) effects, with an eye toward getting more
scientific over time. My impressions:

PIRACETUM

I have had at least one extraordinarily good experience which I
believe was caused by piracetum. I "attack" dosed at 4g, then took .8g
three times per day for two days. On the third day, out of the blue, I
suddenly started feeling great, energetic, fast, etc. It was a feeling
similar to caffiene, but without as much adrenal response. In keeping
with other accounts that I have heard, music became very intense, and I
had a strong desire to play it very loud. I tried playing the guitar and
it seemed to come more easily to me. Unfortunately, this eventually went
away, and I haven't had a similar experience since, although I haven't
pushed it much. It seems that my verbal memory (vocabulary) has
increased slightly, in keeping with the research, but it is not a clear
difference, if one even exists. 

DMAE

>From what I can tell, DMAE works as advertised, with two main effects:
(1) it seems to slowly build a stimulation, which, while not constant,
is persistant, (2) it seems to regulate and reduce need for sleep. These
effects have appeared while taking ~300mg of DMAE/day, along with 3g
choline (+1g B-5), and varying amounts of piracetum. Therefore, it is
hard to sceintifically attribute the effects to DMAE. However,
intuitively (knowing varying doses, etc), it seems to me that DMAE has
provided the bulk of these effects. 

HYDERGINE

I have yet to experience the much touted synergy between hydergine and
piracetum, even after taking 4.5mg hydergine + 4g piracetum. I do know
that the warnings against taking too much hydergine, esp. at first,
should be taken seriously. It can make you nauseated. 

OTHERS

L-Glutamine was the first thing that I tried. I percieved no effect from
this whatsoever. I'd be interested to hear about experiences with
arginine pyroglutamate, since that is supposed to be the more potent
form. I've always taken the choline + B5 with some combination of the
above, so it would be hard to break out the effect.  My episodic memory
of the past seems enriched, but that remains hard to discern.

That about does it. So far, DMAE seems like the only real win, since it
appears to cut need for sleep by a bit---therefore, more day to work
with. More experimentation will certainly be conducted. 

=============================================================================

My own experience is with piracetam, centrophenoxine (Lucidril), and
vasopressin (Diapid).  Piracetam might have had some effects, but made my
eyes so red on the days that I took it that I decided it was not worth
continuing.  Vasopressin, as Max said, is mainly useful when the brain's
supply of neurotransmitters is either depleted (following a caffeine or
other stimulant binge) or suppressed (by alcohol or other CNS depressant)
-- I consider it the long-sought "sober-up" treatment.

Centrophenoxine gave me the most dramatic results -- I did not measure
them by any kind of psychometric tests, but I felt more alert, and
experienced faster and more reliable recall than previously.  Since
Lucidril works by making a permanent brain change (enabling brain
metabolism to remove life-long accumulations of the aging pigment
lipofuscin from the neurons), its effects are cumulative -- you continue
to feel sharper even after you quit taking the drug.