dream better

[jägermonsta]

is this really a science topic? I guess so...

So this new shit released called AlphaBRAIN. Some kind of crazy ass supplement - http://www.onnit.com/

I listen to Joe Rogan's podcasts and he raves about how awesome this shit is. If you don't know Joe Rogan, he is a crazy advocate of psychedelics thus why I listen to him often.

Anyhow, people are reviewing stuff are giving it great ratings. In fact Onnit's entire stock has run out, the demand is huge. Only problem I see is it's mad expensive...

So do you think this shit is going to kill people? Doesn't look FDA approved and maybe too good to be true...? was thinking of trying it out. I want crazy dreams

[|iR|Focalor]

I'm all for people having the freedom to partake of recreational psychoactives as long as they are able to educate themselves about the substances beforehand. People should be very cautious taking psychadelics and hallucinogens. Prolonged usage can cause emotional instability, especially with the stronger ones like the modern day batches of LSD that people produce. Supposedly the LSD made these days is a lot more concentrated and powerful than what our folks used to do in the late 60's. There's even been studies that indicate prolonged usage of THC (marijuana) can cause emotional instability. I personally wouldn't trust this product. It probably hasn't been properly evaluated by the FDA. These new wonder drugs often reveal themselves to have deadly long term effects only after they've already been on the market for a couple of years. Remember Phen/Fen? Yellow Jacket energy pills? Yeah, I'd give it a while.

[jägermonsta]

hmm this sounds rather harmless though... 

Ingredients:

GPC Choline – 100 mg
Derived from lecithin, Glyceryl Phosphoryl Choline is a phospholipid metabolite found concentrated in neuronal membranes. Unlike less expensive forms of Choline such as Choline Bitrartate, GPC choline is well absorbed and easily crosses the blood brain barrier. Once delivered it supports brain function and learning processes by directly increasing the synthesis and secretion of acetylcholine. Strong acetylcholine has been linked to memory, focus, mental drive, REM sleep states, and the prevention of mental degradation such as in Alzheimers.

Huperzia Serrata (.5% Huperzine A) – 50 mg
Commonly known as Northern Firmoss, Huperzia Serrata is one of the most effective natural acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. It contains the well studied alkaloid Huperzine A, which has been tested in a variety of clinical applications and shown to have positive effects on brain function. Acetylcholinesterase (ACE) is responsible for the breakdown of Acetylcholine, and so by inhibiting ACE, more acetylcholine is available to the brain. By using the full spectrum Huperzia Serrata vs. Huperzine A, you also get the benefits of Huperzine B, and other balancing elements of the whole herb.

Vinpocetine — 5mg
Derived from the periwinkle plant, vinpocetine helps deliver oxygen to the brain by increasing circulation and blood flow. Extensively studied in Europe, clinical investigations have found it to provide several advantages for the human brain, including memory enhancement, increased cognitive performance, improved cerebral circulation and higher mental acuity and awareness.

AC-11 – 350mg
AC-11® the proprietary compound licensed under agreement from Optigenex Inc, is derived from Uncaria Tomentosa, a plant indigenous to the South American rainforest. In a series of peer reviewed scientific and clinical studies conducted by third party laboratories and university medical centers, AC-11® has been shown to help the body’s natural ability to repair DNA. Optigenex Inc is the exclusive patent holder for AC-11®. US patent numbers: 6039949, 6238675 B1, 6361805 B2
Although the exact mechanisms of action are being further investigated, the scientists believe that when the body is subjected to stress affecting the integrity of the DNA, AC-11® helps activate enzymes that are instrumental in the repair processes. This goes beyond other nutritional supplement by protecting the body from damage to its fundamental building blocks: The DNA itself.

Bacopa (20% Bacosides) — 500 mg
Bacopa monnieri is an Ayurvedic herb found in the marshlands of India known to enhance clear thinking and support memory function. Ayurvedic masters have touted its cognitive enhancing effects for centuries as Bacopa has been served to Raj’s and peasants alike. Clinical studies show that it has strong antioxidant properties, protects mental function in those with epilepsy who take the drug phenytion, and animal models have shown unequivocally that bacopa improves learning skills.

Bacosides, the active compounds in Bacopa, play a protective role in the synaptic functions of the nerves in the hippocampus, the seat of memory. Inside the hippocampus nerve impulses are transmitted across the synapses and bacopa is believed to help prevent the degeneration that impairs memory and cognition.

Pterostilbene — 250 mcg
One of the hottest extracts in the field of nootropics, pterostilbene is quickly surpassing its cousin resveratrol in popularity. A natural antioxidant abundant in blueberries, anecdotal evidence suggests that this particular antioxidant is effective in eliminating free radicals that contribute to ‘mental fog’. Combined with the other antioxidants in the formula, this adds further well rounded protection and health benefits to AlphaBrain.

Mucuna Pruriens (50% l-Dopa) — 200mg
Mucuna pruriens, commonly known as velvet bean or cowhage is another Aryuvedic herb with a long history of traditional use for treatment of the brain. As science later discovered, mucuna is one of the few plants to contain high quantities of l-Dopa, a precursor to the neurotransmitter dopamine. L-dopa crosses the blood brain barrier and converts into dopamine, an important brain chemical involved in mood, sexuality, and movement. Mucuna pruriens also has antioxidant properties and is currently being studied in conjunction with the prevention/treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

GABA — 300mg
GABA or gamma-aminobutyric acid, discovered in 1950, is the most important and widespread inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Symptoms of unbalanced excitation in the brain includes restlessness, irritability, insomnia, and even seizures. By inhibiting excessive excitability GABA is able to induce relaxation, analgesia, and even aid in sleep. In the Alpha Brain formula, GABA plays an important role in balancing out the brain, and ensuring that the mind stays calm even as the ‘engines’ are roaring.

Oat Straw (10:1) — 300 mg
Oat straw is one of natures most powerful anxiolytics (anti-anxiety treatments) and has been prescribed for of a wide range of nervous conditions. It has also been shown to help with exhaustion related neurological pains and is commonly given as a natural alternative to help combat ADHD or ADD. Our formulation is extremely powerful, in a 10:1 concentration, and like Gaba, serves to make AlphaBrain the completely unique product that it is… A balanced nootropic.

Vitamin B6 – 15 mg
Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6) is one of the body’s busiest vitamins, involved in an estimated 101 chemical reactions. One of its primary tasks is to aid in the manufacturing of amino acids and neurotransmitters. Some of these neurotransmitters are serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine and GABA. Without Vitamin B6 many of the processes happening with the active ingredients in the formula would not be nearly as effective.

Everything in AlphaBrain is water soluble and therefore will not collect in your bloodstream.

Well I really don't know what much of this means... but I've put worse shit in my body? What could a week or two of this really do? Besides the testimonies look promising.

[jägermonsta]

They call it a Nootropic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nootropic

Anyone ever done one before?

[jägermonsta]

well been through 10+ forums reading reviews/results of people trying them out. im all in, gonna order a bottle. ill post my results once I get them (I guess sometime in September) time to become limitless.

[quadz]

GPC Choline – 100 mg
Derived from lecithin, Glyceryl Phosphoryl Choline is a phospholipid metabolite found concentrated in neuronal membranes. Unlike less expensive forms of Choline such as Choline Bitrartate, GPC choline is well absorbed and easily crosses the blood brain barrier. Once delivered it supports brain function and learning processes by directly increasing the synthesis and secretion of acetylcholine. Strong acetylcholine has been linked to memory, focus, mental drive, REM sleep states, and the prevention of mental degradation such as in Alzheimers.

Google turned up a couple choline and lecithin related trials, one indicating possible improvement in mild to moderate Alzheimer's dementia after treatment (multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial). 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17331541

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149291803900233

However, both studies seem somewhat guarded-to-pessimistic in their conclusions:

"Positive results obtained with selected cholinergic precursors cannot be generalized due to the small numbers of patients studied in appropriate clinical trials. However, they probably would justify reconsideration of the most promising molecules in larger carefully controlled studies."

"Despite encouraging early results, well-controlled clinical trials did not confirm a clinical utility of cholinergic precursors such as choline and lecithin..."


Also...

Strong acetylcholine has been linked to memory, focus, mental drive, REM sleep states, and the prevention of mental degradation such as in Alzheimers.

The phrase "has been linked to" should raise a warning flag, as marketing departments bank on most of their victims not apprehending the distinction between correlation and causation.

A classic example is that it is also true that ice cream consumption has been linked to drowning.

We can plot a graph every year showing that as ice cream consumption increases, drowning rates also increase.

There's a definite correlation -- which is all that is needed to say A has been linked to B.

But is there causation?  Does eating ice cream really cause drowning?  Or is it perhaps that during hotter months, people overall eat more ice cream and spend more time swimming?

To show causation, a controlled scientific study would have to be conducted to find whether ice cream consumption directly contributes to drowning rates.  Such a study would be ethically difficult to conduct in a controlled fashion, in that what is essentially being monitored is how many participants who signed up for the study end up dying.  The more controlled the study, the less you can get away with not rescuing participants flailing in the pool.

The point being, showing mere correlation tends to be far easier than showing causation.

So when marketing departments (or news reporters!) say A has been linked to B, it's critical to consider that they're talking about correlation (ice cream <--> drowning), not causation.


  *  *  *


BTW, I'm not suggesting the above are in and of themselves reasons not to try the supplement, but rather reasons to approach its claims with a degree of skepticism.

Focalor's point about Phen/Fen might give pause, as well.


Regards,

quadz

[reaper]

that sleep paralysis feels fucked up

[reaper]

I've only had one, many years ago.  I remember being "awake" but had no control of my body and only saw black.  Silence and a minute felt like an hour.  All I thought was this is such fucking bullshit.  I have heard voices before, but not in dreams; hearing voices is eerie.  I once was hearing voices and thought someone was breaking into my car, because I saw them, but they didn't really exist.  I called the cops too.  No drugs, and i've never done acid : ).

[|iR|Focalor]

Well Phen/Fen is just one of the MANY. Not too long ago, Darvocet was taken off the market. If I'm not mistaken, I think it was ON the market much longer than Phen/Fen. A couple years ago, I was popping them like candy for a few weeks after someone hit me in the jaw with a glass bottle and busted two of my molars. Unfortunately I had to wait a few weeks for a dentist appointment to get it taken care of. And THANK JESUS for Darvocet. It got me through most of that time without suffering. About the time I finally got to see the dentist, I started running out, and he prescribed me about 10 or 15 vicodins to last me another 2 weeks until the extraction appointment. Well those were supposedly stronger than darvocets, but they did NOTHING for the pain, largely because I was taking the prescribed dosage of 2 every 4 hours rather than about 4 to 8 darvocets every 4 hours like I had been doing before. Anyway, the vicodins lasted maybe 2 or 3 days, and I suffered a bit through those days, but when they ran out, I spent one whole day suffering these crippling waves of pain that would come and go at about 15 minute intervals, during which I would literally be rolling in the floor with tears in my eyes and I'd be breathing like a crazy woman giving birth to a moose, damn near passing out from both the intense pain and hyperventilation. I swear, I've NEVER felt pain that intense in my entire life. I couldn't sleep at all, and the thoughts of having to spend another week and a half like that was making me literally insane. I called the dentist next day and begged and pleaded with them to fit me in as an emergency and that I'd pay whatever they asked.

Anyway, finally got the two molars wrenched out and felt a lot better. And after that experience, I was praising darvocet as being the greatest drug known to man. Come to find out,... apparently it's quite dangerous, so no more wonder drug for pain. Of course I knew that the insanely large doses I was taking was wreaking hell on my liver with all that acetaminophen in it, but I made sure not to drink more than one or two beers a day during that time.

Anyway, long story short: Probably not a good idea to trust even the FDA when they certify a drug as "safe". So many of these prescription drugs they approve for sale get recalled for long term adverse effects. I don't trust any of them really. The old school shit taken WISELY is always better. Eat a decent diet of REAL food (not this prepackaged shit in the frozen foods aisle), and you won't need these cholesterol and blood pressure meds. If you have pain, morphine and opium do the trick a lot better than these synthetics they concoct. But due to it's widespread abuse in the early 1900s, they aren't about to unschedule it as a class II narcotic.

[jägermonsta]

It's my understanding this is not a medication, it is a herbal supplement.

Herbal supplement manufacturers don't have to get approval from the FDA before putting their products on the market. However herbal supplements are regulated by the FDA, but not as drugs or as foods. They fall under a category called dietary supplements. The rules for dietary supplements are as follows:

Manufacturers don't have to seek FDA approval before putting dietary supplements on the market. In addition, companies can claim that products address a nutrient deficiency, support health or are linked to body functions, if they have supporting research, and they include a disclaimer that the FDA hasn't evaluated the claim.
   
Manufacturers must follow good manufacturing practices (GMPs) to ensure that supplements are processed consistently and meet quality standards. GMPs are intended to keep the wrong ingredients and contaminants, such as pesticides and lead, out of supplements, as well as make sure that the right ingredients are included in appropriate amounts.
   
Once a dietary supplement is on the market, the FDA is responsible for monitoring its safety. If the FDA finds a product to be unsafe, it can take action against the manufacturer or distributor or both, and may issue a warning or require that the product be removed from the market.

The FDA requires that the following information be included on the labels of all herbal supplements:

The name of the herbal supplement
The name and address of manufacturer or distributor
A complete list of ingredients — either in the Supplement Facts panel or listed beneath it
Serving size, amount and active ingredient

These regulations provide consumers with the assurance that herbal supplements meet certain quality standards and that the FDA can intervene to remove dangerous products from the market. The rules do not, however, guarantee that herbal supplements are safe for anyone to use.

So... I try at my own risk. I have tried many things at my own risk... many of those things had to have been much more dangerous.

Is it going to work? I haven't seen one person report that it does 'nothing' to them... so I guess we'll see and even if it does 'nothing' in the past I've bought bunk shit that hardly got me high before so same difference to me. At least this time I'm not trying to get high!

[|iR|Focalor]

At least this time I'm not trying to get high!

Well you mentioned that Joe Rogan (an advocate of psychadelics) was promoting it, so I assumed that it would have some type of euphoric effects. The way you describe how it works (during sleep) seems a bit odd. If it is causing you to recall your dreams after you wake up a lot more vividly and frequently, then I would also assume that it's because you're not in as deep a state of sleep as you normally would be, which would be a lower quality of sleep. You might wake up not feeling as fully rested as you normally would. Honestly there is no real reason to dream other than the fact that the brain as a living and properly functioning organ can not stop functioning even when you are in an unconscious state such as sleep. It's a strange organ that is half controlled by involuntary electrochemical impulses, and half controlled by the person when they use it to think. Normally, when a person is asleep, they have very little control over what it does. It conjures situations during REM sleep, and the individual has a diminished ability to only react to those imaginary situations. Usually when a person gains too much of an ability to cognitively control that situation in the dream, their brains become so stimulated that they can no longer sustain that state of unconscious sleep and they wake up. So like I'm saying, having too much control over what the brain does during sleep (what this herbal supplement seems to enable) obviously does not provide the same quality of physical rest that the body needs to refresh itself.

But I certainly understand the curiosity with wanting to try such a substance for recreational purposes. Hell, I'd probably be curious enough to want to try it once. But it seems to me like taking it daily for a prolonged period of time would be quite unhealthy for that reason alone, completely aside of any possible negative long term side effects like irreparable damage to organs and tissue that any of the active or inert ingredients might cause.

But like I've alluded to already,... hell, smoking crack with educated responsibility and moderation is fairly harmless. A person could conceivably smoke crack only one time per month for 20 years and still live a long and healthy life. It just so happens that cocaine is very addictive and most people with the freedom and resources to smoke crack are unable to make the decision to only smoke it once a month.

[peewee_RotA]

ass supplement

What's an ass supplement?

[|iR|Focalor]

ass supplement

What's an ass supplement?

Kim-Kardashitol

[jägermonsta]

oh you know, it's for your ass. you shove it up there.

i guess we'll see. shit seems fairly harmless compared to vast amounts of alcohol and smoking each day

[The Dreaming Dragon]

What I use to have more vivid dreams is simply: Garlic. Cooking with a lot of it makes dreaming sharper and more colorful...dunno about this newfangled stuff.

You fart pure Sulfer,but what bother is a small problem like that?