In this article, I will be sharing with you my experience experimenting with noopept, a Russian drug commonly used for enhancing cognitive function and treating traumatic brain injuries. I personally decided to try noopept because I was looking for a nootropic for enhancing productivity, memory, and overall brain function. Here is what I found.
On April 7th, 2021, initially I have taken 7mg sublingually to see what effect it has on me. I found that my sight was slightly enhanced, as if things were a bit brighter, as if the saturation of color was higher. I had a few negative side effects, which include a very mild but persistent headache or head “pressure”.
The next day I dosed 10mg sublingually, and I noticed an increase in the headache symptom again. I could not think clearly, perhaps because of this headache, and I planned to take a smaller dose the next day. These symptoms is probably related to the neurovascular effect noopept has, which is improving blood flow to the brain. Right now as I am writing this article, I can confirm that the headache symptoms do eventually go away with continued use of noopept. At least for myself. But head pressure feeling may still be felt.
Another side-effect that I experienced on April 19th, 2021 is mild short-term memory loss. At first I experienced it when taking 10mg of noopept dosed 3 separate times in that day. This symptom appeared with the last dose. However, with continuous use of noopept, I find that as of May 25, 2021 there is no memory loss symptoms with taking 30mg or more of noopept.
So I believe this means that short-term memory loss is a symptom that appears when the brain hasn’t adapted to a higher dosage of noopept.
Table of Contents
Acute (Short-Term) Effect
I also noticed that noopept really helps me to focus on my work, even if I don’t want to do it initially. Normally I would procrastinate on it, like if it was filing taxes or something academic. But after taking 10mg to 30mg of noopept, I suddenly find that pin-point laser focus, and it no longer becomes a matter of self-discipline or motivation to work. I just do it. The writer’s block falls away. It helps me get in the zone a lot faster. It’s a great study and productivity aid. I remember reading that Noopept affects the cholinergic system and glutamate in the brain, so this may help explain those positive effects.
Other effects that I notice is an immediate lift in depression, brain fog, an increase in executive function, mental clarity, and an immediate urge to start doing something productive. It becomes a lot easier to absorb and output information as well.
Particularly, I find that when my reading speed & comprehension starts slowing down, taking a spray of noopept intranasally rapidly brings me back up to speed.
I also find that noopept taken right after physical exercise lightly reduces the mental fatigue or mental tiredness that I feel from the work out. But I am wondering if there is something more appropriate for speeding up mental recovery after a workout. Perhaps piracetam or NAC but I still need to investigate that. As a side note, I can personally confirm that drinking honeyed ginger tea during weightlifting/bodybuilding improves endurance and recovery.
Indeed from my experience, Noopept is like taking a cleaner version of Ritalin that’s actually good for your brain. But without a lot of the negative side effects that you can get when taking Ritalin.
Long Term Affects
In the long term, I am finding benefits with over a month of daily noopept use. I find that noopept improves my learning ability. I can see that I am getting better at chess at a rapid rate with it.
I also find that while I am using noopept, it improves my introspection. Like I can see with more clarity how my actions lead to different outcomes in my life. Additionally, my planning ability overtime is improved, and I am a lot less compulsive when it comes to bad habits (except for playing chess :P). Overall, I can get a lot more work done and thereby feel more fulfilled in my life, that I am not wasting my time that’s continuously running out.
Noopept Stacks well with a Stimulant
But a persistent effect of taking higher doses is that sometimes I get a mild sleepy feeling. For this reason I find that noopept in combination with a stimulant, like a cup of coffee, works very well. I find that noopept completes the coffee for a overall mental boost. I also find that lion’s mane also complements noopept very well. And in terms of mental stimulation, I personally find that Lion’s Mane is superior to coffee.
Noopept & Lion’s Mane Dual Stack
So Noopept in combination with Lion’s Mane mushroom is an extremely good combination. I’m not sure of taking Noopept and Lion’s Mane long-term, but every time I tried it I find that I have extreme focus, productivity, increased thinking speed, and heightened cognition overall. I find that article writing suddenly becomes a lot easier, and that I can maintain longer work sessions. I can work for hours, in other words.
I find that if I only use noopept, I feel the need to keep redosing the noopept to reach the focused-headspace that I am looking for. But with the addition of Lion’s Mane, I don’t feel like I need to redose the noopept, and the focused-headspace is sustained for much longer.
For this stack, I am currently (May 26th, 2021) using 20mg of Noopept and 500mg of Lion’s Mane Mushroom 1:1 hot water extract, both sourced from NootropicsDepot.com.
Both Noopept and Lion’s Mane boost the level of BDNF in the brain. Overtime this could theoretically lower TrkB receptors in the brain from too much BDNF, but I have yet to confirm whether that is true or not. But at least in the short-term, I can personally confirm stacking Noopept with Lion’s Mane is greatly superior to taking noopept alone.
My Experience with Different Administration Methods
So Noopept has a great productivity enhancing short-term effect. But I find personally that noopept is more potent if I take it sublingually. And I found that the longer you can keep the noopept powder in contact with the “oral mucosa” or inside membrane of the mouth, the more pronounced the short-term benefits appear to me.
Note that when I say I take noopept sublingually, what I actually mean is that I transfer the noopept powder under my tongue. I let the noopept absorb through the oral mucosa like this, and swallow any saliva from salivation. So technically I would have both sublingual and oral administration by this method. And the absorption of noopept like this should be higher compared to oral administration alone.
And oral administration means to swallow the noopept like a pill, where the absorption would mainly occur along the digestive tract.
An alternative administration method is using the noopept intranasally. I tried making a noopept nasal spray. And it works pretty well, but I personally find that I get the most benefit when I first take the target dose sublingually, and then later supplement that with the nasal spray when I need a boost.
Personal Side-Effects
In my experience, I find very few side effects from using noopept continuously, with most of them being transient. For example, I mentioned before that when I first started using noopept, it gave me mild short-term memory loss and may have given me some brain fog. Now there is no longer a trace of those side-effects anymore when I use noopept.
Another transient side-effect are headaches, which is an indication that you should reduce the dosage. Overtime, I found that I could take more noopept without developing any headaches. But I do consistently feel a head “pressure” develop when I take the noopept. It doesn’t really bother me, and I associate it with the improved focus.
But there are 3 non-transient side effects that appear for me whenever I use the noopept. Firstly, I find that noopept mildly irritates my GI tract, which later on usually means I feel an increased hunger or need to eat something. But I have a sensitive stomach, so this should not normally be a side-effect for most people.
But a more serious side effect that I experienced is that noopept interferes with sleep when you take it too late in the day, like about 5 hours before you go to sleep. So taking noopept in the morning and mid-day is better in my opinion. Noopept has a stimulating quality that turns on the brain, which is bad when you want to “turn off” the brain to fall asleep.
Finally, another consistent side-effect is that I am more easily irritable when I use noopept. This doesn’t translate to anger per say, but if someone almost gets me in a car crash from their reckless driving, I might honk back at them a bit more than I normally would otherwise.
Conclusion
As of May 26, 2021, which is bit more than a month than when I started, I can confirm that the acute (short-term) effects of noopept persists. There is no tolerance that I am aware of. As for long-term effects, I can’t say what they are directly. However, by taking a look back at the past month or so, I can definitely see that I am being a lot more productive than I would usually be. Before, I felt as if I was stagnating, continuously procrastinating without a true drive to get things done. In that sense, noopept seems to be life changing. But I need to conduct further testing to fully see noopept’s extent of action.
UPDATE: As of June 17, 2021, the acute effects have decreased a bit with continuous use. It still works though. So as of now, I can confirm that noopept will work wonders for at least a month, and then you should give it a break to avoid developing a tolerance. I suggest a month on, month off approach while using a different nootropic on the month off. Perhaps Semax is a good choice, given that it upregulates the TrkB receptors that one may worry about downregulating as a result of noopept increasing BDNF production. Another alternative is piracetam, which has a good track record and is very reliable in the long run. But regardless of what choice you make, it seems like the brain always tries to balance itself, whether from highs or lows.
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