mentat?

[anotheranon]

Got into a bout Wednesday at my "between semester" club with a very difficult fencer (read the saga here). He does weird (but, I found out, entirely legal) attacks and infighting, and I'm rather bruised up - and not in a good, fun way :( Incredibly though, I WAS able to beat this guy - by only one point, but still....

I seem to be fencing better lately - I didn't win every bout, but I've improved noticeably - to myself and others. I think I'm finally on the way to correcting my bad stance that leaves my shoulder open. Also, the strategy just seems clearer somehow.

I've been taking choline since reading nminusone's post on brain nutrients and I've noticed a subtle difference in my ability to focus and shut out extraneous stimuli. I think it's also why I'm cutting through books like a knife - I'm not constantly distracted during my reading by thoughts about what I should be doing around the house, what's that noise outside, "ooh shiny" or similar.

It is harsh on the stomach for about the first week, but I think the benefits are worth it.

Comments

[hadesgirl.livejournal.com]

Thufir Hawat stand aside. There's a new Mentat in town. Say hello to AnotherAnon - the Fencing Mentat!

Actually, sounds pretty formidable. Capable of great feats of mental ability combined with the training to kick ass with a sabre-foil-sharp
pointy thing of choice.

Remind me to stay on your GOOD side!!!!!

Gigi

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Congrats on your victory. It's not just the points ... by doing so you demonstrated that your ability to analyze and adapt to a new fencing situation was superior to his. :-))))

Also glad to hear these good things about your reading focus ... thoughts about things to do around the house should NEVER be allowed to interfere with valuable and sacred reading time. ;-)

[nminusone.livejournal.com]

What specific form of choline are you taking?

If you like choline in general, there are a few other things you might explore:

DMAE
Similar to choline, but more potent and probably easier on the stomach. Also has some additional effects that are probably good for your neurons long-term, such as helping clean junk (literally) out of some cells.

Huperzine-A (aka Hup-A)
Should do what choline does and more, while being easier on the stomach. Also seems to have some long-term benefits, different from DMAE. Basically it seems like long term use offers greater and longer lasting beneifts of the same type that short term use provides.

Piracetam
The original nootropic / smart drug, it's an open secret that in the past couple years it has become available in the US, OTC, and cheap. Has a different effect profile from choline, but synergizes well with it. The one-line description is "it wakes up your brain".

I'd pick one of the 3 above to try next. Definitely start low, ramp up slow, and you may want to cut back on the choline if you start adding any of these.

Additional FYI

Pyroglutamic acid / pyroglutamate
Natural analog of piracetam, considered to be less effective. I find it different from piracetam, although similar in some ways. I've never fairly compared them head to head though. Once considered the poor man's piracetam, the latter is now so cheap that the former is expensive by comparison.

A note on other -racetams
There's actually a whole family of piracetam-related drugs. They are broadly similar but definitely not all identical. Some are now easy to get, and the prices are coming down, but none are as easy/cheap to get as piracetam. If I get a chance I may test some of them but don't hold your breath.

Heh I'm also still kind of hoping someone will test alpha-GPC and/or CDP-choline and report back...

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

What specific form of choline are you taking?

Choline bitartrate. It was the only kind I could find at the Apothecary. D. is taking it too, and says it's "sharpening" his attention span as well :)

I started the DMAE yesterday, but no effects - positive or negative - are noticeable as yet.

[nminusone.livejournal.com]

Ok, got it. DMAE is very choline-like, at least as far as the effects you can feel, so you might not notice much until you get into the range of side effects. If you use each one separately and get to know them then it's easier to tell them apart, but at least for me their effects are pretty similar.

Do watch for side effects, since it's easy to get into that range with this combo. For me there's a specific type of headache that's the first sign. Maybe headache isn't the right word... how about "sensation located in the head, which might feel like tightness or pressure". Pain is too strong a word, at least for what I get. And for me that effect was pretty reliable at high DMAE doses, though the benefits far outweighed the annoyance. Oddly I would get them when I *stopped* concentrating on something after a long time, e.g. after work. It took me longer than it should have to connect them to the DMAE, though, so I wanted to mention them just in case you get the same thing. Cutting the dose or spreading it out through the day helped a lot. (I should mention that I've always been prone to taking too much DMAE. I always seem to ramp up the dose without thinking about it.)