Would adding choline help? Also would need an acetyl group.
I've never tolerated direct acetylcholine supplements like alpha GPC, or even ALCAR or alpha lipoic acid. This has been very puzzling, as these are widely recommended supplements. But I've been having some interesting results this past month with galantamine experimentation. Galantamine is not a direct supplement but it blocks cholinesterase (which deactivates acetylcholine), so it is thought of as cholinergic.
The alpha GPC-type supplements have always brought on flu-like days, similarly to the way stims (other than caffeine) lead to flu-like symptoms. I still take low dosages of stims (such as dexmethylphenidate) when I absolutely have to accomplish something for an hour or two on a bad day. But I pay a big price when I do. The stim gets me through the activity but only with stress-type energy for two hours at most, leaving me fluey in bed the rest of the day. And I can never rely on the stim more than one or two days in a row.
Amazingly, 4mg (half-dose) of galantamine not only gives me a little boost of better quality energy on its own, it also allows me to tolerate low-dose stims without the fluey effects. The energy still only lasts a couple hours (maybe a bit more), but it's much more mellow. Plus the stims have been effective even when I need to use them daily for a spell -- as long as they are combined with the galantamine.
There's probably a lesson in all this, but I haven't figured it out yet.