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Improving cognitive function, what helps?

Thinktank

Senior Member
Messages
1,640
Location
Europe
I'm forced to start work soon because i can't get disability due to circumstances so i'm desperately looking for something to improve my cognition.
Something that gives me calm energy.

Caffeine gives me false energy, i do not tolerate it at all. B-vitamins are too stimulating and anything that increases norepinephrine/epinephrine will just send my ANS/CNS haywire.

I've been looking into nootropics, especially lion's mane and some racetams.

What do you people take to improve your cognitive function?

Lowering brain inflammation helps me, i use boswellia and a few other things, but it's not sufficient enough to make my brain work like a normal human being.
 
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Carl

Senior Member
Messages
362
Location
United Kingdom
For inflammation Cordyceps is about the best thing. It can have some sedating effects so you will need to experiment to see how you react to it and how much you can tolerate. Taking larger doses before bed might be helpful and smaller doses in the morning depending upon your tolerance.

Green Tea can also help with inflammation but it does contain some caffeine. The EGCG content is what is helpful. There are some other things which are related to caffeine but which are not meant to cause the same effects as caffeine such as anxiety.

I purchased two to try but so far I have not really had chance to fully test them. Dynamine and Theacrine/Teacrine might be worth looking into and might be useful if combined with larger doses of Cordyceps and possibly Green Tea. I think that it is worth you reading up on Dynamine/Theacrine/Teacrine and their effects.

https://ronniecoleman.net/blogs/articles/the-ultimate-guide-to-dynamine
Dynamine works by preventing adenosine from binding to its receptors--which causes sleepiness and fatigue. By blocking the process, the supplement can cause an increase in energy and alertness. Dynamine also enhances the effects of dopamine in the body, which helps boost memory, cognitive sharpness, and feelings of happiness.
It is the mental alertness and possible prevention of sleep that interests me rather than any false energy which I suspect will not be functional in CFS.

Larger doses of B12, multiple mg, can have some positive effects but it does tend to push up the requirement for vitamin K2. It can help suppress the IgE antibody response caused by Increased Digestive Permeability and large food molecules which enter the bloodstream in the stomach. I first saw this mentioned on wikipedia but someone unscrupoulsly removed it. CandleInTheDark a fitting username I think, see below, conjures up some big questions IMO. I had some positive effects when taking 20 to 25mg/day. It virtually stopped my adverse immediate reactions to foods. However I was not taking Vitamin K2 with it which I should of done.

Taking Vitamin K2-MK4 might be helpful for it's anti inflammatory effects. The body uses Vit K2-MK4 very quickly whereas vit K2-Mk7 is much slower used and not as useful IMO.

I retrieved this from the wikipedia edit history from the original vitamin B12 page:
High-dose administration of Vitamin B12 has been additionally validated to stimulate the activity of the body's TH1 suppressor T-Cells, which then down-regulates the over-production of the allergen antibody IgE in allergic individuals.
<ref>{{Cite journal|author=O'Conner, Richard D. M.D. |title=FDA investigational New Drug IND No. 30,488|year=1990}} (link needed)</ref>

Revision as of 00:17, 16 May 2015 (edit) (undo)
CandleInTheDark (talk | contribs)
(??Medical uses) Information removed!

I use Boswellia myself BTW. Ginkgo Biloba is also helpful to me.
 
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pattismith

Senior Member
Messages
3,931
Hello, I don't know about your condition that may be very different from mine, but I'm working every days and I understand your concern and your difficulties.

For energy and pain and muscle weakness, what worked for me:

-Inosine (with or without Inositol and Riboside)

-Testosterone gel (I stopped inosine and inositol and riboside since I started Testosterone, as I don't need it any longer).

For dizziness, brain fog, headaches:

I am currently testing drugs for vertigo, started Acetylleucine yesterday, and it helps.
 

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,684
Location
Alberta
Apigenin seemed to reduce my brainfog slighly. It was a minor reduction, but enough to notice, and enough to convince me to buy more. It stopped working after a few months. I wouldn't tout it as a 'must try', but if you're desperate for any improvement, it's a possibility, and it's fairly cheap too.

I haven't found anything else that provides even a slight improvement in cognitive function.
 

YippeeKi YOW !!

Senior Member
Messages
16,047
Location
Second star to the right ...
Green Tea can also help with inflammation but it does contain some caffeine.
Green tea, in all it's forms, bit me hard on the @ss. And it wasn't the caffeine. Decaffeinated green tea did the same thing. Keep in mind, though, that we're all different, and what turned on me may turn out to be the Holy Grail for you. Just be careful and trial things in small amounts, increasing doses slowly and incrementally as it becomes evident that at least it's not making you feel worse.

As I've said bfore in these threads, we're all our own petri dishes, for good or ill.
The body uses Vit K2-MK4 very quickly whereas vit K2-Mk7 is much slower used and not as useful IMO.
MK-4 is highly effective for bone strength and repair, among other things, but has a very brief half-life as @Carl noted, some 2-4 hours. It neds to be taken with food and with some fat for proper absorption. And if you're taking it in higher than usual amounts, best to separate it from D3.

MK-7, on the other hand, hasn't been proven effective in building or repairing bone, but is highly effective for other things, and has a half life of about 3 days, so it'll cumulate in your system and keep working its magic for you.
 

percyval577

nucleus caudatus et al
Messages
1,302
Location
Ik waak up
Green tea, in all it's forms, bit me hard on the @ss. And it wasn't the caffeine. Decaffeinated green tea did the same thing.
Green tea would be my favourite drink (as it has been), but from only a leave in water I get a small bad effect which would sadly accumulate (as it had this spring). For me coffee is only a bit ambivalent, so coffee can be handled.

Tea contains manganese, and because I am very sensitive to Mn I blame the Mn for the bad effect. Tea makes me feel heavy. Of course, different sources of Mn will differ in their effect, but the effect I probably got from Mn in water (tea) is in it´s appearance somewhat similar to the one of other metals in water with their good effects (I tested them last autumn).


However, if you feel bad from green tea, you could consider manganese to be a bad influence, and looking for bad effects some time after having eaten beans e.g. (which contain a lot of Mn).

(In my case it was actually tea that gave me the hint, complicate story though.)

Keep in mind, though, that we're all different, and what turned on me may turn out to be the Holy Grail for you. Just be careful and trial things in small amounts, increasing doses slowly and incrementally as it becomes evident that at least it's not making you feel worse.
As I've said bfore in these threads, we're all our own petri dishes, for good or ill.
Fully agreed.
 

YippeeKi YOW !!

Senior Member
Messages
16,047
Location
Second star to the right ...
@percyval577
However, if you feel bad from green tea, you could consider manganese to be a bad influence, and looking for bad effects some time after having eaten beans e.g. (which contain a lot of Mn).
Thank you so much for the tip on manganese ..... will test out as soon as my currently somewhat limited list of tolerable foods permits :thumbsup: :hug::hug:
.
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
Green tea, in all it's forms, bit me hard on the @ss

This comment from a member here on PR might explain why:
Thyroid suppressor, from bluelemonade on PR:
Green tea comes from the Camelia Sinensis plant, just like white and black tea. I found out the hard way that tea is not as healthy as everyone says. It can suppress thyroid function. For me, over the course of two years after I started drinking it, I slowly became irritable, depressed, introverted, tired, and my feet got colder and colder. I didn't think it was related to the tea of course. In fact, I drank even more tea because of feeling cold. But the tea plant is grown usually in China and India where the soil contains a lot of aluminum and fluoride. The tea plant is unique in that it absorbs both, and concentrates them in the leaves, which then go into our tea. Organically grown tea has this problem too.

The most dangerous aspect of tea is that it's effect on the thyroid will not show in routine blood tests. Tea lowers TSH, so you end up with what is clinically called "secondary hypothyroidism", and this can only be seen in the more extensive testing not routinely done.

If you decide to drink tea, be sure not to soak the bags more than two minutes, as this will give you the benefits of tea with less of the contaminants.

This effect happened to me. When I discovered the extra mental and physical energy that I got from green tea I started drinking three cups per day. After a couple of months I started feeling colder and colder. Then I realized the tea was probably affecting my thyroid so I stopped drinking it. After a few days the coldness started to fade.

I still drink green tea but keep it to one cup per day, with frequent days and weeks of complete avoidance.
 
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Thinktank

Senior Member
Messages
1,640
Location
Europe
Thanks for all your suggestions.

@Carl, i will read up on Dynamine/Theacrine/Teacrine.

Re: K2, i have used it in the past and it didn't do much for me. My allergies and intolerance are now much worse though and the IgE is chronic elevated.

I really needed to get some work done today so i drank a cup of coffee spaced over 2 hours. I was able to work on my tasks but now the caffeine has turned against me.
It's a stage past usual overstimulation with racing thoughts, now my body feel jittery but my brain is lagging and breathing is off. My usual remedy after caffeine is to drink 2L water to flush it all out coupled with 5mg propranolol to calm down the adrenergic system.
I have difficulty writing and making sentences at the moment.

I really need a proper substitution for the caffeine, something that doesn't make me feel so jittery and mentally retarded when the stuff wears off. I'll probably have to edit this post when i'm back to normal lol.

Anyone tried Maca?

Edit: thinking back which treatments benefited me the most cognitive-wise, it must have been anabolic steroids. I have used testosterone enanthate and a few other things when i was very into weight lifting years ago. Especially the testosterone boosted my cognitive functions like nothing else.
 

Pearshaped

Senior Member
Messages
580
this might be interesting for you @Thinktank :

you told about things that give you
"false" energy.sounds familiar.
same with me.

ironically,what helps for cognition in my
case is a sleep med(triazolam) and in general supplements /herbs which are supposed to help with sleep.
not a joke.I even told my doc about it but he,as always,has no explanation.
 

Carl

Senior Member
Messages
362
Location
United Kingdom
Thanks for all your suggestions.

@Carl, i will read up on Dynamine/Theacrine/Teacrine.

Re: K2, i have used it in the past and it didn't do much for me. My allergies and intolerance are now much worse though and the IgE is chronic elevated.

I really needed to get some work done today so i drank a cup of coffee spaced over 2 hours. I was able to work on my tasks but now the caffeine has turned against me.
It's a stage past usual overstimulation with racing thoughts, now my body feel jittery but my brain is lagging and breathing is off. My usual remedy after caffeine is to drink 2L water to flush it all out coupled with 5mg propranolol to calm down the adrenergic system.
I have difficulty writing and making sentences at the moment.

I really need a proper substitution for the caffeine, something that doesn't make me feel so jittery and mentally retarded when the stuff wears off. I'll probably have to edit this post when i'm back to normal lol.

Anyone tried Maca?

Edit: thinking back which treatments benefited me the most cognitive-wise, it must have been anabolic steroids. I have used testosterone enanthate and a few other things when i was very into weight lifting years ago. Especially the testosterone boosted my cognitive functions like nothing else.
Take a look at Tu Si Zi (dodder seed). I wouldn't be without it because it lowers my cortisol levels to a more normal level from chronically high. It treats the kidney/adrenal/pituitary/hypothalamus and in tests on animals has been shown to increase the the weight of the pituitary gland which is frequently affected in CFS/fibro. See the threads on this forum about empty/partially empty sella. With empty/partially empty sella there is also tissue destruction in the hypothalamus as there is in me. This is why Tu Si Zi helps me so much. It is a little constipating so that needs to be countered. Choline if you can tolerate it choline+acetyl-l-carnitine->acetylcholine. Choline tends to make me sleep. Phosphatidylcholine ie lecithin see my thread on healthrising.

The pituitary is often affected/partly destroyed which can affect hormone levels. Tu Si Zi helps.

It sounds like you react in a similar manner as me with IgE. I have high levels of IgE to foods which is caused by Increased Digestive Permeability allowing large food molecules to enter the circulatory system which causes an immune system reaction ie IgE antibodies. High dose B12 can lower IgE

Extracted from the wikipedia edit history. This information was originally available on the Vitamin B12 wikipedia page until it was deleted/edited. I used B12 with good effect and it significantly reduced my immune system reactions to foods. However it does increase the bodies Vitamin K2 requirement which I was not taking at the time which I should of done if I had known at the time. High doses of K2 are required. I take about 30mg Vit K2-Mk4 and 2mg Vit K2-Mk7 each day.

High-dose administration of Vitamin B12 has been additionally validated to stimulate the activity of the body's TH1 suppressor T-Cells, which then down-regulates the over-production of the allergen antibody IgE in allergic individuals.
<ref>{{Cite journal|author=O'Conner, Richard D. M.D. |title=FDA investigational New Drug IND No. 30,488|year=1990}} (link needed)</ref>

Revision as of 00:17, 16 May 2015 (edit) (undo)
CandleInTheDark (talk | contribs)
(??Medical uses) Information removed!

I do have some Maca but it has been a long time since I used it and when I did it was combined with many other things such as culinary herbs, protein, fibre in a shake that I was taking.
 

Carl

Senior Member
Messages
362
Location
United Kingdom
As a follow up to this:

I have already mentioned it but will mention it once again in case you missed it. Ginkgo Biloba. This helps me enormously because it has an energising/stimulating effect on the brain which can counteract the sleep inducing effects of other herbs and supplements. I am taking quite large doses now, upped to 400mg recently of an extract, not sure of the extract strength off the top of my head. I do take it mixed with other stuff such as cordyceps mixed with lecithin (phosphatidycholine) to form a poor quality liposome ie no distilled water no lipsome size reduction just warm water and tiny amount of ethanol.

A heavy dose of amino acids, many of which have sedating effects does not make me fall asleep when I take a decent dose of ginkgo. I have mentioned Cordyceps before for inflammation and how it has a sedating effect. Ginkgo in sufficient doses can counter that effect.

Ginkgo can have an anxiety promoting effect in some people, but not me. Tu Si Zi would tend to counter that effect by treating the kidney energy.
 

Mick

Senior Member
Messages
138
I'm forced to start work soon because i can't get disability due to circumstances so i'm desperately looking for something to improve my cognition.
Something that gives me calm energy.

Caffeine gives me false energy, i do not tolerate it at all. B-vitamins are too stimulating and anything that increases norepinephrine/epinephrine will just send my ANS/CNS haywire.

I've been looking into nootropics, especially lion's mane and some racetams.

What do you people take to improve your cognitive function?

Lowering brain inflammation helps me, i use boswellia and a few other things, but it's not sufficient enough to make my brain work like a normal human being.

I understand and sympathize completely. I basically am also forced to start to work if not now then in a year (maybe I will still stay afloat for this year).

I basically kind of got back to my old mental condition but I still get very tired and react terribly to the weather changes. But the problem is different here: what if my mental condition is getting better if my physical condition is just crap...

Anyways... it always comes down to basics, ie. quite basic supplements which need to be supplemented first, before the more advanced ones are to be used.

What worked for me:
- vitamin B1 in high doses (even 500 mgs)
- vitamin B complex didn't work!!!
Rather made me terribly sick. This was because folic acid even in small quantities makes me sick (causes inflammation) as well as vitamin B2 used to make me sick (increased headaches instead of lowering them - funny, huh? - and B2 is a known anti-migraine treatment)
- omega-3 - I developed a deficiency, then I got tonsilitis (which lasted for 2 months !!!), then concussion (which couldn't heal for 6 months). These two problems couldn't be resolved because there was omega-3 deficiency and this deficiency made my mental condition so much worse...
- high dose selenium

So... there are so many other things that you can and should take... don't know what else to recommend to you...

And BTW. I take caffeine in tablets because otherwise you can't get the dose right when you drink caffee. And you have to take specific doses at specific times of the day...
Caffeine jittery effect can be counteracted with taurine - and that's what's exactly done in drinks like Red Bull.