Nootropil (Piracetam)
 

Has anyone taken this for TBI? I tried it once after my Neurologist told me to try it and fell terrible afterwards. My brain was fogged out, I fell tired and couldnt fall asleep. Now I am afraid to take it again.

It effects acetylcholine. Maybe you should try that instead. Piracetam is controversial as to its effectiveness.

I took this before I suffered a TBI and ended up having a terrible reaction to it. I began having panic attacks and horrible anxiety where I could barely function. In my opinion any of those nootropics will not offer any benefits that are substantial enough to offset the potential risk that accompanies taking them. They only offer marginal cognitive benefits, and messing with sensitive neurochemical mechanisms of the brain especially when dealing with TBI is certainly not worth it. Before even considering taking any kind drug to help with cognitive ability I would make sure my diet is clean and healthy, my sleep is optimized, I am taking nutrients to support healing(not drugs which make things worse), and am doing anything else that is in your control and can assist in getting better, rather than taking a drug that will at best offer marginal differences in cognitive ability/quality of life.

I guess I should stay away from nootropics then. In case of supplements I am using: Fishoil, vitamin-D3, Lecithin, EGCG, Creatin and Curcumin. I would say I eat pretty healthy. My diet consist of fruits, berries, nuts, bread, meat, vegetables, milk and water. I will also usually have one unit of softdrink a day and some chocolate from time to time (Maybe I should cut that completly, I dont know). Its hard to tell if it has any affect on me. I dont feel I have made any progression the last 5-6monthes and now 10 months since my accident I still can not watch TV and have to limit my computer use.

troublehead, Have you read the vitamins regimen in the sticky at the top ? You need to add B-12 and a B-50 Complex and C and E as needed anti-oxidants.

There is no reason to avoid chocolate, especially the darker variety.

I'd say avoid softdrinks, they're just loaded with sugar and other unhealthy things. I'm enjoying some dark chocolate right now!

ALO Drinks or Vitaminwater might be good alternatives to soft drinks. They're delicious too!

An occasional soft drink is OK as long as it does not have artificial sweeteners. Limit it to less than 200 calories a day, preferably less. If you open a can, you feel like you should drink it all. Not a good idea. But, good tasting water is GREAT.

VitaminWater is 120 calories of added sugar. The vitamin content is minimal. It is hype over health.

In general, I'd recommend staying away from Vitamin Water, particularly if you're taking vitamin supplements on a daily basis. There are actually mineral and vitamin, particularly with vitamin E, toxicity concerns in consumers who have high intake of these products.

One other thing regarding vitamins, I think it's good to have clear picture of risks associated with the vitamin regimen being recommended in our "vitamin sticky". For normal, healthy individuals there has been growing concern over the past two decades that vitamin supplements do not provide any benefit, and may in fact be increasing risk of certain cancers. In fact, the burden of scientific work now leans to healthy individuals not taking any supplements as there have been several studies demonstrating increased risk of certain diseases linked to their consumption. This is particularly true for fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K). It's also noteworthy that excessive water soluble vitamin intake does pose a burden to the body. I'm not sure why, but people always assume this is not the case. Lastly, as more studies are completed and reported, it's highly likely that there will be additional concerns linked to excessive vitamin intake, though this is speculative on my behalf.

Now, for all of us who have a TBI, we would not be considered part of the "healthy" population. It's quite reasonable to believe that we require extra vitamin supplementation, and that this may be beneficial to us. This is likely to be particularly important during the first few months when metabololic processes in the brain and body are significantly different from pre-TBI. Past this point, the benefit is likely to be more individual-based rather than applicable to all those enduring PCS.

My goal of presenting some risks linked to vitamin supplementation is not to spark a heated debate; I currently am taking many of the vitamins in our sticky. However, I think it's important to know that there may be risks associated with long-term intake of some of the recommended vitamins, many of which are being suggested at extremely high doses. Presently this is most concerning for the fat soluble vitamins. I plan on really reducing the IUs I supplement with for these vitamins.

If you're interested in learning more on this, there's been some media reports hitting on this in recent months. I'd dig this up but I feel so crummy right now I'm not up for it.

Anyways, I think it's in everyone's best interest to always self-educate as much as possible such that you can make an informed decision. For me, I have felt better since doing the vitamin regimen but this unfortunately overlaps with the 3 month period during which I increased an antidepressant dosage... not sure if one, the other, or both are contributing to some of the improvements I've had.

Best wishes to everyone.

Thanks for the input everyone! I´ll try cutting down on the softdrinks.