[vijay_nair]

Supplements, especially L-DOPA (amazing mood improvement and libido boost), L-citrulline (libido and energy boost) and niacin.

There are other supplements¹ in my stack but these three stand out as the effects are near immediate, measured in mere minutes/hours.

¹zinc methionine, L-taurine, Ashwagandha, Boswellia serrata, fish oil, cod liver oil, vitamins B1, B2, B6, B9, B12, C , D, K, calcium, resveratrol.

[CodinM]

L-DOPA as well as L-Citrulline are Rx only, so you're either outside of US/EU or you suffer from some condition that requires that medication.

[vijay_nair]

No condition and no medical diagnosis. For the past few years I've been afflicted by periods of existential crisis and L-DOPA short circuits this. Much better mood, focus and most importantly — drive (which is what helps most with the EC). Feels almost as good as how I felt when in my teens¹.

As others have mentioned I simply buy them off of Amazon.

¹completed my 37th trip around the sun yesterday, the 17th.

[frank2]

If citrulline were Rx-only in the US, then I doubt Doctor's Best would make it and I doubt Walmart would sell it:

https://www.walmart.com/ip//150061958

[underdown]

L-citrulline is on the GRAS list. There are dozens of supplements for sale on Amazon.

[Slightofhand]

What does Rx mean?

[aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA]

Prescription. As in, prescribed by a physician.

[jakebasile]

"Prescription"

[dzhiurgis]

Prescription-only

[PascLeRasc]

How long have you been on L-DOPA? It's well-known to build up a strong tolerance with Parkinson's patients after around 5 years, so I'd be careful with it.

[vijay_nair]

It's been a few months now. L-DOPA tolerance is dose-dependant, term-dependent as well as drug-dependant. After looking for ways to work around this, I found L-DOPA from Mucuna pruriens does not have the two major side-effects I was concerned about:

1. LID (Levodopa induced dyskinesia) - ironically the "cure" for Parkinson's disease (abbreviated to PD from here on) induces PD like side effects!

2. tolerance built up over chronic use.

We're not sure why Mucuna is able to do this but regarding LID one hypothesis advanced in a paper I read was that it might have something to do with pure L-DOPA being co-administered with Carbidopa in order to prevent peripheral metabolism of L-DOPA so that a greater amount reaches the brain. In the paper they show Carbidopa worsens LID and patients on pure L-DOPA alone took longer to get LID. Mucuna group didn't see any LID symptoms for the duration of the study.

Regarding tolerance, there are a few papers that compared Mucuna with other common PD drugs and found trial participants remained responsive throughout the study to a greater degree while on Mucuna compared to the other drugs. Here's one such paper: "Mucuna pruriens in Parkinson’s disease: a double blind clinical and pharmacological study", https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/jnnp/75/12/1672.full.pdf

Tolerance also seems to depend on the dosage and delivery regimen, the key thing to watch out being the prevention of dopamine peaks and to maintain a smooth steady level through continuous administration via IV — "Does Tolerance Develop to Levodopa? Comparison of 2- and 21-H Levodopa Infusions ", https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8474479/

Having done all this work, I'm still highly wary of continuing Mucuna for years. I keep a watchful eye on any behavioral (hallucinations, insomnia) and physiological (tachycardia) abnormalities in myself, just in case. Also because I don't have PD, I can stick to a relatively low dosage (PD patients are given 45g of Mucuna/day equivalent to 1.5g of L-DOPA; I take 2.4g/day, roughly a twentieth of the therapeutic dose) which seems to be highly correlated with LID (what I'm most anxious about).

What gave me the confidence to move forward was knowing that Mucuna has been used in traditional Ayurvedic and Siddha medicinal systems here in India for thousands of years and is still actively in use as treatment for mood disorders¹. Something that lasts long and is also backed by science can't be wrong. Even so, I won't deny that L-DOPA via Mucuna is a minefield I'm gingerly stepping across.

¹https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyxVCPgUVMI (sorry, the video is in Tamil, "poonaikali" is vernacular here for Mucuna pruriens)

[mrfusion]

If you’re up for it I’d love hear about each of these and your decision process.

If not, could at least comment on niacin? I’ve been hearing more about it.

[meesterdude]

Do you just eat a plate of supplements? That seems like a lot to take every day.

[vijay_nair]

Only some of them are on a daily schedule so actual pill count/day is low. Niacin (vitamin B3) for example leads to diabetes and liver damage when taken upwards of 4g/day. So I take 0.5 mg (nearly a tenth of the therapeutic dose, that too on alternate days, to reduce the potential for side effects even further). High dose vitamin B6 (>20mg/day, I take 3mg once every 5 days for 30x reduction compared to therapeutic dose) can lead to lung cancer in men. So the b-complex pill¹ is taken once every 5 days. Vitamin D overdose can lead to hypercalcemia so that's taken once a week (60000 IU) and some months I stay off it entirely as fat-soluble vitamins like vit. D tend to build up in the system. There are similar rules for other supplements as well.

¹The B-vitamins (1 to 12) + zinc + calcium are a single pill called "Recobex-Z". These are generally called "b-complex", it's a combination drug.

Essentially the daily pill count is 2 in the morning + 1 in the afternoon + 2 at night, so 5 pills/day. I also do supplement fasting days with no pills taken on that day.

[amelius]

How long have you been on the exact same stack?

[vijay_nair]

Vitamins (B-K) + calcium + fish and cod liver oil: several years.

L-citrulline, zinc: 2+ years.

Ashwagandha, Boswellia: slightly more than a year.

L-DOPA, niacin, L-taurine: a few months.

[AjithAntony]

What about L-arginine?