How to know which supplements/neurotropics are safe with stims/antidepressants?

[glab]

This seems pretty impossible to me cause with supplements and nootropics there are no safety studies
or drug interaction studies.
Supplements don't even need to be tested for this and nootropics which aren't even legal in many countries also
aren't tested for interactions.

So what to do? How do you go about this?

I mean even if there are no direct dangerous interactions within the brain, like for example with SSRI and 5HTP,
then this still does not mean that there is no risk.

What if there are metabolic interactions? A supplement for example could lower or raise plasma levels or other drugs.

For example when you're on Luvox you must not drink coffee cause it will raise Luvox levels.

I really don't know what supplements I can still take which really sucks.

Stuff I have on my shelf:

Alcar
Choline
Glycine
Taurine
MSM
Creatine


I'd also be interested in Racetams but there it's the same problem. How to know if they can safely be mixed or not?

I don't even have to ask my doc about this. He'd simply say to not take anything.

 

[glab]

No thoughts on this? You guys must have some thoughts. Or do you simply mix drugs and supps without worrying a bit?

 

[Deleted member 170540]

There may be some risk in combining tryptophan, 5-HTP or St. John's Wort with antidepressants, but there isn't much knowledge about other dangerous interaction of meds with amino acids and other supplements. Were some new dangerous interaction found, it would be immediately made public and the authorities would require that warnings be added to the packages.

 

[Foreigner]

Your list is mostly nutrient based supplements, and mostly amino based, which don't impact metabolic enzymes like in the CYP450 group. That means the body has a way of detoxing them if in excess. So if you take recommended doses only, there's no big deal there.

Nootropics are another story because they are pharmaceuticals. They have indications and contraindications, as well as side effects. Like any pharmaceutical, their effects will be based on a person's metabolic enzymes, which are determined genetically.

I can only give a personal anecdote about nootropics, can't really tell you for sure one way or another. I have tried all the -racetams, as well as ergaloid (hydergine), and vinpocetine. At one point I was taking them all at the same time. They all potentiate one another so the more kinds you take, the less of each kind you should be taking. Of all of them, I had the most side effects from hydergine. It made me hot, irritable, gave me insomnia, and dry mouth. It also gave me nasal congestion. My head just felt really full all the time.

Of all of them, vinpocetine had the least negative impacts. The racetams on their own made me depressed as shit. On the other hand the racetams are non-toxic, so... *shrug*

I used them during a time in my life when I was using psychedelics heavily. They potentiated LSD trips like crazy and softened the neurological come down of high dose tripping. But in hindsight I was playing with fire so for HR purposes I CANNOT recommend doing this.

I would definitely not mess with nootropics while taking prescription anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, or anything intended to help mental health disorder.

Stimulants though... maybe. If you're taking stimulants at a low dose, and I mean sub-recreational doses, it might be OK to mix with nootropics. Low dose stims tend to improve congitive performance without a lot of deleterious effects in the short term. But if you're hoping to enhance a stim high with nootropics, I think you're entering uncharted territory.

You would have to do low dose experimentation to see for yourself, which runs contrary to HR policy on this site.

 

[nuttynutskin]

Talk to a pharmacist. I've done it before when I was concerned about contraindications and they were extremely helpful.

 

[glab]

I read somewhere that ritalin + piracetam is supposedly toxic. Imo there really is NO way at all to know what happens if you mix stimulants with racetams cause this has not been tested. You would have to test every single racetam + stimulant in order to know what happens. Even when new drugs come out some side effects are discovered years later. But how shall we know if for example Alcar can be mixed with a stimulant? Who wants to know for sure what happens in the brain when you take both? Unless studies have been done about this there is also no way to be sure if it's safe.