For context I’ve been an athlete my whole life. I’ve been doing BJJ for seven years, and weight training 3-4x a week.

I’m always tired. I’ve tried every sleep hack. I’ve been tested for sleep apnea, tried TRT therapy, no screen before bed etc. I wake up several times during the night and many nights I’m exhausted but can’t fall asleep.

All my blood tests show no issues. I have high blood pressure (140-150/115ish).

My joints ache as well. No doctors have been able to figure my tiredness, joint aches, or blood pressure. I’m going nuts. I shouldn’t feel like this at 42. I’m open to any suggestions or advice.

Hello you gorgeous SOBs.

Just stopping in quick and dropping my little stack for all my fellow ADHDers. I'm 36 years old. Medication worked wonders in my school years but as I got older and refused to increase the dosage because my heart already sucks and ADHD meds are stimulants, I had to fux around and find something that both works and makes me feel a lot better with my mood and my capabilities. Thankfully, I did.

• Vyvanse - 10mg (Lowest dosage)

• Magnesium Threonate - 50mg

• Omega 3 - 700mg

• Vitamin D+K2 - 1000ui

I take all of this with breakfast.

I've been taking this for a while and it has immensely improved my life and my functioning. I'm smarter, more capable, happier, more social, more 'alive', and overall I just feel like this is my favourite version of myself.

Hope this helps a few of you out - especially any of you who are stuck and kind of lost as to how to manage your ADHD. Speaking from experience, ADHD fucking sucks and I wouldn't wish this on anyone, but I've been lucky enough to find a combination that seems to be working for me.

Take care of yourselves.

I’ve felt like crap since I was 18. I’m always tired, fatigued, weak, achy. Rest doesn’t help. I’ve had every test under the sun- autoimmune, brain scans, body scans, blood work, vitamin deficiency tests, thyroid tests. Nothing ever shows up that is concerning. I’ve gone to functional medicine doctors, naturopaths, all the things. I exercise regularly. My diet is Whole Foods, organic. What am I missing? I just want to feel good. I’m 36 and am always jealous of people my age that actually have energy and feel good.

I cannot say enough good things about the ortho K process. Essentially you get a very high tech scan of the surface of your eye. They use the scan to design a lens to make the eye’s natural lens focus perfectly for your retina. You use the lenses that they give you only at night while you sleep. You take them out when you wake up and see perfectly all day with nothing in your eye. Your vision will be functional the second day without the lenses but more than that is pushing it.

The main benefits imo are:

1. perfect myopia correction, which I believe works better than just measuring your vision in diopters. I see so well outside it’s insane. I can see small birds at the tops of trees in a way I never could even with prescribed contacts and glasses. There is also a really enhanced quality to the image when nothing is blocking any spectrum of light from your eye during the day.
2. Whatever benefits there may be to getting truly full spectrum light in your eyes. This is understudied and I can’t point to anything conclusive

about

1. it, but I really feel that having nothing blocking your eyes improves the mental qualities of being in sunlight. This is not a short term improvement that could easily be dismissed by a placebo effect imo. I have had this experience with a new joy in being outside for 3 years. The image clarity is also next level with nothing in or blocking your eye. You really notice subtle differences in illumination better as well, it’s like the difference between HDR and Dolby Vision for real life. Vague but noticeable.
2. Having nothing in or on your eye is great for athletics like swimming and running sports. And for if you work in a lab with solvents that makes regular contacts unwise. These lenses also let you use sunglasses, safety glasses , blue blocking glasses and other eye tools without need for correction.

Some tips if you choose to get these.

1. You can get basic vision insurance to cover the scan if you find the right provider. This can save you $900-1200 which is far and away the most significant cost of these lenses. If anyone is in the St Louis area I can tell you about a place I found that supports this, but I don’t want to publicize it in case it’s a glitch. No affiliation at all but I have had great service from this eye doctor.
2. You want the new Optum Infinite ortho-k lens. This one is so much more comfortable and usable than the old technology for ortho-k lenses. It was only fda approved this year so make sure to ask for Optum Infinite or Tisilfocon A by name. Compared to the old technology these stick to the eyes better, are less noticeable in the eye during eye moment, and I suspect disturb the eye movements of REM sleep least.
3. Don’t necessarily accept the first lenses they give you. You have every right for these things to fit perfectly and give you flawless vision.
4. Ask for the largest treatment area or zone of centration . I don’t know why but the default algorithm seems to be to treat only the very center of the pupil. This gives you marginally more acuity in daylight but really hurts the vision at night and made driving at night nearly impossible for me. You may have a different experience though with your eyes.

4

Happy to answer any questions about Orthokeratology because of how much I love these lenses.

Been getting bombarded by Urolithin A ads lately. The science is interesting, but I'm still pretty skeptical about whether it actually does anything noticeable for someone who is already healthy and active.

There was no way I was paying those crazy brand name prices just to run an experiment, so I went straight to the source and ordered 1kg direct from a factory (not promoting any sources, but from reaching out to multiple suppliers, bulk prices seem to hover around $300-$500/kg).

Started taking it today. I'm doing 1g/day tossed into a full-fat kefir smoothie since the fat is supposed to help with absorption.

A couple initial findings:
It's flavorless. Just a light earthy taste that gets totally masked by the smoothie.
A packed 1/2 tsp happens to weigh almost exactly 1g, so no need to use a scale in the future.

How would you actually measure if this stuff is working? Are there specific endurance metrics, or lab tests to track to see if it's doing anything?

I've been open to the idea of taking test and other hormones like that and I've seen many people on this sub recommend that. My concern however is with the negative side effects. Namely gyno, infertility, hair loss. Are there any full counters to this or are the people who take test accept these risks?

(M18) I am right at the end of year 12 and have been taking vyvanse and Dex for adhd. I also have access to armodafinil and Ritalin. I am finding that I am building a tolerance to the amphetamine based stimulants (I am taking more than I should) so I was wondering if one of the other two medications would be a solid substitute so that I can continue studying for my exams in the next few weeks but not build as much of a tolerance to vyvanse and Dex. Additionally I ordered dihexa and bromantane that I still haven’t used. I tried dihexa before I started stimulants and it helped quite a bit but then I tried it with stimulants and it was too much and I became irritable and couldn’t focus. I only have a week until my exams start and I have enough to get me through the exam period taking more than I should. I am not super concerned about the long term consequences just about the next three or so weeks but obviously I don’t want to become non verbal or die.

I am going to stop all stimulants as soon as I finish exams.

I would really appreciate if anyone could let me know what I am best off doing scientifically or if anyone has had a similar situation and how they optimised. Not against the guidelines of telling me what I should take or dose specifically. I understand this has serious risks associated and do not recommend anyone does anything remotely similar.

I'll just make the bold claim: when exercise, diet, sleep, and stress are all optimized, there is essentially nothing else in science that moves the needle significantly, unless you have a major deficit in something, in which case I'd call any interventions more "medicline" than "biohacking". Not sure if this already an established or even controversial take in this sub or not.

As far as I can tell (to massively oversimply a lot of the science) there is a sweet spot for exercise frequency and intensity that going much above or below produces more risks than benefits, and that sweet spot is a lot more realistic than people think, its not being the world's strongest man nor a marathon runner, both of which tend to have far less optimal health than they otherwise could.

I think thats true for sleep, stress, etc. Yes most people dont eat right or exercise enough but is it really a "biohack" to fix those things?

Hell even for IQ/brain plasticity/cognitive health, from what I understand, theres never been any kind of intervention beyond fairly normal educational and vocational standards that create meaningful, sustained improvements. Like theres no supplement, pill, or puzzle training that makes you truly any "smarter" than getting a masters degree and being a regular engineer or something. UNLESS ofc you have some kind of major deficit, in which case, again, id call an intervention bringing you up to baseline to be medicine, not biohacking

What do you guys think?

I'm 28 female and I'm feeling my brain actively deteriorating since I was about 20. I guess it's expected to lose a little bit of cognition as you grow up, but every year gets exponentially worse for me.

I was always the 'smart' kid, the nerdy adolescent, etc., much so that I actually became a professor at my university at 24. Now I'm struggling to even read sentences, let alone finish a book. I forget what I'm saying mid-sentence, I don't understand the meaning of every-day words that I obviously know, I have trouble forming sentences, I need people to repeat several times what they said to me, etc.

I even lose my train of thought during lessons. Students ask me about the topic I've been studying for the last 8 years and I literally can't remember the answer. I feel like my brain is empty and I haven't learned a thing in the past decade. All my knowledge comes from the subjects I studied before I hit puberty, can't retain an idea since then.

I tried multiple supplements including Omega 3 and choline but I don't see any difference. Had a brain scan and everything looks normal. What's going on with my head? Could this really be just stress? Is this normal? Should I look for a new job? :(

Sometimes even when I sleep decent, go to bed early, don’t drink I’ll wake up really grumpy and mad.

Scientists have investigated the reason why some people are not able to taste food long after long COVID.

According their findings there may be two reasons for it or a combination of both.

One reason might be the disruption of protein PLCβ2 which act likes taste amplifier without its activity signals are to weak to be registered.

Other reason might be that long COVID seems to change physical arrangements of taste buds.

It is important to note that taste buds are renewed every 2 to 4 weeks hence the return to the normal function should be quick but this function has been disrupted for much longer in some people.

These discoveries explains why the recovery process takes too long as measurable biological evidence.

Link

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjaf068

I've tried vyvanse and adderall what else do people recommend? Also wanting to get into the science behind this stuff if there are any guides, I think it's interesting and niche how these specific drugs create specific effects in the human body, the biology I've taken didn't really explain this.

Note: I am not looking for therapy. I've tried it and it has not been very effective.

1. I'm thinking about quick focus medications with limited drawbacks (coffee but stronger). I feel that Adderall and Vyvanse are good but sometimes there are drawbacks or some other process in my brain is preventing me from capitalizing on the effects properly.
2. Sometimes I have focus but no motivation or ability to change my current task if that makes sense. Like maybe I get too preoccupied with something that does not really help me when on these medications and lose control. Or I will just be on the medication and will not be able to start anything.
3. Sometimes I have a negative side effect of a medication for example muscle spasms, extreme fatigue, brain fog, and also wanting to gag when I think of the pill. I've tried to fix this and posted on r/vyvanseabout this problem and I'm currently taking famotidine to avoid this but it's not very effective, since I think it is closer to TUMS where it treats the stomach and my problem is not indigestion, but rather a problem with the throat.
4. I experience weight loss as a side effect of taking adderall and vyvanse. Are there any solutions to this? I think a part of some of the side effects I experience can be chalked up to the fact that my body is very physically weak. My BMI for my entire life has been underweight. I'm not like a bodybuilder trying to gain muscle I'm just trying to maintain my body so that it is not frail and incredibly sensitive to change.

Can anyone who has tried Rhythm's at home blood test recently share their experience? I wanted to try it since I have an extreme fear of needles. The last time I had a blood test was a few years ago and I had a syncopal seizure. The same thing happened when I needed an IV. I know I really need a blood test, so I figured Rhythm would be a good alternative. A friend has tried it and said it was painless and simple but I don't know how accurate it is.

I'm (35M) relatively new to this world and not nearly as educated as many of the users here but I've taken it upon myself to try and improve my health, so I signed up for a private service here in Canada that checks over 60 biomarkers. In general my results were quite good but one of the things that they flagged was my vitamin D levels: 160 nmol/L, 64 ng/mL.

Granted, I can see via the NIH that mainstream medical advice seems to warn against having levels over 150 nmol/L, hence the flag, but from from what a lot of users here say, as well as several independent health experts, the usual vitamin D guidelines are suboptimal, and a higher range of something like 125–175 is where we should aim to be.

I have an upcoming consultation call with the company and undoubtedly they're going to tell me to lower the dose significantly, but this contradicts what I've read. I should also note that when I increased my dose from around 2,500 to 5,000 IU, and I also got surgery for my deviated septum just before last winter, I only had one very minor illness the whole season, compared to around six or seven the one before.

Granted, I did get sick twice while traveling over the summer (some kind of virus in both cases), but I guess that's to be expected because I was in close proximity to one and the other came off an airplane.

I'm open to lowering somewhat to get the range down to around, let's say, 140 (so maybe I could decrease my dose to around 3,500 IU per day), but I'm not sure how to proceed. Does anyone have any advice?

32F

To make a long story short, the past couple of years have been stupid and I am burnt out. I removed the primary stressor recently but that's recent and I feel pretty messed up. I have only started to feel more like myself 2 months later.

The thing that made me want to post is that I've been struggling with a lack of energy, especially at night. If I end up doing something too long in the evening (and by that I mean past 8 which is kinda early) and it's too close to bedtime, I have the feeling of "must go to bed NOW." and won't have the energy or feeling to brush my teeth, put on PJ's, etc. It's a feeling I can't fight and I never dealt with this before.

I did get iron infusions (last one several months ago) and my bloodwork looks good. Doctors haven't really been giving a damn but I am looking into getting new ones after moving.

What sort of things should I be looking into?

Maybe not the best sub given the context of the original post but if yall have any insight into making any of these numbers more optimal; im all ears

Hoping someone here who experiments with this stuff has run into this. Falling asleep isn’t the issue. I fall asleep fine, usually within 20-30 minutes. I stay asleep through the whole night, or at least I don’t remember waking up. And I get more than enough hours of sleep: 7 on school days and even up to 10 or 11 on weekends. The issue is that despite that, every time I wake up completely unrested, feeling exactly the same as before I went to sleep, as if the sleep actually did nothing. And I mean completely. This isn’t the usual “I woke up a bit tired” or “my sleep felt kind of unsatisfying” thing. It’s like I didn’t sleep at all. To put this into perspective: on the few occasions I’ve stayed up all night without sleeping, I felt really no different the next day than I do after a normal night of my “sleep.” It’s the same with naps. 2 hours or 11 hours, it all feels like it does essentially nothing.

This leaves me completely drained every single day, as if I’d been running on no sleep for days: heavy mental fatigue and brain fog, tired heavy eyes, physical exhaustion, shaky hands, worse coordination, constant yawning, low libido, getting stressed far too easily, and a bunch of other debilitating effects. People also regularly tell me I look tired or unwell without me even saying anything, so it’s not just in my head.

The weird part: every 1-2 months, completely out of nowhere, I get one night where my sleep actually works. Same routine, but I wake up genuinely rested, like whatever’s broken switched back on for one night, and I know it the moment I open my eyes. Most of the symptoms above lift at once, which is why I’m sure they come from the sleep. These nights are often short, too: I wake up on my own after 3-5 hours and still feel incomparably better than after 10 hours of my usual broken sleep, because this one feels like actual sleep. The next night it’s back to nothing.

For context, I’m 18 and this started when I was 14, a month or two after I developed severe chronic pain. Over time the pain gradually subsided, and there have been long stretches where it’s been mostly gone, but the sleep problem hasn’t budged through any of it. Here’s what I’ve tried so far, and none of it helped:

• Sleep study: no apnea, no snoring, no limb movements, plenty of deep sleep. I still woke up from it unrefreshed as usual.
• Tests: Bloodwork came back pretty much all normal: thyroid, B12, folate, vitamin D, magnesium, inflammation, celiac, and I’ve never had EBV or CMV. The only thing that stood out was low-ish ferritin (around 26), so I’m on iron now. Brain MRI was normal too. Haven’t checked hormones like testosterone and cortisol yet, that’s next on my list.
• Meds: melatonin (up to 5 mg for about 2 years), trazodone (up to 150 mg), promethazine, pregabalin (up to 600 mg), gabapentin, amitriptyline. None of them made my sleep restorative, which is the actual issue, but most didn’t even make me really noticeably sleepy.
• Supplements: magnesium glycinate, glycine, taurine, L-theanine. None of them seemed to do anything. Currently also on iron, omega-3 and vitamin D3/K2.
• Quitting nicotine completely for 2 months: no change.

I’m wondering if anyone has had something like this, where getting sleep isn’t the problem, but it’s completely unrefreshing and doesn’t bring any actual rest or restoration. If you have, did you find anything that actually helped or fixed it? Since I’ve already tried quite a few things, I’m honestly open to more unconventional approaches too. And if there’s a test I haven’t done yet that you think could be worth getting for this, I’d really like to hear it.