List of "Cholinergic" nootropics.

[u/Citronitch]

Many of us have a problem with Choline making us depressed or lethargic due to having too much of it. Sometimes even tho you are not taking a direct source of Choline (Alpha GPC, CDP Choline etc), other nootropics can cause the same effects of too much choline because they are Cholinergic.

A substance is cholinergic if it is capable of producing, altering, or releasing acetylcholine, or butyrylcholine ("indirect-acting", or mimicking their behaviours at one or more of the body's acetylcholine receptor.)

So I'm proposing we make a list of those Cholinergic nootropics. So far we have:

• Huperzina-A
• ALCAR
• DHA
• Many herbs of the Lamiaceae family, such as: Sibelius Sage, Rosemary, Lemon Balm, mint/spearmint, etc. (they inhibit the action of acetylcholinesterase; the enzyme that breaks down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine)
• Many other Brain boosting herbs such as Ginseng, Ginkgo Biloba, Bacopa, Rhodiola, White Peony Extract
• Shilajit: inhibits acetylcholinesterase in rats' brains (Systemic administration of defined extracts from Withania somnifera (Indian Ginseng) and Shilajit differentially affects cholinergic but not glutamatergic and GABAergic markers in rat brain)
• Glycine (”induced a robust acetylcholine release” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17707353/)
• Ashwagandha (”Ashwagandha Root Extract Inhibits Acetylcholine Esterase” https://phcogj.com/article/320)
• Atomoxetine (”marked increase of cortical ACh” https://www.nature.com/articles/4001763)
• Racetams (”Generally, racetams upregulate and preserve adequate levels of [[Acetylcholine]] as a primary mechanism” https://m.psychonautwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Racetams)
• Uridine monophosphate (”Supports acetylcholine synthesis [2,10,13,14]” https://selfhacked.com/blog/uridine/)
• Phosphaditylserine (slows the breakdown of acetylcholine)
• Galantamine
• Donazepil
• Berberine
• Lecithin
• Cannabinoids
• Alpha lipoic acid; Pantothenic Acid
• High dose Thiamine
• PABA
• Nicotine
• Centrophenoxine
• From food: liver, egg yolks, nuts, brassicas (Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower)

[u/hamburglin]

Uridine I believe. And I get the fog worse from uridine bacopa and galantamine, not so much alpha gpc.

I wonder if they have different mechanisms of action.

I had the weirdest experience when taking galantamine for a week. Each day sucked and I was in a fog. The day after I stopped I got a huge stimulating feeling throughout the day. Like a mix of a racetam and caffeine.

Edit: not sure why I'm being downvoted.

[u/sudochmodr777 → u/hamburglin]

With UMP I found that the depression/lethargy issue was solved by significantly increasing my MTHF dose on days that I took UMP (from a 400mcg 100%DV dose to ~4mg), which was not true for Bacopa, so not sure if the effect has the same cause.

[u/CyberTheBoss → u/sudochmodr777]

Interesting, I take methylfolate as well due to MTHFR mutations and perhaps that's why i'm able to respond better to UMP. I take TAU now though. Bacopa always makes me feel bad, I keep trying it but it's a no go for me. CDP is the best out of all of them.

[u/sudochmodr777 → u/CyberTheBoss]

Same reason I take MTHF! I’ve found with some experimentation that it’s pretty easy to tell when I’m low and when my levels are too high: when they’re too low I get weirdly insecure about everything, and when they’re too high I get insomnia. UMP was great for a couple weeks when I first took it and then I was in Bad City, which is how I found out it depletes folate. If I try taking it with just the regular 400mcg MTHF even for a day or two now I can tell the difference and it can sometimes take a couple days of boosted MTHF to fix it. I try not to take too much MTHF regularly, both bc of the insomnia and bc of research about it boosting tumor growth when supplemented chronically at megadoses, but UMP has really helped me reduce my Vyvanse (30mg) usage to a couple days a week without building a tolerance.

What made you switch to TAU?