Comment · Sat, March 9, 2013 · Ceretropic
Stimulants, slow thought, and stimulant-bacopa interactions
Original post in this thread
IanA87 · 26 points
I have noticed that stimulants, while increasing my focus, decrease my ability to monitor and direct my own thought processes and think clearly. This problem is exacerbated by anxiety, and I believe that it stems from anxiety. For example, in a classroom setting the explanations I give to classmates pertain to the inner workings of some algorithm or protocol. I can explain them well in this setting, but the same questions when asked on a test become difficult if not impossible for me to answer. They are (I am pausing now, for over a minute... this is another problem ...) specific to the detailed instructions given in the question, and I cannot even parse the question correctly, and sometimes I cannot parse it at all. Indeed, questions that are testing my knowledge, e.g., "what is the advantage of A over B?" receive quick answers, and I generally get full credit. The problem, I believe, that this test anxiety poses is that it greatly inhibits my working memory.
I believe there are herbs that may help in this area, but it is very difficult for me to assess this, and I am reticent to actually try any unless someone else has been in a similar situation, tried them, and not had any is…
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u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
There are two sides to this problem. I'll start with the societal side.
I develop many of the professional certification programs for enterprises, like Avaya, SAP, JAVA, etc. I also consult with universities like MIT on their exam development. There is a really big problem, and that is that people don't know how to properly develop meaningful exams. The stem structure is horribly confusing, sometimes using negatives, which throw off the candidate. The logical distractors are not plausible, or are even right themselves at times. The questions are written at too low of a Blooms level, and do not provide an accurate view of the candidate's knowledge on the subject. They are confusing, badly written, worthless items. This is a systemic problem, and happens from day one in school. Just because a person knows a subject (most of the time they actually don't...), doesn't mean that they know how to test somebody on that knowledge. This leads to a lifetime of poorly written exams, and testing anxiety. That leads us to the second side of the issue.
Testing anxiety is a product of that poorly run system. We are not born with the innate fear of tests. It is instilled in us by years of morons trying to teach us subjects they barely understand, who have written exams they have no business writing. After thousands of unnecessarily tricky questions, and probably hundreds of correct answers that we were marked wrong on, we start to form an anxiety for all exams. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest failures of our education system. I am not talking just about in the US. This is a world wide issue. It's a fundamental issue with the way we treat learning and exams. The biggest part you should take out of this is that it is not your fault for having anxiety. It's not some irrational fear that you need to think you are alone in. It's the system's fault, and it needs to change.
Now on to substances. Bacopa is a great adaptogen. Bacopa does affect DA and NE systems. However, it's real benefits arise from it's serotonin system activity. It up-regulates trypophan hydroxylase, as well as SERT expression. This is a great way to modulate mood, since it's making the body's natural system more efficient. It does not need to agonize any receptors, which cause unneeded side effects. This is why it's an adaptogen.
Concerta (methylphenidate) is not such a nice substance. It forcibly makes your neurotransmitter levels rise. It blocks the ability for the DAT to re-uptake dopamine out of the synapse into the vesicles, leading to stimulation. It also increases peripheral NE, so you get cardiotoxicitiy. It's not a subtle improvement in natural efficiency. Bacopa should not have any adverse reactions with methylphenidate. In fact, it has been shown to be neuroprotective by increasing glucose transport to your neurons. I have not taken the combination, so someone else will have to chime in about the subjective effects the observed.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11064-007-9513-8?LI=true#page-1
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161813X09001843