Comment · Tue, November 1, 2016 · Ceretropic & Nootropics Depot
Less may be More
Original post in this thread
SocialT · 43 points
Less is More
I wanted to mention this idea as it applies pretty centrally to the concept of nootropics and stacks
Pretty frequently, I will see posts looking for people to critique absurdly massive stacks that include quite a variety of nootropics and supplements. Oftentimes, the poster will not even remember why one of the things is included in the stack
While it is evident that there are plenty of nootropics that go hand in hand and have a fair amount of synergy, it is also important to remember that quantity != quality.
Sure, if your massive stack works for you and achieves what you're looking, keep taking it.
But with more parts included, there comes more risk, and less of an ability to evaluate each individual nootropic.
By risk, I don't necessarily mean the stack is going to kill you, I mean that the risk of feeling bad, or having weird side effects is heightened.
Evaluation is of equal importance as well, as I often will see people tempted to simply jump right into a stack, without testing out the individual parts alone. This is never a good idea, because if the stack achieves whatever goal you were seeking, it is likely that not everything was essential to…
What they were answering
GeneralAutismo · 4 points
I'm amazed modern medicine works as well as it does considering how big our biological variability is.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic & Nootropics Depot
It actually doesn't work as well as most think, once you look deeper into it.
http://www.newsweek.com/why-antidepressants-are-no-better-placebos-71111
http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/18/new-research-on-the-antidepressant-versus-placebo-debate/
1 in 10 Americans are on an antidepressant. We don't even have a full grasp for how certain antidepressants work, or even a standardized model for the mechanisms behind depression. One of the antidepressants I was on when I went through depression, Cymbalta, turned out to not fair well when compared to other antidepressants. So now it has been mostly rebranded for fibromyalgia. Viagra was developed to treat hypertension and angina pectoris. However, it sucked for both of those purposes, but made your dick hard. So it was rebranded for erectile dysfunction. There are countless instances where a drug does not do what it was supposed to do, so it is rebranded for another purpose.
In another study, placebo was actually MORE effective at treating migranes in children than the drug prescribed for it: Trial of Amitriptyline, Topiramate, and Placebo for Pediatric Migraine
There are 1.9 million hospital visits every year from prescription drug issues/interactions, and 128,000 deaths every year. That's from FDA approved prescription drugs. The FDA approved drug Vioxx killed 60,000 people before it was pulled from the market. Sixty fucking thousand deaths from a single FDA approved drug. Hundreds of FDA approved drugs are recalled every year due to unexpected side effects and deaths. In 2009 alone, 1,700 FDA approved drugs were recalled. Accutane was on the market for 27 years, before it was recalled in 2009 due to birth defects, IBS, and suicidal tendencies. Darvocet was on the market for 55 years before it was recalled in 2010 for causing serious heart toxicity. It caused over 2,100 deaths from 1981 to 1999! FDA approved pharmaceutical drugs kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. So it is not just about effectiveness, it's about safety too.
In 2007, the British Medical Journal reviewed 2,500 common medical treatments for efficacy. They found that 13% were found to be beneficial, 23% were only likely to be beneficial, 8% were as likely to be harmful as beneficial, 6% were unlikely to be beneficial, 4% were likely to be harmful or ineffective, and 46% were unknown whether they were efficacious or harmful. This information will probably surprise some people, as most see things in black and white. If it's FDA approved, it must be effective and safe, right? It's a pervasive concept that affects how everyone views drugs and supplements. Our bodies and brains are very complex, and people's responses to chemical compounds vary wildly. This applies to nootropics, drugs, natural supplements, vitamins, etc. More people need to understand that concept.