Comment · Tue, December 20, 2022 · ND Owner
Cognance: waste of money
Original post in this thread
Neurogence · 33 points
I had taken a break from all nootropics for about two years or so. Recently I got back into dabbling, and saw quite a few positive posts on cognance. So I decided to try it out. I've been taking it for about two weeks now with no noticeable results. I tried to increase it to 200mg but still not noticing anything.
Originally, I had stopped taking mostly all nootropics due to lack of effects. I'm afraid all these new substances also have very negligible effects. I've tried hundreds of nootropics. The substance I've benefitted from the most is aniracetam, but I don't know where to find it these days.
How are you all experiencing positive and even "tangible" effects from substances like cognance? Is this all placebo? I don't buy the idea that everyone's biology is different. Substances that are effective have an effect on mostly everyone (example, caffeine). Whether positive or negative, you will feel something from caffeine. But most of the nootropics out there I barely feel anything from them. At this point I don't know what the difference is between something like cognance and a sugar pill.
What they were answering
MisterYouAreSoDumb · 69 points
Listen, I know shit can be frustrating. However, rejecting reality because you are upset only hurts you. The idea that everyone's biology is different is not an opinion. It's an outright fact. Ask any doctor that prescribes drugs if all their patients react the same way, and they will laugh at you. I have friends that are doctors, and we have long talks about all the variability they see in patients. Our lab director doesn't feel anything he takes, other than tongkat ali. He doesn't call them all bullshit, because he understands that it's his body/brain chemistry that is the factor in that. I have a friend that literally feels nothing from IV morphine. Are you going to tell me everyone getting effects from IV morphine are just getting placebo? That would be asinine. I have a friend that falls asleep after doing a line of cocaine. Was the 1970s and 80s all just a big placebo fest? Was the movie Blow just a fictional fantasy? Variability in response to things is literally built into the fabric of our society. If people didn't have variable biology, why would anyone need antidepressants? Everyone's brain chemistry is the same, right? Just walk it off! Why would we need warnings on the box that some people starting out on antidepressants might want to kill themselves more? If everyone reacts the same to things, why would we need to have doctors try 5 prescriptions before settling…
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
...continued from above...
Placebo responders and nonresponders: what’s new?
Some researchers have even tried to select for placebo non-responders to see if they could overcome the placebo effect. The placebo effect is also most seen in pain and depression research, which is largely self-reported.
Enrichment designs using placebo nonresponders
So again, the idea that we are all different, and will respond differently to many things is not just some abstract opinion on Reddit. It's a measurable fact of life. Not everyone is going to react the same to things. Cognance is no different than any other compound out there. Some people will love it. Some people will hate it. Some won't feel anything from it. Some will get strong effects. Some will get weird side effects that we might not fully understand. As you said, you don't react to anything except for aniracetam. What's more likely, that you are a non-responder to many things, or that literally everyone else using those hundred other products are experiencing what you define as a placebo effect? What happens when you speak to someone that thinks aniracetam is just placebo? How do both of you mentally connect your worldviews together? At what point do we start yelling "NOCEBO" at everyone not getting effects? Immediately writing off everyone who has gotten positive effects as experiencing placebo is just as wrong as me yelling at you that you are just experiencing nocebo. Nobody can make any real determinations about Cognance on anyone other than themselves until placebo-controlled studies are run. Even then, will that change your mind? You personally didn't experience an effect. Will reading some words on a paper that it reached statistical significance in a placebo-controlled study really change anything for you? The world is not black and white, and things are a lot more complex than people like to admit. Everyone needs to stop trying to reduce things down to a simple good/bad, yes/no, active/placebo dichotomy.