Just attended a conference the other day and the guy recommended L the anime for focus, concentration and calm.

Anonymous wrote:I’m an ADHD adult and I swear by calcium, magnesium and zinc supplements. Whenever I start to struggle with focus or get stressed, or anxious, easily irritated, depressed, irrationally angry then I pop a few and voila they mellow me out and help me to focus.

Which ones and what dosage?

Anonymous wrote:I’m an ADHD adult and I swear by calcium, magnesium and zinc supplements. Whenever I start to struggle with focus or get stressed, or anxious, easily irritated, depressed, irrationally angry then I pop a few and voila they mellow me out and help me to focus.

It works immediately?

I’m an ADHD adult and I swear by calcium, magnesium and zinc supplements. Whenever I start to struggle with focus or get stressed, or anxious, easily irritated, depressed, irrationally angry then I pop a few and voila they mellow me out and help me to focus.

So nootropics just means all drugs, like Ritalin and any other food or vitamin or chemical whether there is any evidence it works or not?

Sounds like one of them could definitely work! If only I could tell which…

Anyone else?

Zoloft plus Adderall do the trick for me.

The problem is that all these supplements are totally unregulated so you really have no idea what you’re getting, even if tests have been run on a particular substance. My impression is most of them appear to have only a very moderate effect on most conditions but might be worth trying for someone who can’t tolerate traditional pharmaceuticals. My other concerns is that sometimes people think “oh, it’s just a natural supplement so it’s fine to take in large doses.” But plenty of natural supplements are really harmful in large doses (soy, licorice, for example)—if they are effective, it’s because they are doing something to your body and a large effect might affect other systems. One of my kids does take magnesium because there are some published studies showing a positive effect on Tourette’s and there aren’t really effective prescription drugs for it. I really don’t know if it helps though. I tried to match the dosage to what they used in the published study. One specialist we saw thought it might help and another one seemed skeptical.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP can you elaborate?

I am just learning about this myself but apparently there is an emerging field of natural or chemical supplements that address mental health issues. I found out about them after seeing an ad for Thesis (no endorsement or connection). I had been curious about the growing section of mental health supplements at Whole Foods but get overwhelmed every time I attempt to buy something. I have struggled with ADHD and depression my whole life and pharma medications give me too many side effects. Hence my interest in this new type of treatments. FWIW apparently traditional brain meds like Ritalin are also considered nootropics but I think the term is mostly used to describe unregulated supplements.

Thank you - this is very interesting. DS has never done well on the standard ADHD meds. He also has terrible anxiety which is starting to manifest into OCD. I wonder if this would help him - going to look into it further

Anonymous wrote:DH has had terrible anxiety from all the nootropics that he's tried. DS has had success with them.

Permanent anxiety? Or anxiety as in fear to try new ones?

Anonymous wrote:OP can you elaborate?

I am just learning about this myself but apparently there is an emerging field of natural or chemical supplements that address mental health issues. I found out about them after seeing an ad for Thesis (no endorsement or connection). I had been curious about the growing section of mental health supplements at Whole Foods but get overwhelmed every time I attempt to buy something. I have struggled with ADHD and depression my whole life and pharma medications give me too many side effects. Hence my interest in this new type of treatments. FWIW apparently traditional brain meds like Ritalin are also considered nootropics but I think the term is mostly used to describe unregulated supplements.

OP can you elaborate?

DH has had terrible anxiety from all the nootropics that he's tried. DS has had success with them.

I have both and had never heard of this.

I am surprised there aren’t any recent threads about nootropics. Any adults here using them for ADHD or depression? Should I try one of those subscription services? I don’t like to experiment but I am 50 and barely managing my life any more.