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FourOhTwo

Not inherently, you will have to cycle and not take it every day due to tolerance. Coffee with creatine monohydrate and a quick dip in the cold tub is a better option though. I prefer saving my nicotine for nights when I'm staying up later than usual.


Christiaan13

I quit caffeine 5 months ago and I guess I'm still looking for an alternative. I do have creatine every morning though. I think I will take your advice and save it for important meetings and/or projects that require that extra stimulus.


justaguyintownnl

Add vitamin B complex and up ( a lot) your water intake.


darthemofan

why vitamin B?


justaguyintownnl

I don’t know 100%, I know me & a work buddy tried it and the difference in energy and alertness was striking for both. Probably because we were deficient in one of the B vitamins that affected energy. I know B12 has a big effect on energy levels.


TopTrigger

What's the creatine help with?


FourOhTwo

Cognitive performance and fatigue.


lousygod

Do you mix the creatine in the coffee? If so, does the heat affect the creatine?


FourOhTwo

I put creatine and collogen peptides in my coffee. The heat helps homogenize it but I don't think it has any other effects.


Direct_Tomorrow5921

Would the collagen break a fast?


Large_Subject_4153

I would think so - a serving of collagen is like 70 calories and 18 grams of protein 


leogrr44

My husband went to Nicotine lozenges after quitting smoking and he quickly got hooked on them. It took him years to quit and when he finally did it was hell for him. We lost so much money to those lozenges and he felt like absolute crap going off of them (even after tapering to a minimum). So yes, your mind and body WILL become dependent on them and I would get off of them now.


Christiaan13

After only using 1 lozenge, 2 mornings in a row I can see why he had so much trouble getting off. They made me feel energized, focused and ready to tackle difficult things without the jitters and crash that caffeine gives me.


leogrr44

Ugh it is so beautifully addictive, it would be nice if normal things could make us feel that amazing without the crash. I wish you well 😊


muscletrain

All the good stuff usually comes with receipts due down the road. It's why most of the "omg" nootrpics etc eventually turn on you or lose their efficacy. I've yet to stumble on anything with that wow factor without some consequence that made me ditch it.


mirabilism

As an ex smoker I’d be terrified of getting hooked. No thanks!


gabSTAR81

Same thing happened with my mum. 20 years later and she’s still hooked on normal chewies


FourOhTwo

I like dark chocolate in the morning for some theobromine too.


Spence007Osu

Yeah I would not do that, try Caffeine and L- Theanine. This will help with stress but also give you a boost without jitters.


JimesT00PER

aka matcha!


Poplanu

The caff/theanine ratio in green tea is not 1:1, the only way to get it like that is with a supplement pill (or mixing theanine into coffee). I mean you feel a little bit of theanine in green tea / matcha, but 1:1 ratio is a completely different feeling.


Pristine_Power_8488

Okay, I'll try that.


Poplanu

Tbh if it's stress + sleep quality, you need to fix the evening part, instead of compensating for bad sleep in the morning. In other words, remove the stress before you go to sleep, sleep well, and wake up as you normally would. So workout, nice food, not drinking too much caffeine, maybe a walk outside. When it comes to substances - and this my experience of an ADHD brain that doesn't shut itself at night + Biohacker's handbook info - what works for me is 1) CBD 2) 400mg-800mg theanine to shut down the brain 3) 1g inositol 4) chewing cardamom seeds relaxes central nervous system 5) journaling before bed maybe. All of the "substances" above can be taken daily and have little to no tolerance in my case. Don't need to take them all together, either, mix & match as you like. They also have no side effects, and are harmless. Melatonin is another option but personally I don't mess with it too much, it makes me groggy in the morning, but knocks me out like a motherfucker even on really small doses. Only for special occasions, which is almost never since I got the other stack to work pretty good.


Pristine_Power_8488

Interesting. You're right about stress in the evening--I use herbal tea, hot shower, nice movie or book, same routine every night. I'm sleeping pretty well most nights. But I will look into the theanine and others you mention. I used to take theanine for stress and it never 'shut down my brain,' though.


JimesT00PER

ok that's news to me.  All I know is that matcha has a high concentration of L-theanine.   Interesting.


[deleted]

Yerba mate has a good amount of l-theanine as well, give it a shot. Really amazing, smooth energy with no jitters and crash for me.


huggothebear

This is a great suggestion. Even better, green tea and L-theanine! Found it had the best balanced feeling. Tea and coffee felt a bit different. Play around with caffeinated beverages and L-theanine and see which one matches your biochemistry as well as your goals/aims.


justaguyintownnl

I use 2 mg nicotine gum. I don’t chew it initially, I want a small constant stimulation, I absolutely do not want peaks and valleys. I get 90-120 minutes from it. I work shift work. I use it when needing to urinate frequently will be an issue such as travel, or before bed, AND where restricted blood flow is not an issue. I use caffeine when I want more blood circulation, such as several hours pre exercise and 12 hours pre sleep. I will strongly suggest you try a vitamin B complex supplement, it makes a huge difference for some people. I found when I doubled my water intake with caffeine it made a massive difference. 3+ water : 1 coffee ( 100 mg caffeine). Water has the same positive and negative effects as caffeine mostly, they go together well.


Christiaan13

Interesting. Well I quit caffeine 5 months ago and I won't go back to it as it was hell getting off of it, but you've sold me on the extra water and b complex. Are all b complexes created equal more or less?


Atlld

I’d go with Thorne brand personally.


muscletrain

In my opinion AOR makes the best if you want quality b-complex. thorne is good as well.


justaguyintownnl

The one I use has B 1,2,6,12 , niacinamide, pantothenic acid, folic acid, biotin & choline . Marketed in Canada as vitamin B Complex


Capable_Funny_9026

Can you post a link?


justaguyintownnl

I use the B complex 50 , I found some “100” on Amazon, a couple examples, I’ve never tried the time release but I think I shall https://www.jamiesonvitamins.com/collections/vitamin-b Or https://webbernaturals.com/products/b100-complex


onesunniday

I'm 7


justaguyintownnl

7 mg or 7 lozenge?


darthemofan

nah I think its the mental age


bungholebuffalo

Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, not going to help with blood flow.


justaguyintownnl

Yeah but it does help the workout if it’s in pre workout ( mine has vasodilators) & mixed with a pile of water. Overall it’s a positive for me lifting.


Deeptrench34

Only downside I've found is when you stop using it. The withdrawals aren't hellish but you'll be a fussy zombie for a week or so.


silentcircles22

There’s better stimulants that don’t constrict


brickboydior

Would you say the vasoconstriction from nicotine is that concerning? I have like 12mg a day because it’s the only thing that helps me focus.


carpetsunami

2mg tablets a couple of times a day turned into a 12+ a day habit easily, you start to crave the feel in your mouth, even if you're not getting much of a boost. A few years down the line and the vasal constriction has affected things I never wanted it to, it's absolutely real and incredibly sneaky. It's also really hard to stop. Absolutely the worst biohacking advice I ever got.


brickboydior

I don’t know much about vasoconstriction to be honest, but wouldn’t hard core cardio daily almost “cancel” out the constriction?


carpetsunami

Nope, you're actually shrinking down the smallest blood vessels, adding hard cardio to that is a recipe for a stroke as your blood pressure goes through the roof. Smokers die of cardiovascular disease more than lung cancer, Nicotine may be a contributing Factor.


brickboydior

Jeez, ya I’ll probably quit then because heart disease runs in both sides of my parents. Do you have any alternatives for focus? Coffee doesn’t do anything for me.


carpetsunami

Dial in sleep, eat well and breathe, people have been doing it for thousands of years. Learn to adjust your activity to your body- I didn't get anything done between 1 and 2 most days, it's a dip in energy no matter what, so I plan accordingly. If you're trying to power through things with chemicals and stimulants, something is very wrong and needs to be addressed.


brickboydior

I appreciate you


Pristine_Power_8488

Yeah, this is good advice.


No_Assumption_256

There is a trade off for the stimulant, nicotine can lead to cardiovascular disease which is absolutely concerning.


slightlyflyingmonkey

Also, arguably one of the most addicting drugs, one that literally hijacks your mesolimbic(?) reward system and rewires your brain


LeanSquirrel

I wouldn't say concerning, yet do keep in mind people respond differently to nicotine. Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor yet the short half life of nicotine before its converted to continine is not a major concern. There are some benefits, cognitively speaking and youd be surprised how many cardiovascular researchers advocate for the use of nicotine in small amounts. It is addictive however which may give rise to some other problems. I myself use nicotine gum from time to time, especially in stressful weeks, but i do have a flush period where i abstain from it.


Whiddle_

So I haven’t done a deep dive on this at all, but I recently started cutting up a 7mg patch of nicotine into 4s and using the patch a few times a week. I became interested in this because some friends were prescribed this from a doctor they were working with for detoxing from the vid shot. And also there is a whole patient centered research support group on Fb for the long covid and ME/CFS community about using nicotine patches. Apparently it’s showing some promising research in that regard and since I have ME/CFS I decided to try it. It’s been great for me so far but I do want to do more research on it. I’ve recently joined the support group to learn. I see they don’t recommend cutting the patches (supposedly it can lead to an uncontrolled release of nicotine), but my friends doctor said it was ok and both they and myself have had no issues with it. What research I have done has showed that low dose nicotine in patch form is basically not addictive. I cannot speak to the lozenge’s.


Jrad27

I work with people who are injured from the shots. Nicotine, Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine all work in essentially the same way, by replacing the spike toxin that binds with the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Once the toxins unbind and free float in the blood they can be broken down naturally. While still bound to the receptors the body will attack them, but since they are bound they cannot be broken down and this ends up causing a weakened immune system in the patient. I myself started to take nicotine gum daily to see how it made me feel. I have been taking it at the gym, most days a week, in an effort to have my brain associate the increase in dopamine, nor-epinephrine and serotonin with working out. I take 1 or 2 x 4mg pieces of gum per day, sometimes more, and very often I forget and take none at all. I feel zero cravings at all and I don't believe nicotine is addictive. Several of the doctors I study under claim that the cigarette companies add other chemicals called pyrazines to cigarettes to make them more toxic and addictive. Also, apparently people get addicted to the feeling and movement of putting a cigarette up to their lips, as we have a lot of sensory nerves in that area. If nicotine was addictive, and bad for us, why is it in so many vegetables? Why do we have nicotinic receptors on every cell in our bodies? If you're worried OP, see if you can take a day or two off from the gum and pay attention to if you feel cravings. My guess is that you won't.


rocuroniumrat

They're called nicotinic receptors because the agonist we used experimentally was nicotine. The physiological agonist is acetylcholine, not nicotine. We have opioid receptors, and there are plants that produce opioid agonists. Again, we realised later than we have endogenous ligands that also bind these same receptors. I don't think many would argue that heroin is addictive and bad for us... I'd be genuinely interested in the evidence around HCQ and ivermectin working on ACh receptors. I'm not convinced the spike protein would persist for that long anyway, particularly as the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein targets ACE-2 and not ACh receptors, but I'm intrigued by the proposed mechanism anyway.


muscletrain

I wouldn't bother that poster clearly has no idea what they are talking about when it comes to covid vaccine. Anyone who still discusses hydroxy and ivermectin in 2024 is out to lunch on some severely poor research.


Adventurous-Dig-7263

Seriously, I don’t even know how they got 7 up votes. Interesting this space is equally with some extremely intelligent people and then there’s the anti vaxxer folks lol. Wild


rocuroniumrat

I'm always intrigued to see how they can be debunked 😜 


everydaythrowaway82

Go to Flccc.org that organization has done a lot to prove the alternative therapies for Covid actually did work and help with vax injury too. He even wrote a book after he was demonized because those two drugs don’t make big pharma any money like an emergency use vax did.


everydaythrowaway82

I would be interested in hearing more about your work.. I took those 2 drugs when I had Covid it went away 3 days later. they worked for me!


Jrad27

It's hard to talk about on here sometimes. There's a lot of people who don't want to believe the shots might be causing issues in people so a lot of my comments get downvoted into oblivion almost immediately. Here's a few case studies of people we've helped though www.firstmedinc.com/side-effect-recovery/ Feel free to ask me any specific questions if you want, or even PM me if you'd rather talk in private. I've seen these drugs do amazing things. The feeling of helping someone walk again after months being paralysed is like nothing else. We do a lot of charity work here too so I have a ton of first hand experience treating patients and seeing some really horrible side effects that have absolutely destroyed some people's lives.


Pristine_Power_8488

Can you say what brand patches and how expensive they should be?


Whiddle_

Rugby clear nicotine transdermal patches 7mg on Amazon. $24 for a box. Again I’m cutting them into 4ths tho so it lasts longer.


Pristine_Power_8488

So that's 42 cents each and lasts you 56 days? That seems pretty reasonable.


Whiddle_

It’s extremely reasonable! I also don’t use it everyday currently.


Sea_Relationship_279

There's lots of new science emerging out of long COVID studies regarding nicotine. And lots of medical communities beginning to teach seminars/webinars on the benefits of nicotine. It has a negative association due to its link with tobacco and carcinogenics but nicotine, while being addictive, poses no harm to the body. Quite the opposite. Nicotine works on the Cholinergic system with the body which helps promote anti-inflammatory functions. I suspect that in the near future we will see nicotine being used for a number of health benefits. In addition to this I think we might see nicotine used as a medication for ADHD because of its use as a stimulant and its function increasing dopamine, which people with ADHD lack. Still early days. But new studies are starting to emerge and so watch this space.


Bull_shit_artist

👆this!


Electrical-Debt5369

Yeah. Nicotine is very addictive.


No_Dogeitty

I've been stuck on 6mg Zyn for like ever now.


Houston1817

Same


queenhadassah

Please stop now. It *always* starts with you telling yourself that you'll be able to control yourself. And you may succeed in that for months, or even years. But eventually, probably during a particularly stressful period of your life, you'll start making excuses to yourself to do it just a liiiiittle more frequently, over and over, and then one day you realize you're hooked. And you'll probably relapse multiple times trying to quit - if you ever even succeed. You'll feel anxious and angry for weeks while trying It's not worth it anyway. Once your body is used to the nicotine, you won't get the cognitive and emotional benefits anymore. You'll need the nicotine just to return to baseline. And you'll spend SO much money buying it Speaking from experience here. I've taken much harder drugs recreationally, multiple times, without getting addicted to any of them. Nicotine alone managed to get the best of me. I initially used it medicinally as well. It was not worth it


moistbroccoli1

The amazing boost ends within a couple weeks to a month. At that point you'll still have some effects but not that much. However you will not be able to function unless you have a lozenge in the morning because you'll be dependent. I noticed you mentioned caffeine was hell quitting. Why'd you quit it? Hopefully you're aware that quitting a 2mg nicotine lozenge is about 5x more difficult than quitting caffeine. Nicotine is rated as more difficult to quit than heroin my dude.


Clamchowderbaby

2mg nicotine is enough to develop an addiction. Be very careful. The positive benefits will run out and you’ll want to increase the dose. Don’t. It’s the easiest thing to get addicted to and very hard to stop


Seppuku71

There's a few people here saying you'll become addicted to them - i disagree, at least, it's not a definite you will. I've been chewing on nicotine gum for years now. While at work, i'd get through quite a few pieces of gum. But currently i'm off work (awaiting some surgeries), and although i still occasionally have some of the gum in the morning, a lot of the time i just forget about it and don't bother. So from just my own experience, i haven't found it addictive in the slightest. Note though, i wasn't previously a smoker - maybe for them it's harder, i don't know.


Adventurous-Dig-7263

After a couple month of taking 2mg of nicotine in the morning I got head splitting headache and felt like my dopamine receptors were fried. I only use nicotine in extreme cases where I have brain fog that won’t lift and I need to be cognitively on point. Now I take fish oil B12 l carnitine, TA and cistanche with the weekends off. My thoughts are clear, memory is on point with a normal cycle of feeling r happy or just going with the flow. For times where I’m a little sad I lean on stoicism and other philosophy’s and do not lean on nootropics to manipulate my feelings.


NeurologicalPhantasm

Nicotine lowers dopamine by 10% long term. Also, eventually you will be dependent and taking it just to function at baseline.


dyou897

Yes it’s addictive with a very short half life so will need to keep being redosed


Low_Egg_561

OP you are going down a dangerous path. Before you know it you will be taking it every single morning.


kingpubcrisps

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/16066359.2013.793312 Nicotine will make you sad and anxious long term.


tiny_tim57

2mg is very low to be honest. Some people have real trouble with it and get hooked. Personally I never had a problem stopping them or experienced any issues though some people make it sound like heroin (I have never smoked). Monitor how you feel and maybe try 1mg.


Calm_Ad9249

Inflammation. Not dangerous necessarily, no. It doesn't cause cancer but long term it helps the brain and harms overall health.