Piracetam Effects and Benefits

What Is Piracetam?

Piracetam belongs to the group of nootropic drugs, and it is the first and still the main preparation of this type. Nootropics, or neurometabolic stimulants, are the medications that are claimed to have an influence on higher mental processes.

For their positive impact on learning capacity, abstract thinking, and executive functions, they are called “the smart drugs”.

Chemically, piracetam is 2-oxo-1-pyrrolidine acetamide, and it is a derivative of gamma-aminobutyric acid. The family of racetam drugs was started with this medicine, and now there are several congeneric products on the market: aniracetam, oxiracetam, etiracetam, and levetiracetam, among others. Some of them, for example phenylpiracetam and its derivative fonturacetam hydrazide, helped astronauts in space to overcome depression, tiredness, memory loss, and other mental and emotional troubles.

Nowadays piracetam has many trade names and generics: Nootropil is the most popular, under this brand piracetam is sold in Europe, South America and Asia; Zhen Xi, Yi An Nuo, Xin Ao Xin, Tong Tan Kang, Tan Fu are traded in China; Pira-OD, Alcetam and Pira are Indian names; Biotropil, Cebrotonin, Memoral, Neuroton and many other brands are used all over the world.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (further FDA) did not approve this medicinal product to prescribe it as a medication or accessory food substance. The FDA does not see any proof of its medical action and does not acknowledge its effectiveness.

Piracetam History

In 1963, two pharmacologists, Drs. С. Giurgea and V. Skondia in Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium, synthesized a new drug that had a similar action as psychostimulants, improving mental capacities, but did not cause the same side effects. In 1972, the term nootropics was first introduced, from Greek it meant “turning mind”.

The racetam drugs are widely used in Europe, Asia, and South America. In Great Britain, it can be legally imported for personal use, as well as in Canada. Some European countries in the 2000s recognised piracetam as an obsolete medication with unproven efficacy, but did not call off the certifications.

Piracetam Uses and Benefits

It has the ability to improve the metabolic processes and bloodflow in the brain cortex. In many countries, it is clinically administered to help with the various problems in brain activities, cardiovascular system, mood, working capacity, memory, and others.

Healthy users report such benefits of this medication as:

• increased memory and learning abilities;
• better focus and concentration;
• stable emotional state;
• improved sensory functions.

The list is not full. Among the indications of piracetam we can name various neurological diseases, brain damage, psychiatric disorders, autism, dementia, and many others. Working on the cell level, piracetam was found to decrease of the risk of cancer, especially prostate carcinoma.

Helps the Brain in Stroke Patients

Piracetam improves blood circulation in the brain and helps to deliver oxygen and nutritional substances to the nervous tissue. The studies confirmed that it enriches the blood circulation to the certain brain divisions that are responsible for speech and sensory functions. Tests involved post-stroke patients who got 4.8 g of the medicament per day for six months, and included magnetic resonance imaging and positron-emission tomography. Brain images proved the positive effect of the nootropic preparation on the condition of the cerebrovascular system. Thus, piracetam can be a life extension drug for stroke victims.

Piracetam and Surgery Patients

The medicine was tested for its positive effect in patients undergoing open-heart and coronary surgery that involved a cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The investigations were held in 2011 and 2008 correspondingly. Their purpose was to check the cerebroprotective effect and its potency to prevent the degrading of cognitive function as the adverse reaction on cardiopulmonary bypass administration.

Heart valve patients did not show any difference between groups that took the medication and placebo. On the contrary, people who got 12 g of piracetam before the coronary artery bypass surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass showed less postsurgical reduce of mental capacities.

This nootropic is a blood thinner, so it is better to stop taking it 48 hours before surgery. Enhancing the acetylcholine (ACh) receptors, it helps to overcome anesthesia and decrease the undesirable effects of such pre- and post-operational medications as atropine and scopolamine.

Helps to Prevent Neurodegeneration in Alcoholism

Piracetam taken together with alcohol can degrade motor function. On the contrary, it was tested to be the remedy for alcohol abstinence and showed positive results. The medical tests held on rats proved that the medication prevents neuron loss during alcohol withdrawal and helps in formation of the synapses and connections.

Helps Against Cognitive Decline in Elderly

Nootropics were tested intensively to investigate their impact on the cognition in elderly people. The research that has been going for more than 30 years validates the clinical utility of these drugs in patients with moderate cognitive dysfunctions. The group of scientists tested outpatients at the age of 60-85. Twelve outpatients took 7.2 g of piracetam two periods for four weeks, with one week of washout period between them, and they showed the significant improvement in three psychometric parameters that were treated.

Another trial was conducted in 15 patients who took piracetam in conjunction with choline chloride. This research discovered a better functioning of piracetam in combination with choline drugs.

Healthy people over 60 years old showed improvement of short-term memory after 14 days of the drug administration in the dosage of 400 mg per day. The medicine also showed the potency to decrease the neurological and psychological symptoms of dementia and Parkinson’s disease in the elderly.

Can Help with Depression

There were several clinical tests and research studies to prove the efficacy of piracetam in depression patients. The self-reporters claim that this nootropic drug helped them to gain motivation, physical, intellectual, and spiritual energy.

Disorders in the brain vascular system can cause depression, and piracetam can be a good remedy for such cases. It increases the blood circulation, oxygenation, and nutrition of the central nervous system. It also reduces anxiety and sleeping disorder symptoms of paranoia and agitation.

Piracetam and Schizophrenia

The positive effect of the nootropic drugs in patients with chronic schizophrenia was first described in 1970s. Due to their direct action on cerebrospinal nervous system, they were supposed to ease the symptoms of serious mental disorders. The responders with the chronic disease showed certain mends in their health. Tests with object naming and indicating the number of taps gave positive results, and the progress in learning and memory tasks was noted. Patients with tardive dyskinesia gained better movement control. Dichotic listening gave more correct answers.

At the same time, there was no progress in social behavior and no reduction of schizophrenia symptoms. Hence, piracetam cannot be an effective treatment for serious mental diseases alone, but can help in combination with other preparations.

Helps the Brain in Patients with Dyslexia

Piracetam helps to improve verbal learning both in healthy children and in patients with dyslexia. The tests showed 8.6% more improvements over placebo in the first group and 15% in children with reading and writing disorders.

A European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry published an article where they proved the efficacy of piracetam in verbal reasoning and reading comprehension enhancement.

Pain Reducer

The antiinflammatory properties of the medicament explain its effect on reducing the hyperalgesia caused by inflammation. The tests held on rats showed the dose-dependent reduction of the acute pain.

Can Protect Against Hearing Loss

The study in acute acoustic damages exposed that piracetam in combination with steroids, like prednisone, it can preserve the audition function. The success depends on the time when the treatment started: 65% of patients who took medicines less than one hour after the incident kept their hearing against 24% with treatment in 1-24 hours. Only 13% of patients reported improvement after taking medications more than one day after the trauma.

Helps with Epilepsy

In conjunction with the valproic acid piracetam results, there were significant improvement in patients with the Unverricht’s or Lafora’s disease, or localization-related epilepsy.

Piracetam is Antithrombotic

Clotting is a big danger for post-stroke patients, as it troubles and disturbs blood circulation. Piracetam is often administered as the prophylactic remedy to prevent thrombus formation in conjunction with other anti-thrombotic drugs. The nootropic influences the blood composition (red and white blood cells, plasma, thrombocyte count) and affects vessel walls, thus preventing the blood clotting.

How Does Piracetam Work?

The mechanism of action of piracetam is not completely understood. Its operation results in the increasing of the adenosine triphosphate concentration, intensifies the biosynthesis of the ribonucleic acid and phospholipids, and stimulates the glucose metabolism by inhibiting its reuptake. The higher glucose level causes increasing of brain activity, energy, and responsiveness.

It reaches the maximum concentration in the blood one and a half hours after intake. Almost 100% of the medical agent gets to the blood unchanged. The half-life of the drug is about five hours, though sometimes it is seven hours.

The medical agent is suspected to work with the cell membranes, making them more permeable. It helps to deliver more oxygen to the brain cells. Piracetam increases the blood delivery to neural tissues, which makes neurons and synapses work faster and provides better excretion of the waste products from the cerebral tissues and cells. Healthy oxygenation and circulation prevents the cognitive disorders connected with aging, hypoxia, strokes, and cerebrovascular diseases.

Piracetam was noticed to affect the concentration of calcium and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) in the brain. Calcium enhances the communication between nerve cells, and the cAMP impacts the mitochondria functioning, which is important for elderly people. The tests in mice showed that after administering 500 mg per kg of the drug, it increases the interactivity of L-glutamate and the specific ionotropic glutamate receptors, which improves memory and helps in neural connections’ formation.

Side Effects

The observed adverse effects of piracetam administered in standard doses are very limited and mild. It is a non-toxic preparation, which is easily eliminated from the body through the kidneys. It is hard to overdose, and the doses over 5g per day for healthy people did not cause any intoxication. The Pharmacopsychiatry journal claimed it to be less harmful than some food items, salt and coffee, for example.

There are some common side effects that occur in less than 10% of users:

• headaches, which can be explained by excessive activity of ACh receptors and their depletion. Headaches will pass if piracetam is combined with choline chloride;
• insomnia;
• nausea;
• fatigue;
• anxiety and agitation, these symptoms do not last long and pass by themselves with time;
• some users report libido impairments, loss of sexual drive;
• digestive disorders.

If you face any of these for a long period, stop taking the medication and consult a doctor.

During the studies in people with Alzheimer’s disease, patients were given 8 grams of piracetam per day for 12 months and they did not show any adverse consequences. Healthy people who use this preparation for prophylactic needs and aim to increase their mental activity, usually take smaller doses.

There were examples of tolerance developing that caused lessening of piracetam effect, or its absence. Sometimes, new users do not feel any results for more than ten days, but it means that the agent needs more time to achieve the effective concentration in the organism.

Drug Interactions

Piracetam is very compatible with other drugs. There are few precautions worth mentioning here:

• though piracetam gives higher results in combination with other nootropics, it is better to avoid taking it with analogous preparations without professional medical consultation;
• all medications that influence the cerebrovascular system should be taken carefully and with additional doctor’s advice;
• blood thinners in conjunction with piracetam may cause hypocoagulation and abnormal bleeding from wounds and during surgeries;
• amphetamines like Adderall or 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), also known as ecstasy, can give the exaggerated effect in combination with nootropic drug and cause adverse symptoms, like cardiac arrhythmia, hypertension, loss of concentration and anxiety. On the other hand, it is believed to smoothen the hangover and to keep your mind clearer;
• it is not recommended to take piracetam with spirits, as the medication improves the tolerance to alcohol, which leads to extra drinking.

In general, piracetam can be combined with most drugs, vitamins, and dietary additives.

Piracetam Dosage

Piracetam is represented in different forms of administration:

• pills, bulk powder, syrup and capsules taken by mouth;
• injections and infusions;
• dissolved in glycerin and vaporized.

Pills come in various strength and packages, 200, 400 mg, and even 800 and 1200 mg with 120 tablets in one pack. 5 ml of piracetam solution for injections contain 1000 mg of the pure medical preparation.

The dosage for each specific person is highly individual and depends on many factors, like age, responsiveness to the medical agent, sex, health conditions, weight, and others. It is better to seek medical advice before choosing the single and daily dosages. The starting dose for kids is from 40 to 100 mg per kilogram of weight. Adults can use up to 4800 mg per day without any risk of intoxication.

The lowest single dose to feel the effect of the drug is 400 mg, but for some people, especially when the user took nootropics before, this parameter can be increased to 1600 mg three times a day. Piracetam itself is very bitter and it is better to take it with some liquid with a better taste.

Some users recommend increasing the dose at once, and even starting with the so-called attacking dosage, twice or thrice bigger than the usual one. Then return to normal intake. Others recommend waiting for three weeks of normal medication to give the drug time to reach the necessary concentration. The users claim that the most effective single intake is 4 grams and the noticeable action comes after 1-4 hours.

Stacking

The nootropic stacks are very popular among users who need a greater and more powerful effect of the drug. Various combinations with nootropics and other racetams are widely used due to the low toxic level and limited side effects of each compound.

Piracetam and Choline Stack

As was already said, using piracetam can cause the ACh receptors to burn out, as they work more intensively under the action of the drug. Patients with a lack of acetylcholine can experience headaches and other undesirable sensations. This can be remedied by combining it with choline preparations.

Among various sources of choline, the best one is citicoline. High quality choline medical agents enhance the effect of both medications and smoothens the side effects. The most efficacious proportion is one part of citicoline for eight parts of piracetam (300 mg and 4800 mg correspondingly per day).

This stack is famous for its powerful influence on thinking, reasoning, life energy, motivation, and mood. If you add caffeine to it, you get the forceful medicinal product that, together with all other positive effects of the stack, gives you an extremely clear mind, high concentration and acumen.

Aniracetam Stack

Piracetam is highly combinable with other racetam drugs. Such combinations are widely used in patients who want to multiply the influence of medicinal agents, as they complement and amplify each other’s qualities.

Aniracetam is one of the most popular drugs to take together with piracetam. The common name for such a pharmacological stack is “memory booster”, but it also helps to harmonise moods and emotional states, clarify thoughts, and activate cognition.

Piracetam Reviews

This medicine enjoys high popularity among users all over the world. People report about its different positive effects on their mental states and health. Popular forums, like Bluelight, Longecity, Reddit, and others have large sections devoted to reviews of this drug. People share their stories about how it helps people to concentrate on studies, have success in their professions, and get rid of foggy minds.

The most common testimonials are about the memory and concentration boosting effect, clear and fast thinking, and easier communication with other people. Some individuals mention bright and detailed dreams, better working capacities, and advanced vital power.

Where to Buy Piracetam Online?

Piracetam is not sold in regular pharmacies, but everyone can easily find reliable online drug stores that provide quality medications of popular brands. Indian and European manufacturers offer their products online with convenient, fast shipping and fair prices. There are a lot of sites that suggest wholesale trades of the medication.

We do not sell nootropil or other generics in our online pharmacy, but we can offer our customers other effective and popular stimulants and cognitive enhancers, for example Modafinil, Modalert, Armodafinil, Provigil, and others.

Is Piracetam Legal?

The FDA did not approve it not because they suspect it is unsafe, but because there were not enough trials held by the administration. It is not allowed for sale and medical use in the US, but it is an Investigational New Drug. The medicinal preparation can be legally bought without a prescription online and shipped to the USA from those countries, but only for personal use, not for commercializing.

In other countries, it is completely legal and can be produced, prescribed by doctors, and sold. The United Kingdom has similar rules as the United States with one exception — to buy it you need a medication order.

The long list of uses and benefits, positive world experience, and numerous research studies prove the complementing qualities of the reviewed medicament, and its powerful positive effect on organisms without toxicity and negative consequences. Being the oldest nootropics, it stays the most popular and efficient.