Vitamin and supplement consumption in industrialized areas is perhaps higher now than ever before. If you were to look in your neighbor's kitchen cabinet, you might find such things as a daily multivitamin, chewable calcium, ginseng capsules, 5-HTP, or even Horny Goat Weed. However, unless your neighbor is a real supplement geek or an avowed transhumanist, you are unlikely to find any nootropic substance, a group of compounds of which Piracetam (2-oxo-pyrrolidone) is a member.
Piracetam's nootropic, or brain-enhancing properties were discovered by accident. The substance was originally developed in Belgium by UCB Pharmaceutical Company in the 1960s, as a palliative for motion sickness. Experiments with rats showed that animals treated with Piracetam did not suffer as many learning and memory deficits under oxygen-deprivation and electric shock conditions. In addition, Piracetam appeared to speed the rate at which animals recovered from hypoxia and other brain-affecting conditions. Once the potential neuroprotective effect of Piracetam was discovered, animals such as rats and rabbits were subject to a number of other experiments -- for instance, being injected with barbiturates or scopalomine.
It was found that rodents injected with what would normally be a lethal dose of barbiturates survived with no lasting brain damage if they were injected with Piracetam prior to receiving the barbiturate solution.
Piracetam's effects seem to be the result of a variety of mechanisms. In order to form memories, the brain depends on rapid protein synthesis. If there is some condition in the brain slowing down protein synthesis (such as an injected chemical or a disease), Piracetam can help block the effects of whatever is causing the proteins to form sluggishly. Piracetam also assists in the formation of acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter, as well as enhancing cerebral blood flow. Consequently, Piracetam has been studied for years as a potential treatment for diseases such as Alzheimer's, with some success in slowing deterioration. In addition, Piracetam has shown some ability to help stroke patients regain their movement abilities more quickly.
Due to its low potency (you need a lot of it to produce any measurable effect), relative obscurity, and consequent lack of widespread availability in the United States, Piracetam is not something you can pop into your local GNC and pick up. The Internet has resulted in something of a resurgence in interest in nootropics; there are numerous sites devoted to futurism and transhumanism that recommend Piracetam and related compounds for those seeking to turn themselves into guinea pigs.
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Piracetam is not a very potent substance. Recommended daily doses range into the thousands of milligrams, even into the ten thousands. I have taken 8000 mg in a single day and felt no ill effects, however it is good to monitor one's caffeine intake while taking Piracetam because the effects of the caffeine can seem more pronounced. Piracetam may also cause headaches in persons extremely sensitive to MSG (monosodium glutamate), though this is uncommon.
Piracetam has a very subtle effect. It does not make a person feel sleepy, "high", or wired. This is believed to be because it does not affect the neurotransmitter sites commonly affected by other brain drugs: dopamine and serotonin uptake remain unchanged even with very high levels of Piracetam ingestion. Piracetam seems to act mainly on the brain's choline and glutamate pathways. Choline is critical for memory and learning ability, and glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter. There have been a few cases of persons reporting tremor or agitation after ingestion of Piracetam, which are symptoms of overactivity in the brain's acetylcholine and glutamate management systems. Again, this is extremely uncommon.
I became interested in Piracetam mainly because, like all geeks, I would like to be smarter and more efficient at learning. I am also very interested in preventing disease rather than having to deal with it if it hits, so taking something that could potentially prevent me from developing senile dementia later in life is extremely attractive. I ordered my first bottle online last November.
The most profound effect I have noticed, which I am reasonably certain is a result of the Piracetam, is that I feel more like I'm communicating with my own brain. I have become better able to figure out why I am feeling a certain way at a given moment. When I was younger I used to get bad panic attacks, and my dad taught me that if I was able to figure out what I was afraid of, the panic would disappear. He was always right. Sometimes it was an impending test at school, while other times it was social or family-related anxiety. I stopped having full blown panic attacks about 5 years ago, however, there have been plenty of times since when I just feel "blah" or sad or afraid without really knowing why. In the past few months, I've become much quicker at identifying what's bothering me, and of bringing the mental irritant out of my subconscious (where it can do the most damage) and into full conscious awareness (where I can examine and deal with it).
Supposedly, Piracetam can help enhance the communication between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Throughout my life I've been very left-brained: analytical to a fault, sometimes detached, obsessed with rationality and objectivity. My personality peppers this robot / Vulcan affect with tendencies toward emotional outbursts and whining every so often. I make jokes about being a robot, but the truth is, I feel like one much of the time -- albeit one with a proclivity toward going haywire once in a while. I am wondering if this increased ability to put my emotions into words is a result of my right brain somehow becoming better able to divulge its secrets to my left brain.
At any rate, Piracetam is an interesting research chemical, if nothing else. I do not know if I am wasting my money or if I'm actually on to something by experimenting on myself like this. With current societal trends toward building prettier humans through surgery and other treatments, it would be nice to see some more interest in brain research and enhancement, as well as age-associated conditions affecting the mind.
References:
http://smart-drugs.net/ias-piracetam.htm
http://nootropics.com/piracetam/
Personal experience | 
