I am looking at using one of these two products next semester to help me in my studying and test taking. Aniracetam is suppose to be far more potent but it has a very short half-life which I dont like. I want something that will aid me all day - from morning classes to late night studying. Piracetam defintily has a longer half-life but you need a higher dosage to get its effects. What would you guys reccomend?

Anyone??

I've not tried Aniracetam. I'm a bit wary of its possible potential for excitotoxicity. Piracetam, at least to me, appears to be a safer, more thoroughly tested nootropic.

Re: Aniracetam

For a period of one month, I was using a powerdrive/alcar/aniracetam stack. I found that during this time my short term memory had actually become an issue (never had been before). There were times when I would think about saying something to someone but after just a few seconds could not recall what I was thinking.
I discontinued usage of aniracetam (continued with powerdrive/alcar) and the problem has since gone away.
Not quite sure what to make of it but that's my experience with aniracetam.

My dosage with aniracetam:500mg/1x per day.

i didn't notice anything on piracetam at 3g/day for 4 months. But when i went on aniracetam at 500-700mg/day, my head started to feel heavy, fuzzy, and started to lack concentration. seems to work well for others, but not for me. i really recommend chocamine for a natural, safe, and more effective nootropic.

Going by feedback alone people do seem to report more mixed results from aniracetam. Some think it is a lot better and some worse than piracetam. My hunch is that it may just not work as well with some other supplements as piracetam does.

Few years back I did use Piracetam 800mg/day for few weeks with Hydergine
4mg/day( i guess was 8 weeks) but did not notice a single thing, hydergine tough did give light headace but for the studies......nothing is better than the plain ol ephedrine HCL without the Guafi trash.

I'm interested in more information about Aniracetam and excitotoxicity. Where can I find more information about this?

Read the article below. I do not think it is a significant concern.

I also posted this elsewhere:

1. Aniracetam does not directly stimulate AMPA receptors - instead, it slows the rate of desensitization/deactivation in the presence of an agonist, thus amplifying long-term potentiation. It does this allosterically, in other words, it does not directly act at the binding site. It only has an effect in the presence of an agonist. So you can't really compare it to an excitotoxin.

2. Aniracetam is selective at certain types of AMPA receptors, in certain areas of the brain.

3. Aniracetam-induced AMPA receptor activation --> kainate receptor desensitization, serving as a negative feedback mechanism. It is possible that this actually leads to a net reduction of excitotoxicity, since, as mentioned previously, aniracetam does not act as an agonist.

4. One of the metabolites of aniracetam positively modulates group II metabotropic glutamate receptors, and some subtypes of mGlu reduce excitotoxicity.

5. The metabolites of aniracetam have many other effects that could potentially counteract any possible excitotoxicity. Accordingly, the majority of the research shows aniracetam to prevent excitotoxicity. Instead of theories, we actually have information on the endpoint, which on balance is in favor of aniracetam acting as a neuroprotectant.

try taking GABA to balance the increase in glutamine transmition... I take 200mg in the AM and 2-3000mg at night... It makes dreams more vivid, for me at least.
I am on aniracetam and piracetam and just added oxiracetam... I take lecithin and dmae, and other various... Try GABA... definitely.(for memory, intelligent thought)(gaba is required to release glutamate in all instances)

Personally I feel that their are not defined mechanisms or clear research showing that aniracetam does or does not cause excitotoxicity. That said... I have personally used it for a period of time, and absolutely did NOT like it. Noticed significant drops in my memory performance both short and long term. While this is only my personal experience, I feel its important to share. On a side note I DO receive significant improvements using piracetam.

From what I have heard (other's research) Aniracetam will not cause damage (that would not make sence anyways because of the category it resides in), I guess that goes along the same lines of DMAE, some research makes it out to sound like it is bad, which in most cases is just not true. Personally Piracetam does nothing which I can note as stimulating (or obvious) for me, so I cannot say if it works or not, but it is supposedly proven to help retain memory,and function over the years. Aniracetam for a while worked wonders on my ability, anxiety, and memory, I was pretty much overall more "aware" and confident. The only bad factor with the Aniracetam was, like all other products I take, I needed to use the high scale of recommendation, which cost wise adds up. That and the second time I purchased it, for some odd reason, I no longer felt an effect.

I haven't tried the aniracetam but have been very pleased with the piracetam. Takin in 7 gram doses 3 times a day seems to do the trick nicely. I feel more relaxed yet aware. I become chatty kathy though and tend to go into much more detail than before. It also seems to increase my use of vocabulary words that I know the definitions to but never seem to remember to fit them into my everyday chatter. Seems to elevate my mood perhaps this is because I am happy with the initial effects. I give Piracetam a thumbs up. P.S. Goes great with a healthy dose of Phenibut..

7g x 3 = 21 g/day which is pretty hefty for piracetam from what I have read. I am using ~2.4g x 2-3 times/day stacked with 3g of choline citrate x 1/day. Research the attack dose when using nootropics; ie. you may need to take 2 or 3 times the normal dosing the first time (and sometimes for a few days) before resorting to a normal dose. Your normal dose is dependant on your desired effects which you can find in a good matrix of grams to effect (on this site and others). If using as a powder, mix with OJ until you are used to the taste. I mix a shot-sized amount of water with the dose and take it in one gulp.

I'm thinking about piracetam powder, but then I looked up Focus XT. Can you take either of these products while on creatine? Does the caffeine in FXT affect the creatine?

creatine and caffeine are not a problem. Creatine, piracetam, and caffeine are all neuroactive, but at most I would expect a slight potentiation of caffeine's effect, and it is most like likely that you'll notice no interaction effects.

Piracetam definetely has an effect on me. It is most noticeable after a night of heavy drinking when my mind is still foggy. Aniracetam has negative effects on me (I can't speak properly) at any dose above 400-500mg. I tried using 1g Pir + 100mg Ani for a few weeks, but I could not even be sure the ani was adding much to this, so I stopped using it.

what is the shelf life of Piracetam? I bought some here 2 years ago and still haven't finished it. Also, can I take it if I am taking Ritalin?

I only use piracetam for the creativity it brings me

be careful of ritalin increasing in strength. there are widespread reports of certain chemicals being potentiated by piracetam, namely MDMA. While ritalin doesn't look much like MDMA chemically, I simply don't know which drugs (if any, in reality) are affected in this way and which are not.

Thanks for the advice I took this max dose (7gx3 a day for five days) and just read your response. I will take this advice and back off my milligram intake throughout the day. I also just got my first jar of aniracetam. Took my first dose this morning. I took a 1000 mg with difficulty because it didn't want to dissolve in my water. I had to shake vigorously and rerinse the bottle over and over to get it all ingested. Any advice on dosing levels for stacking aniracetam and piracetam, and how do you administer aniracetam since it is apparantly not very water soluble?

I've had much benefit from taking any racetam. I took Piracetam 2.5gm a day w/triple lecithin for approx. 4 months. I noticed a change in thinking after 2 weeks. As a musician I noticed my creative ability to improvise was more affluent. Now I'm taking Aniracetam 750mg 2X daily w/triple lecithin, fish oils, & a multi. This racetam has a very different effect on me as opposed to Piracetam. My memory has improved dramatically, creativeness enhancement is stronger, my attention span has increased, & I tend to choose wording more carefully in order to get the desired message/response. Noticed that I hear everything without even focusing. Listening to music & playing music is much more enjoyable. Reading & typing speed increased. One downside is that I tend to require more sleep probably due my brain taking in more information, not necessarily working faster. Dreams are more vivid & I seem to remember almost all of them. I am very impressed with aniracetam & will continue to use it in cycles of course. I believe any supplement or drug will create a different effect on each individual due simply to the fact that everyone is different. I can not drink alcohol when I have been taking aniracetam though. After about 6 or 7 drinks it causes me to fall asleep wherever I may be (even while walking!) I now know what it is like to have Narcolepsy. Has anyone else experienced this phenomena?