Introduction and taking supplements right

**Angstrem98** · 02-01-2016 02:45 PM

Hello,
since this is my first post I know it should be in introduction Zone, but is is more related to supplements.
First time i came in contact with term lucid dream is two years ago in psychology class, we were barely talking in that lesson and I forgot about it completely.
About 6 months ago, I saw a nice, polished post on 9Gag about lucid dreaming. I think it was on their Facebook page. It was covering just basics and that FILD technique and pushing your finger against palm during day.
I was practicing nearly a month and gave up. Two months later I had a vivid dream - shortly:
1)In first scene we were(me and my friends) in church - that's how I knew it was sunday
2) In later scene we were on some really nice antic Greece terrace, and friends were talking that we ave a biology test today, and I didn't know about that.
Bingo-it's sunday and we have a test - it must be a dream, my finger slowly went trough my palm. It was a short dream because I was too excited.
Later I had more lucid dreams, i did things like flying and "summoning" people.

Now I want to give myself a boost with some supplements. I bought Melatonin, Soya Lecithin(natural choline and inositol source), and Ginkgo biloba tablets.
Last night Melatonin gave me pretty vivid dream, it was my bedroom, and I was trying to WILD inside a dream(lol), went to my computer, read something on screen and woke up 5 minutes before my intended wild alarm 05:05 AM.
I am pretty much aware that melatonin is taken half an hour before bed(I've got 1mg tablets).
When should I take Soya Lecithin? Before bed or when I wake up in the later part of night(it would be ok for a wild, but I want to do CrazyInSane's CANWILD)?
Ginkgo Biloba - I've got 40 mg tablets, it says one or two three times a day. When to take them and how much?
I know you will recommend Galantamine and Huperzine A, but i don't seem to find them in Serbia, I may buy 5-HTP though.
Thanks in advance!
Also I've been dreaming my room a couple times, so maybe I could print A4 papers with "AM I DREAMING?" and place them on the door, ceiling, and places I could see while laying on bed.

**Angstrem98** · 02-01-2016 03:45 PM

Oh, another thing according to SP. I had successful WILD, but I am not sure did i really feel SP. I felt tingling, some buzzing in ears and my legs became little bit heavier, also it was bit harder to move fingers(like there was a little brake). Maybe this is important fact - as little kid I was sleepwalking a few times, felt asleep in one room, and woke up in parents bed.

**Spock** · 02-01-2016 05:41 PM

Welcome to DV!

I'm not familiar with supplements so I'll leave these questions open, but about your second post - what you felt was REM atonia as well as hypnogogic hallucinations "HH" (in form of buzzing). These are normal and happen sometimes when we fall asleep, together with HI (hypnogogic imaginary / pre-dreams) and regular dreams. It is good that you felt it - because it means you managed to stay aware deeper into the process of falling asleep. In most methods of WILD, it is better to ignore REM atonia and HH, and only focus on remaining aware and the anchor (finger in FILD, breathing and counting in "regular" WILD). Sleep paralysis is used in this forum to describe exclusively when you wake up into REM atonia and can't move for a few seconds - so it's basically about the same - but just wanted to point out that SP is nothing to be afraid of. It's just one of the things that happens when we sleep, passes quickly if we are awake and isn't necessary for LDing.

Also, congratulations on the successful WILD, and on the lucid dreams you managed to induce! Keep it up!

**Angstrem98** · 02-02-2016 07:57 AM

Thank you for your answer about REM atonia! I hope experienced guys with supplements will help.

**Voldmer** · 02-02-2016 01:12 PM

Lecithin is fine as a source of choline (if you take enough of it, because there is a lot of other stuff in it besides choline). I've had success with it both before bedtime, and at WBTB-time. But remember that it does have to work its way through the stomach, which - even if it is mostly empty at the time - will take at least 15 minutes, or so.

Ginkgo I take only at WBTB-time, but it is rather stimulating so there is some risk of not falling asleep so quickly again (can of course be mitigated with sleeping aids).

Be aware that there are many separate aspects to lucid dreaming, and different supplements/herbs may be effective in some respects, but not in others. So, for example, you might distinguish between dream vividness, dream stability, amount of dream time, lucidity, dream story line complexity, memory.

**Angstrem98** · 02-03-2016 04:40 PM

Last night I took melatonin before bed, and I woke up around 2:30h, that's hour and a half before alarm. I disabled alarm and took soya lecithin and 80mg Ginkgo Biloba(I read that ginkgo has AChE effect - like galantamine) and I didn't WILD, just went to sleep. I can say, I had longest lucid dream, I kinda knew I was lucid from start but I didn't control or wanted to control or explore situation, but then I became more conscious and had fun, I wont write it it's too long, but the effect is what I wanted to report.
Oh by the way... I wanted to change the dream scene, I imagined big concert hall with piano for me, started spinning but I ended in scene showing only white space around me. I saw my shadow on the left and my view was kinda fixed(actually like my body was in 75 degree position instead of 90 degrees). When I started to look around, my room object started to form, so I relaxed and came back to the previous dream where I tried to change scene. Maybe that room(if i woke up) would be false awakening. Also, I had been able to change scene with rotating, but that was changing to a random scene.