Thread: Supplements-do they work or hinder?

Do Supplements for better lucid dreaming really work ?
I am a lucid dreamer, however I don't have crazy and astonishing prophetic travels or insightful conversations with the Dali Lama- my dreams are definitely much more low key than that- my question is about supplements. I read about people who rave about their success. I am wary however about using them and I am afraid that taking anything that alters my chemicals will take away the genuineness of the experience. If I take something before I dream how will I know if it was a real experience or just some crazy concoction my chemical altered brain is coming up with? What are your thoughts? Are these supplements safe or just another gimmick in a bottle to make a quick $19.95? Why am I not able to gain a more spiritual insight from my Lucid dreams? Will taking supplements open my mind to deeper lucid experiences?

I would recommend for you the book Advanced Lucid Dreaming - The Power of Supplements by Thomas Yuschak, most of your questions will be answered there and the supplements arn't cheap so the book outlines the best ones and how to use them. They are pretty safe if you take them as prescribed in the book. I've had alot of success with supplements but you definitely don't NEED them, it just makes becoming lucid easier - at a $ price. Doing the research before trying anything or buying anything is cheap insurance.

The fact that you have intention for more spiritual insight and deeper experience in your LD's will mean that it will inevitably happen as you get more experienced with the concept, and if you let it happen - all in good time.

Originally Posted by Ajna

I would recommend for you the book Advanced Lucid Dreaming - The Power of Supplements by Thomas Yuschak, most of your questions will be answered there and the supplements arn't cheap so the book outlines the best ones and how to use them. They are pretty safe if you take them as prescribed in the book. I've had alot of success with supplements but you definitely don't NEED them, it just makes becoming lucid easier - at a $ price. Doing the research before trying anything or buying anything is cheap insurance.

The fact that you have intention for more spiritual insight and deeper experience in your LD's will mean that it will inevitably happen as you get more experienced with the concept, and if you let it happen - all in good time.

One of the best books ever. Even if you have no interest in taking supplements, it puts everything in an easy to understand perspective.

I went ahead and deleted your other thread since it was in the wrong place.

Hmm...well, the only supplement I've tried to better my chances of having an LD (was able to obtain would be a better way to phrase it) is B6, which makes dreams more vivid. A lot of my DV friends have taken Gantalamine (spelling is wrong), which has helped them have actual Lucids instead of just vivid dreams.

Have you checked the Supplement / Herb / Drug Repository sticky in this sub section? It contains good information about the supplements normally used when trying to Lucid Dream.

Or you could just go the natural route. After a few weeks on B6, I weened myself off of it. Either way, practice is needed to Lucid Dream. Just take your time.

Originally Posted by shannyball

Do Supplements for better lucid dreaming really work ?
I am a lucid dreamer, however I don't have crazy and astonishing prophetic travels or insightful conversations with the Dali Lama- my dreams are definitely much more low key than that- my question is about supplements. I read about people who rave about their success. I am wary however about using them and I am afraid that taking anything that alters my chemicals will take away the genuineness of the experience. If I take something before I dream how will I know if it was a real experience or just some crazy concoction my chemical altered brain is coming up with? What are your thoughts? Are these supplements safe or just another gimmick in a bottle to make a quick $19.95? Why am I not able to gain a more spiritual insight from my Lucid dreams? Will taking supplements open my mind to deeper lucid experiences?

Supplements work well for some people, and not very well for others, also some supplements that work great for some won't work at all for others, I bought the Advanced Lucid Dreaming book, and tried several of the recommendations, and got a couple of 10 second lucids out of Galantamine/choline after sleeping 4 to 6 hours and WBTB, after taking 5-HTP before bed, that was it, after that Galantamine didn't do anything for me when I took it at WBTB or at bedtime other than wake it difficult to sleep after WBTB.

I have found other supplements work better, Acetyl-L-Carnitine triggered a lucid dream after taking it after sleeping about 6 hours and going WBTB. I haven't really been able to try WBTB with it very much again, but taking it during the day does help me have more vivid dreams.

L-Theanene also has helped me have lucid dreams, usually if I take 200mg before bed, wake up after 7 or 8 hours, take 200to 400mg more and sleep a couple of more hours, lots of sleep time seem to be needed, so this is also something I have difficulty doing often. Works well when I do though.

Vitamin B6 seemed to work very well for a while in 200 to 250mg doses taken with a glass of milk, and chocolate cake or cookies before bed, but then it quit working and hasn't worked since when I try it. B6 is fairly cheep though, so give it a try, you might get a few lucids out of it.

Tyrosine also works sometimes.

In my opinion, after trying various supplements, they can sometimes help you to get into the border state of wakefulness and sleepiness, but they don't usually automatically trigger lucid dreams, some like Theanene relax you so it can help for WILD's when you may otherwise be too much awake. Others wake you up like Galantamine, Acetyl-l-Carnitine etc. and I feel you would have to be pretty sleepy for these to work well.

They can HELP. And forget about all that "hinder the genuineness" nonsense. Your brain runs on chemicals, your basically just one big chemical, so why not give a little boost?

I have changed my mind about supplements. I have decided they generally don't work. I have posted several topics which have "worked" for me. But the problem is they usually only work about 4 times at most, then stop. Why is this? I have decided it is placebo effect for the most part. I hear about a new supplement, or think it might work, so I'm exited and expect it to work. Then it might work. Is it the supplement or placebo? If it was the supplement it should keep working.

Another thing, the first time I tried Galantamine/choline I was nervous about it, I read about all the side effects, I had a very short lucid dream. The second time I was still exited. If I remember correctly, I had another short lucid. Then I was calm and not worried about taking it anymore, and it never worked again.

I beleive that for the most part the people who have good results on any supplement, it works because they beleive it will. It is similiar to the MILD method of inducing lucid dreams. When you WBTB you have a good chance of becoming lucid anyway, my best lucids were from this method, with no supplements. They would probably have equal success with a sugar pill if they believed it.

Others can't keep up the belief and so the supplements stop working or they never work to begin with. If supplements work for you great, but I believe it is the belief not the supplements.

Originally Posted by Firewalker

I have changed my mind about supplements. I have decided they generally don't work. I have posted several topics which have "worked" for me. But the problem is they usually only work about 4 times at most, then stop. Why is this? I have decided it is placebo effect for the most part. I hear about a new supplement, or think it might work, so I'm exited and expect it to work. Then it might work. Is it the supplement or placebo? If it was the supplement it should keep working.

Another thing, the first time I tried Galantamine/choline I was nervous about it, I read about all the side effects, I had a very short lucid dream. The second time I was still exited. If I remember correctly, I had another short lucid. Then I was calm and not worried about taking it anymore, and it never worked again.

I beleive that for the most part the people who have good results on any supplement, it works because they beleive it will. It is similiar to the MILD method of inducing lucid dreams. When you WBTB you have a good chance of becoming lucid anyway, my best lucids were from this method, with no supplements. They would probably have equal success with a sugar pill if they believed it.

Others can't keep up the belief and so the supplements stop working or they never work to begin with. If supplements work for you great, but I believe it is the belief not the supplements.

Well considering they have been proven to effect chemical levels that are associated to dreaming related things, it isn't just placebo. Also just as there are techniques and "guidelines" for LDing, the same exists for using these supplements. You can't just pop one, go to sleep and expect something to happen. And just like you can't just try a technique once, twice, or three times and say it doesn't work, you can't just take them a few times and say they don't do anything.

Maybe you are simply building a tolorance.

Originally Posted by ZmillA

Well considering they have been proven to effect chemical levels that are associated to dreaming related things, it isn't just placebo. Also just as there are techniques and "guidelines" for LDing, the same exists for using these supplements. You can't just pop one, go to sleep and expect something to happen. And just like you can't just try a technique once, twice, or three times and say it doesn't work, you can't just take them a few times and say they don't do anything.

I understand what you are saying, however I have tried just about every technique I've ever heard about as well. Let me explain my situation.
My lucid journey started after reading The Door to December by Dean Koontz. It is a fiction book about a girl who has OBE's. I tried the "method" she used to have them, invisioning a door shining with light and going through it. It worked, I've had several OBE lucids doing this, then a few spontanious ones. I bought Astral projection books, lucid dream books. I would have a short one every so often, but couldn't do it at will, and was getting frustrated. I had some good lucids with WBTB, WILDing, and MILD but they too seemed to not work very often. I bought the Advanced Lucid Dreaming book. I wasted a lot of money on the supplements which as I stated worked very poorly for me, as well as many other supplements I heard about here or thought up on my own. I have tried all the techniques suppossed to help with supplements but that didn't help much either, and when it did, was it really the supplements or the technique? It is my position that it is the technique and the fact that you expect it too work therefore it does.

True supplements do boost nuerotransmitters and chemicals in your brain, but does that translate into more vivid dreams, or increased likelihood of becoming lucid? Perhaps, for the first time or two, then your body becomes accustomed to it and at least for me, it doesn't work very well. I know about taking time off from supplements before trying them again, but it didn't matter.

I've stopped taking supplements for a couple of days now, if anything I've had more dreams than before, no they weren't lucid, but very few were when I was trying some different supplement every day either. And I've tried Galantamine enough times to know that for me it doesn't do anything, except keep me awake if I take it at WBTB, and make me sick.

I know a lot of people like it, fine, I wish you all the best, but could it be that you are just naturally talented anyway, and just believe the supplements are helping? As I said, if you WBTB, take something, and expect it to work your mind may create it for you, if you can do this well you may do fine with just WBTB or MILD methods without supplements.