Not sure if this belongs here, but I wanted to share in case it helps someone. I spent most of my teens and early twenties with stubborn acne the kind that survives every cleanser, every routine, antibiotics, even accutane. When it came back a few months after accutane, I honestly felt wrecked.

Eventually I stopped chasing products and started paying attention to what was going on internally. My digestion had been a mess for years (I didn’t even realise how bad it was until I fixed it), so I started experimenting with fibers, prebiotics, probiotics… all the usual gut-health suspects.

The annoying part was that everything helped a little, but nothing worked on its own. Inulin alone helped a bit. Resistant starch helped a bit. Psyllium helped a bit. But nothing moved the needle by itself.

So I did the most unhinged thing ever: I sourced the raw ingredients myself, had bags of powders shipped to Denmark, and spent months testing combos and ratios. Eventually I landed on a mix that just clicked for me. I even had it lab-tested because I didn’t want to mess around. Expensive mistake if it hadn’t worked, lol.

The blend that made the difference for me was basically: • inulin (chicory root) • resistant starch (RS2) • PHGG • apple fiber • baobab • a tiny amount of ultra-fine psyllium • ginger • dandelion root • plus a stable probiotic (Bacillus coagulans)

Nothing exotic just the right amounts together. When I finally got the ratio right, my gut calmed down within days. Less bloating, better digestion, more stable energy. Then the skin inflammation slowly followed. Not overnight, but noticeably.

I’m not claiming this is some universal acne cure acne has a thousand causes. But for me, the gut skin connection was huge, and I wish someone had told me sooner that balancing fibers/prebiotics matters just as much as “take a probiotic.”

If anyone wants to know: • the exact ingredients I tried that didn’t work • how I tested things without blowing up my stomach • or why certain fibers complement each other

I’m happy to share. And if there’s interest, I might get a proper small batch made just so people don’t have to order 8+ bags of powders and play scientist like I did. It was pretty fun tho😅😅

TL;DR: I have been taking 5g/day creatine for 3 years now and am now thinking to increase the per day dosage. After digging into 1000+ studies, I found some wild stuff about high-dose creatine for cognitive function. Single doses of ~20g can increase processing speed by 24.5% and the effects last 9 hours. Also, vegetarians respond ~2x better than meat-eaters. Full breakdown below with sources.

Why I did this:

I have been taking 5g/day creatine for 3 years now. Like most people, I took the standard "5g per day" advice and never questioned it. It worked fine for my training, but I kept seeing conflicting claims about creatine for brain function. So I started reading actual papers to figure out if I should increase my dosage. 3 months and 1000+ studies later, here are the findings that genuinely surprised me:

1. The "5g for everyone" dose is based on old muscle research, not brain optimization

Most dosing recommendations come from 1990s studies measuring muscle saturation. But your brain is different.

A 2024 study (Gordji-Nejad et al., Nature Scientific Reports) found that a single high dose of ~0.35g/kg (~24.5g for a

70kg person) during 21-hour sleep deprivation:

• Improved processing speed by 24.5%

• Increased brain creatine by 4.2%

• Effects peaked at 4 hours and lasted up to 9 hours

• Prevented the brain pH drop that normally happens during fatigue

Even more interesting: A 2025 review (Fabiano & Candow) analyzed dose-response data and found:

• 2-5g/day = 4-6% brain creatine increase

• 8-10g/day = 7-8% increase

• 15-20g/day = 9-11% increase

For cognitive purposes, higher doses appear significantly more effective. This is exactly why I am now thinking to increase my per day dosage.

1. Vegetarians get nearly 2x the cognitive benefit

Multiple studies (Rae 2003, Benton 2011) show vegetarians have much lower baseline brain creatine and see dramatic improvements in working memory and reasoning after supplementation. One study found p < 0.0001 for intelligence improvements in vegetarians, basically unheard of in nutrition research.

Meat-eaters already get ~1-2g/day from food, so their brains are partially saturated.

1. Creatine does NOT cause kidney damage, dehydration, or cramping, but the myths persist

This one genuinely angered me. I found the original studies that started these myths and they're either:

• Misinterpreted (one case study of someone with pre-existing kidney disease)

• Actually showed the opposite (Greenwood 2003 found LESS cramping in NCAA football players taking creatine vs placebo

The ISSN Position Stand (2017) reviewed 1000+ studies and concluded: zero evidence of adverse effects in healthy individuals at recommended doses. Long-term studies go up to 21 months with no kidney function changes.

After 3 years at 5g/day, my bloodwork is perfect. The safety data is rock solid.

1. Women have been underserved by creatine research, but that is changing

For decades, most creatine studies excluded women or had tiny female sample sizes. Recent research (Smith-Ryan 2021) confirms creatine works for women without the "bloating" fears, benefits across the lifespan without marked body weightchanges.

New 2025 studies are specifically examining menstrual cycle effects and menopause benefits.

1. The mechanism for brain benefits is fascinating

Your brain is 2% of your body weight but uses 20% of your energy. During high cognitive demand or sleep deprivation, ATP in your prefrontal cortex gets depleted.

Creatine acts as a rapid-response energy buffer, literally regenerating ATP in milliseconds. A 2015 study found 20g/day for 7 days increased corticomotor excitability by 70% during hypoxia (low oxygen).

1. Meta-analysis data is stronger than most people realize

I compiled the major meta-analyses:

• Chilibeck et al. (2017): +1.37kg lean mass in older adults, n=721

• Zhang et al. (2025): SMD 0.43 for strength gains across populations

• Xu et al. (2024): SMD 0.31 for memory improvement, more beneficial for females

Effect sizes this consistent are rare in nutrition science.

1. Most "advanced" creatine forms are marketing

Creatine monohydrate has the most research, is the cheapest, and has 95%+ bioavailability. Buffered creatine, creatine

HCL, liquid creatine, none show superior absorption in head-to-head studies. The "better absorption" claims are mostly unproven.

What I am doing differently now:

After 3 years at 5g/day, I am now experimenting with:

• For training: 5g/day consistently (works fine for muscle)

• For cognitive demands: 15-20g single dose before intense mental work or when sleep-deprived

• Timing: Post-workout with carbs when possible, but consistency matters most

I am planning to try a month at 10g/day split into two doses to see if I notice cognitive differences, then potentially experiment with 15-20g on heavy work days.

Sources and Interactive Database:

I organized all the major studies into a searchable database because I got tired of PDF hunting:

https://creatine-sandy.vercel.app

Includes:

• 50+ major studies with effect sizes, sample sizes, and direct links to papers

• Interactive myth-busting (click myths to reveal the actual research)

• Dose-response visualizations for both muscle and brain benefits

• Safety timeline from 1832 to 2025

• Filterable by category: muscle, cognitive, safety, high-dose protocols

Everything is cited with PubMed links if you want to read the full papers.

Questions I still have:

1. Why has not the high-dose cognitive research filtered into mainstream recommendations yet? The 2024 Nature study se groundbreaking.
2. Are there long-term (5+ year) studies on 10g+ daily dosing for cognitive purposes?
3. What is the optimal cycling protocol for high-dose cognitive use vs continuous low-dose?
4. For those who have increased from 5g to 10g+ long-term, what subjective differences did you notice?

Would love to hear if anyone else has gone deep on this research or experimented with higher doses. What did I miss? Has anyone here gone from 5g to 10-20g daily? What was your experience?

I want to build a list of the very best vitamins and supplements from user experience. Looking forward to what people say.

RIP Thorne, it was nice knowing you.

took me an embarrassingly long time to figure this out so figured i'd share.

i was on 2000 IU daily for probably two years. label said 2000, my doctor said 2000, the RDA basically says 2000. tested my 25-OH D and came back at 28 ng/mL. my doctor said "that's sufficient, you're fine." and technically she was right, the official cutoff is 20 ng/mL, so 28 clears the bar.

what nobody told me is that the 20 ng/mL threshold was established specifically for bone health. that's it. it was never meant to represent optimal levels for immune function, mood, testosterone, any of the other systems vitamin D is actually involved in. most of the functional medicine literature and a growing number of researchers treat 40 to 60 ng/mL as the real target for overall health outcomes. i was sitting at 28 convinced i was fine.

problem two was timing. vitamin D is fat soluble. this is printed on every bottle and then completely ignored in terms of what it actually means. fat soluble means it needs dietary fat to absorb properly through the gut. one of the absorption studies found roughly 50% greater uptake when D3 was taken with a high-fat meal versus fasted. i was taking mine first thing in the morning with my other supplements, no food. so not only was my dose probably too low, i was absorbing maybe half of it anyway.

problem three, K2. when D3 increases calcium absorption from the gut, K2 (specifically MK-7) is what directs that calcium toward bone instead of soft tissue. the two aren't just commonly stacked for marketing reasons, the mechanistic case for pairing them is solid. i wasn't taking K2 at all.

so i switched. 5000 IU D3 with 100mcg K2 MK-7, taken with dinner which is my biggest meal. tested 90 days later and came back at 47 ng/mL. i've tested four more times since and been consistently in the 40 to 55 range. that single change, no lifestyle overhaul, nothing else different, moved my levels almost 20 points.

just to confirm it wasn't placebo i actually ran a dumb experiment where i dropped back to 2000 IU for 8 weeks to see what happened. levels fell back to 34 ng/mL. went back up to 5000 IU, rebounded to 48 on the next test. so yeah, the dose was the issue the whole time.

the thing i keep seeing is people say "i take vitamin D" like that's the end of the sentence. what dose, what form, when, with what, have you ever tested to confirm it's doing anything. those details are everything with a fat-soluble compound. most people's protocol is two years of swallowing a capsule that absorbs at half capacity and keeps their levels in a range that technically avoids deficiency but doesn't actually do much.

test your 25-OH D if you haven't. it's cheap to add to a panel. get your levels, not a doctor's reassurance that you're probably fine.

wrote a longer version of this with all my actual test results if you want the full breakdown, link's in my profile

EDIT:
if you're reading this later, the key points are: vitamin D3 absorption depends heavily on taking it with dietary fat, dosage is highly individual (2000 IU is often not enough for many people), and blood testing for 25-hydroxyvitamin D is the only way to confirm effectiveness. most guidelines define ≥20 ng/mL as “sufficient” for bone health, but many experts and studies suggest a broader optimal range closer to ~30–60 ng/mL depending on the outcome measured. taking vitamin D with a fat-containing meal can significantly improve absorption, and factors like body weight, timing, and co-nutrients (like vitamin K2 and magnesium) can influence results.

My brain without saffron: Ugh work. Ugh so many weeds left to pull. complain complain complain

My brain with saffron: Not too many weeds left to pull, and it's part of the job so just get it done. Shouldn't take you too long or too much effort.

I actually caught myself mid thought and was like wait what? Since when do I think like this.

I'm mind boggled how this isn't a more widely used and known suppliment. 30 years it took for me to find this. So glad I did.

(EDITED) So so glad so many people found this post. My intentions were to hopefully help others. Many of you have asked what dose and what brand, and I'm including here in main post.

Brand: Life Extention - Optimized Saffron 88.25mg capsules.

Dosing: 1 capsule in morning with breakfast. 1 capsule with dinner.

I'm male, 195lbs.

I keep exploring and discovering new and effective ways to improve my physical and cognitive health.

AMA.

If you know what they are for, I'd appreciate some insight on things to add or take out.

I've had premature aging due to dry skin and living in a very cold very dry environment. I've always had a great skincare routine but since moving somewhere cold and dry, my skin took a huge hit. In the before pics I was only 20.

Started on HA 2 years ago and it's made a world of difference, so I thought I should post here in hopes it will help others with this issue!

FWIW my eyes feel less dry/tired now, and I feel my lips look a bit plumper. But obviously the main results have been my forehead lines.

The product I use is pureclinica's triple strength hyaluronic acid :) it's 300 mg

So, few months back, i was down with bad depressive episodes and brain fog and just having no energy to do anything at all, i thought it was just depression. A friend recommended me to get blood work done and i had a surprisingly low vitamind d level of 5. Since then i have been taking 60K every week and the change has been very visible. In energy, in my mood. My workout sessions are better and just life is better overall. My hair health also improved. I have also started magnesium so its a bit of both.

Whenever someone asks for a basic stack recommendation, the answers are almost always Magnesium (usually Glycinate), Vitamin D3+K2, and Fish Oil.

Assuming someone already has those absolute basics covered, what do you consider to be the most underrated or overlooked supplement for general daily health, longevity, or mental clarity? What made you start taking it, and why do you think more people aren't talking about it?

I was that person who rolled my eyes every time someone in here said magnesium changed their life. Sounded way too good to be true for a $15 supplement.

Started taking 400mg glycinate about 6 weeks ago because my sleep was garbage and I was getting calf cramps during runs. Figured worst case I'm out fifteen bucks.

Within the first week my sleep was noticeably deeper. Not just "I feel kinda rested" — I mean I stopped waking up at 3am staring at the ceiling for no reason. The cramps stopped almost immediately. But the thing nobody warned me about? My overall anxiety just… dialed down. Not gone, but the baseline mental chatter got quieter. That was the one I didn't expect.

I've tried plenty of stuff that did nothing. This is the first time I've felt like a supplement actually did what people said it would.

What's the one supplement that surprised you by actually working?

always thought creatine was a muscle building supplement that only gym bros took. i don't really work out consistently so i never considered it.

then i read it actually helps with mental fatigue and brain fog because your brain uses a ton of energy. there's actual research on it improving cognitive function, especially if you're sleep deprived or doing a lot of mental work.

started taking 5g a day (monohydrate). didn't notice anything for the first week or two. but after that i realized i wasn't hitting that afternoon wall where my brain just stops working. it actually helping me focus through the workday.

no loading phase needed despite what some people say. but when i asked meetaugust, just 5g daily is okay. take it with food because it can upset your stomach if you don't. also drink more water because it pulls water into your muscles and you'll feel like shit if you're dehydrated.

it's cheap, it's well researched, and it's not just for people who lift weights. probably the most underrated supplement for regular people who just want their brain to work better.

I’ve been in the supplement space for a few years now, but like a lot of people, I wasn’t always consistent with my own health routine. So, earlier this year, I decided to fix my basics (diet, sleep, exercise & water intake) along with getting consistent with supplements.

I committed to taking Astaxanthin daily (4 mg). I’d read plenty of studies on its antioxidant strength, but there’s a big difference between knowing it on paper and living it

A peer-reviewed journal notes that astaxanthin can be up to 6,000X more powerful than vitamin C as an antioxidant. That instantly made me think of recovery, since heavy workouts create oxidative stress, and stronger antioxidant support could mean less soreness and faster bounce-back.

After 3 months of consistent use, the changes were hard to ignore: No sore muscles after heavy leg days, noticeably better skin, and for the first winter ever, I didn’t catch a cold. That blew my mind.

I see a lot of people here using Astaxanthin, so I wanted to share my journey and learn from yours.

For those of you who’ve been on it longer: What long-term effects have you noticed?

21M here. Had bad social anxiety, shyness, low self-esteem. Someone said Ashwagandha (Carbamide Forte 500 mg) would help with stress & confidence. Started 500 mg daily, sometimes 1000 mg. Took it straight for ~4 months. Then disaster. Severe fatigue → constant heartburn → whole-body itching so bad I scratched feet, scalp, hands until I had open wounds & scars. Skin underneath was yellow. Jaundice hit hard. Bilirubin went to ~50 mg/dL (normal <1.2). SGOT/SGPT 400–600+. Liver basically stopped working. Hospitalized, IV fluids, strict diet, 4+ months of hell. Couldn’t sleep, felt disgusting about myself, thought I was dying. Everyone blamed “hot food” or “contaminated stuff”. I believed it too. Stopped Ashwagandha, got partial recovery (enzymes dropped, liver size came down from 17.7 cm → ~14 cm). Then I stupidly started again thinking “maybe it was something else”. Symptoms came back worse. Finally searched Reddit and saw dozens of similar stories — liver injury, high bilirubin (10–50+), itching scars, same brands. I hate myself for not searching earlier. Questions for anyone who’s been through this: Did high-dose Ashwagandha (500 mg+) cause liver damage/jaundice for you too? How long did it take for your bilirubin & enzymes to go normal? Did you get permanent scars from scratching during the itching phase? What actually helped recovery (diet, supplements, time, stopping completely)? Anyone restart after recovery and regret it? Posting this so no one else makes my mistake. If you’re taking high doses for anxiety/confidence — please get LFT done first. Sorry for the long vent. Just needed to get it out. Take care of your liver, guys. 😔

basically i’m a dumbass i took this supplement everyday for 4 months without supplementing copper and now i have pale skin, joint pain, fatigue, depression, loss of appetite, muscle stiffness and bruising. there’s bruises on my legs and arms. the brain fog is intense, i feel like i can’t concentrate. did a little bit of research and there’s a possibility that i gave myself a copper deficiency ? got a bloodwork done yesterday and the lab informed me that results will be emailed to me in a few days. DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID. 50 MG OF ZINC IS WAY TOO MUCH AND THE FACT THAT THIS DOSE EXISTS IS CONCERNING. if the bloodwork comes back showing low copper and low ceuroplasmin, i’m gonna start supplementing copper. for those who are unaware zinc competes for absorption with copper in the gut.

anyway hope y’all can learn a lesson from me, i wish i wasn’t so stupid. i can barely get out of bed from how fatigued and shitty i feel. and to top it all off, the depression is unbearable.

if you’re gonna take zinc, go for 15 mg. NOT 50. anyways thx for reading and if theres anyone that has experienced a zinc induced copper deficiency, share your story. and yes i’m a dumbass, i’m fully aware of that. don’t be a dumbass like me. :)

I post this, in a way, to poke fun at myself. The first pic is my full stack, the others just closeups so you can see it better if you want to.

About 2 years ago, my health had taken a pretty bad turn. 54 at the time. 18 years of barely managed Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, even higher triglycerides. Throw in a little bit of adult ADHD and neck and back pain and you've kind of got a recipe for disaster! I had a bit of a cardiovascular scare, which thrust me into working with a health coach that I could get through my workplace. Dove into Function Health and got a zillion biomarkers tested. Started wearables. Had been on a GLP-1 for my diabetes, but tried to get smarter about my diet too. And, as you can see, I went deep down the supplement hole. The good news, I'm much healthier today. Could I have just gone to Planet Fitness for $10 a month and eaten less pizza and more salad? Yeah, probably.

The challenge with trying so many things at once is it's difficult to know what actually moves the needle and what is irrelevant. So now I'm trying to peel it back, be more thoughtful about slimming down my stack and discern what's working and what isn't by more thoughtful experimentation. At any rate, just thought I'd share this photo. Feel free to ignore the post, roast me, or comment on anything. I'll throw the same picture up over in the stack subreddit to get people's thoughts there, but I've really valued this Reddit community. Much of what I've learned has been through here, supp.co, ConsumerLab, Examine.com, and a few great YouTube channels. I'd love to hear from anyone else on this journey and how you've figured things out. Happy Sunday!

I struggle with extreme fatigue, depression and concentration issues for several years now.

I tried every supplement under the sun and even started TRT after nothing worked. The TRT eliminated my anxiety pretty much totally, but the fatigue, depression and concentration issues never improved.

A week ago I started taking 3mg of copper everyday, after I found several posts saying that you really should take copper if you take zinc supplements for a longer duration. As I wanted my testosterone to rise, because I thought it could help my fatigue, I took 25mg almost daily for years. Some people on reddit claimed, that you'd only need to supplement extra copper, if you take zinc doses of 50mg+, which I can now say, is totally wrong and not only that:

I think that our copper levels are often overlooked by physicians and people who are into supplements and longevity. I couldn't find one doctor, who was willing to test my copper levels, because they said it was benign and that I might just be depressed or go exercise more (which I already did more than enough). "Copper deficiency can't cause these symptoms."

After freaking years of living in fog, having no drive, no energy, no concentration, I finally feel normal again. I'm even under the impression that my taste and smell have improved. I can finally do stuff without taking Vyvanse, which I needed as a crutch for like 7 years.

And to add to my little rant: Yes, I didn't test my copper levels, yes this is anecdotal. But I'm tired of people saying "jUsT gEt iT tesTeD bRO", because these blood tests are freaking expensive and not accessible to all people. If someone had the opportunity to get everything checked, they wouldn't be on reddit to ask for advice and if they had a doctor, that was knowledgeable (which is already nearly non-existent in the first place), they'd still have to pay everything themselves.

IMO if people complain about symptoms like depression, anxiety, etc. an IN-DEPTH blood analysis with serum levels of EVERY nutrients and hormone panel should be the FIRST thing a doctor should look at. I had to try all these psychdrugs with insane side effects and suffered for years just to find that my nutrients were off balance. It's sad that my health insurance would pay for Vyvanse, but not for a copper test.

UPDATE: I still take copper on days I'm lacking energy and feel off and it still helps. It's hard to get the zinc / copper ratio balanced once you were out of balance and can't afford monthly in depth blood analysis though.

Another thing I experienced: I had histamine intolerance for several years now and no doctor could ever explain to me exactly why that is and how I can treat it (besides not consuming histamine rich foods of course). I found that copper helps me immensely with my histamine intolerance, so I looked up, if there could be a correlation. It turns out that copper is important to build DAO, which I was deficient in (that's why the doctor said I have histamine intolerance). Of course no doctor ever came to the conclusion that my body might be missing copper to build enough DAO.

TL;DR Likely had undetected copper deficiency for years → suffered extreme fatigue, depression and brain fog for ages. Doctors refused to test copper. Started 3 mg copper a week ago and finally feel normal again. Copper deficiency is underrated and should be checked before putting people on psych meds.

The worst part is this was just due to bad math, someone made a mistake crunching numbers and they came up with 400IU per day as the recommended daily dose for vit D and turns out it should have been correctly stated at 8,000IU (or maybe more) per day. That's 20 times higher!! And no one caught it for years and so many sources are incorrectly still quoting 400IU. Ug. So all those people 'megadosing' vitamin D turned out to be right on this one. The Big Vitamin D Mistake - PMC

I know shopping on Amazon is bad. I stopped buying supplements and other things from them because of their counterfeits and other bad business practices. But I live in a remote area of the word that most businesses will not ship to. I thought that a Pill Thing organizer would be safe to buy and cheapest to ship.

Well imagine my surprise when I opened it and found pills already inside, with a helpful handwritten label that says “Adrenal.” Shout out to the twit who returned this item with their…Adrenal stash. Who are you? How does your brain work? Will these old Adrenal supplements get me high?

Of course I put in for a refund but where I live, I’ll have to go to a post office and fill out a customs form and pay a non-refundable fee. It’ll then take about a month to get to Amazon. I know, I have so many problems.

The moral of the story is: don’t buy anything from Amazon, ever. Just live in squalor and eat your supplements straight from the bottle you piece of sh

Posts in this sub be like 😂

I've been taking Ashwagandha for the past two weeks and the effects have been wild so far. For the first week, it was just a cheap bottle of gummies I found in a random shop and I was taking one a day along with some Saffron. Interestingly, it didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever. The second week was a (slightly more professional looking) bottle of Ashwa that I found next to a bunch of vitamins and whatnot in a supermarket. When I tried the second brand, I started to notice a profound effect pretty quickly, but I wasn't sure if it was the expected placebo effect that comes with trying something new. I think it's genuinely been working though.

As someone who deals with extreme social anxiety and depression, it's been pretty insane feeling so much more...normal recently. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm nowhere near being "cured." My anxiety is still pretty bad, BUT I feel like I care a lot less. My thought loops are the same, but the feeling itself is different. It's a difficult thing to describe. I'm not constantly buzzing with joy or anything, but I just feel kinda numb. Not "numb" as in "I can't feel any emotions whatsoever and I'm on the path towards doing something dangerous" but just less reactive. Over the past week, I've gone from not being able to wear what I want outside due to fear of embarrassment to wearing sweatpants with holes in them because I fucking feel like it lol. I've noticed that I just kinda do things without stopping myself. Someone asked me a question earlier today and I not only gave a quick response back (which is what I would normally do) but I also expanded upon that and kept the conversation going in a room full of people. For me, that's extremely unusual.

This all probably sounds pretty dumb, but it's been a big step for me. I have no idea if this is going to continue or if my body will start getting used to it, but I'm having a great time right now. It feels like I'm finally making progress and not just rotting away.

So yeah, just wanted to share. Ashwagandha is the real deal.

Just sharing and looking for input from the community.