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Comment by krylon | Hacker News Reader

I once spent a boring Sunday afternoon researching the alternatives on Wikipedia.

As far as I could find out, they are illegal (Amphetamine), prescription-only (Modafinil) and/or very bad for your health (Methamphetamine). Amphetamine and Methamphetamine are also rather addictive and apparently quitting once you formed a habit is no fun. Ephedrine might be an alternative, but in Germany, it's prescription-only, and I did not care enough to research the possible health issues it might cause. I vaguely remember there were a few substances that sounded promising, but they were fairly new, and I could not find out anything about their possible health effects, addictive-ness, etc...

So it's either caffeine or plenty of sleep, at least for me.

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Uh... I hope I dont ruin anyones life talking about the legal solution...

So I found that psudoephedrine (cold medicine) is pretty darn close to amphetamines.

Find the 12 hour, 120mg capsules. I think you get 20 pills for like 6 dollars. Basically I'd take 2 saturday morning. Wait a half hour and drink caffeine as needed through the day.

Wow. I'm talking from 5AM until 2AM I am able to work. Not just stuff I enjoy, but even the worst of work.

Gl, dont get screwed by CVS's placebo and crappy brand name psudoephedrine. Be responsible.

Pseudoephedrine is a scheduled drug, prescription only or available over the counter with various restrictions (such as e.g. showing ID) most places because it's sought after as a precursor to methamphetamine. Particularly be careful if you intend to take it over a border.

Yeah just show them your license.

I dont get it more than 1 time a month, but I have noticed that stores dont use the same database. You can go from CVS to walmart to the local pharmacy if you needed to.

But if you need more than 10 days a month of psudoephedrine, I wish I never recommended it to you.

I see a lot of Vitamin B6 being advertised for energy, is that all hype?

I don't think it's all hype, but there certainly is a lot of hype there, and most of the benefits will only come if you have a B-vitamin deficiency. Lots of people do, though, so there may be some benefit for quite a lot of people.

But on top of that, B-vitamin complex pills benefit from a lot of side-effects of high intake, including e.g. Niacin flushes and tingling effects, which I thin probably boost the perceived effect well beyond any actual effect.

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