by dachshund » April 20th, 2005, 2:50 pm
[quote="Folsom_god":/\[url=(https?:\/\/[^\s\[]+):$uid\](.*?)\[\/url:$uid\]/i17428f6]has anyone tried taking vitamin b6 before bed it is said that it will help you lucid dream[/quote:/\[url=(https?:\/\/[^\s\[]+):$uid\](.*?)\[\/url:$uid\]/i17428f6]
Hmm, okay, I'll pipe up here; vitamin B6 may risk nerve damage in high doses, so be careful. Personally, I had some rather huge tablets to try to enjoy the other health benefits (weight loss, etc), noticed the numbness/tingling some warn of, and discontinued it. Didn't do much for my dreams, and I doubt you need to overdo it at the ridiculous level the manufacturer happened to formulate those tablets at (something like 1,/\[url=(https?:\/\/[^\s\[]+):$uid\](.*?)\[\/url:$uid\]/i/\[url=(https?:\/\/[^\s\[]+):$uid\](.*?)\[\/url:$uid\]/i/\[url=(https?:\/\/[^\s\[]+):$uid\](.*?)\[\/url:$uid\]/i% of the RDA, at least).
One thing that did work for me, when it comes to vivid dreams, was the combination of melatonin and DMAE, perhaps with methylcobalamin* or pantothenic acid (vitamin B5). The first one is, of course, the 'sleep hormone' of sorts (and you may wish to question its safety, if you want), while the last three prove 'alertness-supporting' compounds for my particular metabolism, and are generally considered pretty safe (give the DMAE some research, too). No need to go crazy**, follow label directions, I am not a doctor and make no claims, etc.
My personal protocol would be to gulp both about an hour before bed, with enough beverage to make sure it rinses down (not fun to swallow melatonin dry and realize it's just stuck in your throat until your morning coffee), then get into the habit of scribbling your dreams down in the morning if you're trying to steer them -- it's a pain, but if you develop the habit, you'll find you start "remixing" imagery, which makes it easier to recognize you're dreaming (and thus at least remember the interesting parts).
*Methylcobalamin's a "methylated" form of B-12; "dibencozide" is a similar form, and works just as well for me, while B5 is supposed to be present in everything but I find my stamina improves noticably with something like a 2/\[url=(https?:\/\/[^\s\[]+):$uid\](.*?)\[\/url:$uid\]/i/\[url=(https?:\/\/[^\s\[]+):$uid\](.*?)\[\/url:$uid\]/i%-4/\[url=(https?:\/\/[^\s\[]+):$uid\](.*?)\[\/url:$uid\]/i/\[url=(https?:\/\/[^\s\[]+):$uid\](.*?)\[\/url:$uid\]/i% RDA supplement (or at least, a multivitamin that includes it at all). YMMV, depending on your diet or genome any of this might do exactly squat... Though I do recommend the methyl B-12 to any vegetarians in the audience, if only as a tool to guess how deficient you might be getting.
**Trust me, melatonin in large amount doesn't exactly do anything other than make you sleep longer and leave your biological clock in limbo. It's exactly as recreational as being naturally tired, which is to say, not very at all.