I received my SS-31, SELANK, and Semax today.

[PAPoots]

My protocol is Semax at breakfast and post lunch for brain fog. Selank is breakfast and a couple hours before bed to hold back stress and anxiety. SS-31 is for mitochondria support.
I've spent so many hours researching these and it seems the Russians stopped human trials around the early 2000s. And the research doesn't cover doses much and every applications was intranasal.
Any thoughts on the amount of pinning? I mean, is it worth the 2x per day regimen, or should I just take a larger Semax dose when I wake up and once dose of Selank before bed.

 

[Nachosupremeo]

My protocol is Semax at breakfast and post lunch for brain fog. Selank is breakfast and a couple hours before bed to hold back stress and anxiety. SS-31 is for mitochondria support.
I've spent so many hours researching these and it seems the Russians stopped human trials around the early 2000s. And the research doesn't cover doses much and every applications was intranasal.
Any thoughts on the amount of pinning? I mean, is it worth the 2x per day regimen, or should I just take a larger Semax dose when I wake up and once dose of Selank before bed.

I’ve been pinning 500mcg of semax and Selank for five days. First three days I pinned in the evening, had sleep disturbances (feeling wired) so the day before and yesterday I pinned Selank at night, still had sleep disturbances (feeling wired) so today I’m did both in the morning as soon as I woke up ill see how my sleep is tonight. Hopefully it’s more restful.

 

[byefatlicia]

I’ve been pinning 500mcg of semax and Selank for five days. First three days I pinned in the evening, had sleep disturbances (feeling wired) so the day before and yesterday I pinned Selank at night, still had sleep disturbances (feeling wired) so today I’m did both in the morning as soon as I woke up ill see how my sleep is tonight. Hopefully it’s more restful.

What kind of "wired"? like anxious or energetic or unceasing thought? Or just insomnia?

 

[MingHenry]

I am on a long ss-31 protocol (among other peps), currently pinning 4mg each AM, 2d pin of the day. It gives me great energy and puts me in a good mood. I pin selank at 700mcg at 9:30pm nightly, titrated up from 300mcg and moved hours around, with the goal of selank reducing my very high night-time cortisol. My current PM protocol is VIP 150mcg 3x a week at 9pm, Selank 700mcg at 9:30pm and KPV 2mg at 10pm - and I've been sleeping so much better. I note that I have been working on my sleep (which was in a 4-year insomnia phase) since September 2024.

 

[Nachosupremeo]

What kind of "wired"? like anxious or energetic or unceasing thought? Or just insomnia?

Racing thoughts, like I couldn’t shut my brain off. Which for me is not normal, usually when I lay down I’m out in ten minutes or less, with that stuff I was tossing and turning till 1 am. I’m about to go to bed here soon and I feel like I will probably have no issues tonight.

 

[Nachosupremeo]

So while not completely successful the morning pin did result in better sleep, this morning I decreased the dose by 50% I’ll see if there’s improvement tonight

 

[flutist-decades.2w]

I've never even thought of dosing these at night. I alternate Semax/Selank on slower, less demanding days with Adderall, or moda, or other things on more demanding work days.

It's totally different, but I still get that same focus, verbal fluency and confidence I get from stimulants, just more subtle and in the background.

SS31 has been incredible alongside mots. SS31 every morning 4-5 mg, and mots every couple of days and usually before a heavy workout day. They feel so good together, it's such a great amped but warm, cellular energy. I can't imagine trying these at night!

 

[PAPoots]

I've been pinning 5mg of ss31 along with 250mcg of selank, 500mcg of Semax, and my glow70. Then at 930 I pin another 250 Selank and take L-theanine and magnesium also. Still no improvement in my sleep after a week. I wake up like clockwork at 1am, 3am, 5am, and then again around 7. I am dreaming a lot more, usually intense dreams where I wake up angry. Then I'm awake thinking about the dream until I fall asleep again.

My sleep score on the watch is between 40&70.

I can't say I had anymore energy at the gym this am.

Thoughts? Should I skip the selank in the AM and double up on it in the evening?

It's driving me insane being tired all the time. It reminds me of the time I got some generic aspirin and after having headaches and trouble sleeping before I found out it was generic Excedrin. So I was taking huge doses of caffeine all days trying to get rid of a headache caused by lack of sleep.

 

[desinr-gal]

I am on a long ss-31 protocol (among other peps), currently pinning 4mg each AM, 2d pin of the day. It gives me great energy and puts me in a good mood. I pin selank at 700mcg at 9:30pm nightly, titrated up from 300mcg and moved hours around, with the goal of selank reducing my very high night-time cortisol. My current PM protocol is VIP 150mcg 3x a week at 9pm, Selank 700mcg at 9:30pm and KPV 2mg at 10pm - and I've been sleeping so much better. I note that I have been working on my sleep (which was in a 4-year insomnia phase) since September 2024.

Just curious, how do you know that you have high night time cortisol? Is there a way to test it? or do you have specific symptoms?

 

[MingHenry]

@desinr-gal I assume a blood test could be done for high nighttime cortisol, but it would have to be drawn at night when labs are closed, etc., so it's based on symptoms. For the last several years especially (but really for most of my life), I would get a huge energy surge starting around 10-11pm every night and whatever sense of end-of-the-day tiredness I should have felt or even did feel, would completely disappear and I would be energized, my brain intensely active and I could work/read for hours and would not feel any sense of tiredness or fatigue until 3-4am. And I have high AM cortisol - which is easily tested by fasted early AM bloodwork and mine has been tested 4 times a year for quite some time and it's always off the charts, so high PM cortisol prevents sleep and high AM cortisol means waking super early no matter the time I actually fell asleep. I was regularly getting about 3 hours of sleep per night and not sure how I did that or functioned as well as I did - especially now that I am actually going to sleep by midnight or so. My sleep has been a primary focus for me for more than a year - with peps and it's incredible that it is working so well now. Insomnia gone with only rare instances, sleep anxiety gone, falling asleep easily, sleeping deeply, often in 2 blocks of sleep, but when I wake I'm rarely up for more than a few minutes. I wake actually feeling like I've slept and am rested.

 

[flutist-decades.2w]

Have you gotten a chance to try Pinealon, Epitalon, or DSIP btw?

I’d be curious if these would be helpful for you

 

[MingHenry]

Have you gotten a chance to try Pinealon, Epitalon, or DSIP btw?

I’d be curious if these would be helpful for you

Yes I started with DSIP in September 2024, then added EPI, cycled off DSIP and have not used it again, but continued with the NA Epi Amidate for quite a number of months, and I am an ardent believer in both Epi and in Pinealon. Pinealon is amazing - and I am currently on it now - it immediately reset my circadian rhythm, from the very first dose. I have also found that TA-1/Thymulin (+ a zinc supp), KPV, Selank, and VIP are great for all their benefits, and specifically for my sleep. Knowing what I know now, I'd highly suggest anyone with deeply engrained sleep issues begin with Pinealon. AM dosing. And then VIP, PM dosing. And apart from pinealon, NA Epi Amidate at higher doses for anywhere from 10 days to months. I dosed Epi at 300-500mcg for months, and have also done a 750mcg 10 day protocol which was great. In my opinion, and based on my own research, much much longer protocols than 20 days are needed to address engrained issues and likely higher mcs than most seem to be using. I am currently dosing Pinealon daily AM, first pin of the day, 800mcg, other peps as well, and my night-time peps are VIP at 10pm 150mcg 3x a week (after a 30 night 100mcg protocol, reduced to 4x a week at 100mcg, then 3x a week at 100mcg, now at 150mcg), NA Selank Amidate 700mcg at 10:30pm and KPV 2mg at 11pm. I have found that tracking my sleep (no devices, just when I turn off the light, if I wake, how long I'm awake, when I wake for the final time) has allowed me to adjust both dose and timing of my peps, and right now my 10pm, 10:30pm, 11pm sequence is working really well for me. I haven't found a need to increase VIP beyond 150mcg, with NA Selank I started at 300mcg in the late afternoon, but while it reduced my night time cortisol, it was too low a dose and too early an hour to do anything more than blunt it for a bit. So I've increased dosing slowly and adjusted time and never adjust dose and timing at the same time. I isolate the variables so I know what is doing what. The other peps I'm am using in my protocol are geared towards central nervous system effects.

 

[MingHenry]

I've been pinning 5mg of ss31 along with 250mcg of selank, 500mcg of Semax, and my glow70. Then at 930 I pin another 250 Selank and take L-theanine and magnesium also. Still no improvement in my sleep after a week. I wake up like clockwork at 1am, 3am, 5am, and then again around 7. I am dreaming a lot more, usually intense dreams where I wake up angry. Then I'm awake thinking about the dream until I fall asleep again.

My sleep score on the watch is between 40&70.

I can't say I had anymore energy at the gym this am.

Thoughts? Should I skip the selank in the AM and double up on it in the evening?

It's driving me insane being tired all the time. It reminds me of the time I got some generic aspirin and after having headaches and trouble sleeping before I found out it was generic Excedrin. So I was taking huge doses of caffeine all days trying to get rid of a headache caused by lack of sleep.

I would suggest no selank in the AM, move it to evening.

 

[PAPoots]

I would suggest no selank in the AM, move it to evening.

My first sleep disturbance. So a full 500mcg in evening?

 

[MingHenry]

@PAPoots - your first sleep disturbance?! Ever in your whole life? If so, that is incredible! If you've been dosing 500mcg in the AM and aside from the fatigue it might be causing you, no other effects, yes move same dose to the evening. Or start over. I began NA Selank Amidate at 300mcg and changed timing and dosing over the course of several weeks. When you take it depends on why you're taking it.

 

[PAPoots]

My first sleep disturbance. So a full 500mcg in evening?

No, this was related to my previous thread where I have a disturbance about every 2 hours. It's clockwork, I woke up at 1:09 AM, again around 3:30 and then again around 5. Somehow, I managed to fall back asleep each time quick and clock in 7hr 44minutes. Samsung health gave me an excellent score. Yet I didn't feel rested at all.

Based on your rec at 11:22PM yesterday, I am going to try 500mcg in the evening, along with my Magnesium and l-theanine.