JavierWhy are reviews so important?
If you were thinking of purchasing a car, you’d scour the market for the best one. If you were to watch a film, you’d refer to the star rating before buying your cinema ticket. If you wanted to go on holiday to a particular place, you’d listen to the friend who had already visited. Having prior knowledge of anything to which you are about to offer your money seems like a given.
However, screaming with greater importance than any of the above examples is the necessity of reading real reviews from real people who have tried various supplements. You can always change your mind about a material purchase but your health might not be as reversible. If you have made the decision to try a new drug, then the next step should surely be to find out more about it. The choice you have made is going to impact your body and your health, so it is worth having a snoop around before you commit to purchase.
The pharmacy industry – and particularly the online community it has generated – can be filled with falsities and unreliable accounts. There is certainly much caution to be taken when trusting a website offering your required product. They might sing its praises, and these might be in tune with your questions, but it should always be remembered that many websites are trying to sell their product to increase their profits. You are essentially agreeing to put your money and health in the hands of a computer system: a lot of technological codes and a few images, but not much personable reliability.
Word-of-mouth
Trust word-of-mouth. Trust those who, at one point, were in the same position as you. There are plenty of reviews on internet forums wherein the vast majority of queries that might crop up are answered by actual users of the drug. However, though their response may satisfy your question, it is always important to make sure the person providing the review is reliable as well. Who are they? Do they actively participate in the online community? Worse than trusting any old website is trusting a fake account.
Spotting a fake review
It might therefore be better to refer to the third party review software requiring the contributor to have purchased the product before. Verification for the user certainly validates their suggestions and advice. It is worth always remembering that subjectivity won’t equate to unanimous agreement. Meanwhile, a real person’s review is better than a computer company review; but your own judgement will always prevail over a potentially illegitimate account.
Considering above, it is worth learning about the tell-tale signs of a fake account. Here are some examples of potentially illegitimate reviews on a variety of discussion boards:
Here, moderators have accompanied the comment with a warning statement:
Notice that there is no accompanying info, just a link to an online seller. It appears a bit dodgy, and should be treated with caution if you are tempted to click the link to buy the product.
On this thread, the user has since deleted their account. However, their comment appears to be promoting the use of other “stuff” to protect the liver. Is this relevant? Its food for thought.
[–][deleted] 1 year ago
On certain fitness supplement sites they sell stuff that you’re supposed to take with oral steroids that supposedly protects your liver. If you’re really concerned I’d check those out.
An example for the lazy http://www.powerlabnutrition.com/liverclean1.html
Although better to be gone than clogging up the thread, it is always worth reading thoroughly to check that all comments link up. If they don’t, then an illegitimate user could have had their comment removed by the moderators and you might not even notice.
So, what exactly do we have to notice in order to realise inauthenticity? Always remember these four pointers.
Username
Obvious things to be wary of are contributors without proper usernames. These might include “Anonymous” or “Member”. On pages like Longe City, profile pictures accompany the names, so it is also worth noticing whether a default image remains. If this is the case, the user might be fake or not reliable and trusted on the discussion boards.
Profile Page
If they are regular and trusted contributors to the online community, then the number of posts they will have submitted will be of a fair amount. Pay attention, also, to how often they are online. This will be evident with the last time they submitted a post, for example, and usually this will be on a different thread than that which brought you to the profile page itself.
Post Content
There is cause for concern if a user chimes into the existing discussion with an irrelevant comment. The forum thread might be about the dosage of Adrafinil, but a person might pop up advertising a voucher code for a website selling the product. This obviously does not add anything to the conversation and suggests some kind of spam account used by a company.
Post Count
If their comment doesn’t seem out of place, then it is worth checking whether they return and/or answer other questions posed by fellow contributors. For example, a user might seem to agree with a previous comment about Adrafinil dosage, and their comment might seem legitimate. However, if another user directly asks them a question to which they never reply, then something will seem off. Regular and trusted users will continually check the threads for replies and, if they have sincere intent, will agree or disagree with other comments. Humans converse with each other, fake accounts don’t!
Adrafinil experiences
You’ve located a forum that seems legitimate. As you scroll, it is good to differentiate between the reviews that speak of the product itself, i.e. its effectiveness and so on, and those that talk about the service of the product, i.e. whether it came from a legitimate website. This review by mkith on Reddit, for example, begins by commenting on a previous contributing user’s reluctance to use Adrafinil, but then focusses more on the laws surrounding the product itself.
It is not a review but rather a suggestive addition to the thread that, while fairly helpful in terms of explaining drug legitimacy, offers little help by way of discussing its actual bodily effect:
Agree you are already on some meds plus you are young, you should have tons of energy. ?
I’m not actually 100% sure on the laws. I think it is legal to order prescription meds for personal use. I forget modafinil is scheduled though, don’t know why it got that label
Of course, this is good information to have in order to build a full picture before purchase. Sourcing your supplement from a reliable place, and knowing that your purchase is all above board, is equally as important as finding out about the drug itself. However, this will surely come after you’ve researched the effects and made the educated decision that this is the supplement for you. Only then are you ready to move onto the next step of physically locating the product from an online seller and double-checking its authenticity.
This is why potential users should always first take note of the reviews that discuss physical experiences of the drug.
Take TrashPockets’ offering on Reddit, for example:
I’m a 5’10” 250lb male and a student. I have some ADD symptoms and while traditional stimulants are fun, I don’t really like the idea of taking them regularly. So I did some research and found the afinil family a while ago. I finally decided to pull the trigger on some adrafinil to test the waters on modafinil before I committed to the lengthy and (somewhat) costly process of buying 50-100 pills of a drug I’ve no experience with.
I’ve been taking adrafinil (from Nootropics Depot) for about 5 days now and in short, I must say I approve. I’ve been experimenting with various doses, so I can’t provide much in the way of a guide for new people, but my experiences might help someone decide to pull the trigger.
Pros: *Enhanced energy and focus.
*I feel “up” all day, without the speedy feeling that stimulants offer.
…
Cons:
*I’ve been getting a little stomach irritation, nothing very bad and nothing I would describe as nausea, but I get occasional irritation nonetheless. Usually goes away pretty quickly, so there’s that.
*I get occasional headachy type feelings.
The review as a whole clearly explains the extent to which the product was thought to meet the user’s needs. Meanwhile, TrashPockets has been checked for validity: they are an active member of the community, having their email verified and a member for three years. Stats like these can be found by clicking on their username, which will bring up their profile user-page. Here, you can also access their contributions to other forum threads.
In terms of the review itself, the full description and inclusion of cons as well as pros is suggestive of TrashPockets’ simple intention of sharing his experience of Adrafinil in order to both guide potential new users, while inputting into the existing discussion on the topic.
Adrafinil user reviews
Once you’ve separated both fields of research into experience reviews and product reviews, it is much simpler to locate those that reliably answer your questions.
Google is a wonderful thing in that it brings up pages upon pages of possible locations for your queries, based on a few key words. It is easy to see that FAQ’s can be answered across the board if savvy searches are conducted and trustworthy sources are found thereafter.
Reddit offers many of these results. For example, I might wish to know whether a higher dosage than seems average for Adrafinil users will be damaging for me. One search and a whole thread of discussion appears. Here, user iwant2feel asks:
For Adrafinil, does higher dosage mean more potency of effects? Or does it only add on to the duration?
A plethora of responses follow. eebsamk, for instance, is given three points by other viewers of the forum, showing that his response is most helpful in the given context.
Also, you should account for the fact that the longer you use adrafinil, the adaptive mechanism of your body basically upregulates the enzymes that convert adrafinil to modafinil, so the conversion rate increases and at some point you can start using less adrafinil for the same effect. I’ve noticed this after about four weeks of 4x/week use. It’s kinda like tolerance, but in reverse.
Peak Nootropics adrafinil reviews
Peaknootropics.com claims to excel in customer service and the selling of quality products online. It sells the range of cognitive benefitting supplements, from Piracetam to Oxiracetam to, of course, Adrafinil.
However, it remains important to consider legitimacy despite the website stating its authentic range of products. This is why referring to user reviews on different forums will provide ample background through which you, the pontential user, can make your own informed decision.
Take idosv on Reddit, for instance. They ask the very important question of how to identify fake Adrafinil:
I bought Adrafinil powder from Peak Nootropics:
*orange colored
*non-soluble in warm water
*strongly smell like… marijuana, honestly
*no noticeable effects (150mg to 350mg; I’m a light female)
Should I try a higher dosage, or conclude that it may be fake?
Warning signs such as the above, as experienced by this particular user, should definitely be taken seriously. These unexpected results found in the colouring and smell of the product highlight the necessity of fully researching what authentic Adrafinil should appear as upon purchase. Without prior knowledge, this user would have been none the wiser as to the potential illegitimacy of their supplement.
What is more significant is that the user purchased the product from Peak Nootropics, the self-confessed trustworthy supplier, and still found cause for concern. This demonstrates how much caution should be taken in approaching the online purchase of a drug.
idosv responded later, however, with the following statement:
UPDATE: I got a script for Nuvigil and it also has no effect. I’m just a non-responder, unfortunately. My Adrafinil was legit.
It seems unnecessary that to test the authenticity of one product, a user must alternate to another as well. Full awareness and savvy market searches prior to purchase will remove this issue, meaning that once you are equipped with knowledge, there is less chance of feeling the need to test your tolerance of other supplements in order to ascertain the legitimacy of the first one you bought.
Indeed, Adrafinil has been found in the very vast majority of cases to do what it says on the packet, working as a completely safe and excellent cognitive enhancer minus many of the side effects seen with counterpart smart drugs such as Modafinil.
Spending more money on other similar products because you aren’t sure of the legitimacy of this particular one is wasteful, especially considering the benefits that can be had with authentic Adrafinil.
On the same thread, leemobile adds:
I ordered adrafinil from Peak Nootropics last month and from what you’ve described it is similar to what I got.
I also have armodafinil from a different source, and the Adrafinil from Peak Nootropics smells similar (the adrafinil smells way stronger, not sure if that’s because of the chemical difference).
The user has tested Armodafinil from a different source, making his account somewhat reliable. The response also validates idosv’s questioning of the product, with the consensus on the smell/appearance of Peak Nootropic’s Adrafinil being that different to what may have been anticipated. Reaching these sorts of conclusions, with an apparently full picture of expectation in mind, is important before clicking the “Buy Now” button.
Once you’ve explored one forum, it is worth swapping scene and searching another. This one on Longe City discusses the retailer itself. TVO asks:
Has anyone used peak nootropics yet, alot of people on reddit don’t recommend them. Starting to get a little worried since they don’t have the tests of there product on there website, and they don’t even send you a tracking code after the order. Already ordered 500g of priracetam from them. Has anyone else used them?
Interestingly, Peak Nootropics respond themselves:
In regards to the reddit community, they don’t like us because an SEO company we hired as well as one of our affiliates “spammed” their forum by posting promotional links. This is the reason they don’t have us as a recommended supplier. We have tried repeatedly to get off this and even got our products tested at the lab they recommended. As you can see in the reddit review, we have our purity testing which has been confirmed by the mods. We have done more confirmed third party lab testing than any other company on their “reliable supplier list”.
Case and point, two of the mods there don’t like us and have a personal vendetta to tarnish our reputation even after repeated attempts to console and even offering to make a financial restitution to the community. We love longecity though!
This is an example of how internet users should remain wary of online suppliers. The retailer itself admits to spamming Reddit forums, which is certainly unhelpful for those who simply want to find realistic contributions on the product and its effects. There seems to be animosity between the company and the forums. This is definitely concerning because Reddit is, for the most part, constituted of real people who buy Adrafinil and other smart drugs in their real lives. These users are the consumer on to which companies like Peak Nootropics rely.
Reddit themselves certainly acknowledge previous problems with spamming from Peak Nootropics. On their FAQ pagehere, they state that
“PeakNootropics has also been known to spam forums with shill accounts. This spam has tapered off and is no longer a significant issue.”
Luckily, then, they have removed much of the illegitimate reviews that cropped up, so potential users referring to the forum boards for the first time will most likely not encounter spam from the company. Always keep an eye out for similar issues from alternative sellers, though.
The forum responses that come afterwards criticise Peak Nootropics, but, again, this is indicative of how subjectivity can overwhelm during discussions. While some users such as TVO question the legitimacy of the company, others, like Murraythemailman, are approving:
This is my first post and would just like to add that peak was my first nootropic order placed. I received piracetam and alpha gpc over a month ago and cannot say a bad thing about peak. Very satisfied with company and their services
The whole thread discussion itself is worth a read to highlight the point of trusting your own judgement. It can be found here.
Adrafinil Absorb Health reviews
Absorbyourhealth.com claims to be a company with the belief that people should not have to “spend their live savings” to benefit their health. Like Peak Nootropics, the company sell various supplements but also offer free worldwide shipping and a money back guarantee. There is also a one day handling claim.
Adrafinil is the website’s best seller and can be bought in tablet form. What is more reassuring is that the company also offers products for immunity, sexual health, skin care, weight management and so on. It is an all-round health supplement supplier and is verified as a “doctor trusted” website. This information can be found if you look to the bottom right of the page.
Unlike Peak Nootropics, though, there appears little animosity between Absorb Health and online contributors. Natural Health Product’s review concurs that Absorb Health Adrafinil has clinically demonstrated its capability to “increment mental readiness and learning capacities”. The page, found here, goes on to discuss the pros of the product.
“What makes it all appear as a more legitimate review is the fact that the website itself does not supply any products; it simply claims to be the “best US supplement reviewer”.
Its job, therefore, is to either criticise or commend. Interesting, then, that the final statement of the article urges readers to purchase Absorb Health Adrafinil.
Plenty of forum readers are in agreement of the legitimacy and success when using Absorb Health Adrafinil. On Yahoo, for instance, Johnny adds to the dialogue:
Yes, absorb health adrafinil is a legit product I found them two years ago after my last distributor didn’t send me the amount of adrafinil I paid for, and I have had nothing but great experiences with them. Adrafinil is not regulated by the FDA, but they have the highest quality I have found. I have taken it for quite some time and was so glad to find an adrafinil distributor that actually took pride and value into their product and cared about their customers.
Reviews like these augment the view that Absorb Health is a more personable and accessible supplier. It is a family run company and this immediately suggests trustworthiness and a sense that profits are not paramount.
It is also worth referring to the many videos around the web wherein users explain their use of Absorb Health Adrafinil. Any general search will bring up the variety of contributions by online vloggers.
Olmifon user reviews
Olmifon was the marketed brand name of Adrafinil, but was discontinued in October 2011. While there are plenty of reports theorising the reasons for the discontinuation, the short conclusion is that the benefits/risks of Adrafinil were reassessed by the French Government and the results were inconclusive. These findings led to Cephalon, a biopharmaceutical company and original manufacturer of Olmifon, to stop marketing the drug in France.
The prodrug minus its manufactured moniker can still be obtained cheaply online and this is why much of the reviews found refer simply to “Adrafinil” rather than Olmifon. The drug is the same except for the return to its original title.
If, however, you were to find a product claiming to be called Olmifon now, warning bells should sound in your mind. It is coming up to four years since the manufactured product’s discontinuation, so any website now claiming to sell new packets of Olmifon should be treated with caution.