Semax + Selank daily for a year — what actually held up
41 posts
One-year followup. Semax every weekday morning, Selank every weekday afternoon, weekends off.
Doses: Semax 1% intranasal, ~300mcg per spray, 2 sprays per nostril AM = ~1.2mg. Selank 1% intranasal, same delivery, PM.
What held up: the AM Semax "lift" — reliably present, never habituated fully. Still lifts me ~20-30 min after dosing on a scale of "I feel like I can work" from 6/10 to 8/10. Subjective. Never did a blinded trial on myself and at this point I don't think I could.
What didn't: expected some kind of compounding cognitive benefit over months. Didn't materialize. The day-of effect is the effect.
Selank: this one surprised me. I expected mild anxiolysis. What I got was more like a floor on my anxiety response rather than a lower baseline. Less reactive to stressors. Day-of and also, I think, chronically.
Weekend washouts: I think these matter. When I've skipped washouts for extended periods the AM lift degrades. N=1.
Cost: ~$80/mo for both at typical sourcing. Manageable.
Downside: the AM dosing ritual is now part of my day. If I'm away from home I miss it. That's both a feature and a cost.
Questions for the cog-nerds: anyone run these longer than me? Anyone sensitive to Selank's chronic effect vs. acute? Anyone combined with anything unexpected?
- Semax · 600 mcg · AM intranasal · intranasal
- Selank · 250 mcg · as needed · intranasal
15 Replies
34 posts
Username obligation. Two years on Selank, similar pattern: floor not ceiling. Chronic effect is real in my experience but subtle and easy to miss until you stop and something stressful happens and you notice you're more reactive than you remembered being.
18 posts
Dihexa-free nootropic thread finally. I've stacked Semax AM with low-dose caffeine and it's synergistic in a way I can actually feel. Without caffeine, Semax is good. With, it's more than either alone.
23 posts
My experience after ~10 months on the same protocol mirrors yours almost exactly. Day-of effect holds. Expected chronic compound didn't appear. Selank floor-effect is real.
11 posts
Good thread. This is what responsible cog-peptide discussion looks like. I ran Semax for 3 months, confirmed day-of effect, dropped it for cost/ritual reasons not efficacy reasons.
23 posts
Curious whether you've tried Cerebrolysin courses alongside. Different mechanism, different time horizon. I run 10-day courses twice yearly and feel like it does something the Semax day-of can't.
41 posts
Haven't tried Cerebrolysin. Been tempted. The 10-day IM course is a logistical hurdle I haven't been willing to clear yet.
- Semax · 600 mcg · AM intranasal · intranasal
- Selank · 250 mcg · as needed · intranasal
205 posts
The "floor not ceiling" framing on Selank is the best description I've read. Stealing it.
- CJC-1295 no DAC · 100 mcg · pre-bed · sub-Q
- Ipamorelin · 200 mcg · pre-bed · sub-Q
- BPC-157 · 500 mcg · 2x/day · sub-Q
34 posts
That's fair. The chronic Selank claim is vibes-based. I'd believe a null result in a real trial. I just wouldn't expect the trial to capture whatever I think I'm noticing.
115 posts
I'll play the role. Semax acute effect is the best-supported claim in this thread — small trials, consistent effect. Selank chronic effect in healthy people: basically no good data. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying we should know which claims have support and which are vibes.
26 posts
The weekend washout observation mirrors mine. When I did a month straight no breaks the AM effect softened. Came back after a 2-day gap. Tolerance is real, reversal is fast.
- DSIP · 100 mcg · pre-bed · sub-Q
- Epithalon · 10 mg · 10d cycles · sub-Q
71 posts
There's some mechanistic rationale for intermittent dosing with ACTH/MSH fragment peptides — receptor cycling. So the washout thing isn't just vibes.
35 posts
Newb question: is intranasal the only reasonable delivery? I see SC protocols online. Worse? Better?
41 posts
SC is used but most of the Russian literature is intranasal. For cog effects the nasal route seems preferred. I've never done SC for either.
- Semax · 600 mcg · AM intranasal · intranasal
- Selank · 250 mcg · as needed · intranasal
22 posts
Adding this to my shortlist. Appreciate the cost transparency — that's usually missing.
2 posts
This is the most useful thread I've read on these two peptides. Saving.