E/C/A woes

[thebird]

Okay I decided to try the E/C/A (xenadrine) I took one as the bottle says in the morning and it made me nervous and jittery all day long. I didn't take the second in the afternoon because I was still rolling from the morning.

Well today I got some empty pills capsules and made a 1/2 size dose. The bottle says you should work up to 4 a day.

Will the 1/2 a pill twice a day have any effect? How long should I wait before trying 2 pills a day?

Has anyone else felt hyper sensitive to this stuff like this? I don't drink coffee or take ephedrine or asprin in any other form so I don't know what's up. I really want to try this but I'm worried about my health.

 

[FitFossil]

I am very sensitive to fat burner type supplements and have never needed the full dose. Although I've never taken Xenedrine, I have taken other brands. I figure the recommended dosages are based on men anyway, so I always start with less than the recommended amount and work up if I need to.

Usually I just take one pill before my morning workout and maybe another before lunch - but never later (unless I know I'll be wanting to stay awake late). Everyone reacts to these differently.

 

[Temple]

Full doses - 1 cap sets my hair on fire!!

 

[backintoit]

I tried it I went went haywire.
They recommended 4 caps in the morn and 4 in the afternoon.
I did one bottle and am taking a break.
The next one I am dosing down.

 

[Y2Kylee]

I take 1 first thing in the morning and 1 30mins before I train in the afternoon which works fine for me and gives me that extra boost in the gym.

Y2Kylee

 

[MS]

I can't handle ephpedrine at all. Caffeine is no problem, but ephedrine does unpleasant things to my heart beat. A quarter or half dose is a good idea to begin with. MOST people will get used to ephedrine pretty quickly and you shouldn't notice the sides after 1-2 weeks. If the jitters persist longer than this, then STOP. You could try NCA or NYCA (that's NOR-ephedrine plus caffeine etc....) Or just decide that adrenergic stimulants are not a good idea for you. Everyone is different in how they respond to these drugs. If they make you feel bad, then don't continue to take them.

 

[Fennec]

I can't take the full dose either. I start at one in the morning and one around noon, then after a week or two, kick it up to 2 in the morning and 2 at night, and that's about it for the remaining weeks I take it. I can't do the Hydroxycut recommended dosage of 4 and 4. I like Xenadrine better, it seems smoother, less jitters and sleep problems.

Fennec

 

[skydancer]

I've definately adapted to fat burners. When I first tried them last year, one capsule (if the dose was 2 at a time) was plenty to send me through the roof). Now I can handle the full dose. But I DO take several weeks off periodically, at least a month or two at a time. When I'm taking fb's regularly I'll most often cycle every weekend off. Currently I take the max dose when I'm doing both cardio (in the morning) and lifting (in the eve) on the same day. On days when I'm not doing cardio I'll cut the dose in half.

A big tell tale sign that your body developed a dependancy is if you stop taking it for a day and you can barely move around for lack of energy. Time to take a break when that happens!!

A lot of women like the nor-ephedrine products as they seem to be less harsh on the CNS. But the only one I tried with nor also had yohimbine in it and it made me feel cruddy.

Hope this helps!

------------------
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. - Socrates

 

[thebird]

Hey guys thanks for all the advice I'm up to 1.5 a day and I think I'll stick with it. Doing 1/2 a pill twice a day seems to be a good way to start for smaller (but not weaker!) bodies.

 

[junebug]

I have been taking xenadrine off and on for about 3 weeks now. I find that the most I can take is one in the morning and another around lunch time. Some days I feel like my hair is crawling with bugs and other days I'm fine. It just depends on how active I am.

I think it is a good idea to cut the dosage until your body gets used to it.

Good luck!

 

[wynnyelle]

(i'm new here, so bear with me)

I've been taking ripped fuel 1 to 2 capsules a day--one in morning, one in afternoon, for a week now. 2 seems to be too much for me esp. taken with half or a quarter of a tablet of aspirin. also i took one ripped fuel this morning, before an intense cardio session (it didn't improve my workout, but i never had an energy problem anyway) and a few hours later, had, a few times, what felt like this extra beat in my heart or just under my heart--heart palpitations? Sounds like it to me. anyway it scared me and i've decided to either cut back further to 1/2 capsule/no aspirin, or if that doesn't work, switch to another product, with no ephedra. i suspect ephedra and me, we just don't mix. of course i added a tiny bit of aspirin to the stack and that seems to worsen things for my stomach, from now on no aspirin with it.

i highly suspect that the products were tested on men, and that women need much smaller dosages. you know like alcohol and other stuff affects women more strongly than men of the same size, well it could be the case for these drugs too. most of the incidents involving injury/death with ephedra taken in normal dosages seem to be women... that's my observation anyway. i only weighed 112 lbs to start with so i knew from the outset that i wouldn't need 6 pills a day.

norephedrine, would that be a better thing for me to try? or would it just mess with my heart the same way?

 

[futurebird]

off ECA

I stopped taking my ECA a week ago. It was hard to quit, but here is a plan for tapering off (I do plan to go back on, but it was losing it's kick, so I figured I'd lay off for a bit)

day 1 - just have caffeine and aspirin half the E
day 2 - half the caffeine and aspirin
day 3 - same deal
day 4 - no more caffeine, extra aspirin (this is the worse day)
day 5 - half aspirin
day 6 - You're clean with no big crash


How long should I weight before using the ECA stack again?

Susan

 

[jennstar]

i have been taking the exenadrine for about a month now the first day i took it i felt so sick i was shaking really bad and i fealt really nausiated i took two pills in the morning and that was it i continued to take it because i thought my body just needed to build a tolerence for it it took about a week and i fealt fine now i take two capsules a half hour before my cardio in the morning on an empty stomach and two again at around 12:00 i suggest you try it for about a week and see how it goes if you still feal bad then obviously its not for you

 

[cyberflash]

i take only one in the morning ... and it is still effective ... DON'T follow the 4 caps/day ... for me 2 caps is effective enough

 

[wynnyelle]

i had no withdrawal coming off it so far, haven't taken one since yesterday morning. probably because i've been taking such a low dose...the eca does kill your sex drive tho.

may try 1/2 pill on full stomach, with no aspirin...don't want those palpitations coming back, so i gotta watch it, if i get them again i'm switching to something else. then again i also don't want to rely completely on this stuff for fat loss. my diet/workouts were already in place a while before i started and i wasn't gaining weight before i started. i lost two pounds this week, that's a lot for little me.

Anyone have trouble keeping the weight off once they stop, even if they stick to the diet and workouts?

 

[chabbah]

I've been seriously considering starting on an ECA but am worried about the dangers. Although I personally have never had heart problems, my family is riddled with heart disease, and most brands of ECAs warn you not to take them if you have a "family history" of heart disease.

I'm guessing some of you also have a family history of heart problems but take the stuff anyway. Am I right?

And I've also wondered if my reaction to non-drowsy Sudafed is an indication of how I would feel on an ECA. I tend to get heart palpitations on the regular dose of Sudafed. Is this a sign of what I might expect on an ECA?

 

[futurebird]

Sudafed contains ephedrine and yes the response would be similar. Maybe try making your own ECA stack, buy caffine pills Ephedrine pills and some asprin and take them in ammounts that feel safe.

 

[wynnyelle]

if you can take it safely, why not try it. you can always stop. and it DOES take the fat off. in one week of taking one or two pills a day i'm seeing a difference. i imagine two more weeks of e/c/a and my lower abs will come into view, which is why i'm doing this.


but when i go off it will the fat come back?

 

[futurebird]

Having messed with it for a bit I can say no, well not in the first two weeks off it at least...

 

[wynnyelle]

thanks. no matter what people may say i don't want to be on this stuff 365 days a year!

 

[futurebird]

I read on one of the threds in the guys forum that it stops working if you do that anyway. Most people say no more than three weeks at a time.