Ever since watching the movie LIMITLESS, which introduced me to the concept of nootropics, I’ve been looking for a real-life pill to help with my concentration and focus. I’ve tried several of the years, from Excelorol to Trubrain to Adrafinil and few others, all to no avail. Well, I saw this product, THRIIV pop up in my recommendations on Ebay, and thought I’d give it a shot.

Thriiv is one of four different pills created and sold by this company NOOTRIPURE LABORATORIES, which also has a “foundation” that promotes “mental wellness through superior neuroscience technology, research, and education.” Well alrighty then. Thriiv in particular is promoted as “The most effective cognitive enhancement product in the world. Thriiv is a quick-acting and 12 hour lasting boost of energy, creativity, confidence, and concentration designed to maximize your productivity.”

It’s an impressive-looking website, although I noticed that their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter profiles seemed to be rather bare and not updated often. I also noticed that they crowdfund the creation of their products. And I found this impressive review.

I had high hopes when I ordered this product, it looked and sounded like just what I needed, and the company representative that I spoke to via Ebay, someone named Chris, answered all of my questions thoroughly and seemed very optimistic that they would work for me, even promising to include some extra samples for me to give to my friends with my “next purchase.” So I ordered a pack, and it arrived Monday, June 29th. It contained 31 pills, which is enough for 15 days of use, taking the maximum-suggested 2 per day. I’m not sure why there’s 1 extra.

First, I’ll note how I took them, which admittedly differed from the official instructions that come with the pack. The pack says to take  “1 in the morning and 1 at lunch, or take 2 at once.” It recommends taking it with “a small meal or a light snack.” Well, I don’t usually eat breakfast during the week, so I just took 2 of them first thing in the morning with a large glass of orange juice, right from the start.

It also recommends taking them on a 5-day schedule with two days off in-between, like taking them Mon-Fri, with one week off after three weeks, if you keep using it. I needed these mostly for writing that I do during the weekends, and when I told Chris that he (or she, I just realized that I was assuming Chris was a man, but I guess that could be a woman’s name) recommended that I take them a Thur.-Sun. schedule, which would give me an extra weekend of use during my first month, so that’s what I did. Starting on Thursday, July 2nd.

Well, the first two weeks I started taking it, I did notice a bit of an increase in energy. Not really energetic per se, but it would help me “wake up” in the morning, like taking a 200mg caffeine pill does (I never developed a taste for coffee), but there would be no afternoon crash, no “blah” feeling, like I’d normally get, so no need for an extra caffeine pill or 5-hour-energy shot to perk me up for the rest of the day. I was just steadily “up” all day long. So that was great!

But despite that, I didn’t notice any extra mental clarity or focus. But I was patient because it said it could take a while of regular use to be truly effective.

But by the third week, the energy was no longer lasting all day, the afternoon crash returned. Still with no extra mental clarity or focus. And that’s been the same up until my last day, Saturday, July 25, where I took my last 2 pills in the morning and had to take a separate caffeine pill around 2:30pm, because I was falling asleep.

In fairness, Chris did say it could take ” a month or two to notice lasting results”, so part of me did consider buying 1 more pack just to be sure, but money is tight for me right now (thanks to my new car payments) so I decided to just cut my losses at this point. So I won’t be buying any more for myself, nor can I recommend this to anyone else.  I know it has some effect. But it’s the same effect that you could get much cheaper from some OTC caffeine pills.

I will also note that after my last day of use, I posted a product review on Ebay, saying much of what I wrote here, and giving it two stars. But, as of today, my review has not posted, there are just the same 4 reviews (3 giving it 5-stars and 1 giving it 4-stars) that were there before. Now I can’t help but wonder how many other lesser reviews there have been that they’re simply hiding?

In any case, I think my search for the right nootropic is over. I think it’s time to accept that these things only exist in the world of fiction.