thanks and bugger that I should have further researched the half-life of huperzine prior to jumping on galantamine. My sources on half-life are all exaggerated 10-14 hours for huperzine. Nevertheless huperzine taken in the AM at 200mcg keeps me wired and interferes with my sleep. I could try sourcing lower dosed huperzine in future.
If it is keeping you up and interfering with your sleep, then I suppose that the technical half-life doesn't really matter all that much. You could try galantamine if huperzine doesn't treat you well, and one of the studies I mentioned earlier actually compared various doses of huperzine with galantamine. It found that, in simplest terms, 100mcg inhibited AChE to a similar degree as 4mg galantamine, just a tiny bit more (AChE to 83% of original levels compared to 85%), and reached maximum inhibition faster (90 min for hup, 150 min for galant). Also, 200mcg huperzine inhibited AChE slightly more than 8mg galantamine (down to 72% vs 75%), and reached peak inhibition faster (30 min vs 210 min).
With that in mind, it shows that they are both similar in AChE inhibiting ability, and are both pretty long lasting, within reason of course (AChE remained inhibited at 8 hours post-administration). If huperzine doesn't treat you well, then you could try galantamine, just keep in mind that it isn't, despite what some people say, a "stronger" or "buffed up" or "prescription strength" huperzine-A, just a similar alternative. It's also going to be more expensive.
