Do Not Self-Administer Adrenaline for Performance Enhancement
You should not take adrenaline to enhance physical or mental performance under any circumstances, as this is not a medically approved indication and poses serious risks of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, stroke, and death without any established benefit for "inhuman" performance tasks.
Why This Is Dangerous
The medical literature provides adrenaline dosing exclusively for life-threatening emergencies—not performance enhancement. The available evidence addresses three specific contexts, none of which apply to your question:
Approved Medical Uses Only
- Anaphylaxis treatment: 500 mcg (0.5 mL of 1:1000 solution) intramuscularly for adults, repeated every 5-10 minutes as necessary 1
- Cardiac arrest: 1 mg intravenously every 3 minutes during resuscitation 1
- Septic shock: 0.05-2 mcg/kg/min continuous IV infusion, titrated to blood pressure 2
Serious Risks of Inappropriate Use
Cardiovascular complications occur even with medically appropriate dosing and include:
- Fatal cardiac arrhythmias (ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia) 1
- Myocardial infarction from excessive cardiac stimulation 2
- Severe hypertension leading to intracranial hemorrhage 2
- Acute pulmonary edema 2
The European Society of Cardiology explicitly warns that caution should be employed before administering adrenaline in patients whose condition is associated with sympathomimetic drugs, as the combination can be lethal 1.
Why Medical Doses Don't Apply to Your Question
The doses used in emergency medicine are designed to reverse life-threatening physiological collapse, not enhance normal function:
- In anaphylaxis, adrenaline counteracts massive vasodilation and airway closure 1
- In cardiac arrest, it increases coronary perfusion pressure during chest compressions 1
- In septic shock, it supports failing cardiovascular function 2
There is no evidence that adrenaline enhances performance in healthy individuals, and the pharmacodynamics suggest it would more likely impair complex task performance through tremors, anxiety, and impaired fine motor control 3.
What Happens If You Take It Anyway
Even at the lowest emergency dose (50 mcg IV for anaphylaxis), side effects occur in over 20% of patients 3:
- Common effects: Tremors, palpitations, severe anxiety, headache 3
- Serious effects (3% of cases): Chest pain, dangerous blood pressure elevation, ECG abnormalities 3
- Pharmacokinetics: Rapid onset (<5 minutes) with effects lasting 20 minutes, followed by metabolic crash 2
The World Allergy Organization states that while properly dosed intramuscular adrenaline has no absolute contraindications in anaphylaxis, this applies only to life-threatening emergencies where the benefit clearly outweighs risk 4.
Critical Safety Considerations
Concentration confusion is a common fatal error: The difference between 1:1000 (IM) and 1:10,000 (IV) solutions has caused deaths when healthcare providers accidentally give 10 times the intended dose 5.
Intravenous administration requires continuous cardiac monitoring and should only be performed by experienced clinicians due to the risk of fatal arrhythmias 5, 2.
The Bottom Line
No safe dose exists for your stated purpose because performance enhancement is not a medically valid indication for adrenaline. The drug's mechanism—increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and myocardial oxygen demand 2—creates cardiovascular stress that provides no benefit for "inhuman" tasks while risking sudden death.
If you are seeking enhanced performance for legitimate activities, consult appropriate specialists (sports medicine, psychology, occupational medicine) who can provide evidence-based, safe interventions rather than misusing emergency medications.