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An Experience with Modafinil

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Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#101

Post by PragmaticPulp »

marcan_42 wrote: post #31
ei8htyfi5e wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took it heavily in grad school. Prescribed off label for adhd. You can be in any state of exhaustion, take a modafinil, and an hour later feel like you just woke up on a Sunday morning after sleeping in. It’s nuts. The military uses it for fighter pilots. You can take it for days and only lose minimal amounts of reaction timing. At my peak, I stayed up for finals for a week straight with maybe 2 hours of sleep tota…

Am I the only one thinking there is something seriously wrong with an education system if students have to resort to drugs that keep them awake for a week to succeed in it? I mean I'm not exactly anti-medication but... wow.

Definitely don’t have to. It’s an anecdote from a single person, it’s not normal behavior.

Don’t read too much into individual HN comments, especially those describing outlier behavior.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#102

Post by idontwantthis »

Very effective, but quickly diminishing returns for me. If I do one pill a week, that day is awesome. But as soon as I step it up to 2 I'm overwhelmed and might even take a nap I wouldn't have otherwise. This is only 100mg.

But the reason I stopped taking it is that I'm just a salaried employee. It doesn't matter if I'm super focused or not. I'm still getting paid the same amount. There's no point in artificially elevating myself.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#103

Post by PragmaticPulp »

ianbutler wrote: post #67

A friend of mine has used this before and they did alternating low ~30mg doses that same someone had previously used a similar dose Adderall in highschool and early college and preferred the feeling of Modafinil. They told me they had read multiple studies before hand as well as personal accounts (such as from the venerable https://www.gwern.net/ ). That person told me that the feeling was less intense but enough to…

> They also told me that one time they had done multiple consecutive doses and the come down depressive like symptoms were just as bad as the same symptoms from coming off consecutive doses of Adderall.

Modafinil may be milder than traditional stimulants in some ways, but that doesn’t make it free of downsides or side effects. It actually has substantial effects on dopaminergic systems, despite having other additional actions.

The gentleness of Modafinil was greatly exaggerated all over the internet for a decade or more. This led some people to unhealthy use patterns. It’s definitely associated with rebound effects and extended use (especially redosing) will leave anyone in a below-baseline state the next day (even if not entirely obvious to themselves, especially with low doses)

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#104

Post by TameAntelope »

Flankk wrote: post #66
maxerickson wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with 5 cups of coffee a day?

Studies show that moderate caffeine consumption (2-4 cups per day) has beneficial health effects. Excess consumption is linked to adverse effects. There is an optimal dose when it comes to caffeine. Building up tolerance to where you need six or more cups is where you get into trouble.

I doubt the studies show such a stark drop off at cup 5 that it's "insane" or anything...

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#105

Post by ghshephard »

pennaMan wrote: post #84
inter_netuser wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caffeine would be illegal to possess, if it were invented yesterday. 80% of people couldn't distinguish I.V. cocaine from I.V. caffeine in some study I am unable to locate at the moment, which I think involved Nora Volkow from NIH, either as PI or collaborator.

>80% of people couldn't distinguish I.V. cocaine from I.V. caffeine in some study I am unable to locate at the moment That is complete bullshit.

Curious - do you have something to back that up? Caffeine is pretty toxic ( I think the LD50 is something like 200 mg/KG of body weight. 20 grams would kill most people) and I don't find it surprising that an IV mix would have pretty serious effects.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#107

Post by Bancakes »

ipnon wrote: post #49

What's remarkable to me is that modafinil is less toxic than caffeine[0], and possibly even less addictive[1], but we all know which is illegal for recreational use and which is coffee. Regulations are sticky. The FDA follows the precautionary principle. Political game theory incentivizes restricting what the electorate can do rather than giving them more freedoms, and being blamed for whatever harm may fall upon the…

Yeah taking a pill of either shows stark contrast in cognitive change. Caffeine can't make you drool.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#108

Post by Bancakes »

throwawayHN378 wrote: post #80
inter_netuser wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caffeine would be illegal to possess, if it were invented yesterday. 80% of people couldn't distinguish I.V. cocaine from I.V. caffeine in some study I am unable to locate at the moment, which I think involved Nora Volkow from NIH, either as PI or collaborator.

As someone who has done a lot of IV cocaine and coffee I find this hard to believe. IV cocaine is one of the most euphoric highs in the world

Better than coffee enemas you say?

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#109

Post by Bancakes »

marcan_42 wrote: post #31
ei8htyfi5e wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took it heavily in grad school. Prescribed off label for adhd. You can be in any state of exhaustion, take a modafinil, and an hour later feel like you just woke up on a Sunday morning after sleeping in. It’s nuts. The military uses it for fighter pilots. You can take it for days and only lose minimal amounts of reaction timing. At my peak, I stayed up for finals for a week straight with maybe 2 hours of sleep tota…

Am I the only one thinking there is something seriously wrong with an education system if students have to resort to drugs that keep them awake for a week to succeed in it? I mean I'm not exactly anti-medication but... wow.

How about kids don't procrastinate and play videogames?

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#110

Post by dpark »

inter_netuser wrote: post #59
ipnon wrote: post #49

What's remarkable to me is that modafinil is less toxic than caffeine[0], and possibly even less addictive[1], but we all know which is illegal for recreational use and which is coffee. Regulations are sticky. The FDA follows the precautionary principle. Political game theory incentivizes restricting what the electorate can do rather than giving them more freedoms, and being blamed for whatever harm may fall upon the…

Caffeine would be illegal to possess, if it were invented yesterday. 80% of people couldn't distinguish I.V. cocaine from I.V. caffeine in some study I am unable to locate at the moment, which I think involved Nora Volkow from NIH, either as PI or collaborator.

You remember the topic and the name of the PI but still can’t find this study? I am relatively certain that’s because it does not exist.

The idea that caffeine is comparable to cocaine is pretty nuts. People murder to get cocaine. When’s the last time anyone murdered for Starbucks?

I can totally believe that if you give someone who’s never done drugs a high dose of caffeine and tell them it’s cocaine, they might believe you. But that’s not at all the same as the two actually being indistinguishable.

“I feel like my heart’s going to explode and I can’t stop moving!” “That’s the cocaine.” “Not what I would have expected, but okay!”

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