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An Experience with Modafinil

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191–200 of 363 posts

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#191
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.

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Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#192
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"Have to", maybe not. Will perform better if they do, probably. Will be outcompeted by others if they don't, many of whom only did better because they used drugs, yes. It took me half a lifetime to really come to grips with it, but fact is, winners absolutely do use drugs. William S. Sessions' anti-drug arcade game ads lied to me.

My favorite thing is more often than not, the faces of anti-drug campaigns tend to be celebrities/athletes who were caught in a drug scandal, and do this campaigning to improve their public image.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a prominent example.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#193
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible but unlikely. You physically cannot sleep on these drugs without something like clonazepam. So I have no doubt a series of bad decisions could lead to someone being up that long. However, psychosis usually sets in around ~96 hours of sleep deprivation. It is however possible that this individual is unique or resistant, or maybe just his youth helped him. When I was 16 and MTV still played music-- I coul…

I've once given it to a friend without telling him what it was exactly and he sure did sleep through it, he said he didn't feel anything at all and he was up from the night before (was in vacation). Asked him how he felt afterward and he reported no issues sleeping a couple of hours after taking it.

This seems to be a ... trusting and open-minded action on the part of your friend, might be one way to put it

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know not of what you speak.

~15 years of taking Adrafinil and then Modifinil on prescription and "recreationally" says otherwise. The actual effect of a drug and then the psychosomatic effect of those who expect it to have a certain effect are two very different things.

You may have developed a tolerance.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#195
I'm taking Ritalin for years and it is super helpful.

It puts me much closer to who I want to be than who I would be without it: Im much more motivated to do things I enjoy doing.

I stopped taking it half a year ago because I started to get annoyed by my wife do to her slightly messines.

Now I need to find the right balance.

For me this is the same thing as glasses.

We should talk much more open about such things.

I do have adhs and hard sleep issues just as a side note.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#196
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've purchased prescription drugs from Indian pharmacies online and they take a while to arrive, but they do make it through customs and arrive and they are legit. The funny thing is, I mostly do it because I don't want to go to the doctor every six months to say "mother may I" for a very mild and safe statin. My insurance would pay for everything, but it's such a pain to do.

I always find it incredible that in our free and civilized societies an adult isn't allowed to decide what chemicals he can put in his body. He must first beg for them.

No post body was provided.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#197
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 and modafinil shouldn’t be compared, as they have vastly different activity, history of use, and understanding of effects.

This is merely an anecdote, but I was prescribed modafinil for narcoleptic symptoms. Compared to traditional psychostimulants, I found it to be ineffective with a more severe side effect profile. Of course, YMMV.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#198
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've once given it to a friend without telling him what it was exactly and he sure did sleep through it, he said he didn't feel anything at all and he was up from the night before (was in vacation). Asked him how he felt afterward and he reported no issues sleeping a couple of hours after taking it.

This seems to be a ... trusting and open-minded action on the part of your friend, might be one way to put it

We were young and yes, he did trust I wouldn't give him poison. I certainly didn't have a reputation of using illegal drugs, he knew I dabbled with supplements like Piracetam / Ashwagandha etc.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#199

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.

I’ll never forget that I was sitting outside the hallway before my SATs, and some random girl I just met offered me Adderall - I had 3 thoughts:

1) I’m not taking random pills from a stranger, let alone before the SATs

2) If it is adderall, I have no idea what it would do to me

3) If I need adderall to do well on the SATs that would get me into a better college, I’m going to need it through college

Seeing this story makes me think that, yeah, some people probably do make it through hard programs with medication…

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#200

I read this and cant help but think this man a highly irresponsible person. I generally approve of anyone modifying their own consciousness on there own time. And I get what he did ended up harmless and even beneficial, but if you are going to experiment with psychoactive pharmaceuticals, do it on you day off for your first ever does. This guy not only went to work under the influence of drug that he didn't know what…

Modafinil is a pretty common drug prescribed for a wide range of issues, it doesn't have wild sudden side effects, it won't make you go suddenly crazy, erratic or cloud your judgement, it's essentially between a very strong coffee and a very weak amphetamine. +Plenty of people get prescribed medicine and go to work the next day even if they never tried it.

You never know if you'll have adverse reactions, even if it's safe for most people.

I have a good friend (who is otherwise reacting normally to stimulants) who took IIRC ~50mg of Modafinil for the first time for an exam in uni. They ended up having to go to the ER in the middle of the exam, got diagnosed with some form of allergic reaction. Doc said it can happen for many medications.

Whenever trying a new substance for the first time, do so in a way and context that minimizes impact of unexpected effects or adverse reactions.

So I agree OP was irresponsible and should at the minimum have taken one dose off work before their first work-day on it.

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