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An Experience with Modafinil

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271–280 of 363 posts

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#271

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.

[deleted]

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#272
post #255
post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paradoxical and other unusual effects can occur with any kind of drug. Brain drugs in particular seem to be prone to a wide variance in the effect profile. I speculate that in part it is due to the heavy "reuse" of neurotransmitters for various purposes (neurotransmitters themselves being mostly reused modified amino acids). For example, dopamine modulates motor activity, reward pathways, attention, and error correct…

Sorry for off-topic, but: why are there many different neurotransmitters instead of a common single one? (I mean, sure, evolution, there's no "why", but I'm asking from an hypothetic engineering standpoint.)

Neurotransmitters are often synthesized from amino acids. They have different functions in the body, often either inhibiting or exciting the neuron that it targets.

There are a bunch of different aspects to being awake. Caffeine works on adenosine, which has to do with wakefulness. But also things like adrenaline have a different aspect of wakefulness that amphetamines target. Modafinil targets orexin receptors I believe, which involve wakefulness as well as eating.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#273
post #256

I've been using Modafinil daily for about 2,5 years and I am currently under its effect. I buy it online and pay with Bitcoins. I use armodafinil if I want more focus, and I use modafinil if I am tired. I don't take the full dose, which is 150mg (armodafinil) /200mg (modafinil)- I break the tablets into 4 and pop them if I feel like I am unfocused or tired. In the course of the day, I rarely take more than 1 full dos…

I had a friend that liked the effects of Modafinil, but would complain of bad headaches every time they took some. Even less than 1 quarter of tablet would be enough to produce the bad effects.

Is that something that happens just to some people or is there a way to avoid the headaches?

I'm curious about trying, but since I used to suffer migraines (not anymore fortunately) I am worried that I will have headaches or trigger a migraine.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#274
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's why we are civilised. People value dignity, grovelling for drugs should make one feel shame, and acts as a decent filter for those not desperate.

Who said anything about grovelling? I have a feeling you feel like this about every drug, but why should one feel shame for consuming drugs? I agree that some people behave very bad on drugs, but that's no reason to forbid it for everyone.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and they are legit. How do you know? Do they have a lab certification/ is there a regulating body?

Obviously importing regulated drugs may come with their own legal quandries. However, if you were to do such a thing, you would find information on what the pills and packaging should be, their ph, their coating and their weight. Then when you receive you order, you'd sacrifice a pill to carefully weigh it, check the coating matches, packaging and so on. If you ordered a whole bunch, you would check batch numbers and…

In many countries there are also testing labs that don't ask any questions nor contact the police if you hand over small samples of illegal drugs, for harm reduction purposes. If you wanna be 100% it contains nothing deadly, use those.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#276
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…

Oddly, Modafinil breaks women's birth control pills

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#277

I sort of fell down the rabbit hole of nootropics over the past year, of which Modafinil is a frequent recommendation. I don't know if I would really recommend nootropics to the average person (because there is risk involved, and many of these substances have had very little in the way of human studies), but it's been an interesting journey. It was kind of a pandemic hobby I picked up. My favorites are Aniracetam and…

Why are those your favorites?

They provide a mild amount of stimulation, motivation, and reduce the barriers for getting into flow. I also notice a bit of a mood boost and anxiolytic effect from both of them. This contrasts with a lot of other nootropics that seem to increase anxiety and irritability.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#278
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…

I doubt that people consume coffee because of its cognitive enhancing effect though.

I don't really believe there are no side effects, ritalin and coffee certainly have some. I also wouldn't want to use cognitive enhancers to solve problems. That said, I think it shouldn't be illegal.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#279
post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asking as a layman: What's the current understanding as to why modafinil and stimulants affect different people so differently?

I've found that the people who say Modafinil does nothing for them are people experienced with high powered stimulants who are expecting the same kick. This is mostly due to a misunderstanding of what the drug actually does. Modafinil is a "wakefulness" drug. My favorite comparison is the feeling that you get when you have to pee in the middle of the night, and your body sends out that hormone to wake you up. Modfani…

There were talks that people with certain SNPs don't feel modafinil.

Re: An Experience with Modafinil

#280
post #269

Modafinil had only major flaw in my experience, but it was significant enough for me to stop taking it; it made it very difficult to stick to a 24-hour circadian rhythm. To illustrate, if I got a full night sleep, then took modafinil, I would be up for easily 18 hours without feeling any urge to sleep...which seems great until it's 5am, and you need to be at work again in 4 hours. The apparent solution to the problem…

I was taking Armodafinil for a bit and this was my experience - it was too strong and would lead to insomnia for me.
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