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Modafinil Is Wall Street’s New Drug of Choice

nymag.com

51–60 of 72 posts

Re: Modafinil Is Wall Street’s New Drug of Choice

#51
post #45

Skip a dose, and there would be hell to pay. “I really would feel it. It was sort of like being thrust into dirty, messy reality, as opposed to a clean, neatly organized place. It was like crashing, and I actually found what would happen is the anxiety that got dialed down on the way in, when you were coming off it, all of a sudden you went through the reverse. So I got incredibly anxious. Eventually that concerned m…

Don't worry. To me, it sounds like the author was tripping on his own silly mind.

Re: Modafinil Is Wall Street’s New Drug of Choice

#52
post #4

Gwern has an amazing writeup of Modafinil, including his own (DIY "double" blind-trial) experience, effects, etc: http://www.gwern.net/Modafinil Highly recommended for anyone even slightly interested in the workings of Modafinil. His own experiences are described in the most detail on this page: http://www.gwern.net/Nootropics#modafinil

When drugs are used illegally, reporting on their adverse effects is generally shoddier than for on-label prescription usage, for a variety of reasons. In my personal experience, Provigil is an extremely effective and powerful tool, and like any power tool, should be treated with the proper respect or you're likely to get hurt. See my other comment a few threads below for more information and context, but I wanted to reply quickly to this (admittedly excellent) resource because it didn't seem to have a whole lot to say about the potential dangers, and as I've personally experienced them (and still find Modafanil to be a drug worth taking on occasion) I thought I'd try and make sure that others like me can learn from my mistakes without the need for their permanent consequences. The long and short - If you choose to use Modafanil, drink plenty of water, try not to use it as a sleep replacement (48-72 hours without sleep) more than once or twice a month, and fortify and replenish your body with quality food before, during, and after. If you are reckless, the lack of sleep combined with a histamine agonist can have effects that are roughly the opposite of benadryl, including an increased propensity for immune response (including allergies), that depending on your misfortune may become a permanent part of your life.

Re: Modafinil Is Wall Street’s New Drug of Choice

#53

Well if this isn't a somewhat glowing endorsement of a pill that is being abused, I don't know what is. As someone who is close friends with someone suffering from narcolepsy who actually needs this pill to function normally, I find it worrying people are abusing a pill that can have some serious side-effects. Good job publicly endorsing a pharmaceutical drug NY Mag. I have a feeling as word spreads, the abuse will m…

"a pill that can have some serious side-effects"

Such as?

Re: Modafinil Is Wall Street’s New Drug of Choice

#54

As I read this, I can't help but be reminded of the old adage, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".

There are however, extremely cheap lunches, which the savvy will take advantage of. From my personal experience, this is one such case.

Yup. I agree that for those that want the benefits, modafinil does fall into the free lunch category if you follow the one rule I posted about not taking it within 12 hours of your intended sleep time. ref: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5478020

Re: Modafinil Is Wall Street’s New Drug of Choice

#55
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the no free lunch theory is I think wrong, we are vastly better off with modern medicines. We are already getting free lunches of longer and heather lives. My experience, obviously not scientific, with modafinil is mild mania, grumpiness/quick to anger (What I think is the tiredness coming through), increase concentration and attentiveness to a task. My intelligence goes down. Mixed with alcohol it can cause bla…

You're missing his point, which is a reasonable one. If the human body truly functioned better with modafinil, then evolution would have given us humans that naturally produced modafinil. That isn't the case, so the assumption is there is some downside to the drug, and one that actually outweighs the positives. However, the article makes modafinil seems like an obviously positive thing and that taking the pill fixes…

Evolution is just randomness that causes a rough trend in a direction. Many species have gone extinct under it's rules.

Even if it was a thing, it has your species interests at heart, not you.

There is a lot to the article and you should take heed it's the future, like it or not.

But if you want a warning sign on Modafinil as per the article the drug came out in 1998, it has been and is still is fairly easy to get, why is it not bigger than it is?

These drugs are still just rough tools, the new batch are coming soon, but Modafinil is not "Limitless"

Re: Modafinil Is Wall Street’s New Drug of Choice

#56

Well if this isn't a somewhat glowing endorsement of a pill that is being abused, I don't know what is. As someone who is close friends with someone suffering from narcolepsy who actually needs this pill to function normally, I find it worrying people are abusing a pill that can have some serious side-effects. Good job publicly endorsing a pharmaceutical drug NY Mag. I have a feeling as word spreads, the abuse will m…

"a pill that can have some serious side-effects" Such as?

Increased immune response (including heightened sensitivity to existing allergens, and potentially developing new ones), raised body temperature, general dehydration, and erratic pulse, especially if used as a sleep replacement instead of as a waking-hours enhancement.

Re: Modafinil Is Wall Street’s New Drug of Choice

#57

Well if this isn't a somewhat glowing endorsement of a pill that is being abused, I don't know what is. As someone who is close friends with someone suffering from narcolepsy who actually needs this pill to function normally, I find it worrying people are abusing a pill that can have some serious side-effects. Good job publicly endorsing a pharmaceutical drug NY Mag. I have a feeling as word spreads, the abuse will m…

"a pill that can have some serious side-effects" Such as?

This link seems to detail all of the possible side-effects: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a602016.htm... — I think many would agree some of the side-effects which include; difficulty breathing or swallowing, swelling of the face, throat, tongue, lips, eyes, hands, feet, ankles, or lower legs, anxiety, depression are definitely serious. And I would also argue that even though some of the other side-effects like skin peeling, rashes and whatnot aren't as serious, they're still pretty bad side-effects.

It's rare that most drugs these days don't have a potential side-effect or two, but if you don't need to take these pills I think there's no point in potentially risking some serious health issues like depression as a result of taking something you don't need.

Re: Modafinil Is Wall Street’s New Drug of Choice

#58
post #47

I don't know why people would experiment with pills like that. I used to pull all nighters when I worked for a big law firm. Sometimes I would pull worse -- I would spend forty hours in a row in the office. I did not take any pills. Let me tell you its no fun. Even if this pill solves the depression and inevitable mental issues, I doubt it helps the rest of your body handle the lack of sleep. Your body just tends to…

1. Modafinil also suppresses appetite.

2. It's easy to argue against the extremes. But nothing about using modafinil precludes sleeping 8 hours a day. The effects usually last anywhere between 12 to 16 hours. So, for example, you can take it with breakfast and go to bed normally in the evening.

Re: Modafinil Is Wall Street’s New Drug of Choice

#59

Well if this isn't a somewhat glowing endorsement of a pill that is being abused, I don't know what is. As someone who is close friends with someone suffering from narcolepsy who actually needs this pill to function normally, I find it worrying people are abusing a pill that can have some serious side-effects. Good job publicly endorsing a pharmaceutical drug NY Mag. I have a feeling as word spreads, the abuse will m…

Diagnosed narcoleptic here with an MSLT score of about ~2min. I've been taking Modafinil @ 200-400mg/day off and on since 2003, with probably a total of 4 years of usage in that time span, together with Xyrem for about a year in 2004 and punctuated by ritalin for a year or so around 2008-09. I personally only take it when I have to and try to avoid taking it on days on which I think I can manage without it. Yes, it c…

Correction: its half-life is actually something around 12 hours.

Re: Modafinil Is Wall Street’s New Drug of Choice

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"a pill that can have some serious side-effects" Such as?

This link seems to detail all of the possible side-effects: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a602016.htm... — I think many would agree some of the side-effects which include; difficulty breathing or swallowing, swelling of the face, throat, tongue, lips, eyes, hands, feet, ankles, or lower legs, anxiety, depression are definitely serious. And I would also argue that even though some of the other side-…

Those seem like fairly cookie-cutter side effects for quite a large class of pharmaceuticals.
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