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The Terrible Truth about Modafinil

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Re: The Terrible Truth about Modafinil

#2

Post by georgecmu »

Modafinil is heavily stealth “marketed” on Hacker News (I hate it when people try to manipulate me)

Is this true? A quick search [1] shows 52 mentions of Modafinil in HN stories with about 1 mention every 1-2 months in the past year. There are 156 comments that mention Modafinil in the past year [2]. Marketing must be very stealth indeed.

[1] https://hn.algolia.com/?query=modafinil&sort=byDate&prefix&p...

[2] https://hn.algolia.com/?query=modafinil&sort=byDate&prefix&p...

Re: The Terrible Truth about Modafinil

#3

Post by brookside »

> I’ve taken the recommended daily allowance as stated on the package: 200 mg twice a day.

Well here is the problem. 200mg twice daily might be the recommendation for narcoleptics, but it is an absurd regimen for aiding focus over the course of a decade that I think almost nobody would recommend.

Why didn't the author take Modafinil "as needed"? Or at a minimum, go on drug holidays to allow for a reset?

This blog post is all over the place. I hope the author feels better after settling into his newly unadulterated brain.

Re: The Terrible Truth about Modafinil

#4

Post by dawhizkid »

georgecmu wrote: post #2

Modafinil is heavily stealth “marketed” on Hacker News (I hate it when people try to manipulate me) Is this true? A quick search [1] shows 52 mentions of Modafinil in HN stories with about 1 mention every 1-2 months in the past year. There are 156 comments that mention Modafinil in the past year [2]. Marketing must be very stealth indeed. [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?query=modafinil&sort=byDate&prefix&p... [2] https:/…

it's bigger on reddit

Re: The Terrible Truth about Modafinil

#6

Post by awakeasleep »

400mg a day, for a healty person, is drug abuse. One can get a better-than-coffee effects from 25mg, actually lower than the recommended dose. And why would anyone take it every day?

But the author is abusing modafinil, and that is problematic. It's like an alcoholic saying "Alcohol is evil because if you have 16 drinks a day your life falls apart and your liver gives out."

It's true in some contexts!

Re: The Terrible Truth about Modafinil

#7

Post by ilaksh »

Does it make you smarter or increase your performance? "Its cheating" or "they experimented on cats" isn't a good reason not to do it for me.

A reason not to do it for me would be if it had something like a stimulant effect on the brain that pushed it to fatigue faster like coffee. I have found that the performance I gain from drinking coffee at first, I lose later in the day. Its like I only have so much "brain juice" and I can use it faster if I want but it will run out faster and ultimately end up getting less done oftentimes.

Is Modafinil like that? Or does it increase performance all day? I really like cats but I don't see how taking that drug will undo any harm done to them in the past. And I never believe anything about a lack of withdrawal anyway.

Re: The Terrible Truth about Modafinil

#8

Post by modafinil1 »

There is a prevailing myth in our culture that when drugs are associated with problems, it is the drug itself that is inherently bad.

Like with any drug, abusing it is where the problem lies. He was taking the drug in a high dosage that created dependency. The same applies to any drug.

I take Modafinil intermittently, on occasions when I would benefit from it. I don't do so in a pattern that creates dependency. I do the same with coffee (i.e. avoid drinking it every day), and likewise with Alcohol - I drink when it's a suitable occasion, not every day. Similarly, I have smoked weed in the past, in moderate dosages, when it fitted the occasion and my lifestyle. It doesn't fit my busy lifestyle now, so I don't smoke weed.

I could have fallen into a pattern of Abuse with Modafinil, but that's the same with any of the other drugs I've mentioned. The usage/abuse pattern of the drug is the issue, not the drug itself.

Re: The Terrible Truth about Modafinil

#9

Post by yathern »

I'm glad the author is making a conscious health and ethical decision that they think will improve their life, and I would never want to belittle that choice. It's up to all of us to individually make choices that are in line with our convictions and the trade-offs we make in our health.

The basic idea that drugs have side effects that should be understood is a good realization to have. But several years of taking 400 mg a day does not have to be the way to learn that lesson. Most people I know to take modafinil (for non-narcolepsy reasons) take half that, at most. Never have I ever seen it suggested to take that amount, for that long, especially without breaks. The smallest amount of research would've shown not to do that.

And even with all of this, the arguments against the drug are:

> Gaining weight (modafinil suppresses appetite by the way)

> Not sleeping enough.

> It’s cheating; I relied too much on the pill

Okay, fair enough. But that is no "Terrible Truth". All of those are personal issues, that can be reduced or eliminated by not taking a 400mg dose, or not taking it every day. The problem isn't the pill, it's your abuse of it.

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