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Effects of Modafinil


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#1 tyman

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Posted 21 February 2007 - 02:32 AM


Hi there,

I've been reading a lot of the forum posts and topics started, and yes, there are quite a few about people's experiences based on modafinil.

But there are a lot of people in the world and the few experiences you read are really insufficient if you want to use them to formulate some kind of justifiable argument for or against taking modafinil (especially in the long-term).

Adding another one (this thread) may not be much help, but it might add some diversity to the current data you can access.

To explain, I'm a 18 year old male, studying in an Oxbridge university (I won't disclose which of the two, although it may become obvious as the experiment progresses). I am in my first year and am now half-way through the second term (of three). I swim regularly - 2 times/week, 1.4 miles each time; run every other day for 1 hour and eat a balanced diet, drink lots of water, generally look after my body.

I started taking modafinil on the Feb 14th while everyone else was celebrating Valentine's. :) My aim was to be able to get a lot of work done in time I didn't have unless I did not sleep much at all for days. What happened has compelled me to write this and conduct a more structured experiment.

I do not take any other so-called nootropics. I do however consume 6 eyeQ tablets (fish oil tablets) per day (made by equazen). From their website:

In 2 x 500mg eye q capsules, 2 x 500 mg eye q chews or 1 x 5ml tsp. of eye q liquid, there is:

* EPA: 186 mg
* DHA: 58 mg
* GLA: 20 mg

I'm not sure how that affects modafinil however. 6 per day is recommended by the instructions, although after 12 weeks I have to reduce intake to a maintenance level of 2 capsules per day.

Preliminary Test:

On the Feb 14th, 2000 hours, I took 100mg on an empty stomach. I had not taken any eyeQ for about 2 hours and had finished my faily dosage of 6. I went to cook myself a meal.

I can't say from a totally objctive perspective I felt any different, but I noticed myself develop an obsessive compulsion to ensure every thing I did was efficient - i.e. save as much water as possible, make as little mess as possible, use as little resources as possible. Whenever I spotted something slightly out of place, I would concentrate on tidying it back up. Little things like that - though I never spent ages working on one thing - I'd tidy up one spot and then carry on cooking, tidy another and then recommence cooking...etc.

I did feel, and I'm not sure this was for definite as it may have just been placebo, a progressively growing awareness of everything around me.

By 2130 I had eaten my meal (of chicken, rice and spinach - not sure that's relevant). Here's where some very interesting things happened:

1) I had a conversation regarding some really complex topics, and on two occassions said something that made everyone stop and reevaluate their standing on the topic - I wasn't really thinking very hard about what to say; words just streamed out and ideas fit into place really systematically and clearly and very rapidly.

Now, I don't know if I would have done that without having taken modafinil - I expect I would have reached the same conclusions as the ones made anyway, but I did notice a marked difference in that I reached these conclusions with very little effort, reeling off ideas and arguments bang, bang, bang.

I also felt like I was being a bit of an ass, tearing up people's arguments and seeing holes in them very quickly and then acting upon it straight away. I gave little thought to the effects of my speech and felt a bit of an idiot afterward for making people look silly.

2) Then at about 2230 I felt completely drained. I was tempted to just go to bed. Instead, I took another 100 mg of modafinil (having in my mind decided that modafinil probably doesn't work, because surely I would not be tired right now, would I?)...

Whilst getting ready to go to bed, I decided I would still try to do some work (as that was the purpose of taking the modafinil in the first place!)

I picked up some work which involved some maths - but I had no idea at all how to approach it having missed the last few lectures.

So, at 2330 I proceeded to teach myself the material. Looking online, I found info and started reading. I noticed that I was strangely very focused and able to concentrate (having been shattered about 1 hour ago). I ended up reading all the notes and trying all of the practice questions that were online (which weren't even part of my syllabus) and realised I could do all of them and get them right. This was surprising considering I do not major in maths, and this topic was dealing with partial and implicit differentiation, a topic that is not the lightest for pre-bedtime reading. And for someone not majoring in maths, was quite a jump from what I was used to doing. And of course, it wasn't completely relevant anyway to the work I was set to be doing. Yet for some reason, I managed to get deeply focused on this material, read it, learn it, practice it and realise I understood the lot. That was scary.

Having realised I had not actually done any of the work I was actually supposed to, I got on with that. For 2 hours straight I ploughed through question after question, trying several methods every time and finally finishing without really realising how much time had gone by. I was so focused and able to concentrate it was quite ridiculous considering at this time of night I wouldn't expect myself to work like that.

Realising it was now 0130 ish, I took a short break and then hit chem questions. Again, I had no idea how to approach any of the questions, so I got out a text book, scanned some pages online and taught myself several complicated mechanisms (relatively relevnt) and applied them quickly to the work. I did this for about 2.5 hours without stopping and continuously absorbing material like a sponge. I did not feel sleepy or physiologically tired (no drooping eyelids, no yawning, no twitching, hallucinations, heart-rate was a little above resting rate). I felt extremely enthusiastic the whole time and after finishing the work wanted to do more!

I must stress I did not feel really any 'different'. I felt awake and aware, able to focus and learn and work, etc, just as if it was mid day. There was no 'bzzing' feeling or anything like that. The odd thing was at 0400 I was still really motivated and awake and even when I tried to make myself go to bed (I had lectures at 0900), I felt a desire to continue working.

Eventually I fell asleep (I have no idea what time, sorry), but managed to get up in time for lectures, feeling awake and refreshed as if I had slept for ages. That was very strange because I never normally feel refreshed upon getting up anyway. And if I remember correctly, I would have only slept for a short while.

I had breakfast (cereal + 30 ml semi-skimmed milk) and went to lectures and found that I was extremely focused and could concentrate on every word the lecturer was saying. I turned up to supervisions and was definitely very alert, and was reeling off answers and tackling problems effectively and correctly (I don't know if modafinil again could have affected my performance, but I did feel I was more systematic about my approaches than normal). However, having only had probably no more than 4 hours sleep this was quite unusual.

Lunch and dinner consisted of nothing substantial. I drank a lot of water, ate an orange, an apple, an avocado and some cheese. This was spread throughout the day.

Finally, at about 1700, I felt shattered. But, I still had loads of work to do. So, I took 200 mg of modafinil and waited to see what would happen. I had finished my 6 capsules of fish oils by this time.

After two hours, I felt as awake as I was early on in the morning and very motivted to do work. I slogged until 0400 the next day, teaching myself chemistry concepts that were quite complicated, yet I grasped them in hours. During the night.

I fell asleep at about 0530 in the morning and went to lectures (this time at 1000) again feeling alert.

I did my workout regime that day (swim + run). Had cereal for breakfast + 30 ml mlk. For lunch had about 200g spaghetti. Mushrooms. Peppers. Pork.

Dinner consisted of bacon and rice and spinach.

In the evening I repeated the process and wrote two essays (of two thousand words each) in one night and completed some physical chem qs that involved some very complicated proofs. Having not majored in maths this should have proved difficult, yet at 0400 in the morning I was capable of answering a complicated partial differential question proof that involved physical chem concepts. I must stress I have had no prior experience with physical chem before that day. I did not study physics any further than at secondary school (GCSE). So this was very bizarre for me, having expected it to be daunting.

Of course, I don't know if modafinil had any effect on my learning...

Conclusion of Preliminary Test:

I noticed a clear pattern:

I finished all the work I needed to get done for my Monday deadline in three nights, each night working until about 0430 and then getting up about 4 hours later to go to lectures. I was still feeling refreshed each time I woke.

I would feel progressively tired towards the night. I would then subsequently take in total 200 mg modafinil (always around 2100 hours).

Effects of feeling awake and not wantng to sleep would hit me about one hour after taking the modafinil, and I would be extremely motivated to tackle even really daunting questions.

End of pattern.

I am not a maths or physical sci major yet taught myself and understood (still do!) the concepts needed, despite it being very late at night/early morning.

I have only received feedback on the maths and one of the essays as yet - both were 'very good work'. They don't get graded as such, but my supervisors were impressed.

Possible placebo? I'm not convinced. The first time I took modafinil, I expected to feel different (and I subsequently did). After that, I felt tired (and disappointed - how was I going to finish all my work whilst tired????) So I took so more, but with little expectations. To be able to then do what I reported (three nights in a row) is surely not placebo, nor coincidence. I do not normally work like that and generally go to bed before 0300. But after taking modafinil, I have increased my productivity by exponential times.

Side effects:

Not sure if this is related, but I stopped taking modafinil after I handed in all the work (I didn't see a need to take it anymore) and felt nauseus, and nearly threw up several times. I felt extremely tired - physiologically tired - and sleepy, and this was at 1410 ish. I eventually crashed into bed unable to bear it and slept for about 14 hours straight. Missed all the next morning lectures (lol!) and felt generally quite terrible. I took that day off and rested. Went to bed early and woke up normally the next day.

Following that (this is now the 20th Feb) I felt better but realised that work had piled up on me already...so, I took some more modafinil (you guessed it...200 mg) at (you guessed it...2100 hours) and subsequently have taught myself the basics of mandarin grammar, decision mathematics and am typing this report. It is now 0215 and I'm very awake and focused. I feel a strong desire to continue working (and will do now). But after tomorrow, will take this info into account and formulate a more structured experiment.

I thought this would a (long but) interesting account of taking modafinil regularly for a few days...

I'll try to report back every day with what happens for the next 32 weeks.

TyMan

Edited by tyman, 21 February 2007 - 03:10 AM.


#2 zorblart

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Posted 21 February 2007 - 03:04 AM

fascinating report...

looking forward to hearing how your continued use of modafinil pans out...

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#3 tyman

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Posted 21 February 2007 - 03:14 AM

I forgot to mention some other details...

In terms of ill effects, I did not notice much in the way of heart rate change (maybe a small increase compared to resting). Nor did I feel nervous, jittery, anxious. As for insomnia, well, I slept less, but always woke up feeling refreshed if I had taken modafinil the night before.

Of course, I did have that crash period where I slept for about 12 hours straight and took a whole day off...

#4 zoolander

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Posted 21 February 2007 - 04:10 AM

First of all, thank you for sharing your experiance with modafinil.

You need to be very careful though. I think that it is very important to take something like modafinil under strict doctors supervision. Do you have this?

But there are a lot of people in the world and the few experiences you read are really insufficient if you want to use them to formulate some kind of justifiable argument for or against taking modafinil (especially in the long-term).


So don't you think that it's dangerous to embark on a 32 week trail without a justifiable reason for the trail? It's safer to be on the cautious side of things my friend as opposed to taking chances/risks. This is your health that we are talking about. What about the negatives reported roughly one week ago by one of the members here

http://www.imminst.o...hl=modafinil&s=

Adding another one (this thread) may not be much help, but it might add some diversity to the current data you can access.


Because you are conducting the trail yourself it is going to be hard to remain objective. Actually it is going to be literally impossible to be objective about the results because your reporting subjective effects about yourself. Your little study will be worthless. Just like the testimonials you hear on infomercials.

Preliminary Test:

On the Feb 14th, 2000 hours, I took 100mg on an empty stomach.


It appears that you are trying squeeze more hours out of the day. So you are going to try and stay up all night to study? What do think doing that for 32 weeks will do to your circadian rhythm?

I can't say from a totally objctive perspective I felt any different, but I noticed myself develop an obsessive compulsion to ensure every thing I did was efficient - i.e. save as much water as possible, make as little mess as possible, use as little resources as possible. Whenever I spotted something slightly out of place, I would concentrate on tidying it back up. Little things like that - though I never spent ages working on one thing - I'd tidy up one spot and then carry on cooking, tidy another and then recommence cooking...etc.


First of all, you're right that you can't say from a totally objective perspective. Actually you understated that point. Let me say it again. You cannot be objective in this situation.

Secondly, you stated that you found yourself with an "obsessive compulsion to ensure every thing I did was efficient. i.e. save as much water as possible, make as little mess as possible, use as little resources as possible. Whenever I spotted something slightly out of place, I would concentrate on tidying it back up". Now how is that going to help you study/focus?

then you said "I never spent ages working on one thing - I'd tidy up one spot and then carry on cooking, tidy another and then recommence cooking...etc. ". What you just explained sounds like a common side effect of amphetamines. I have had friends that would use amphetamines to get the housework done. They would exactly as you explained above. Clean up something and then loose focus and continue somewhere else.

1) I had a conversation regarding some really complex topics, and on two occassions said something that made everyone stop and reevaluate their standing on the topic - I wasn't really thinking very hard about what to say; words just streamed out and ideas fit into place really systematically and clearly and very rapidly.


Clarity of thought is a positive but achievable with other compounds without the potential side effects of modafinil.

2) Then at about 2230 I felt completely drained. I was tempted to just go to bed. Instead, I took another 100 mg of modafinil (having in my mind decided that modafinil probably doesn't work, because surely I would not be tired right now, would I?)...

Whilst getting ready to go to bed, I decided I would still try to do some work (as that was the purpose of taking the modafinil in the first place!)

I picked up some work which involved some maths - but I had no idea at all how to approach it having missed the last few lectures.

So, at 2330 I proceeded to teach myself the material. Looking online, I found info and started reading. I noticed that I was strangely very focused and able to concentrate (having been shattered about 1 hour ago). I ended up reading all the notes and trying all of the practice questions that were online (which weren't even part of my syllabus) and realised I could do all of them and get them right. This was surprising considering I do not major in maths, and this topic was dealing with partial and implicit differentiation, a topic that is not the lightest for pre-bedtime reading. And for someone not majoring in maths, was quite a jump from what I was used to doing. And of course, it wasn't completely relevant anyway to the work I was set to be doing. Yet for some reason, I managed to get deeply focused on this material, read it, learn it, practice it and realise I understood the lot. That was scary.


This is commonly seen with modafinil and of course why people choose to take it.

you gave a few more examples of this and then......

Finally, at about 1700, I felt shattered. But, I still had loads of work to do. So, I took 200 mg of modafinil and waited to see what would happen. I had finished my 6 capsules of fish oils by this time.

After two hours, I felt as awake as I was early on in the morning and very motivted to do work.


Give it time and you will become dependant on modafinil. You will rely on modafinil to help you work. This has both biochemical and psychological repercustions.

Of course, I don't know if modafinil had any effect on my learning...


Of course it did because you would have fallen asleep on many occasions and not completed the required work.

Tyman, is this what you want to do every day for the remainder of your degree? IMO, it's a crying shame that society has come to this. Where a student needs to take stimulants to keep up with work. Worse though is the fact that so many students are taking these stimulants. If you don't, then you're behind the 8-ball.

When I went to high school my parents had to make the decision about whether they would send me to a public school or a private school. Private schools cost a lot of money so I went to a public school. Soon and perhaps this is happening now, the parents will not only have to pay for private school tuition but they will also have to fill the prescriptions of their children. To me that's just ridiculous!

#5 Ghostrider

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Posted 21 February 2007 - 05:36 AM

Sleep is required for both physical and mental recovery. If you cut back on sleep without increasing the rejuvenating efficiency of the sleep you are getting, there will be a price to pay.

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#6 zoolander

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Posted 21 February 2007 - 06:45 AM

Tyman I strongly disagree with the way you have made yourself a guinea pig. After some thought, I will not allow that you post the details of your experiment in case should choose to follow suit. Now go and see a doctor!

Modafinil is currently classified as a non-narcotic Schedule IV controlled substance under United States federal law; it is illegal to import by anyone other than a DEA-registered importer ( and, therefore, to buy from most online pharmacies ), with or without a prescription.[21] It is also illegal to possess without a valid prescription. However, one may legally buy Modafinil in United States or bring up to 50 dosage units (i.e. pills) in person from a foreign country, provided that he or she has a prescription for it, and the drug is properly declared at the border crossing.


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