What are peoples thought on Modafinil?

[HenkHolland]

It gives me the creeps when I read posts like this about taking medication like it is just another candy.

Do yourself a favor.
Don't touch that stuff.
Find natural ways to promote wakefulness.

 

[Gsuz]

I wanted to try it, but at the moment I get tunnel vision even with 2 coffees.
I'll try it later in life though.
For the people who used it, how were your social interactions on modafinil?

At first felt euphoric, because it works so well, so I engaged in conversations pretty often and very calm. But now after taking it on the regular, I'd say my tolerance for bullshit has gone below zero.

It really helps me focussing on the task at hand, like laser focus, so in case someone interrupts me, I'm super pissed off within seconds.

I also feel tensed in social situations where other people could react faster, eg someone looking for cents in his purse in a supermarket. I always feel like taking my own money to pay for them just to speed things up.

 

[AllenCrawley]

The fact is that Modafinil is a relatively new drug, so long term consequences are not verificable.
It's up to you if you want to risk.

Modafinil has been on the market for 15 years originally prescribed for sleep disorders. Seems like there should be some type of results for long term effects by now.

 

[AllenCrawley]

Im sure theres no long term probs.

Is that your medical opinion?

 

[stefan]

I use modafinil because I'm naturally an intensive daydreamer type of person. I have pretty significant ADHD (since middle school) but I hate using Adderall, Vyvanse or Ritalin. Modafinil feels like the most natural and healthy alternative to traditional stimulants - it feels clean. It has allowed me to finally pay detailed attention to things and hold lengthy conversations with people.

I'm not sure what Tim Ferriss' huge beef with taking Modafinil is. I know my body pretty well and I can instinctively assume that Vyvanse and Adderall (which up to 20% of American college students are prescribed) do MUCH more harm than Moda. Also "The Bulletproof Exec" is a huge proponent of taking Modafinil so that might counter Tim's argument, although they're both very bright people...

Anyway, it would be stupid to ignore the fact that Modafinil hasn't been thoroughly understood as a medicine at ALL. I cycle my use of Modafinil to limit that uncertainty until more studies are carried out. It would also be stupid to ignore that MANY top-level professionals, entrepreneurs AND athletes are all taking this to perform at 110% and beat out their competitors. You have to really decide on a personal level if taking the substance is a risk worth taking.

Edit: I want to make it clear that I do NOT plan on cycling this forever, but only for my initial fastlane journey. To assist with the launch of my first startup in early 2014 I don't mind being a daydreamer once I have my own business "system" set up and somewhat automated.

 

[AlexDep89]

I have taken it and it works well, if you make sure you have something useful to do. Take it and start watching youtube videos or playing a video game (thinking "i will start working / studying when the modafinil kicks in) and you are doomed for the day. Your intense focus will be on the matter at hand, then being waste full activities.

But, I do believe I shouldn't have taken it. Had no bad effects when taking it, or the days after but let me use a metaphor: It is like in the first street race in the movie "The Fast and The Furious" (

View: https://youtu.be/0IXg-9tKZek?t=130
), Brian, then an undercover cop has two huge bottles of NOS (Nitrious Oxide System) to give his car a performance boost. But he still loses and when saying he almost had Dominic (Vin Diesel), Dominic responds: you never had me, you never even had your car.
Yes Dominic also used NOS, but only because Brian with his two huge tanks was just catching up. Dominic didn't need NOS to do 90% of the race and pole position, he just needed a little bit to cross the finish first while Brian used it the whole race and in the end he was still a loser with a f*cked up engine.

Taking modafinil feels like that to me now. A bit also like in the world of Anabolic Steroid use. If you have your diet, exercise, supplements, sleep and recovery, lifestyle and knowledge in place, combined with year of experience, and you feel like your natural body is not enough (for any reason you might have) then then next step is Anabolics.
Likewise, if you have a healthy lifestyle, great work ethic, great time management skills, then, and only then, modafinil might be useful in some cases. Not in the beginning, but maybe to just for that final inch.

 

[benj]

I've ordered different brands and used it for quite a while now and I've found that it basically enables me to work for longer times, in other words, I forget how quickly time passes and i get a lot of work done. But it doesn't really do that if I've had a bad nights sleep (3-4 hours).

I also recommend taking it no more than 3 days at a time. I cycle it. 3 days on 200mg per day. 2-3 days off and continue.

It DOES work, but you have to actually want to do the work in the first place.

 

[codo3500]

I've taken it, got a lot done. My tolerance built up very quickly. You need to be motivated first, and it will give you laser focus. If you don't have plenty of work to do, it's just going to throw out your sleeping patterns.

 

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[MaxKhalus]

Was just wondering if anyone has had experience with Modafinil. Have seen some people on the forum and have read some blogs of people praising it. Is it really that effective to promote focus and drive?


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Like most nootropics, it's worthless until you max out everything else. Diet, sleep, focus, workouts, work ethics, ...

 

[ecommercewolf]

I'm actually skeptical at first because of my lack of knowledge about the medicine. But when I learned that some of the people I know are using it, I did my personal research and I learned that it really do its job really well according to data. And when I tried it myself, I proved that the result of my research is really what the medicine does.

I usually get my supply from here PillsKing dot Com, they have really good customer service and after sales service. Well this is only me, I still believe that we are unique in our own way and medicine works differently per individual. But it's worth the try, modafinil is worth trying.

lol nice shill

 

[TopChef]

Short term gain. Long term consequence.

Not a good trade off IMO.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

Short term gain. Long term consequence.

Not a good trade off IMO.

The only negative I heard is that some rare people have a migraine the day after. Otherwise, it's great to stay awake and focus if you need to pull off an all-nighter for deadline etc.

 

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[Angus]

The fact is that Modafinil is a relatively new drug, so long term consequences are not verificable.
It's up to you if you want to risk.

 

[murk01]

Dont believe the hype. Its just another stimulate.
Dont get me wrong I like it. But ephedra is better. And coke is best.


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[Angus]

Modafinil has been on the market for 15 years originally prescribed for sleep disorders. Seems like there should be some type of results for long term effects by now.

Well, 15 years in not that long.

 

[benhebert]

Was just wondering if anyone has had experience with Modafinil. Have seen some people on the forum and have read some blogs of people praising it. Is it really that effective to promote focus and drive?

I took modafinil for about 3 months this year. I think it's a very powerful, effective drug. Instant alertness and ability to focus. Stacks well with other racetams.

It won't make you superhuman or change the way you think (like limitless), but it can be used effectively.

My recommendation would be that you use it sparingly, only when necessary. The mechanisms of action behind the drug (aka how does modafinil work) aren't understood at this time.

Tim Ferriss has said that he would rather do a cycle of anabolic steroids than take modafinil.

 

[Gymjunkie]

I took modafinil for about 3 months this year. I think it's a very powerful, effective drug. Instant alertness and ability to focus. Stacks well with other racetams.

It won't make you superhuman or change the way you think (like limitless), but it can be used effectively.

My recommendation would be that you use it sparingly, only when necessary. The mechanisms of action behind the drug (aka how does modafinil work) aren't understood at this time.

Tim Ferriss has said that he would rather do a cycle of anabolic steroids than take modafinil.

Anabolic steroids only have short terms effects, both good and bad ones. They wear off.. There isn't much risk there. Now using them constantly is more dangerous and can mess up your testosterone production.. same with Modafinil, maybe if you use it every day, you will f.. up your brain but used sparingly when needed, it doesn't seem bad..

 

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[xmartel]

I used it for quite a few months about 6 years back. Not a morning person so I really struggled getting to bed on time so I wasn't tired getting up at 6:30 every morning back when I had a j.o.b.

Worked great, I'd stay up till 2-3am every weekday evening, pop a pill when I woke up, was really tired for about 30min till it kicked in, but after that I felt like I'd slept a full night and never had the urge to nap. I'd take 2 days off on the weekend and start over again.

Read during my initial research of modafinil that if you stop your routine of taking it after you've been doing it awhile, it no longer works as well when you go back on. That's what happened to me, took a week vacation and didn't keep up the routine, went to use it again the next week and it no longer affected my body nearly as much as before. Had to go back to getting regular sleep.

Now that I'm actually running my own business and time is precious, I've often thought about using it again. But I've also become a lot wiser about what I put in my body, and I refuse to take any drugs.

Excersize and good food is all you need. And when I get sick, a healthy dose of fresh garlic cures all. It tastes aweful, but it kills everything bad in your body. In fact, whenever I feel a cold coming on now, I just do my regimine of garlic and it stops it dead. They say there's no cure for the common cold, but at least for me there seems to be.

 

[quickdrawyall]

Tim Ferriss has said that he would rather do a cycle of anabolic steroids than take modafinil.

Considering that a lot of the info on anabolic steroids evidences that it's not that bad when taken by informed users, a modafinil/anabolic steroid regimen sounds like a nice boost to semi-superhuman status.

 

[stefan]

Just because it feels good, doesn't mean it is good. There should be no comparison between an amphetamine like adderall and modafinil. Maybe you should reword it feels better experience wise, but by no means should you call it a natural and healthy alternative. It's a drug.

Well you took what I wrote out of context. I never said it was good which is why I specifically used the words 'feels like.'

The comparison can be easily made. Prescription ADHD stimulants and Modafinil share similar properties. Of course they're different, but not entirely. However I do agree with you in that I'm speaking purely from experience. By the way (for a further comparison)

Modafinil is popular with prestigious college students within the UK because of the more lenient legal status of the drug in Britain. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-drug-stay-alert-says-Cambridge-academic.html

Adderall is easily available on any US college campus (including prestigious ones à la this Harvard interviewee). http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/04/27/090427fa_fact_talbot

So what I was basically explaining is that SOME top college students choose to take either Adderall or Modafinil. That's how they can be compared.

I also want to add that drugs shouldn't have any correlation with one's success in the fastlane. I'm not advocating the use of this by any means, unless you legitimately suffer from narcolepsy or severe ADHD.

 

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[ChrisV]

We have no idea what the long term effects of modafinil are because we don't even fully know how it works. For now it seems like a Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor than also acts on various wakefulness systems (orexin and histamine)

I've used Modafinil and I don't think it's a good long term solution at all. For me it just stopped working. and other users report similar problems. I'll quote a post I made in another thread about this:

One of the people who sent me questions, I want to answer here because I think it will be of benefit to other people:

Just read it, really good...

Is there a specific genetic test I should go for?

I can't seem to focus on the day to day, and need extreme circumstances to fire me into action.

I took Modafinil for almost a year straight and it worked amazingly for about a quarter of that, pretty well for another quarter. By the third quarter I just felt normal on it, and by the last it seemed to have almost no effect at all.

I stopped taking it in December, but I do miss it and am thinking of restocking. I mean don't get me wrong, I do shit, but am always feeling like I could be doing more.

Okay before I explain Modafinil, I just have to reiterate with everything in this post, nothing is medical advice. This is all stuff to speak with your doctor or specialist about. Do your homework, check citations, etc. I just want people to be educated consumers so they're not at the whim of Big Pharma. That being said... there are typically a handful of common things that go wrong with DA transmission, which have different corresponding genes.


View attachment 26479

1 - MTHFR rs1801133 and rs1801131, and to a lesser extent rs4846049 - Problems with the MTHFR gene, cause problems with Dopamine (and Serotonin) production. DA and 5-HT (Sero) need Folic Acid in order to be synthesized. If you don't have enough Folate, you generally don't have enough Dopamine. MTHFR inhibits Folate metabolism. If you don't have enough, it can't be released. Also note that a deficiency in dietary tyrosine can also contribute to this problem. (see this thread for more info)
2 - Various - many of the other genes and environmental circumstances 'conspire' together so there's just a general lack of DA in the vesicles (vesicles are kinda like Amazon Prime boxes delivering packages to the synapse... just sometimes the box is empty or underpacked)
3 - DAT (SLC6A3) - Some people have a genetic variant that makes the DAT pump run faster than normal, which sucks Dopamine back into the presynaptic neuron, leaving less for the next neuron.
4 - MAOB - rs1799836 - this enzyme breaks down Dopamine and Serotonin. Some genetic variants cause it to work overtime and break down Dopamine and Serotonin much faster.
5 - COMT - rs4680 - this enzyme breaks down Dopamine, and is more active in the Prefrontal Cortex (thinking planning part). Some genetic variants cause it to work overtime and break down Dopamine much faster.
6 - DRD2 - rs2283265, rs1076560 - certain variants of these genes cause underexpression of Dopamine Neurons, so whatever Dopamine is there has less receptors to 'bump into'

Misc:
HTR2A - rs6311
HTR2C - rs6318
POMC - rs1042571

Think of it like Netflix DVD Deliveries. Many things can go wrong. Okay let's say there's this DVD on Netflix, that's not available for streaming. There are a number if things that can go wrong causing that customer to have a bad experience.

First, what I'd there aren't enough raw materials to make the discs in the first place (MTHFR, Tyrosine intake). Second what if there's a problem on the website where people can't put their order in (Various genes and environmental circumstances). Third what if Netflix was forcing certain people to send their DVDs back too quickly before they got a chance to watch them as many times as they wanted to (DAT.) Fourth and Fifth, there's a system for checking if discs are damaged, but there's a problem with the system and it throws out too many discs (MAOB / COMT.) Sixth, that if many of the customers aren't home to sign for the delivery (DRD2.) Then there's some other stuff like Opiate receptors I won't get into right now.

We have to solve the specific problem or everything is going to go to shit.

So which genes you have can guide you to which interventions will work best. That said, using an intervention for a different genotype will work. But it will be temporary or with side effects. That's what you saw with Modafinil. Modafinil was overloading the wrong system. Or it was multiple genotypes that Modafinil ignored.

When I took Modafinil years ago I had a similar experience. Worked well for a few months, then the effects slowly died off.

We're not really 100% sure how Modafinil works, but for now it appears to be a mild Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor but also acts on other systems (histamine, orexin.. both having to do with wakefulness.)

So back to the right tool for the job, if (for example) you actually have the MTHFR and MAOB genotype, then you plug up the DAT with Modafinil you're overloading one system to compensate for another. It will work temporarily, but something bad is likely going to happen. Your body is always trying to maintain homeostasis (balance) and when it sees one system overloaded it will take action to ramp up other systems to compensate for that. It's how drug tolerance works. So you probably saw a gradual decline in the effectiveness of Modafinil because it was the wrong solution for your genotype.

Re: which genetic test? I like 23andme and it's only 99 bucks.

Modafinil generally puts too much pressure on one dopamine system causing the others to eventually crash. It's generally thought as as safe, but as times goes by, I think that perception will change. Modafinil is a schedule IV controlled substance, and I don't think we know enough about it to be giving safety ratings,

 

[Champion]

My advice: Stay away.

If you look at it long-term, nothing will be as effective as pure self-discipline and cold showers!

 

[NoSubs88]

Was just wondering if anyone has had experience with Modafinil. Have seen some people on the forum and have read some blogs of people praising it. Is it really that effective to promote focus and drive?


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[FDJustin]

I've had it, for it's actual intended purpose. What it did for me, was create mental wakefulness, like waking up after the perfect amount of sleep.
It's hard to say if it had any sort of affect on my focus or drive... It didn't create any motivated pow wow effect, and I naturally focus very well when 'fully awake' like that.

I've had Adrafinil, which was legal to import in Canada at the time for personal use. (Haven't looked for law changes). It's the same thing, but metabolizes in the liver, so may be dangerous with long term use.

On it, I clenched my teeth a lot.


I'm sure you've found plenty of places already that praise this as some wonder drug. Whether or not it is, it's still a chemical substance that influences your CNS and no one knows what that'll do long term. Read the wikipedia entry for known issues and dangers.


Anyway. I'm not going to suggest anyone do, or don't go for it. It's neither my concern nor responsibility.

 

[Angus]

I wanted to try it, but at the moment I get tunnel vision even with 2 coffees.
I'll try it later in life though.
For the people who used it, how were your social interactions on modafinil?

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Short term gain. Long term consequence.

Not a good trade off IMO.

What are the long term consequences? What specifically about Modafinil can result in bad consequences?

 

[AllenCrawley]

Interesting article

 

[murk01]

Plus it gives u weird head aches

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[murk01]

Im sure theres no long term probs. It not something u take every day.
I got a packet last yr and im only half way through it.

If u dont get that deadly rash the first time u take it your good.

If u do get that rash.. well. Than there wont be a secound time

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[AllenCrawley]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modafinil

Has info on adverse effects.