I’ve been on and off Modafinil for about 3 weeks now and have been asked to write a report on my findings. So here we go:
Modafinil, sold under the brand name Provigil among others, is a wakefulness-promoting drug used for treatment of disorders such as narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, idiopathic hypersomnia, and excessive daytime sleepiness associated with obstructive sleep apnea.[6] It has also seen widespread off-label use as a purported cognitive enhancer.[7] In the United States modafinil is classified as a schedule IV controlled substance and restricted in availability and usage, due to concerns about possible addiction potential. In most other countries it is a prescription drug but not otherwise legally restricted.
Modafinil acts as an atypical, selective, and weak dopamine reuptake inhibitor which indirectly activates the release of orexinneuropeptides and histamine from the lateral hypothalamus and tuberomammillary nucleus, respectively, by unknown mechanisms, all of which contribute to heightened arousal.
Productivity:
My first noticeable effect was on day 1 of taking Modafinil (200gram). I decided to look at a technical problem I was facing with my laptop. A silly issue causing me not to be able to access my website. I found a step-by-step solution before but I immediately felt lost and decided to postpone it. Which would be my regular approach to things.
Now, after seeing the steps, I opened up 6 empty pages almost as a reflex and systematically went through the steps. After about 4 minutes, the issue was resolved.
But I was just getting into things, and I actually felt a little bit sad the task was already over.
I remembered that there’s a project I’ve been postponing for about a year. An e-book that needed to be revised and translated. Just thinking about the work involved would normally cause me to do something else, but I decided to open up the file and start working on it.
After about 2.5 hours I was 75% done. I found somebody to do a cover design, ordered it and translated a big chunk of the book. During this time I didn’t check my phone or my Facebook once.
” Okay, I thought. This could still be placebo but either way I got some shit done” .
Sports:
Most sport I engage in are solo sports (lifting weights, calisthenics, Yoga) so there’s not much to figure out. But I was on Modafinil when I decided to do a kickboxing session where the coach would hold pads and I’d hit them.
The better you do, the more difficult the combinations become.
My mind seemed to be significantly more efficient in recognizing patterns and communicating them to my body. It was like combinations immediately clicked without me having to think them over. I also felt like my endurance was better. This can be explained by the decreased used of processing energy by the brain , or, could just be non-related of course.
Work:
During my work at the clinic I had my first noticeable downside to being “on” . I’m talkative and like to share information, but normally I’m also very aware of the differences in knowledge between me as a therapist and the client. I use analogy and step by step explanation to try to get what’s in my brain, in the client’s. This day was different.
My brain was making connections and associations that were more complex and far-fetched that usual and even though they made a lot of sense for me, during explanation I could tell that clients couldn’t keep up with what I was trying to bring forward.
My normal response would be taking a step back and explaining in a different, more detailed way.
This time though, my underlying response was irritation. “Why can’t he/she keep up?” was clearly coming from the back of my mind.
Noting this gave me the opportunity to change my behavior and even though I don’t think my shift in thinking and speaking was noticeable for any of the clients, it was uncomfortable for me.
Overall:
-Very noticeable effect on “processing power” of the brain without feeling stimulated. Easy to get fully absorbed into a chosen task and strong need to finish projects.
-Talkative, better use of vocabulary and sometimes words will come up that I normally never use.
-Better memory, I recall names, situations much better. I also suddenly remembered a password I’d lost a long time ago.
-No coming down, no desire to take it on days when I decide not to take any.
-Slightly easier to get annoyed with people / processes that take longer than they should from my perspective.
