Posted by IsoM on December 3, 2001, at 22:12:39
In reply to Re: ADRAFINIL question » IsoM, posted by manowar on December 3, 2001, at 21:41:55
This site automatically adds web addresses as hyperlinks. I was used to adding my own hyperlinks & HTML text to other forum sites (I post answers at Answer Point at Jeeves & on a garden forum too).
Anyway, it's too soon for me on adrafinil to know how it'll turn out. I'm quite used to meds taking a LONG time to fully kick in. I have noticed mood enhancement! I'm by nature a very perky, happy person but with full blown depression, I'm not typically sad but very bleak & irritable - ready to pull the driver ahead of me out & beat him to a pulp for minor infractions (not that I'm physically capable of it but people do back away when I'm feeling like that).
I'm already on Celexa & a small amount of Paxil but needed something for my ADHD & medium-level narcolepsy. My previous doctor was convinced I had mild/medium narcolepsy - all the signs - but I would've needed to wait for more than a year for an appointment at the university's sleep lab & would have to be off all other meds. I didn't want to go through that. I read science journals & came across the info on modafinil first but before I could be prescribed that it would have to be the sleep lab... So I read everything I could find on adrafinil & thought I'd give it a try.
Before I tried adrafinil, I was fighting to stay bright & alert through the day. I could fall asleep so easily & even while working & being active, I was yawning for 15-45 minutes a stretch, 2 or 3 times a day. Within a week, I was rarely yawning. I felt awake! In a few more days, I started feeling simply more content in a quiet, sweet way - not as hyper as I normally do when I'm happy. My memory seems a little better too, but it's hard to be objective with yourself in some matters. I just seem to be more aware of where I've last put things & other things similar.
I've tried both Ritalin & Dexedrine for my ADHD but while it helps me focus, it speeds up my 'hyperness' too much & I hate the peaks & valleys. Adrafinil is giving me a nice level feeling, something I really appreciate. One thing I have noticed with stimulants is they make me feel very expansive & kind to other people but that may just be my reaction & not necessarily normal.
What your doctor said about dopamine levels becoming depleted is very true. There certainly is a let-down when CNS stimulants wear off. Adrafinil is supposed to work differently.
Sorry for such a long post but I'm not sure what to include & what not to. Better too much info than too litlle. :)
> Thanks again for the info,
>
> How's the Adrafinil going for you so far? Did you try the Modafinil first?
>
> My doctor swears up and down that pstims DO NOT work as ADs, but I swear that the Ritalin analogs help me. I just got the doctor to admit to me today that for some people adderal (real amphetamine) can cause people to get depressed. I've been taking that for the last three weeks, thinking that it might be more effective on my mood and energy than the Ritalin type drugs. I guess it is for some people, but for me it just brought me down even further than I've been. He told me that amphetamine can cause nerve cells to get depleted of dopamine for some people and that depression is a common side effect. He said it's not a problem with Ritalin. Anyway, since the Ritalin analogs seem to help me with my mood, and the Adrafinil is a stimulating AD, it seems to me that it may be helpful.
>
> And, yes this site is HTML-enabled. Thanks again,
> Tim
poster:IsoM
thread:85292
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011202/msgs/85926.html