Posted by zeugma on February 27, 2005, at 7:42:32
In reply to Re: Provigil » zeugma, posted by ed_uk on February 26, 2005, at 17:14:54
The past two nights I have had no insomnia from 50 mg at lunch. On the other hand, the 50 mg prevents the onset of severe fatigue after 1 pm. The other thing that occurs to me would be to take the whole dose at morning, given Provigil's long half-life.
I can see why provigil has produced ambiguous results in contrast to methylphenidate in ADD trials.
Ritalin= I was very 'quick', there was little interoceptive distraction (i.e. I was less likely to be daydreaming while on the job), but irritability, anxiety and impulsivity were not helped by this med. I realized while on it that I have a lot of impulsive symptoms, though masked by the extreme lethargy that my sleep disorder produces. Also, the drug would leave me utterly drained when it wore off, and the crash would worsen all the symptoms I mentioned above. Plus, anorexia and tachycardia were major problems.
Provigil= cognitive slowing causes less impulsivity, but is an impairment in certain contexts. Also, Provigil causes a 'single-mindedness' that is both good and bad. I have trouble with attentional shifting, and inattention (daydreaming) is something of a problem, at least in certain contexts- I like daydreaming, but sometimes you have to be paying attention to the outside world! OTOH, it produces a much smoother ride than Ritalin.
I can see why I combined the two in my first trial. After I see a cardiologist, I might consider the combination, but with the ritalin dose very low, i.e. 10 mg at most. My pdoc indicated that this was a possibility. But the tachycardia was too severe to make me want to touch Ritalin again except under close supervision.
-z
poster:zeugma
thread:446337
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050227/msgs/463976.html