Posted by Molybdenum on March 3, 2008, at 13:52:36
In reply to Ritalin or Provigil, posted by Liz Frost on February 27, 2008, at 11:36:16
> Hello all,
>
> Firstly, sorry to barge in on your chat. I am a freelance writer writing a report for a UK magazine on the use of Provigil and Ritalin by people who want to be more effective at work.
>
> You can remain anonymous, but I would just like to talk to people about their experiences for my article.
>
> Thanks
>
> Liz FrostI have taken both for somnolence bought on by sleep apoena.
The Ritalin gives you little peaks of energy with slow drawn out troughs as it wears off. What you really need to stay alert is a steady state that lasts 10 hrs & subsides quicky afterwards. To this end, various companies have brought out slow release versions of methylphenidate that try to give you a steady blood level during the day. They can't stop the slow excretion though.
You can try to take just 10mg Ritalin every couple of hours, but you need to stop by about 2pm else you'll have trouble getting to sleep at night and of course your late afternoon / evening will be fairly unpleasant.
The other trouble with amphetamine type products (Ritalin) is that they make you "speedy", ie you may act & do foolish things that seem like a great idea at the time but that you might regret the next day.
Modafinil on the other hand is a very smooth drug. I take up to 3 x 100mg tabs a day. I'm sure you can find a blood concentration graph for both products on the net but from my personal experience modafinil is so much better as producing a calm "fully awake" ability to concentrate more. For me it's 10 x better than Ritalin.
Ritalin is just so much cheaper though.
And you still can't take either of these every day. Your body gets used to it & you get less effect. Plus you're taxing your body's resources which helps wear you out too. So unless you have a real medical problem to address, I wouldn't recommend taking it for more than 4 days straight, so that you can have a period afterwards to "take it easy" & regain your natural strength.
Good luck with the article.
P.S. In Australia 100x10mg Ritalin costs AUD$13 (for me that means about 1 month's worth)
30x100mg modafinil costs over AUD$120 (which would be 10 days worth).
poster:Molybdenum
thread:814957
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080303/msgs/815960.html