Modafinil

On this page, I plan to collect as much information as I can about the well renown stimulant called Modafinil.

Table of Contents

What is Modafinil Used For?

Modafinil (a.k.a. Alertect, Modavigil, Provigil) is a stimulant that is mainly used as a wakefulness promoting agent. I do believe Modafinil is also used by the military so that soldiers can stay vigilant for longer periods of time without sleep. Which is imperitive, given that a decline in cognitive function or sedation on the battlefield can mean the difference between life and death.

But of course, people will try to find different uses for drugs. In this case, students have used modafinil to increase cognitive focus & knowledge retention while studying. Other uses for Modafinil include treating narcoplepsy (day time sleepiness).

What are the Side Effects from Taking Modafinil?

Side effects or adverse reactions include headaches, nausea, nervousness, diarrhea, insomnia, anxiety, dizziness, and gastrointestinal problems. Some people also experienced skin rashes, and also ineffectiveness of hormonal contraceptives when taken with modafinil.

Apparently, people do not develop a tolerance to modafinil. Interesting.

Anecdotes & User Experience Reports on the Safety of Modafinil

Modafinil addiction is real, and if the addiction is continued or compounded with continued use of the modafinil drug, then the user may experience:

a psychological breakdown
dysphoria
depression
anxiety

We all can agree that further restriction is not necessary, however, I think this opens up a discussion about Modafinil that could be valuable for this sub.

I have Modafinil in my stash, but nowadays I only take it if I’m actually seriously sleep-deprived and need to perform. I first took it a year or so ago. I took anything ranging from 100-300mg for about four months, and after about 3-4 weeks I started experiencing a range of adverse effects such as mild-moderate hypertensive episodes, occasional severe anxiety and somewhat frequent panic attacks.

I started up Tianeptine to combat the anxiety, which allowed me to keep feeling comfortable with Modafinil for another 2-3 months. These last months I only ever took 100mg, because by this time I had started noticing the events that accompanied Modafinil.

Then one morning as I was leaving for work I grabbed my 100mg of Modafinil, and this was 4-5 months into almost daily Modafinil use but this morning I forgot to take the Tianeptine. That day I had a severe psychological breakdown, the worst anxiety and the most hardcore panic attack I’ve ever experienced. It scared the life out of me, and so I decided to stop the Modafinil and the Tianeptine altogether.

What came next upon stopping Modafinil was, for sure, a period of dopamine withdrawals. Severe dysphoria, depression and anxiety for weeks to come. So bad, that I lost my job and went to get checked out at a psychiatric hospital. This was May 2016 and I remember feeling somewhat like myself again in July 2016.

What I guess I’m saying is, that while Modafinil has a very good safety profile relative to its effects, it is not side-effect/tolerance free. Modafinil will if you take it everyday cause some level of adverse cardiac and psychiatric events. I’m not saying that what happened to me will happen to you. I’m saying that Modafinil is a very, very powerful drug and should be treated as such.

TL;DR my 5 month moda-experience, moda is not free of side effects, moda is a powerful drug with adverse events like other powerful drugs.[1]

…