I was put on Provigil 3 times in the past. All times when I complained of excess fatigue and sleeping too many hours.

The first time I was put on it was in an Intensive Outpatient Program (maybe 10 years ago). The pdoc gave me a sample pack of 7 days or something like that. By about the fifth day I was much much improved and wanted to get a prescription for it, but my insurance company flat out wouldn't cover it. The price back then was way too high. The IOP pdoc considered rxing Ritalin (I do not have ADHD), but decided against it because my mood suddenly shifted and I wasn't sleeping as much anymore. I think I ended up in the hospital with a mixed state only a couple of weeks later.

The second time I was rxd Provigil was by my regular pdoc. He put me on it. It was a major hassle because it required prior authorization to be covered by my insurance (a different insurance than the above), but my pdoc went to the trouble. It was only a short time before my mood switched to hypomanic, so my pdoc told me to discontinue it.

The third time I was in IOP again, then soon after I went back to my regular pdoc. My regular pdoc thought it was a horrible idea, but I insisted it was helping so he did the prior authorization. Then my husband and I left for a vacation in Maine. During the course of the vacation I decided on my own to double my dose of Provigil. Soon after I started getting manic. Poor hubby had to put up with listening to strangers yelling comments about my behavior. I stopping sleeping more than a couple of hours per night. In the wee hours of the morning hubby found me swimming in the outdoor hotel swimming pool (not heated) at the end of November. He coerced me out and then threatened to take me to the hospital, which happened to be right next door. Hubby made me stop the Provigil. The hotel then finally locked the gate to the pool and put up a big sign. I started to sleep a little more and managed to get through the last couple of days of the vacation without hospitalization. When I came home hubby made me call the pharmacy to cancel the rest of the refills. I did. Then a couple of days later when my mood started to stabilize again I called the pharmacy for a refill hoping they had never cancelled them. But they did. When I finally saw my pdoc I had to tell him what all happened on the vacation, but I neglected to mention the pharmacy situation. Pdoc said he'd never prescribe Provigil for me again.

It's funny, antidepressants made me manic in the past, but I never abused them in any way. Most of the time I'd just stop taking them, and the mania would go on. With the Provigil, I actually started to abuse it and then crave it once I was off. I was lucky that the mania eased when I stopped taking the Provigil.