Any experience with Modafinail or similar Meds?

Anyone have any experience with taking Modafinil or Provigil? I’m so frustrated with myself today. I complained about brain fog from Meds and depression with my Pdoc for 6 months. I kept asking for something to help with it. I even jumped through her hoops and spent $800 on a full battery of psychological and neurological testing to make sure that I didn’t have early onset dementia or altziemers or some other brain problem. I passed with a clean bill of health and the doctor testing me even stated in his official report that he thought my cognitive problems were side effects of the psych Meds.

So my doc finally prescribed Modafinil. What do I do? I filled the script and they’re sitting there collecting dust in my cabinet. I’m afraid to take them. It makes me want to rip my hair out! I’m scared that I will get manic. I take one every once in a while. (I’m supposed to take 2) The only difference I notice is a headache.

I talked to my doc finally and told her the situation. She said that I need to take them a while to notice an effect. Well duh! Isn’t that usually the case with psych Meds? If anyone has an experience with these Meds I’d really appreciate some feedback.

I'll be honest with you and say that both of the two attempts at taking Provigil made me manic. At the time it was prescribed to me because I had been depressed with terrible hypersominia. Both of those times I became manic within a week or so. The first time the psychiatrist noticed it quickly and told me to stop, and I did. The second time I was on vacation in another state. It got so bad that I was doing all kinds of crazy things and people in public were making loud comments about my behavior. I even had a visual hallucination one night. I wasn't sleeping at all. Hubby threatened to take me to the hospital there, even though it was many states from home. Hubby made me stop the Provigil and the mania eased quite quickly. Provigil was kind of interesting in that sense. All of my other manias in my life were hard to stop without major increases in antipsychotics (and often hospitalization). That wasn't necessary from my Provigil-induced manias. Just stopping the Provigil worked.

When we returned from vacation I was still at least a little manic, but much less so. I called the pharmacy and told them to cancel my future refills. Then I seemed to start missing the high (like an addict) and called the pharmacy and asked if there were refills left. They said they already cancelled them. I had to tell my psychiatrist about all of that and he has told me to never take that medication again.

Just my experience. I have read others say that it was helpful.

Well thank you for your honesty. That’s a scary story. I’ve never had a full blown manic episode or been hospitalized for mania. I tend mostly to depression with occasional bouts of hypomania, where I talk fast, my thoughts jump around, and sleep less then normal. I was hospitalized once for severe depression decades ago before I was diagnosed with bipolar type 2. I’m going to closely monitor how much I sleep...or don’t.

Maybe I’ll be lucky and get the benefits without mania. Being in this fog is frustrating and depressing.

I have bipolar 1 and took Modafinil more than 5 years ago for a few months. I didn't notice any difference at all so eventually stopped taking it.

When I first started modafinil it made my hypomanic, then I got used it and it stopped having any useful effect. I don't take it anymore because it doesn't do anything for me.

BPII here. I get daily headaches with Provigil.

I am currently taking Adderall.

I hope you find answers.


WC

Is the adderal helping you?

I used provigil/nuvigil when I was working and it worked very well for me. Sometimes it would push things up but always at the same time and it always responded to a PRN to calm down quickly. It helped me wake up for work and focus once I got there. My experience was really good but I was really closely monitored. I used it for about 6 years (one or the other).

Adderall seems to be helping some. I have to keep the dose quite low or I notice side-effects, like a rapid pulse or light-headedness. I do not feel any euphoria or a lot of what some people report. I feel more focused and a little bit more energy. If I am very tired, I can take it and fall asleep. In other words, it does not leave me reeling at the dose I use. I often have a slight tremor in my hands.

I have found it more helpful to me than Provigil/Nuvigil and Ritalin.

Please feel free to ask me more questions if you have them. I know you know our reactions to meds are very individualized. Yet, I am happy to respond to your inquiries.


WC

I’ve been taking modvigil for 4 yrs but I do not have bipolar I take it for brain fog & severe depression.
When I started it I only took half a pill till I understood the effects & realized for me, it worked fairly quickly like within the hour.

I have built up a resistance to this med tho & it does not seem to be as efficient as yrs ago. Hence problems with drug resistance

I recreationally took modafinal and went super manic for a few days and i had to take a lot of seriquil to bring me down. Please be careful.