[espresso_enigma]

re. Modafinil, I heard it mentioned by a reputable programmer on twitter and decided to try it. I used it regularly for several years, and it was extremely useful in helping with focus and staying on task. I feel like it helped me in a breakthrough phase of my career. The problem I found was that I could only tolerate it 2-3 times per week over the long term. Any more than that, and the edgy/anxious/irritable side effects would build up to intolerable levels. Not to mention I was buying from questionable sources online, figuring it would be too difficult to talk a doctor into prescribing me some.

Eventually though I worried about the quality of the batched I was getting online and stopped taking it altogether. But I still really struggled with focus on a daily basis and started to wonder if what I was really doing was self medicating for undiagnosed ADHD. Thinking back on my life it did sort of fit. Though I am a "successful" developer and I'm doing fairly well at life, it has always felt like I had to struggle and fight a lot more than the average person just go get through the day and stay on task. So I talked to a doctor, tried ritalin and adderall and have settled on a low dose adderall routine that really works for me. It helps tremendously with focus and motivation, and if I am diligent about maintaining a good diet/exercise/sleep schedule, the side effects are very manageable with daily use. I still think about the modafinil days, because those were good times, and it was fun to have that all day I'm on fire feeling. Adderall is nice, but I can tell that if I upped my dose to get into the realm of intense focus that Modafinil used to give me, I would also be getting pretty "high" and the comedown side effects would probably be more unpleasant.

[MivLives]

I daily take modafinil, actually prescribed to me. I have bad problems when I take either ritalin or adderall. Not being able to sleep for over 24 hours, and panic attacks being some of the more annoying ones. Modafinil on the other hand the difference is more subtle, where if I try I can focus but I'm not trying to focus on something.

Highly recommend anyone considering it talking it over with their doctor first. The dose they sell via grey market can be rather high especially if you haven't had it before.

[JohnBooty]

    Highly recommend anyone considering it talking 
    it over with their doctor first.

Do folks generally have luck getting it prescribed for ADHD and its ilk these days?

The doctors I've mentioned it to were not receptive to prescribing it off-label for attention disorders.

They didn't really seem to think it was an awful idea per se but really couldn't endorse it, and naturally they were worried about the risks of ordering it from possibly-unreliable overseas pharmacies.

[cauliflower2718]

I haven't been able to get modafinil for ADHD (n=1). I have heard of people getting prescriptions for modafinil because of their work schedules (e.g. being tied to the hours of a stock exchange in a different time zone).

[JohnBooty]

Ah, that's interesting. Maybe I could wrangle something like that.

[cauliflower2718]

Have you been at a low dose for a long time? Is there something you do to reduce tolerance?