Misc I'm on Modafinil 1700mg per day? Anyone else on this?

Yeah I got a large amount of Provigil(modafinil) off my cousin who is no longer taking it.

I've been taking 1700mg per day for my ADHD.

Just wondering if anyone else takes such a dose, how they find it etc.

Thanks

WHAT!?

That is an insanely large amount. I've never heard of anyone taking more than 600mg in a day, and that is considered huge.

You are in uncharted territory, with the exception of one known failed suicide attempt: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2906157

That's an insane amount, most people do about 1/10 that. Is that all in one dose, or divided? Do you ever sleep?

It hasn't been well studied at this dose in adults.

Lol I knew I would get a reaction from someone

It has been studied reasonably well at the 600-800mg range in adults, and there was some limited testing around 1000-1200mg.

There have been various LARGE overdoses, and no deaths or credible events of dangerous adverse effects.

In children however it has been studied in 1300 or so children with many on 425mg for ADHD.

It has been noted high mg per kg doses are more effective than lower ones in children, and there is no noteworthy pattern of side effects vs mg dosage.

I have read literally about 1500 detailed pages of research information on this drug.

The most effective dose in children/ young teenagers is 425mg, with the children around 30kg receiving this dose having the most efficient treatment of their symptoms.

425mg / 30kg (the weight of children they put on that dosage) equals 14.6mg kg

Modafinil is evenly distributed through the body according to weight. I weigh 120kg, roughly 50% more than a more typical 75kg weighing person. 1700mg / 120kg equals 14.1mg per Kilo, a little less than the most effective dose found in children which as I said was 425mg for 30kg and above.

So the children were exposed to an equivalent dosage, and in general children tend to experience MORE side effects from medications than adults at equivalent doses. Indeed the main metabolite of Modifinil- modafinil acid occurs at DRAMATICALLY higher amounts in children vs adults at equivalent mg per kg doses. Up to 16x higher levels I believe.

In my brain- where Modafinil is active, I should have a similar amount compared to the children in the ADHD trial. I am taking this medicine for ADHD.

It is true that this dosage level and corresponding plasma concentrations in blood have not been tested in adults, however the evidence is that Modafinil does NOT cause rare liver problems or credible elevations in enzyme markers associate with liver damage.

I understand I am taking a risk, but for me the benefits are worth it. I have only gone on Modifinil recently but have been on the current dosing regime for a month. I have experienced absolutely NO KNOWN SIDE EFFECTS WHATSOEVER- Zilch (lol sorry about my tendency to capitalize certain words)

Also my pulse and blood pressure are entirely fine, my BP is 120/80 exactly.

I will be getting some detailed blood tests done in the next few days to err on the safe side.

The reason I have gone into this medication territory is because I get intolerable side effects for all other treatments for ADHD, and I am VERY ADHD, indeed on the severe end of the spectrum, and it has really had a significant impact on my life and is a disability.

I do worry about neuro-adaptation and tolerance to the effects, but studies have shown that around 14mg per kg is the sweet spot for ADHD treatment, and believe me it has and is having a profound effect on my life.

You may be wondering but I sleep entirely normally at night, and suffer from no insomnia at all. I guess I am a Modafinil pioneer or freak- depends on how you look at it

Oh and in regards to the above post, I take it in two doses personally, one when I wake up (the larger portion of it), and another 4 hours later.


Edit: I would like to add the following:

There are a couple of concerns about serious adverse events from Modafinil. In regards to the cardiovascular system, I am not worried.

In very rare cases in adults, Steven Johnson Syndrome- a severe, allergic skin reaction MAY have occurred at a higher incidence than the very, very rare background level. Also there are a couple of other allergic skin reactions that concern is may rarely occur, they are essentially related to and variation of Steven Johnson Syndrome.

To give you an idea how rare Steven Johnson syndrome is, the FDA only verified 6 *potential* cases of it in the united states (in Modafinil users), during the first 10 years Modafinil was on the market. The US has a population of over 300,000,000.

There was a report which said the FDA found 3 cases of Steven Johnson in a pool of 1.5 million Modafinil users. I have read reasonably competent information that the development of Steven Johns syndrome is fairly related to rare genetic traits and exposure to triggers such as drugs. I am not worried about this syndrome. The fatality rate for SJ is about 10%.

Various nasty allergic skin reactions have occasionally occurred on Modafinil, more so in children than adults (this is typically the case with allergic drug related skin conditions in children). I am not concerned about skin conditions at all now because I have been on it long enough that if they were to occur they very likely would have already occurred. I was never concerned anyway, the dangerous ones are too rare.

Essentially all serious adverse events to Modafinil- that have not occurred in just single individuals (ie may not be due to Modafinil) are allergic type reactions.

Of course there are psychiatric considerations, but I didn't just start at such a dose straight away. I gradually escalated the dosage. As I said I have experienced no adverse effects at any stage, psychiatric or otherwise. I do not have any disposition to mania or psychosis, in such individuals Modafinil should not be used.

It may be of interest, and I don't drink on a frequent basis, but on one occasion I drank 7 full strength 375ml bottles of beer (rapidly within 70 minutes), and despite many people complaining that they get side effects from Modafinil and alcohol, and even at the dosage I am on- I did not experience any adverse effects I actually felt pretty good, without the "sleepy" feeling alcohol usually gives me.

I know I have typed a lot but I figured this forum may be large enough that there may be a small group of people that is interested in all this

I think I have said MOST the points I think are important, but my housemates (friends who are gorgeous, young females) are moderately drunk and keep distracting me, even with my treated ADHD

Edit 2: Ahh I remember the other point I wanted to make. Twice, I have decided to take a 3 day break to test for any withdrawal type symptoms. A little bit more tired and low energy and return of full ADHD symptoms, but nothing I would call a "withdrawal syndrome". Indeed I definitely experience significantly more unpleasant withdrawal type symptoms in the rare event I run out of coffee, and people may be interested I drink about 7-8 cups of that a day in conjunction with the Modafinil, I feel it sort of boosts it a little for me.

Interesting info. I've noticed modafinil to be an amphetamine potentiator. Have you considered stacking modafinil with low doses of an amphetamine, along clonidine or guanfacine?

I don't have ADHD, but I can report that it is quite a good combo for studying.

It works well as it is, but I guess adding an amphetamine may reduce the amount I need to take.

However, my previous (bad) experiences with Ritalin and Dexamphetamine indicate that even small doses (such as 1/4 typical starting dose) cause me tachycardia, and orthostatic tachycardia (heart rate dramatically increases when standing), as well as seemingly random, but really extreme panic attacks like nothing I have ever experienced before, you know I have had the occasional panic attack when I used to smoke weed, but they were not on the same level of extremeness as the one's I have experienced on mainstream stimulants.

Clonidine might help with the side effects of psychostimulants (I don't have more than basic knowledge of the combo, is it likely to stop panic attacks induced by psychostimulants as well, with consistent protection throughout the day?). However I am on 100mg (a small dose) of Solian (amisulpride), which I have read has a potential interaction with Clonidine to increase the risk of certain serious heart rhythm disorders.

In regards to the Solian, at low doses (such as 100mg), it does not decrease dopamine but increases it. Also, the Modafinil (despite having dopaminergic effects) does not interfere with the positive effects I get from Solian. Also I have ceased Solian at twice for sufficient time while on the higher doses of Modafinil, just to be sure it was not somehow "blocking" the Modafinil. I can assure you at such doses it does not. I take Modafinil not as a dopamine antagonist (which as I said it is NOT at 100mg), but because for some reason it helps with my co-existing moderate depression).

I would like to add, that since the beginning of my usage, my reaction to Modafinil has been somewhat unusual in certain respects. I have wondered if having "adhd" might lower a person's sensitivity to Modafinil. I have noticed the other people I have talked to often seem to find doses of "100-200mg" really strong etc lol. Perhaps the lower or "less active" dopamine system's in certain part's of an ADHD person's brain could cause this. Entirely super speculative of course, as a study I have a sample size of only myself It could be due to the fact I am a fat bastard, and purely related to the lower blood-plasma concentrations caused by my weight!

For example, I first tried it when I was a little above moderately tired. I tried 200mg. I *forced* myself to stay up 3 hours for it to fully absorb into my system, but after 3 hours I was so tired I felt compelled to sleep- and did. After I woke up, I thought "wow this stuff is CRAP, it does NOTHING AT ALL. Well I better try the full 400mg."

I experimented a few days later, mostly curious if it would help me out when I was tired (I hadn't read at this stage about its potential for ADHD), and I tried 400mg.

It kept me awake fairly well when I was moderately tired, and I thought to myself, "Wow. It seems a little bit to be having some sort of positive effect, besides purely reducing tiredness."

Well I went on it a several times over about 15 days, as a tool for when I was tired, which for various reasons I was sometimes fairly tired due to interrupted sleep, crisis with Family etc on a regular basis However I noticed that I seemed to adapt somewhat to the effects, and that they weren't especially strong. What I am getting at, and I don't know it *could* be related to having ADHD, Modafinil at normal doses seems to have less effect on me than other people.

Anyway I decided to see if 600mg would be more effective etc, and I read up a lot of info before I was willing to "dare" this dosage, and when I tried it not only did I feel fully awake, but I noticed other positive effects (in relation to ADHD). That is how this sorry tale started, sort of by accident. I have to go now (drunken flatmates and I have to help them with their 4 year old daughter cause they asked me too when they were "having a few")

Are you trying to justify these insane doses with those two wall of texts? Regardless, I don't think anyone will condone that. If it doesn't affect you at normal doses, then it simply is not the right medication for you. Please think about reducing your dose before something bad occurs. Ya know, like death.

i sometimes take 200mg pills. I find that it compliments the Mirtazapine anti depressant that im on very well. Mirt' kind of feels like benzos to me so i reckon some kind of stimulant lift is required to go with it or Id never get out of bed or leave the house or get anything done. I find 200mg more than enough. I might start halving the pills.

Have you thought of switching antipsychotics to one that does not cause QT prolongation so you can try alpha agonists as adjuvants to stimualnts? I'm personally a big lurasidone fan, it is my go-to drug to quash stimulant psychosis whenever I'm up 24+ hours.

Afobazole works quite well against drug induced general anxiety.