It works OK for me, not as dramatic as the ritalin was, but also not anywhere nearly as catastrophic in terms of crazy side effects. It's a subtle drug. It doesn't keep me from sleeping if I want to, but it does help keep me from feeling like I'm sleep deprived.
My primary narcoleptic issues are with the excessive daytime fatigue, and the accompanying lack of any perceptible urge to go to sleep at night (until I black out suddenly). The EDF is made worse by repetitive, tedious things like highway driving, repetitive editing of files, and of course, blood sugar swings.
I am normally lucky if I get six consecutive hours of sleep, and optimally I should be getting 7 and a half.
Provigil makes it possible for me to wake up in the morning. It takes about a half hour to 45 minutes to take effect, during which time I could easily go back to sleep for the duration (and still use an alarm to wake me) or stagger around the kitchen with a version of Teh Dumb, feed cats, and possibly injure myself fixing my food.
It does not make me jittery, the way that ritalin did and does. It does not make me as alert as I want, so I also use caffeine and the occasional sugar-free energy drink. I try to time the energy drink to times when I have higher blood sugars because of the weird diabetic thing - the energy drinks stimulate the burning of the sugars to some degree. Some of them also seem to help with the neurotransmitter levels, as my mild Parkinsons-like symptoms, and the occasional sleep paralysis attacks are much less frequent.
(Incidentally, I just now had a blood sugar spike and blacked out for 15 minutes; this morning I had only 3.5 hours of sleep, and for me, a 15 minute nap is adequate to get me functioning for a good hour or two. This usually happens about six or seven hours after taking the primary dose, for me, and coincides with one of the usual circadian 'downs' - 10:30am, 2:30pm, 4:30pm - this one hit at 8:30pm. I usually take a second half-dose of Provigil if I need to be alert for another six hours.)
My primary narcoleptic issues are with the excessive daytime fatigue, and the accompanying lack of any perceptible urge to go to sleep at night (until I black out suddenly). The EDF is made worse by repetitive, tedious things like highway driving, repetitive editing of files, and of course, blood sugar swings.
I am normally lucky if I get six consecutive hours of sleep, and optimally I should be getting 7 and a half.
Provigil makes it possible for me to wake up in the morning. It takes about a half hour to 45 minutes to take effect, during which time I could easily go back to sleep for the duration (and still use an alarm to wake me) or stagger around the kitchen with a version of Teh Dumb, feed cats, and possibly injure myself fixing my food.
It does not make me jittery, the way that ritalin did and does. It does not make me as alert as I want, so I also use caffeine and the occasional sugar-free energy drink. I try to time the energy drink to times when I have higher blood sugars because of the weird diabetic thing - the energy drinks stimulate the burning of the sugars to some degree. Some of them also seem to help with the neurotransmitter levels, as my mild Parkinsons-like symptoms, and the occasional sleep paralysis attacks are much less frequent.
(Incidentally, I just now had a blood sugar spike and blacked out for 15 minutes; this morning I had only 3.5 hours of sleep, and for me, a 15 minute nap is adequate to get me functioning for a good hour or two. This usually happens about six or seven hours after taking the primary dose, for me, and coincides with one of the usual circadian 'downs' - 10:30am, 2:30pm, 4:30pm - this one hit at 8:30pm. I usually take a second half-dose of Provigil if I need to be alert for another six hours.)
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