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Yeah, a sleep clinic would be a very good idea. Go to one. Spend a few nights there. See what they can find or tell you. They know a lot about abnormal sleep patterns than I do.

Being really tired or groggy for fifteen minutes or even forty-five minutes after waking is normal, and will happen even if you wake up in the middle of REM or stage two sleep. Being tired for several hours (but NOT groggy--there's a difference) in the morning after waking from REM or stage two is also pretty common, though not as universal as the above. Being groggy and unable to think straight for several hours suggests that you woke up during SWS.

From what you said, it sounds like you're having a more extreme version of the problem described in sentence two of the previous paragraph. One of my housemates has pretty much the same problem--he never really feels awake and alert until about 6:00pm every day, and can rarely stay awake during even the most interesting classes. His family has a lot of atypical narcolepsy-like sleep disturbances. It sounds like you may have something similar. Of course, you might also have sleep apnea or something simple like that, too--you'll have to find out.

In the short term, you can try playing around with your alarm clock settings. Try to start going to bed at exactly the same time every night, but change your alarm clock time by ten minutes or so each night, and see if you can find a time that works better for you. Paradoxical as it might seem, you may have to sleep less every night in order to feel better. Personally, I think that this won't fix your problem, but it's definitely something you should try.

It might come to drugs for you. Don't be afraid of them; some of the new anti-narcoleptics are quite effective and come with very few side effects. I recommend that you check out modafinil (brand name, Provigil): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modafinil http://www.modafinil.com/ http://www.erowid.org/smarts/modafinil/. Go to a sleep clinic, ask them about modafinil, and have them watch you. If they can't find an easier or better solution, modafinil or something like it may be able to lessen your symptoms dramatically.

Nothing in the above is intended to diagnose any condition, or recommend any treatment for any condition, blah blah blah.

The pharmaceutical industry has incredibly high costs because of government regulations

Yes, and I alluded to that. You didn't answer the question.

We have 6.5 billion people in the world. If reducing government intrusion would save half, we're talking about 2.5 cents per person to make a new drug.

That's nice. What about the vast majority of drugs that don't target every human being on the planet? Not everyone is HIV positive. Not everyone has diabetes. Not everyone will get esophageal cancer. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing research on them.

I'm narcoleptic, and I'm very happy that the research that led to modafinil was done -- it's far better than the alternatives, such as ritalin or other addictive stiumlents. Of course, in its case I will question whether or not it should still be covered by patent -- it was originally found in the 1970s during other research, but only recently re-visited for usage in narcolepsy treatment. If it couldn't have been patented, however, I'm unsure that it ever would have been revisited -- there aren't a huge number of people suffering from narcolepsy after all -- instead the stimulents would continue to be the only treatment course, or someone might have eventually stumbled upon a new treatment. Maybe.

As long as there is a demand for something that has zero supply, people will always find ways to create a supply. That is how the market operates.

You're missing the bits that involve making profit. In the case of pharmaceuticals there is a huge research cost -- even if you remove all regulation. You have completely failed to explain how the R&D costs will be recovered if a company has no exclusivity time period.

Nor do you explain how removing governmental regulation will magically make it happen. What you'll end up with then is a huge cycle of lawsuits as companies come out with blatantly unsafe medications (because they didn't bother doing the now unrequired testing), people take them and suffer significant problems (problems which may not surface for a long period of time (c.f. -- the tobacco industry for an imperfect example), or problems which may cause lasting, long term effects) and sue the company. Odds are the company goes out of business and the consumers are left holding the bag. That or companies have to do the testing cycles anyway, which creates even more R&D expense, which they then can't recover because Drugs'R'Us waits for them to put out the product and then does some pretty simplistic chemistry to determine what the makeup and production methods are. These aren't things you can keep as trade secrets after all.

n my experience, the IP debate ends when someone brings up pharmaceuticals

Maybe because it's a serious issue that your "abolish IP laws" doesn't address? And it's hardly a fringe issue. There are numerous industries in which this is true (high R&D costs, low barriers to entry for production); the pharmaceutical industry is merely the most prominant one.

I've been doing a lot of introspective thinking about how much I work vs. how much actually gets done. And really its only the last 4 hours before a deadline that the work gets done - regardless of how many all-nighters were pulled.

Same here. As I have said before, a 3-day work week could potentially preserve current productivity while increasing happiness.

I really just need a drug that'll push me into the last-mile mindset and get me to actually do the amazing work that gets done under pressure. Caffeine and nicotine just don't cut it anymore.

I would recommend Provigil to almost anyone.

Modafinil (aka Provigil) is already about, tested with very few side effects, only it is restricted to use in miliraty and by prescription only.

The trick is to sell modafinil on the streets (no need to sleep for a week! w00t!), and use the surplus doctor/nurse shifts to treat those with the minor side effects. And extra police hours to tackle the odd abuser. Sorted.

Modafinil might do the trick.

Hey kids! For years, schizophrenia has been the Cadillac of mental disorders- everyone admires it, but there's just not enough to go around for everyone.

But now, due to insightful new research, schizophrenia is suddenly achievable! The key is Provigil / Modafinil, an exciting new prescription drug. The approved use is to treat sleep disorder, but studies suggest an off-label effect: consistent intake of 2-3 times approved dosage for a period of more than 6 days may induce the symptoms of schizophrenia.

Ask your doctor if schizophrenia is right for you!

...sleep substitutes to make our days longer and more productive...

If you want to try the life on for size, take some modafinil. Miltary is looking into it for soldiers. It probably needs further testing though.

Let us know how it goes. Personally, I like my naps.

A "psychostimulant" is still a stimulant. It's like calling a shovel a "hand actuated earth moving device" :-p

Although modafinil is proving to be quite useful.....especially for M.S. patients.

-psy

• Coffee (of course)
• Glucoronamide (in Guronsan(R) in association with caffeine and Vit.C)
• Adrafinil or Modafinil (in Provigil(R), Olmifon(R) or Modiolal(R))

I saw some info about modafinil (or Provigil) on 20/20 or one of the network mag shows recently and was quite impressed. Side affects appear minimal. I don't know if I'd care to use it over extended periods, but I'm interested.

Some dubious links are here and here. More reliable stuff is here and here.