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I take about 200 mg per day of Provigil to improve performance when I pull 80 - 100 hour weeks (got it from my doc to combat "excessive sleepiness.")

One study of the drug had US Airforce pilots working 80 hours out of 88 (40 awake, then 8 asleep, then 40 more awake,) without the ill effects of amphetamines.

Anyway, the stuff works great. I don't feel all "cracked out," and I'm able to stay productive many hours longer than before. We should put the stuff in the water supply, like we do with floride....

The Air Force I know was testing this on pilots two years ago to replace the use of Dexadrine (a controlled substance - and rather slightly addictive amphetamine) in pilots sustaining 30+ hour patrol missions.

A friend of mine who has cancer reported a varying effect, saying it felt like speed. On fire all day with energy..

Provigil is mainly prescribed for sleep apnea and narcolepsy and can sustain a person without sleep for up to 88 hours.

Timothy

so when are they going to start making foods laced with http://www.provigil.com/physician/home.aspxModafin il so that we caffeine based drinks and foods are avoided for breakfast just to get that extra jolt.

I for one welcome our new pill-poping-sleep-deprived overloads.

Provigil.

I am fed up of seeing such make-believe articles only to encourage drug abuse.

If you think you can solve everything by fad chemicals - ha think again
(and am sorry if you've lost that ability).

I find it shameful Cephalon allowing (if not secretely promoting)
the spread of such myths concerning its main drug Provigil.

I take Provigil(Modafinil), I hate it, I fight against it - but I have to at times.
The side effects: nausea, headaches, being jittery and getting nightmares.
Hardly a feeling of enlightenment:
If anything your brain feels alert but in a "silent" state (unwilling to think much) -
receptive but barely pro-active barely eager to take on intellectual challenges.
Even a can of RedBull with a shot a vodka achieves better results.

Wanna get more intelligent? Fucking read, fucking study, Learn a foreign language, adopt a healthy lifestyle, exercise, travel the world, experience life, mix with people, push your mind to the limit but you don't need these short-circuiting drugs that will only damage your nervous system in the long run.

Still .. since when pharmaceutical companies care about telling the truth?
People prefer easy answers, readily buying into their propaganda ...

For those of you who haven't heard, it basically eliminates the need to sleep while you take it... (until your immune system bites the dust)

That's some good stuff - all of the flavor, none of the guilt. So far...

I know, personally, I'd eat a handful of mealworms for a script of Provigil - would make call nights a heck of a lot less torturous (and less frustrating for my poor patients...).

Patients should be advised that PROVIGIL is not a replacement for sleep.

From the official prescribing information at http://www.provigil.com Nothing beats a good nights sleep to rejuvenate the body.

Given our obsession with cramming more life into our lives, sleep seems like an obvious source of extra hours. I'm waiting for this to be the abused drug of choice for geek entrepreneurs. What geek doesn't want more time for projects? Search for Provigil and you'll find numerous Google ads for sleazy online pharmacies that would like to help you get more into your day the modern chemical way.

My productivity enhancement is less chemical. Some caffeine in Mt Dew (is 9 a day too many?), and some electronics. I ignored the MP3 craze for years, then finally gave in recently and bought a 20 GB Rio Karma so I could record library books-on-CD and listen to them while I work on the more mindless stuff.

I've been reading too much /. lately and my productivity has been in the toilet.

As a partially tangential aside, you may recall the media coverage for Provigil, the drug that allows non-jittery wakefulness for up to 48 hours, without dependency issues or major side effects. Provigil is a trade name for the chemical modafinil, which is Schedule IV in the US and requires a prescription.

Adrafinil -trade name Olmifon- is the precursor drug to modafinil, and it has the benefit of remaining unscheduled and uncontrolled in the US. It also has the same effect as modafinil: adrafinil is metabolized into modafinil by the body. Adrafinil also costs about 20% of an equivalent dose of modafinil. Quite exciting (just watch the potential liver side-effects)...

I have yet to locate a US supplier of adrafinil; I suspect this is largely due to the lack of FDA approval.

[honest i'd talk to a doctor, but since my doctor is so busy he hasn't gotten back to me, even though i asked him to call back, once a week from late november through late january...]

during the fall, i wasn't trying to lose weight but i wasn't eating[i had no money for food, simple enough]. i was also walking somewhere upwards from 10km a day, running a lot of that, working ~4 hours a day of physically taxing [as physically taxing as dishwashing/kitchen work gets, anyway...]...and then drinking high volumes of caffeine beverages on top of that. after awhile i started drinking cocacola, which is when i began to gain weight.

but before i did that i found i was fainting all the time. i couldn't keep consious. i would go a week without eating anything but a little chickensalt,or one of those flavour packages from the 'ichiban' style noodles local. i mean obviously, i was fainting from something between working too hard physically and not eating anything to replenish..and i was starting to lose weight[not that i was fat, at that point. i'm fat now, from the cocacola, mostly.] how do you avoid this? the only reason i drank cocacola to begin with was to keep energy reserves high. it's all nice and well and good to say that one will work harder but when your in a chair after a 5 mile run, after not eating for a week...and you have to study for a logic exam[oddly]...how do you keep your brain able to function??! i thought the solution for me should have been to get some provigil [i didn't sleep enough, either]... but my doctor i think didn't want to give me any[ie i havn't tried it yet because of that...]... but please...explain how one is to reasonably study, under those circumstances...or am i doomed to gain wait until i decide it's time to stoplearning and start to work on my body for awhile[while neglecting my mind so it rots?]...i don't want to drink cocacola or eat noodles just so i can stay consious any more :(

There are reputedly no known side effects. You just have to convince your doctor that you have narcolepsy, which shouldn't be difficult if you are halfway into a marathon session at the time!

Provigal affects Birth Control!

Patients should be advised to notify their physician if they become pregnant or intend to become pregnant during therapy. Patients should be cautioned regarding the potential increased risk of pregnancy when using steroidal contraceptives (including depot or implantable contraceptives) with PROVIGIL tablets and for one month after discontinuation of therapy

The strangest issue is that for a drug that has been around since the 70's there is very little data about interaction with other drugs and they just recommend you don't use alot of different types. Brings up something I remember hearing about a company in the past that found negative results and decided that they just "hadn't performed those tests". Who knows.

Buyer Beware.

I'm male though, so where do I order my emergency supply! :)

Garth/Darkstar

For everyone out there the name of the drug is Provigil not provigal. Here is the company's website on the drug. Unending amounts of information about the drug.

I've used it. The longest I've ever stayed up is 40 hours or so. The only noticible side effect was a slight headache, but that could've been caused by any number of things (I get headaches a fair amount because I don't eat very well :/). Headaches are the most common reported side-effect by far.

Even after 40 hours of being awake, I was still at nearly full mental capactity and able to work, etc. I did not feel the normal symptoms of sleep deprevation at all (I've stayed awake too long many times, and I'm familiar with how it makes you feel). I did not feel high, either. I was just... awake. I also didn't feel many physical problems (sore back, sore legs, etc) like I expected to, but YMMV, of course.

Afterwards I slept about 9 hours and had a normal next day. By my calculations (figuring you normally sleep .5 hours for each hour of wakefulness), that means I gained 22 hours of wakefulness.

You can find them on the internet if you look around enough. I am hesitant to mention sites, but there are two in the UK that sell 100mg pills. I have been unable to find the 200mg pills. They sell for about $145 + shipping ($15 or so) for 30 pills. That's $5.33 a pill. During my 40 hours awake, I took four, which works out to about $1 per hour.

Many people I tell this to think it would be a good idea to take them during finals. I must warn you that it's probably not a good idea because there is a very good chance your sleep schedule will get completely fucked up. For example, you may stay up for 32 hours, decide it's time for sleep, and then sleep through a final. In other words, I would take it a few times beforehand to get used to it before you decide to jump in and potentially fuck up something important.