Posted by Rick on August 9, 2000, at 17:22:32
In reply to Scott, posted by AndrewB on August 5, 2000, at 22:06:01
While I haven't used adrafinil, some of you know that I added modafinil (Provigil) to my effective Klonopin/Serzone regimen to help with motivation and occasional fatigue. And you know that, while this did indeed work for the intended purpose, it further enhanced my non-depressive Generalized Social Anxiety treatment by adding extra confidence and a good measure of sociability. In other words, it took me a step beyond eliminating the core anxiety symptoms.
But I've been taking Provigil awhile now, and have found myself frequently switching from 100mg/day to 200, and vice-versa. Finally, the pattern is becoming clearer:
Let's say I'm on 200. Everything's going wonderful, but after a few days, I find a little bit of my core Social Anxiety symptoms creeping back (manifested by symptoms like occasional voice shakiness). This is especially likely when I'm facing a lot of everyday stress, e.g., "fire drills" at work. So I'll cut the Provigil down to 100, and everything will go great again SA-wise (especially if the everday stresses have abated). Then, after four-five days, I'll start feeling a little less motivated/sociable, and a little bit more fatigued (which, for me, can actually add to Social Anxiety symptons: Fatigue --- > less assertiveness and less forceful speech --- > a bit more prone to nervousness/shakiness/intimidation. So then I'll go back to 200, and will feel fabulous for a few days. Then the cycle starts all over again.
Yesterday I returned from a five-day trip that would have traditionally been rife with Social Anxiety-causing situations. I temporarily upped my Klonopin a little (to 2mg/day, divided into three doses instead of two), but kept the Provigil at the 100 mg I had been taking most recently. I did incredibly well, but on the final morning of the trip started getting very tired and seeing a bit of anxiety return. Today I'm back to 200 mg of Provigil, and feel great. But, I'm betting that within a few days, I'll go back to 100.
I haven't quite thought through the implications of all of this, but I'm working on it. Fortunately, I'm not desperate to optimze. I'm thinking about trying a regular 100-200-100 switching pattern (with 100 predominating); or trying daily 150 mg (THAT will be fun to accomplish with 200mg pills!); or adjusting doses based on daily life events; or maybe some other approach.
Perhaps precise and/or systematically-fluctuating dosing could be a key to maintaining the optimal psychotropic effects of Provigil -- and likely adrafinil. Indeed, I wonder if this observation could account for some of the inconsitent results, side-effects, and/or poop-out many (most?) Babblers seem to have encountered with both of these meds.
Rick
poster:Rick
thread:42223
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000729/msgs/42461.html