Posted by JohnL on August 31, 2001, at 18:29:54
I wanted to mention a few things about Adrafinil in other threads, but they would have detracted from the original topics, so I thought I would start a new thread here.
There are problems with all drugs, even aspirin, and Adrafinil is no exception. It shares common problems of other psychiatric drugs, such as possible anxiety, possible hypomania, possible worsening of depression, etc etc, things all the drugs share. But in addition, here are some other problems:
1. Because it is generically priced, there will never be good research to support it. Most of the research I have found was done on elderly dogs, rats, and senior citizens. Most of the research was aimed at memory enhancement and motivational stimulation. I can attest that it is excellent for both of those, but like I said, research is sorely lacking. That is a problem because a majority of people in the psychiatric world, whether they be patients or doctors, tend to rely too heavily on research and not enough on intuitive logic. People who need proof will undoubtedly sidestep a very good drug, simply because they prefer to go on someone else's research (usually flawed anyway). My own pdoc was personally involved in the pre-clinical trials of Serzone. Serzone looked great. Why in the world it didn't work out very well in his real world office setting is a mystery. Research proved almost useless. Nevertheless, a majority of people are deadset on having research, and in this aspect Adrafinil runs into problems.
2. Potential liver problems exist. In a year and a half of taking Adrafinil myself, and three blood/liver tests to monitor it, my tests have always come back perfectly normal. But the potential is there, so anyone taking Adrafinil should volunteer for a blood/liver test twice a year.
3. Just based on anecdotal observations of people here at this board who have tried Adrafinil, there is one big problem. That is, in most cases (not all), the people end up feeling so much better that they stop coming around! So we never hear from them again. I guess in a way that is good, but in a way it is bad because we don't get to continually see the great improvements Adrafinil has brought many people who otherwise suffered on so many other drugs.
Hope this is helpful.
John
poster:JohnL
thread:77144
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010828/msgs/77144.html