Modafinil- share your experiences

[Betterlatethanlater]

Hi!

If anyone has info about Modafinil for ADHD- it’s an off-label use, and would like to know if it’s helped. I’m 48, have had little success with vyvanse, Concerta and now Adderall due to side effects. All of these wonderful adhd meds are making me dreadfully tired, tachycardic and adderall is giving me abdominal pains and possibly affecting my urination despite lots of hydration.

I came across Modafinil after listening to a Ted talk, and it’s a nootropic that’s prescribed for a number of indications, mainly wakefulness for narcolepsy and night shift workers, it’s neuroprotective ( used in elderly for that too), and ADHD! It assists with changing functional connectivity in the cortex and cerebellum and works on a broader range of neurotransmitters including glutamate. It looks very promising and although a stimulant, reports are it’s not euphoric which is what I’m looking for.

Therapeutic doses seem to range between 200mg once or twice a day.

Thanks!

[Gettingittogether]

Our experiences are completely useless to you ... You have to see if it works for YOUR body. For example, none of the side effects you report on your previous meds apply to me.

Just ask your provider and try it. By definition with ADHD meds, experiences are all over the map. Wellbutrin helps with my ADHD. I know tons of people who've had zero help from Wellbutrin. Their experience doesn't matter to me--and mine doesn't matter to them.

Let your provider figure out the dose and all of that.

[Betterlatethanlater in reply to Gettingittogether]

People’s experiences DO matter..I mean, isn’t that why we are all here?

[Tim_Othy]

As mentioned it is impossible to come up with a universal drug protocol for ADHD’ers. Most find their answer from exploring different drugs, diets, and/or therapy. I do want to thank you for bringing Modafinil up, as I will research it more and it maybe helpful to others.

[Nleor623]

I don't know why people are acting like you plan to completely base your decision entirely off any one person's personal experience 🙄. Just because you won't have the exact experience and reactions as someone else doesn't mean it's useless to ask.

I was on modafinil shortly, although not to treat ADHD-- my psych wouldn't really take that into account, so he only did it because I was crashing midway through the day (still do...). I was hopeful because I found adhd and people with fatigue basically saying it helped them a lot or was even a game changer. A lot of the same things I've seen/heard about more common stimulants (Adderall etc.).

Me personally, I had zero effect from it. Tried the full dose for over a month without any noticeable difference. Hopefully the Ted Talk didn't overhype it as a miracle drug or something, but it makes sense as a possible alternative treatment, so no harm bringing it up to your doctor.

If you haven't, some other meds you might ask about that might be gentler on you-- Welbutrin is an NDRI, as opposed to an SSRI antidepressant, so it works on norepinephrine and dopamine receptors instead of primarily serotonin. I've had it multiple times with different other meds in the past, and currently take it with effexor and lamictal. There's never a serious difference but when I've been out of it, I realize it's helped a bit more than I thought.

Clonidine is also sometimes used. It's a blood pressure medication so you would definitely want to be sure your doctor has experience with it though. I took it for sleep when I was younger and it sure worked for that, but often I'd be woozy from standing up too fast. I don't really think it did anything for my mental status though.

I haven't tried it, but I believe Straterra is a non stimulant adhd med, so it might also be worth looking into and asking your doctor about.

Anecdotally some people have said they've had some relief from supplements like l-tyrosine, sometimes l thiamine. Neither had any effect on me, but they were also suggested in a book by an ADHD psychiatrist, so I don't think it's too crazy--just since it's not prescription, make sure your doctor knows you're taking it/preferably talk to them about it before hand.

That's about all I've got, which was probably way too much anyway

🤷‍♂️. Good luck, definitely update.

[Gettingittogether]

I didn't mean to be snarky to the original poster.

There is a website called drugs.com ... it's not a commercial site ... it has reviews of medications ... and it organizes reviews by condition ... you can see reviews of Modafinil there ... and compare it (it's unsystematic of course) ... to other meds used for ADHD ...it's off label like Wellbutrin (which I take) is off label ... And yes, it gets some positive reviews for ADHD, not nearly as many users overall as with Adderall and so on ... I suggest you keep going down the list ... try more ADHD meds ... make sure you get the dose adjusted ... down ... up ... give things time ... many side effects disappear after 3 weeks or so ...

Good luck.