Modafinil - thoughts

[Sleepman]

I am nervous in posting this. Please Admins jump in and close / moderate if needed etc.

I think modafinil has helped me get through low thyroid. There did not seem to be much on the web about modafinil and thyroid. A post on reddit I think, says it used to be prescribed to support thyroid in US but was reduced/stopped as medical insurances would not cover anymore.

Not a lot on this forum about it.

I have suffered, I know others are suffering which is why I am asking for thoughts.

Modafinil has other names like provigil and modalert. Modalert is what I have used.

My story ...

I am generally healthy. 18 months into underactive autoimmune thyroid, also gluten intolerant.

About 9 years ago, I was tired at times and hugely busy with work. I had been reading about modafinal to help with concentration and fatigue for some time I ordered some from off shore company. Small order to check then a larger order.

It is known as a smart drug for studying/improve brain function but "proper" use is it helps with sleep problems and shift work. Military use it, it seems.

Every now and again I would take some to get me through a sticky patch.

A full dose is 200 mg , I take 100 mg/ half tablet. early as I can in the day else it keeps me awake.

I bought 100 tablets - so 200 doses and 7 years later, I must have taken say 150 doses. 20 odd a year.

So come thyroid problems diagnosis about 18 months ago, I still had some left. I used a bit more frequently to help me through. I call it my wide awake tablet. I hardly use now.

I get brain fog from gluten as well as low thyroid hormone levels and I find it revitalises or resets somehow.

I only use for a day or two. If I use when ill then it makes things worse as it will help you get through but come back and bite with fatigue after ? As I write this I do not know why I dose like this ? It does seem like a reset.

Downside - write a list of what you want to do as a full does can send you on various rabbit holes rather than what you should have been doing. This is more with a higher dose I think

Makes you thirsty. Can get a light headache. Can be hard to get to sleep if taken too late.

Obviously read carefully, ideally discuss with your doctor etc etc

It does not make you buzzy like too much coffee.

I think it is treating a symptom rather than sorting out the real issue.

[posthinking01]

Hi there - on reading this I would say that it is addressing a problem that thyroid patients have and that is low adrenal gland function - so what the tablet is actually doing is speeding up your metabolism via the adrenal glands i.e. you will be running on adrenaline which isn't a bad thing. I once had to take a stimulant type medication back in the 1970's due to what was called nervous exhaustion made me feel 'just normal' for the first time in my life. Years later the thyroid and adrenal gland problem materialised as a major problem and I now have to take thyroid meds and steroids for the adrenal issue. Interesting post and I hope this helps in some way. Keep well - be careful though, as they might downgrade the function of your adrenal response.

[Sleepman in reply to posthinking01]

Thank you.

Noted about adrenal response, adrenals are something I do not understand yet but this amazing place has taught me that I need to be careful about them!

It is a total nonsense there are diabetes clinics but nothing for Thyroid patients.

I seem to function much better when I have to do something emergency/immediately rather than no real pressure these days.

[posthinking01 in reply to Sleepman]

Hi there I am an Addison's patient as well as everything else I have to contend with - so ask away anything you need to know about this amazing little bud on top of our kidneys that are life giving - I didn't know until a few weeks ago when doing some research that the left side of the adrenal bud is larger than the right - the human body is amazing. Also whilst writing - the adrenal gland has and needs the highest amount of Vitamin C anywhere in the body - i.e. if you are using up your adrenal response you will drain your Vitamin C - I actually almost got scurvy when taking levo as in those early days of my thyroid issues I didn't know I had an adrenal problem and didn't take steroids to supplement the strain on the adrenals as I upped the metabolic rate and the Vitamin C was being dragged from anywhere it could find it, to keep me alive and keep the adrenals going - I actually had a scar on my abdomen separating and luckily enough as I do research on Vitamins and Minerals etc. I knew it was a collagen vitamin C problem. Good luck.

[posthinking01 in reply to Sleepman]

Me again - just talking to my husband and he has reminded me as he has been down this road of thyroid/adrenals for over 25 years with me - that the adrenal glands supply the sex hormones of testosterone/oestrogen/DHEA/Cortisol plus many others - it could be your lack of energy is coming from that route rather than the thyroid and the more strain you put on the adrenal gland by asking it to produce cortisol/adrenaline for whatever reason - including speeding up the metabolic rate by taking thyroid hormone or running a marathon - jogging - playing high intensity sports then you will/could drain the adrenal glands - not only of cortisol but of these other essential hormones. It will/could also unbalance your sugar levels as I found out with my husband - we did an experiment testing sugar levels when he came in from a long drive stuck in traffic on the M25 - his sugar levels were through the roof - later on in the evening they had gone down. He told a world expert on diabetes he was seeing at the time (for his tiredness) and he agreed where this was coming from - I actually bought a book from the USA which was called Is Diabetes an Adrenal Gland disease or something like that - I can't remember now as I lent it to a consultant I was seeing who was really interested in my research and I never saw it again after he retired !

[Sleepman]

Thank you for sharing. I will try to understand it some more.

My brother is type 1 diabetic, my mum is like me hyperthyroid AI and gluten intolerant.

I am nearly clear of prediabetic status now. Recently had a continuous glucose monitor on for 2 weeks and it settle my mind that I am working pretty well on sugar control. I had spent a year stabling myself and not getting a really clear picture as it is moving through the day.

I upped my T3 from 6 to 12 mg and it tanked my blood sugar low ! and just shows how powerful this stuff is.