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Greetings, My pdoc is switching me from Adderall XR 30 mgs. to Nuvigil. He's doing so because the Adderall doesn't seem to be working for me anymore. I also have extreme fatigue and lack of motivation to even get off the sofa. I've fallen behind on everything (i.e. house is a disaster, laundry is piled up like never before, etc.) so I'm in high hopes this switch will be a positive one! If anyone has made this switch, or has any positive experiences regarding Nuvigil to share, I'd greatly appreciate hearing your stories. Thanks, in advance! ~Craziness

I just started Nuvigil yesterday (200 mg in the morning) and after about an hour or so after my first dose, I noticed the onset of a very bad headache (not quite migraine quality, but pretty close to it). I've taken Nuvigil before, but only when it was brand name, and I was on 250 mg. Now I have generic made by Aurobindo. Has anyone who has taken this medicine experienced this?

Hi everyone. I’ve been bouncing from one trial of medication to another for the past 4 1/2 years with adverse reactions. Nothing has helped. I just saw a new psychiatrist on Monday. An older gentleman who actually seemed to listen. He was also a longtime professor our local university. My symptoms are treatment resistant insomnia, chronic, severe anxiety, chronic derealization, ocd (pure o) racing, intrusive thoughts (often presenting as songs looping in my head, but a switch can also go off in my head where I obsessively think about something to the point of it driving me crazy) brain fog, depression. My body and brown simply will not turn off. I’m stuck in constant fight/flight. I believe the lack of sleep is the catalyst for most of this (all of this started after sudden onset of insomnia) Maybe it wouldn’t go away with sleep, but I know it would get better. My main goal is sleep, but seems unattainable after 4 1/2 years. I have tried every medication under the sun (well, mostly) The doctor decided to prescribe provigil (modafinil) which seems counterintuitive to me. He was clear that it could go either way. Possible that it could calm me down, possible that it could let me up and make my symptoms worse. Luckily for me, since I am highly sensitive to medication, he is quite conservative and said to only start with roughly 1/16 of a pill to see how I do. Wondering what your thoughts are on this given my symptoms? Seems counterintuitive...but maybe it will help. So confused.

Hi guys, I saw a new pdoc recently, and I related to him how I frequently sleep for 20-50 hours at a time because of depression, but he thinks there may be more than just "bipolar depression" causing my body to sleep continuously without interruption for such absurd amounts of time. He recommended the potentiality of stimulants - Adderall, Provigil, Nuvigil. I have absolutely no experience with stimulants! All my meds have always been downers. I have friends who take Adderall and they believe it helps with their depression and bad thoughts. So I got some (haven't seen my regular pdoc yet) and tried it and it works well. But I have an extremely addictive personality, and I'm concerned that me jacking Adderall every day could lead down a bad road, which is why I'm so curious about other opportunities, such as Provigil or Nuvigil. I don't know how the latter two work, but the Adderall as you know is a pure amphetamine mixture, and the kind I've been taking recently is non-time-released, so it gives me a nice kick and puts me into a good mood and I stay out of bed and have actually been having some great days lately (highly unusual for me). But the addiction potential is definitely there, hence the Provigil or Nuvigil options. They're supposed to be much less addictive Will these two drugs give me the KICK that I need in my brain, to stimulate me in a good and fast way like Adderall? My research tells me that the mechanism of action is unknown. But they do stimulate the brain, not just in the same way as Adderall? Although if I recall correctly, in 2012 Provigil is now the official drug of fighter bomber pilots. Also, is it common for someone with my conditions and meds (see signature) to be taking stimulants? Thanks greatly in advance! I'm seeing my regular pdoc first to run all this by him, but I want your expert opinions and experiences so I can research all that I can before I see him. troop

I take Nuvigil for fatigue first thing in the morning and Klonopin for anxiety soon after, but I'm trying to find out if anyone had advice on good timing for taking these two. Nuvigil usually takes about an hour for first feelings of effect, and I take with food (or I get bad stomach gurgles). I haven't quite figured out the best timing for them to both work at their best (w/o) interfering too much. And advice on dosage is welcome too. I take lower doses than prescribed to maintain more of a hold on how the medicine is working (and potential negative side effects).

I am curious if there is any interaction between these drugs and ketamine infusion

I take Nuvigil for fatigue first thing in the morning and Klonopin for anxiety soon after, but I'm trying to find out if anyone had advice on good timing for taking these two. Nuvigil usually takes about an hour for first feelings of effect, and I take with food (or I get bad stomach gurgles). I haven't quite figured out the best timing for them to both work at their best (w/o) interfering too much. And advice on dosage is welcome too. I take lower doses than prescribed to maintain more of a hold on how the medicine is working (and potential negative side effects).

Though I came up surrounded by close family members who struggled with various mental illnesses, I wouldn't say I had an especially traumatic or even a really remarkable childhood, apart from the sporadic, sometimes episodic fireworks Crazy can bring. On the whole I had a pretty typical middle class upbringing, for which I am grateful. My older sister served as my introduction to the mysteries and miseries of mental illness. She suffered from Bipolar Disorder, and it was clear my parents despaired at her condition. There was much acting out, at least one suicide attempt that I am aware of, multiple stays at inpatient facilities, and an ever-changing cocktail of medications throughout her teens. She tapered off meds when she planned to start a family, and has done amazingly well without them. My younger sister struggles with panic disorder and more physical ailments than anyone her young age ought to be saddled with. My mother was a survivor of child abuse, and subsequent to the passing of her father when I was about 12, she suffered a series of psychotic breaks that led to the first of several inpatient hospitalizations, and a lifetime of profound treatment resistant MDD that continues to this day. Not only did she not perpetuate the cycle of abuse she suffered but I never even knew what she'd been through until I was much older. My father never (to my knowledge) sought treatment for any mental illness, and tended towards stoicism and emotional opaqueness. I suspect however that he suffered (or even suffers still) from depression -- at the very least. HIs siblings suffered from myriad mental maladies. His upbringing was somewhat of a mystery to me, as what remained of his immediate family were separated by geography. I believe he too was a survivor of child abuse, based on what I've gleaned from anecdotes. My older brother was a bit of a black sheep, and when youthful indiscretions of the self-medicating type became too much for my well-meaning folks to handle he was given an ultimatum and joined the armed services. He was stationed in South Korea, and I gather his self-medicating ways came along for the ride. Upon returning stateside he had a hard time reintegrating, finding stable work, and had to rely on the support of his family more than I think he would have liked. He was a very emotional person, and felt things very deeply. I imagine if I would have asked him for one word to describe himself he might have chosen "failure". That's certainly not how I would have described him, but he was the type of person for whom every setback might have seemed like the universe pointing a spindly celestial finger at the tip of his nose and proclaiming FUCK. YOU. By the time my brother killed himself with the sputtering exhaust of the sparkly brown hatchback my mother had given him, I was living my own kind of Crazy. Today, I find myself at a strange cross roads. I am happily married. Successful, especially considering I never finished college. I have more than my fair share of material possessions. I have family and friends whom I love, and who love me. As much as I curse those who use the phrase, I'm Blessed. And yet, I can't recall a time I felt more lost. You see, growing up as an insatiably curious child in a household surrounded by Crazy, and where both parents worked in the medical field. So I didn't just *live* with Crazy, I, in a sense, *studied* it. Psychology. Anatomy. Psychiatry. Biology. Pharmacology. And most especially *Psychopharmacology*. I was never under the illusion that reading medical texts would make me a doctor any more than reading cookbooks would make me a chef. But I found, and still find the subject phenomenally interesting. In the late 80's and early 90's before webforums, TV drug adverts, wikipedia, etc., it seemed physicians expected laypeople to know almost nothing about medicine, so much so, that if you knew even a little, and went in with talking points memorized, you were going to leave with whatever it was you came for (within reason). Maybe it's always been that way. But I certainly felt clever, and in retrospect maybe a part of the burgeoning vanguard that changed how pharmaceuticals are consumed. Modern medicine is so unabashedly, brazenly consumer driven, I doubt any clinician bats an eye when patients come in and know exactly what their diagnosis is, the name brand and dosage of the drug they want, and oh by the way I've already printed off my own coupon that makes my copay 3 dollars until the drug goes off patent in 2030. But back to my personal tale of medico-consumerism. 22 years ago, at about 14 years of age, I self-diagnosed myself with depression. PART II To Follow Later

Here's the deal (not to sound harsh): You can either lecture me or you can help me figure out what to do as psychiatrist wasn't much use. Also its a long story and I can't edit well right now. Diagnosis: Depression, GAD, lack of focus, OCD. Drugs: Klonipin, Paxil, Lamictal, at night. Nuvigil and a small dose of Klonipin in the morning I am a student who lives on campus and goes home for the weekend to work (long story). I was rushing around getting ready to go home earlier than planned on Thursday and was trying to clean up my room while packing. Late at night on Thursday after coming home I noticed I couldn't find my drugs and since I was exhausted I just decided to forgo the search and just slept without taking any of them. Friday wasn't too bad.I jetted back to school after my 9-5 shift convinced they were there, but I couldn't find them so I came to the sad conclusion that I probably threw them out by accident. I had two options: Spend the weekend trying to track down my prescriber, or wait until Monday when I saw him to get new scripts and advice on how to get back on all of them. Just to be clear: I knew what I was doing was possibly very dangerous and swore that I would call for help if needed.The main consequence was I could function at my job but when I returned to campus on Saturday night I had a hard time stringing thoughts together for school work purposes. There was also the crazy in-depth dreams and fear that I sounded as weird as I felt. Here's the worst part: My psychiatrist didn't treat it as a big deal. I couldn't describe how looney tunes I felt and he didn't ask for details. When he found out I was off Paxil cold turkey and since it wasn't helping before the withdrawal he decided not write me a new script and told me to call him if I thought I needed one. He also did something with my Klonipin I don't quite understand as all I was thinking was how to get out and to a drug store with the new scripts. My heart was racing so I took a klonipin before my evening class that put me to sleep not long after I came home and I just barely remembered to take Lamictal at 2 AM. It is Tuesday morning and I feel like I am in La La Land. I can barely remember things and how serious the consequences are if I don't do them. I am registered with department of disabilities but my question is: How do I explain to teachers I didn't get things done because I was acting stupid and careless? Especially ones who have already been extremely lenient. I feel like I am taking advantage of them. Calling my therapist seems like a no-brainer but I don't know what to say. I know this is a lot to dump on a group of strangers but I really don't know who else to talk to beside professionals. I am too embarrassed by my foolishness to talk to friends and classmates who are wondering about why I am struggling so hard this semester.