Trying Provigil - Impressions | ADHD Information

Hi All,

New here, but I thought I'd give my impressions of Provigil as an ADHD med.

I was diagnosed about a year ago (I'm now 32) and have primarily innatentive type. Mostly, I feel tired, anxious and have a hard time staying on task.

I have been taking Strattera 80mg, but switch that to 40mg in the evening and 30mg Concerta during the day. This works pretty well for me since the Strattera didn't do much for my concentration, but sure helps me relax and helps with hyperfocus problems. The Concerta works well, however I get a bit too much of a euphoria feeling from it and feel like I could grow to like it too much .

Anyway, I'm now trying Provigil instead of Concerta. It's interesting, feels a lot like Adderall (which I tried a few times, but didn't like the "low" after it wears off). I feel very alert and hyper aware. I'm not sure it's quite as good as Concerta, but going to give it a few weeks. Very expensive and not covered by insurance is another downside.

Anyone else out there tried Provigil?
my psyc doc prescribed me with up to 3x of ritilan sr 20mg and 100mg of the provigil, now the ritilan sr and the provigil created a nasty insomnia for me, even with the ambiens at night for sleep,
 2x weeks of zombie,depression,etc,
    I had seen some benifits with the concerta prior to trying the ritilan sr's, also I have been breaking the provigils in half and taking only the 1/2. first thing in the morning with the concerta,
     before all of this and no meds, I would wake early, allways a morning person (like my youngest daughter is now) usually around 6-8 am if left to my own, and be able to run full steam, usually untill 2pm or so, I would kinda crash with no energy left for the rest of the day.( especially if I didn't have time for lunch. )
    So at prior jobs I would try to get 90% done before noon and try to float out the rest of the day and "look" busy, so far with the above combo, I can still awake early in the morning, have energy to get somthing done, and then (so it seems)get an energy burst in the afternoon, for the sleep, and then I am running out of energy near 5 or 6 pm, now,    I ususally end up near a bed around 11pm, sometimes as soon as 9:30,
     so far .5 of the xanax taken when I want to sleep, about 30 minutes later it will be enough to slow my brain down just enough to let me fall asleep, as far as if this is enough to help with anxiety is yet to be seen, without letting the worry,worry machine start up.
     I have read that xanax, one can become highly dependant on it so I am still very leary of it. with the ambien, oh it will knock me out, but for only 5 hours, then with that stored energy(but no rest) I will run out of steam around 11 am.

I have just today on this board read of a book called healing add, I'm going to get it today(impulsive, nah ;) ) and see if what I am finding out on my own will coincide with what that book looks like.

for me at the recomended doseage the straterra was (having NEVER even tried drugs before in my life, not even asprin, even cold meds would make me loopie,spacey) like a three day bad trip, I spent the entire three days inside my house, never moved more than 40 feet for the three days, it was prescribed on a friday morn, and I took the first dose on fri, by monday I was never going to try that again.
so needless to say I'm still very leary of doseages, and recomended starting points.

10 years ago I was using coffee, had found a job that started at 5am and ended early, usually I would drink one or two insulated 32oz mugs of coffee, I did this for about three weeks, when one morning I awoke at 4am , having been dreaming that I was running up a flight of stairs and was out of breath. I was in a cold sweat, and my heartrate was near 160, but I didn't have the energy to move, 5 hours later my heart went on its own back into a normal rythm, well after three days at the univeristy hospital of ever test they could do, they said that I had tackycardia and gave me some pills at each,
I asked if this would stop this from happening again, they said that it might help, I asked about the coffee that I had been drinking, and they dismissed it, well upon returning to work I found out that the morrning prior, they had made a double batch of coffee. bingo the soultion, so I swore off coffee and moved to lots of cola's, that took three years for another episode. today I avoid all forms of caffine, and have only ever had 4 irregular heartbeat episodes.

so caffine did work for a while. but the side effects were worse and more life threatening than anything else I've tried.


sleep and add are strangely connected, there are quite a few who belive that if a add person got the same sleep quality as others that the add would not be as bad. not that I belive that 100% but they are linked, with the xanax I am sleeping better(dreaming again)but the add during the day is near the same. go figure.

one other thing, we are the experts, we have lived with this our entire lives, our bodies will tell us how we are feeling, it is our job to get the dr's to help us. in my opinion any medication that makes you feel worse is bad for you. now if it is somthing that does not really bother you(night sweats,etc) that is not the same as say a medicine that induces sucicidal thoughts.

this has gotten to0  long, anyway,

Brian
Im also taking provigl, with concerta , taken first thing in the morning, this combo seems to come on slow and last most of the afternoon(when I need it most) recently tried to add a 10mg ritilan first thing in the morning and lost all motavation for the day,
was trying the ritilan sr up to 3x a day, when I could remember to take the 2nd dose, but felt very sweaty , all I got was a nasty case of insomnia that ambien wouldn't even help.

I've only been trying this combo for two weeks now, not very long to tell much yet,  but I'm still trying to get the right med. so far I'm fairly sure that I am add non hyper, and male go figure, guess it came with the left handedness.


Brian
bbeck,

You're taking Provigil and _concerta_ at the same time? My doctor said that would be a bad thing, as did the info that came with the Provigil. My understanding from him was that they are both stimulants and shouldn't be combined.

I'm taking Strattera and Provigil. Provigil in the morning and Strattera at night. I had the nasty side effect of hot sweats with Strattera, so taking I take it at night avoids this (at least I don't notice since I'm asleep).

I'm curious, your ADD symptoms sounds at lot like mine (although I'm not left handed); do you feel tired all the time, no matter how much you sleep. I'm really starting to wonder if I might have a sleep disorder not ADD. Especially since the Provigil is working well for me.

I always feel like if I wasn't so tired I could concentrate and get things done. I used to self medicate with 100+ oz. of coffee every day (talk about insomnia side effects!). Also, I'm really, really draggy in the morning and always get up late. A few years ago I lost a 0K/Yr.  job because I couldn't wake up in the morning (or during the day for that matter).

My girlfriend is textbook ADHD, very hyper, disorganized, no impulse control, always wandering out into traffic etc, etc. She takes Adderall which really calms her down. Her symptoms seem very different than mine, which makes me think I might have a different issue than ADD.

Thoughts?
It's always interesting to me how everyone has different reactions to different meds. Strattera didn't have a huge effect on me either way, mostly just a mild antidepresent calming effect. Sort of reminded me of the feeling I got after engage in action sports like skiing or windsurfing. Definately not unmotivating. Doctor says it keeps more addrenalin like chemicals available in your brain, which makes sense. Got the same sweat attack as after too much coffee though.

Day 4 on Provigil, it's be AMAZING for me. Energy to do stuff again, I can concentrate much better. I just feel awake and part of the world of the living. I think I've gotten more done on 100 mg of Provigil for the past 4 days than in the last 4 years. It's a little scary however since I'm starting to realize how much I've been putting off due to being too tired.

The other effect I noticed is that I feel more aware of things, like sounds seem clearer and colors brighter. I could just be imagining it, but I swear my stereo sounds better.

Only side effects have been a little bit of twitchiness, like I had to much coffee and a stiff neck and jaw (wierd). Took some Advil and that seemed to help.

My experience with Provigil makes me think I might actually have a sleep disorder like sleep apnea rather than ADD. Time to start working on the insurance for a sleep test ...

- Adventuregeek
 


You might look into Restless Leg Syndrome. Does your leg shake at night? Do your legs ever feel "creepy crawly"? Mine did and I am now seeing a pulmonologist. We did a sleep study and found that every time I entered REM sleep my leg would shake and wake me out of it so I got absolutely no good sleep at night. I did a search on google about restless leg syndrome and found that they think it has a connection to dopamine receptors. Well, that of course rang a bell about the ADD so I did a new search on Restless Leg Syndrome and add and found that there may indeed be a connection between the two. They did a study in New Jersey or Pennsylvania or something and found that there appears to be a very strong connection and suggest that anyone with ADD also be checked for Restless Leg Syndrome and vise versa. Hope this helps.