Hacker News Reader

Comment by anonyx69 | Hacker News Reader

Modafinil is a hot topic these days

Yup. I used adrafinil(prodrug of modafinil) regularly during university and found it particularly useful in my programming classes. It helped me get "in the zone" while avoiding the euphoria, BP issues, and recovery periods/withdrawals that stronger stuff does. Plus it doesn't show up in most drug tests.

Do you still use that now? or other stimulants? Or did you find you didn't need it after college?

I don't currently use it or other stimulants because I'm recently graduated, currently unemployed, and looking for work. Well I suppose I take caffeine, but I've mostly cycled off that too, and only take a single 200mg pill per day. If I get a job that requires a steady flow state or a high amount of productivity, I very likely will begin using it again.

I use it because I am not naturally suited for the work. I have a genetic variation(gs224) that makes me tired all of the time and stimulation-deprived. However in our current economy, it seems like the only career path I can take that will work with my abrasive, likely autistic personality while still providing long-term career growth opportunities.

It sounds like you would need a stimulant of some sort, just to counter the genetic issue. Thanks for your candor.

When it comes to programming, I think I've found that modafinil (and doubly so for something which must be metabolized first) is not as helpful as I used to think it was. My problem tends to be getting started; but once I'm started, continuing is relatively easy. So for my purposes, a bit of nicotine gum is just as useful: cheaper & legal, doesn't last as obnoxiously long as -afinils do, and doesn't require as big or long-lasting dose. I've often wished for a modafinil which had a half-life of half an hour or an hour...

I generally agree except that it seems to be a huge migraine trigger for me, so Ive stopped using it.

In my experience that’s dehydration. Modafinil is a diuretic, and appetite suppressant. Not only are you taking on less water because you’re probably eating less but your body is expelling water at frightening rates.

That may be true to some degree, but I have also had them happen while purposely chugging water. My migraines are kind of cyclical as well. Could be coincidence.

It's that or I think a lack of choline can also cause it. Cheapest and easiest solution is to eat some eggs.

Peter said he thought he needed modafinil. Why is it a hot topic now? His thought way back was that it was everything he needed at the time--mood regular, stimulant.

regulator, sorry.

It said to have characteristics of a holy grail stimulant: increased performance without the crash or heavy tolerance build.

That’s an odd assertion to make when the full pharmacodynamics and mechanism of action are unknown. Modafinil doesn’t increase your cognitive performance in the way that a substituted phenethylamine would. Focus and attention are certainly related to wakefulness, but wakefulness in and of itself doesn’t increase cognitive performance.

Can you tell me what substituted phenethylamine is?

Substituted phenethylamines[1] are derivative compounds of phenethylamine. Many substituted phenethylamines are stimulants, while some are psychedelic too. Dopamine, epinephrine, amphetamine, pseudoephedrine, MDMA, and many others are considered to be substitued phenethylamines.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substituted_phenethylamine

it's heavily dependent on the right genetic makeup from what i know.

for some it provides clarity, for others, fog. the dopamine transporters are very mysterious to me.

No crash might be the problem with it: you try to go to sleep and end up just kind of laying there half the night.

Modafinil interferes with sleeping less than other drugs - it's only a problem if you rely on the "crash" of running out of energy over the day to fall asleep.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com