Modafinil - The miracle drug?

It's been a while, but I remember reading an article during a break at school in Time Magazine. It was their cover story, the cover photo being of a man holding out his hands, each with a pill on offer. It was all very reminiscent of The Matrix, however, the pills didn't offer the "truth" or "ignorance", but "sleep" and "awake".

The article was quite fascinating, discussing how the drug was currently being tested by DARPA on their soldiers and how its impact on society could be just as great, or perhaps greater than what the Pill had.

What the drug does, essentially, is turn off your urge (!) to sleep as well as makes you more focused.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A61282-2002Jun16

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Friday, 2 a.m., Hour 19. The effortless mental focus brought on by modafinil is remarkable. No attention deficit here. The feeling is that you have been given a gift of time, and it is too precious to waste.

The focus is almost more interesting than the sleep-avoidance. In fact, it makes you wonder what it will be like to grow up in a world in which this stuff is common. Suppose you are just getting started in a career and you're a basket of insecurities. Suppose you could regularly produce at levels unheard of even by today's workaholic standards simply by popping a pill. Could you resist it? Worse yet, suppose you were competing for raises and promotions against someone who was happy to grab whatever enhancements were available. Will it become routine to hear "There'll be plenty of time to sleep when you're 40"?


...


"The final twist is that caffeine is a food additive," says Edgar. Replacing caffeine with modafinil -- "that would be the revolutionary next step. Just as one replaces sugar with NutraSweet. Everybody drinks soda pop with caffeine from the age of 5 up. Yeah. You're changing the world. Yeah. I'm telling you as a sleep scientist the kinds of things we see on the horizon. It's exciting. Changing lives. Saving lives. That's for certain.

"Is it appropriate for college students pulling an all-nighter? No. Sleep physiologists will all tell you the same thing. There is no true substitute for sleep itself. We say that with conviction," Edgar says.

Suppose that will no longer be the case?

"The more far-out question is: What if we eventually had something that was absolutely safe that could substitute for sleep?" asks Dinges. "Is that the direction we want to go? Many would say yes. I don't know what the implications are for our species. Probably not bad. This is pure speculation. Should humans try to live without sleep? I don't know. We're already trying to do that."

Friday afternoon, 4 p.m., Hour 33. Tiredfrom all this writing. But not sleepy. Interesting to imagine a future in which those are two distinctly separate things. The problem isn't wakefulness. The problem is cranking through three or four days' worth of work in one burst.

Started to yawn at 8 a.m., at the bottom of circadian rhythms. Lay down for a two-hour nap. As researchers say, this stuff doesn't prevent you from sleeping, it just controls the desire to. Arose alert. Went back to productive work. Naps are good, as the sleep researchers ceaselessly point out.

Glad this experiment occurred in a home office, and not downtown. Wouldn't relish driving at this point. Don't feel impaired, but wouldn't want to test the proposition. Have no interest in taking any more pills to further the experiment. Looking forward to returning to the planet of the mortals with a glass of wine and a good supper.

Wonder what this will read like after a good night's sleep? The concern is this: One is always taught never to hand in a complicated project at the end of the day. Read it over one last time with fresh eyes in the morning. But fresh eyes are optional, when you don't have to sleep. Fatigue still hasn't set in. It wouldn't be hard to hand this in and begin preparations for the next project with a whole afternoon in front of you. What happens when fresh eyes are a choice, not an inevitable part of the rhythms of life? </div></div>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modafinil

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Side-effects

The most common side-effects observed with modafinil, as compared to placebo, when prescribed in the recommended doses for the approved indications, are as follows:

* Common
o Headache (34% vs 23%)
o Nausea (11% vs 3%)
* Uncommon
o Nervousness (7% vs 3%)
o Insomnia (5% vs 1%)
o Anxiety (5% vs 1%)
o Anorexia (4% vs 1%)
o Dry mouth (4% vs 2%)
* Rare
o Chest pain (3% vs 1%)
o Hypertension (3% vs 1%)
o Tachycardia (2% vs 1%)
o Vasodilation (2% vs 0%)
o Dizziness (5% vs 4%)
o Paresthesia (2% vs 0%)
o Pharyngitis (4% vs 2%)

Additionally, gastrointestinal distress, which may be alleviated by taking the drug after a meal, aggressiveness and skin irritation have been reported, but are rare.

Most side-effects subside after a few weeks without reducing the dose. Only headaches and anxiety have been shown to be proportional to dose, and these may benefit from a temporary reduction or dividing the dose.

A single case of premature ventricular contractions appeared causally linked to administration of modafinil.

Modafinil may have an adverse effect on hormonal contraceptives, lasting for a month after cessation of dosage.</div></div>

What do you guys think about this drug? Would you go as far as calling it a miracle drug? Would you be bothered if it one day replaces caffeine or would you encourage the change?

And of course, if any of you have tried the drug, what are your thoughts?

 

That shit sounds dangerous.

Drugs are bad, but then again I'm straight-edge... then again I get strung-out on tea and Hot Tamales. I can sit in a corner of a crack house, rubber band around my arm, drinking home-grown mint tea and eating box after box of Hot Tamales (Great candy isn't made, it's JUST BORN).

 

that shit sounds awesome you know being a college student and all. Though the anxiety it seems to cause does worry me I don't need me any more of that bs though I guess caffeine does that too so I guess it's alright. It's just scary as fuck thinking of a new drug to keep us awake. I forget how caffeine even came into being.

 

Caffeine is pretty old. Not quite sure how we came across it, but I know we've been on the stuff for a loooong time. Maybe it is time we "updated"?

I think I should also mention that Modafinil doesn't give you a high like other drugs. It simply keeps you focused and eliminates your urge to sleep.

The short term side effects which I listed seem...fairly mild. Of course, long term studies have yet to be conducted, so we don't really know what effect a daily intake could have (or even the long term effects of a non-daily intake).

But that's also why I wanted to make this topic. Just to discuss the impact a daily intake could have on society. I mean, suddenly it's 2 am and the lights are on, people are shopping, working, etc.

Hell, even short term would be amazing. Specifically for college students and VF players. If you got an exam the next day or a big essay due...or both! Just pop a pill when you wake up and suddenly you're focused and awake until your exam is over and your essay is handed in. If you're in Socal for a VF gathering, suddenly you no longer have the excuse of "I'm tired, etc" and no longer will you need to sacrifice VF play time for "sleep". >_>

lol

But the same applies to anyone. Game developers like Cuz who put in XXX amount of overtime. Businessmen who are fighting for that promotion. Etc...

Then of course, there's the question of...what happens when we find a true substitute for sleep? Remember, Modafinil simply turns off your urge to sleep, not your need to. If you stay up 48 hours, you'll need to sleep about 8 hours to recover (which is freaking awesome). So what happens when we find that substitute? What kind of impact will it have on society? Will people start working longer? Will schools start getting more classes in/more class time in allowing students to finish the school year earlier? With people working longer, more money would be made so could they retire earlier?

Hell, what about the environment? Suddenly cars are going 24/7, and all other kinds of pollutants are on all day, all the time.

We waste about one third of our lives sleeping. Life is short enough as is, so maybe it's about time we took back all the hours stolen by the Sandman?

 

This is something I'd like to try just to see what it would do. The longest stint I've ever done at work was 41 hours (I was finalizing a product catalog a few years ago). By the end of it, my thought pattern had degenerated to: "Grasp mouse. Hold left button down. Move mouse. Let go of button." I was practically saying that out loud. Would the drug have made me function normally? If so, I'd have probably been done it 34 hours instead of 41.

On the flip-side, I imagine that I could die from using this. If there is no urge to sleep - I imagine I'll have to schedule sleep time (which is difficult even WITH the urge to sleep). I could see something similar to having no feeling in a limb - "Hey, Talis! You arm is cut and bleeding - not to mention on fire!" Without this outside influence, I may not notice what's happening and end up losing my arm. I've already read stories of people dying from too long of a Starcraft session (albeit they could've been suffering ill-effects from stimulants). I'm not sure if shutting off innate mechanisms of self-preservation will benefit or impugn.

Tough call.

 

Bullshit!

Time management is more than enough (I've got college and the studying it entails, work, swimming, time for drawing, swimming, VF, a social life, and still can post tons of nonsense here). Besides, after 28 hours of being awake, quality of whatever you're doing is affected. (Remembers stint of 48 hours and working 2 lifeguard shifts, lol-dangerous!)

 

It sounds interesting and could be used in certain situations to great effect (ex: give it to rescue workers looking for trapped miners, etc); but I think it's potential for abuse is probably through the roof. Even if physical dependence doesn't develop, psychological dependence is just as scary.

Several of my close friends would use Adderall, an ADHD-control drug, during midterm/finals week at our academically competitive university, UC San Diego. I would use it once in a while if I needed to write 60 pages in a few days or something similarly herculean. It gave an incredibly clear focus and an intensity of concentration that I don't really know how to describe. It was fantastic, like coffee, in certain situations. But a couple of my friends developed a fairly severe pyschological dependence, as in "I'm only articulate when I'm on Adderall; I'm only able to focus/study/etc when I'm on Adderall." I could see Modafinil creating issues like this to a much great degree.

Your body needs sleep, it has since we were monkeying around (literally) thousands of years ago. It seems sketchy when a product can "take away the urge" to do something natural, necessary, and (might I add) enjoyable! Give up sleep? No thanks.

Basically, people are idiots and love to feel like they're running on all cylinders. Throw in a workaholic culture and validation-through-promotion mindset, and you've got a real potential for abuse on your hands.

 

You don't need drugs to do this, i stayed awake for 5 days in a lanparty once.

Of course by the end of the binge the walls were talking to me...

 

I wonder if aany of the people have started to get addicted to the drug. That could be potetially dangerous because i read some where that the average human will die after a week and a half without sleep.