Posted by IsoM on March 18, 2002, at 18:12:22
In reply to Need Provigil HELP - JohnX2? Anybody?, posted by Zo on March 18, 2002, at 17:19:55
Zo, this is only conjecture that I offer, but I do think there's some basis in truth here.
When I first started taking adrafinil (Provigil's cousin), I found no effect for the first week. Week two showed some improvement then week three was good. Week four was great & it continued great for another month. Then I noticed I still had benefits from adrafinil but not as strong as I'd noticed as previously & wondered why.
I'm very much a skeptic & never have had a placebo effect with any meds, even when I fully expected them to work, so I know it wasn't myself thinking it was working. But I got thinking of how our body reacts to something new & good. As someone with ADD too, I know I strongly react like this. When something exciting comes along in our life (or something that makes us excited & happy - like falling in love), our brain's all concerned & focused on this new 'event' & releases a chemical called PEA, or phenylethylamine. It's an amphetamine-like substance that further releases dopamine. The combination of the two gives us that bright, focused, energetic, so good feeling. Because our brains can't maintain that 'high' for too long without becoming depleted, the effects will wear off. When our natural 'high' has worn off, then we're left with the real effects of the new medication & its effects only.
I find that to truly benefit from adrafinil, I nneded to increase my dose & I once again feel better. Now, it's only the adrafinil working & not my PEA too. I'm wondering if it's possible that you did have a placebo effect & now that it's worn off, you need Provigil increased? Some have mentioned that they felt an immediate effect from Provigil or adrafinil but I didn't. I did need a short time for it to kick in, much like most ADs. From the literature that I've read on it, so did most others.
poster:IsoM
thread:98628
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020318/msgs/98634.html