Provigil (modafinil) prescribed by sleep dr./anyone else?

[vmitchell]

Dr. prescribed provigil because she believes I have a form of narcolepsy in addition to OSA. My #s are pretty good but fatigue remains. Anyone else have same diagnosis w/ meds? I'm a little concerned about the stimulant aspect of the drug,as I have high bp and recent TIA. I will be monitoring the bp. Thanks.

[andyomega]

Did you get an MSLT test? Multi SLeep Latency Test?
That will show for sure if you have narcoplepsy or not.
I too had symptomss and was given provigal as well.
Turns out I did not I was just tired and my body had a bad reaction to the drugs.
I was confused as to why he gave me a stimulant when what I need is more sleep but I guess they wanted to test it and I was open to it.

MSLT is a long test, you nap for 20 minutes and kept awake for an hour inbetween the naps, It will take most of the day.

[vmitchell]

Dr. said she was almost positive of narcolepsy, even without MLST. If insurance requires it I'll have to.

[kteague]

Long term sleep deprivation can mimic narcolepsy in some ways. The docs at Cleveland Clinic told me that they wanted me to regularly get at least 6 hours of good sleep nightly before they considered other causes for my extreme daytime sleepiness. That still isn't happening, but the longer blocks of sleep I have been able to develop, the less my daytime symptoms look like narcolepsy.

I did take Provigil for a while to be safer when driving or when I had appointments. Early on when I was at my worst, I could take the Provigil yet go straight to sleep. But once my sleep improved a little, I found the Provigil to be more helpful. Nothing should be used to replace sleep, but if you're trying to do something about that, my feeling is if you gotta take a pill to be functional (and safe), then so be it.

I haven't taken Provigil for nearly a year. I want to stay tuned in with my daytime symptoms so I can know my true condition. But then again, I don't have kids to care for or a job to attend, so I can allow myself that.

Kathy

[DawnTCB]

My MSLT revealed idiopathic hypersomnia, and I got put on Provigil. Other than the extreme cost I love it. I thought I was doing really well after my first month on CPAP - I was getting my life back... I even posted here because I didn't think I needed the test! When she prescribed me Provigil I even told her I didn't think I wanted to be on it. But she asked me to try and see.

To my understanding it is not actually a stimulant... at least not in the traditional, let's-get-you-all-hyped-up context. It just "promotes wakefulness".

And for me, that's what I have gotten. Not hyped up, not zinging around the place, not shakes or jitters or nervousness. Just awake. All day, every day.

The third day I took it, I had had some problems with my daughter the night before and had literally slept about two hours. I got up and thought OMG, how can I possibly go to work today??? I am WIPED!

Took my pill. Had my breakfast. Realized, whoa! I feel fine! I'm not sleepy! Let's get my hiney on into work!

I can see how people who don't want to sleep could get hooked on it - not me, because I like sleep too much! But it really is working wonders for me. Now I just have to figure out how to pay for it since my prescription is the same cost as a car payment. BTW, my insurance REQUIRED the MSLT to get me the medication. It wasn't a horrible test but boring.

I say try the Provigil. I could tell a total difference by the second day. If your doctor can give you a week's worth of samples, try it out and see if it works for you.

Dawn

[Guest]

Sleep Doc gave me some samples..... I can't say I felt it did much.