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Slow start switching to Provigil?

Posted by Alli on July 14, 2001 at 21:46:23:

Did anyone rolling off Adderall onto Provigil find that the Provigil took a looooong time to become effective? And if so, were you switching over after developing tolerance to Adderall leading to overuse problems? I'm asking to check my theory that building up high amphetamine tolerance initially prevents Provigil from acting as it should.

Here's my experience: I started Provigil 6 weeks ago while at the same time tailing off Adderall. I had been taking 40-50 mg/day of Adderall for 8 months, with increasing side-effects over time. Towards the end, I had developed Tourette's syndrome, pyschoses (mainly panic disorder), and lots of muscle tension and imbalance problems before my neurologist and I realized I was in trouble.

Stepping down off Adderall sent me into major withdrawal. For 5 days I was shaking, fatigued, too imbalanced to walk unaided, and had severe headache and nausea. Then suddenly it was gone, except for some residual twitching, and it was wonderful to feel my mind and body relax for the first time in months.

The rest of the 2-1/2-week Adderall rolloff went reasonably well, but meanwhile the Provigil was having no effect. I was desperately sleepy and constantly sneaking out to my car for naps. My pharmacist said give it a full 3 weeks, Provigil sometimes take a while to get going and the Adderall step-down could be complicating things.

So I gave it a full 5 weeks. Then last Friday I went back to my neurologist and asked to go back on Ritalin, which I'd previously used without major problems except for the same tendency to built up tolerance.

I am still twitching slightly from the Adderall overuse (this may be permanent CNS damage, only time will tell) so he was understandably reluctant to give me any more amphetamines. He said keep taking the Provigil and we'll re-evaluate in a month.

I then quit taking the Provigil since it was having no beneficial effect, but was giving me mild nausea. After 5 days of sucking down coffee and still struggling miserably and falling asleep 3 times a day at work, this past Thursday I said, "what the heck, one last try" and took my standard 400 mg dose of Provigil at 7 a.m. I shot through that day like a rocket and didn't sleep a wink all night.

On Friday, I needed 600 mg of Provigil to survive a workday on 0 hours of sleep, but it worked like a charm and I did sleep soundly last night! Today (day 3) I took 200 mg and did fine all day with nothing worse than very mild late-afternoon sleepiness.

GO FIGURE is all I can say. Anyone else have similar experiences, or hard-earned wisdom to pass on?

Thanks,
Alli

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