Provigil

[PattiL]

Hi everyone,

I looked up past posts on Provigil and couldn't find any info on how long it took anyone to notice any significant changes in their level of fatigue. Chrissy has been on 25 mg. for one week and now 50 mg. for about 10 days and hasn't noticed any changes at all. She's not feeling well again, but sometimes we never know whether it's a new drug she's taking or if she's truly getting sick! Do you guys thinks 2-3 weeks is enough time to give the medication, or should she keep taking it for awhile longer? We're going on flight out of town next week and don't know if she should quit now, in the hopes that if it is the drug that's making her feel crappy, she'll be better by then or if she should just stick with it. Thanks guys.

Patti

[violahen]

Hi:

It did take a while for me to notice a significant difference while taking provigil. I was convinced that it was not helping and then suddenly I felt a change. I have been taking it now for almost a year, and it does make a huge difference for me.

I experimented a lot with dosage for a while...less...more....what has been most beneficial for me is 150 mg....quite a bit more than the dosage you mentioned....

When I experiemented (with my doctor's help of course) with dosage I was making changes of 50mg at a time up or down.

By the way, it was at least a couple of months before I really noticed it was helping.

I don't know if the doc mentioned this to you, but provigil stays in the body about 6-8 hours....I take mine in the AM when I wake up....by the evening I can definitely feel it wearing off. Luckily, it does not affect my sleep.

Good luck!

Kristen

[Meghan]

I take Provigil. The first time I took it I was taking 50 mgs with my morning meds. I felt very nauseous from it (after the very first dose), and I didn't feel a very big difference in my faitgue levels. I was on it for about a month and a half, then stopped. I hadn't thought that it was making a significant influence on my fatigue levels, but when I stopped taking it I realized that I was much more tired all the time. I talked to my POTS specialist about going on another med to help with fatigue since the Provigil had been giving me a stomachache. But he put me back on the Provigil and instructed me to always take it on a full stomach (since I have been doing this, I haven't really had probelems with nausea). When I went back on it, he put me on 100mgs. It was working well for a few hours in the morning, but then I was feeling tired in the afternoon, so he has me taking another 100 mg dose around 12 noon. I would say that it took about a week or a week and a half for me to notice the full effect of the Provigil. So if your daughter has been on it for awhile and isn't seeing any results, I would call her doctor and talk to him/her about it.

Hope that she is feeling better soon!

Love,

Meghan

[violahen]

Hi Again:

I wanted to add that I would stick with it unless she really is convinced it is making her sicker.

You may want to up the dose with your doc's approval. Dr. Grubb is my doc and he told me that my dosage is not a high one. Is Chrissy very small? If so maybe a higher dosage would be too much. I am an average size woman. I am also VERY SENSITIVE in general to meds, but this one seems ok for me.

By the way, is she staying hydrated? That's a huge factor for me. Also, she may want to go in and get pumped up with IV fluids before a trip. It helps me...especially before flying, since flying dehydrates even "normal" people.

Good luck!

Kristen