NancyLebovitz comments on Open Thread September, Part 3 - Less Wrong

2 Post author: LucasSloan 28 September 2010 05:21AM

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Comment author: Will_Newsome 28 September 2010 07:33:08AM *  4 points [-]

Modafinil increased my blitz chess rating by 150 points the first time I took it. That is completely ridiculous. The effects weren't as strong after that, but still very noticeable. It definitely worked to keep me awake for long hours. One time it totally fucked me up for 3 days or so: I took it thinking I'd stay up, but then I was like nah, never mind, I'll go to sleep 'cuz I'm really tired. Like an idiot. I then got 5 or so hours of fitful sleep followed by about 5 more hours of thrashing about on my mattress follow by about 10 more hours of groggy sleep deprivation-induced pain followed by a completely messed up sleep cycle for the next few days of constant tiredness. So, it's awesome when you use it right, but be careful to stay up for the duration of the effects (12 hours or so, I think.)

I am quite obviously not a doctor, though.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 28 September 2010 02:07:56PM 3 points [-]

Also, there are idiosyncratic reactions-- I know one person who found that Modafinil made him sleep-- a lot. It was very refreshing-- possibly deeper than his usual sleep.

This seems to be very rare, or at least I haven't heard of it happening to anyone else, but I think it implies that you should try the drug for the first time when it isn't important that it works.