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Pfft comments on Open Thread for February 11 - 17 - Less Wrong Discussion
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Comments (325)
Modafinil is prescription-only in the US, so to get it you have to do illegal things. However, I note that (presumably due to some legislative oversight?) the related drug Adrafinil is unregulated, you can buy it right off Amazon. Does anyone know how Adrafinil and Modafinil compare in terms of effectiveness and safety?
No, you don't have to do illegal things. Another option is to convince your doctor to give you a prescription. I think people on LW greatly overestimate the difficulty of this.
Some info on getting a prescription here: http://www.bulletproofexec.com/q-a-why-i-use-modafinil-provigil/
I think ADD/ADHD will likely be a harder sell; my impression is that people are already falsely claiming that in order to get Adderall etc.
I don't even mean to suggest lying. I mean something simple like "I think this drug might help me concentrate."
A formal diagnosis of ADD or narcolepsy is carte blanche for amphetamine prescription. Because it is highly scheduled and, moreover, has a big black market, doctors guard this diagnosis carefully. Whereas, modafinil is lightly scheduled and doesn't have a black market (not driven by prescriptions), so they are less nervous about giving it out in ADD-ish situations.
But doctors very much do not like it when a new patient comes in asking for a specific drug.
See Gwern's page.
Adrafinil has additional downstream metabolites besides just modafinil, but I don't know exactly what they are. Some claim it is harder on the liver implying some of the metabolites are mildly toxic, but that's not really saying much. Lots of stuff we eat is mildly toxic. Adrafinil is generally well tolerated and if your goal is finding out the effects of modafinil on your system and you can't get modafinil itself I would say go for it. If you then decided to take moda long term I would say do more research.
IANAD. Research thoroughly and consult with a doctor if you have any medical conditions or are taking any medications.