Posted by JohnL on February 25, 2001, at 15:43:35
In reply to Re: JUST RECEIVED MY ADRAFINIL - ANY SUGGESTIONS, posted by BK on February 22, 2001, at 1:19:32
Hi,
I've taken Adrafinil for nearly a year now, so I'm a little bit familiar with it. When I started I did 300mg the first day, felt nothing; 600mg the next day, felt a little bit; 900mg the third day, felt it but maybe too much; then backed down to 600mg for a couple weeks; and maintenance dose ended up being 300mg. Adrafinil, like most psychiatric drugs, can take time to do its thing. So you might have to play with dosing and be patient.I felt benefits from Adrafinil beginning somewhere in the 2 to 3 week range. I first noticed I was getting interested in activities and hobbies (which I hadn't felt for many years!), being more talkative, and just generally more energetic. I don't think the full effects though came in until about week 6 or 8.
Though Adrafinil by itself was ok, I discovered by trial and error and tweeking experimentally that it works much better when combined with either Prozac, Zyprexa, Amisulpride, or any combination of them. I've done Adrafinil+Prozac, Adraf+Amisulpride, Adraf+Zyprexa, Adraf+Prozac+Amisulpride, Adraf+Prozac+Amisulpride+Zyprexa. For some strange reason, it just mixes real well with Prozac (but didn't with other SSRIs), and also mixes well with low dose antipsychotics. I have no idea why, just that that is the way things turned out.
Strange that Prozac by itself was not helpful; Amisulpride or Zyprexa alone were somewhat helpful; but any of them combined with Adrafinil was excellent. So rather than dump the Adrafinil if it doesn't help you much, think about combining it with something else. Hopefully though it will do the trick all by itself.
If it works for you, that would indicate that your NE receptors are somehow deficient, like perhaps genetically misfigured, blocked by contamination (heavy metals for example), or whatever. If NE is deficient, Adrafinil should be helpful. That would also explain why all the other things you tried didn't help much. They may have increased NE levels, but did nothing to enhance the receptors' abilities to work with the NE. No amount of NE is going to help if the receptors are not functioning properly, and that's where Adrafinil comes in. Also, in scientific studies, Adrafinil has indirect enhancing action on dopamine receptors. Perhaps that explains why it works well with antipsychotics. (No clue as to why it works with Prozac though, and not other SSRIs).
Anyway, Adrafinil does a lot of things that all those other meds you tried didn't do. So the odds are stacked in your favor, just by the process of elimination if nothing else. Just keep in mind that in my own experience, Adrafinil's best benefits were achieved when combined with Prozac or antipsychotic or both.
Hope something here is helpful.
John
poster:JohnL
thread:54273
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010221/msgs/54813.html