Posted by Ame Sans Vie on August 8, 2003, at 9:11:35
In reply to Provigil for weight loss??Social Phobia?? , posted by jay on August 8, 2003, at 2:13:55
Provigil can be a wonderful adjunctive treatment for several symptoms that may arise from social anxiety, but, and sorry to disappoint you on this, it's not very likely at all to help you lose weight. It just doesn't seem to affect the dopaminergic/noradrenergic systems in the brain in the right way to suppress appetite. That's not at all to say it's not worth trying though. I had absolutely amazing results with Provigil at higher-than-recommended doses (i.e. 1,000mg/day). I would still be taking it too, if it weren't for the fact that it caused some pretty bad headaches. But while I was on that dose, I felt confident, extremely happy, full of energy, and anxiety-free -- and I've suffered with social phobia and agoraphobia (among other things) for nine years now, since I was about 11 years old. Even that very high dose didn't decrease my appetite though. It seems that there are only two things that do that -- eating a no-carb diet (fat is more satisfying to the body than carbs, thus your appetite is greatly decreased), and amphetamines. Since I'm not only on my own modified Atkin's/Mediterranean diet now, but also just began taking Dexedrine (dextro-amphetamine) yesterday, now all I have to do is pretty much sit back and watch the pounds fall off, lol! In fact, during the past two weeks, I've lost ten pounds. Not at all unusual for me while on a no-carb diet. But I digress...
Re: Provigil, I'd say it's certainly worth a try, at least for increasing your mood, energy/vigilance, and improving your memory (the three main things it's famous for). You probably wouldn't require nearly as high a dose as I did to achieve similar effects -- I'm naturally very highly tolerant to all meds. Surely you wouldn't need more than 400mg/day, though who knows, 50mg may do just fine.
As for weight loss, I can only make three recommendations, based on personal experience, advice from nearly a dozen different medical professionals, and observation of the experiences of many, many, many others:
1. Go on the Atkins diet.
2. Exercise -- I know you don't feel motivated now, but two days into the Atkins diet, when your body has used up its stores of glycogen and begins using body fat as fuel instead, there is nine times out of ten a great uplift in mood, reduction in anxiety, and vastly increased motivation.
3. Instead of Provigil, how about an amphetamine? Adderall (levo-amphetamine + dextro-amphetamine), Dexedrine (dextro-amphetamine) and Desoxyn (dextro-methamphetamine) are absolutely wonderful for weight loss (especially in combination with the aforementioned diet), and as an added benefit will give you much more energy, stamina, and make you exponentially more assertive, confident and social.There are also of course the more commonly prescribed sympathomimetic prescription diet aids:
*Didrex (benzphetamine)
*Tenuate/Tepanil (diethylpropion)
*Mazanor/Sanorex (mazindol)
*Adipost/Bontril/Melfiat/Obezine/Phendiet/Plegene/Prelu-2/PT 105 (phendimetrazine)
*Adipex/Fastin/Ionamin/Obenix/Phentercot/Phentride/Pro-Fast/Teramine/Zantryl (phentermine)Of course there's also Meridia (sibutramine), which is now being investigated as a possible antidepressant as well as a diet-aid.
Two drugs I *wouldn't* recommend for weight loss -- Ritalin/Metadate/Concerta (methylphenidate), Cylert (pemoline) or Xenical (orlistat).
Ritalin, while it would probably help you lose weight, is likely to make your anxiety 10 times worse. To me, it feels like injecting a dozen cups of coffee into your veins.
Cylert is just generally not a good first option for weight loss because it can cause severe liver damage.
Finally, Xenical is a lipase inhibitor -- i.e. it works by preventing some of the fat you eat from being absorbed in the intestines. Two reasons I hate this idea:
1. It not only blocks *bad* fats (i.e. saturated fats and trans-fats), but it also blocks *good* essential fatty acids (i.e. polyunsaturated fatty acids [PUFAs] and monounsaturated fatty acids [MUFAs]), which are vital to your health, especially the cardiovascular and nervous sytems.
2. Now this is just my opinion (though I do personally know many other people who agree with me on this) -- people on low-fat diets tend to look hagard and worn-out (which is most likely due to the fact that they're cutting out essential fatty acids as well as sat- and trans-fats). People on low-carb diets, on the other hand, tend to seem more youthful and energetic.
Moral of the story: Fats are essential to your well-being -- don't deprive yourself of them. It's carbs that are in league with the devil. :-)
poster:Ame Sans Vie
thread:249215
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030807/msgs/249260.html