{"id":11516,"date":"2016-04-20T06:10:40","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T10:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/?p=11516"},"modified":"2016-04-19T20:25:01","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T00:25:01","slug":"biohack-modafinil%e2%80%8a-%e2%80%8awhat-is-it-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/?p=11516","title":{"rendered":"Biohack: Modafinil\u200a\u2014\u200aWhat Is It Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author: Dirk Bruere<\/a><\/h3>\n

I often get asked about the nootropic drug Modafinil, especially online. This is my very personal view of what it\u2019s like. It\u2019s not an article that will tell you where to get it, or whether you should get it. These are just some of my experiences and opinions.<\/p>\n

First off, I am an engineer\/scientist (depending on who\u2019s asking or paying) aged 62 at the date of writing. Generally very healthy, apart from high cholesterol and a few mechanical injuries from practicing martial arts for nearly 40 years. I have used Modafinil intermittently for the past 7 years or so.<\/p>\n

Second, and this is important, my mind and metabolism is not that of a teenager. My brain is not still developing in the same sense now as someone under the age of 25. What is safe for me is not necessarily safe for others. If you read up on Modafinil, which you should if you intend to use it, you should know all the potential side effects. The only advice I can give is the same for taking any new drug\u200a\u2014\u200astart with a very small sample. Every drug has side effects, and while many people will experience none maybe you will hit the metabolic jackpot on the lottery of evil and something truly unusual and horrible will manifest. With Modafinil some people can develop a skin condition. Some people who are stupid enough to knock back a few hundred milligrams on their first hit will find their skin falling off. Not like sunburn, more like being napalmed at Chernobyl. It\u2019s very rare, but it might be you.<\/p>\n

\"modarash\"<\/a>If you do develop a rash, this is not the drug for you.<\/p>\n

Like the old AIDS ads used to say\u200a\u2014\u200adon\u2019t die of ignorance. And one other thing. You will read online about people\u2019s \u201cstacks\u201d, or the various multi-drug combinations they use. Avoid all other drugs when using a new one, and especially avoid alcohol and grapefruit juice. Yes\u200a\u2014\u200ayou read it correctly\u200a\u2014\u200agrapefruit juice. The latter contains an enzyme that stops the body breaking down many drugs, including Modafinil. People have died after knocking back their perfectly legal on-doctors-orders prescription with a glass of grapefruit juice.\u00a0 Anyway, horror show over.<\/p>\n

So, what does it friggin\u2019\u00a0<\/span>feel like\u00a0<\/span><\/em>now the disclaimers are out the way? Well, bear in mind that everyone will get a slightly different reaction but\u2026<\/p>\n

It tastes disgusting. Try not to taste it. Swallow the pill with a cup of water, most of which you can use to get rid of the taste. Then, after about 15 minutes, you start to get a kind of tweaky jittery feeling almost like adrenalin but without the fear. Not as bad as a caffeine overdose. If you take it with food it kicks in a lot more smoothly up to 45 minutes later. After a while it settles down and you start to feel normal. Well, almost. It is subtle (for me) but slowly things seem a bit brighter and I feel more optimistic. Whatever problems I have recede a bit.
\nIt\u2019s like\u2026 \u201cWell, things don\u2019t seem as bad\/difficult as I thought\u2026 maybe I\u2019ll give this a try\u2026<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

After that, I find I can focus without effort on what I am doing and time passes quickly. There is also one more interesting feature, which is that it enhances short term memory. For example, most people can remember up to seven items or numbers at a time. Modafinil can push that to eight or nine. Not terribly useful\u200a\u2014\u200aunless you are trying to juggle multiple \u201cthings\u201d in your head and keep those in place mentally, like when programming or doing complex technical stuff.<\/p>\n

Anyway, bottom line is that I just feel smarter and get more done. I am also more fluent verbally, but seldom use that feature.<\/p>\n

\"modafinil\"<\/a><\/p>\n

However, the \u201creal\u201d official use of Modafinil is to keep people awake and alert. Now, I do not find this to be as effective as some people claim. Apparently US military trials suggest it can keep people awake and intellectually unimpaired for up to 36 hours. The most I have done, using 600mg spread throughout the day, was around 30 hours. Not sure if I was \u201cintellectually unimpaired\u201d or not, but it was not a pleasant experience. It was like a zombie in the back of my mind was being dragged around screaming for sleep that would not come.\u00a0 By the way, a normal dose for me is 100mg or 200mg if I am feeling especially foolhardy. The 200 is not twice as effective as the 100.<\/p>\n

Contrary to some myths, you can sleep on it, but you have to make an effort. When you do sleep it tends to be more shallow than normal and that also, in me, precipitates lucid dreaming. A fun topic for another article\u2026<\/p>\n

One thing you should never do is take it when you feel tired or ill. The result will be that you will feel tired and ill for much longer and be able to fully concentrate on your misery instead of work or play.<\/p>\n

After sleep you return to normal without any obvious crash or mood swings.<\/p>\n

Another popular question\u200a\u2014\u200ais it addictive? The conventional answer is \u201cno\u201d, but it does interact with the dopamine system, which is why there is a certain small but rather pleasant mood boost. Presumably this lies behind its possible use as an anti-depressant. However, since I don\u2019t suffer from depression I cannot comment.
\nNevertheless, there are reports of people where the drug hits them almost like cocaine, or amphetamine. Another one of those rare side effects.<\/p>\n

Do I find it addictive? No. I take at most around 100mg twice a week, usually first thing in the morning because I want to sleep normally at night. What is addictive is being on peak performance for a full day.<\/p>\n

There is also one little secret that is common to many nootropics. It is that they provide a bigger boost for normal people than they do for high functioning high IQ types like me. They tend to \u201clevel the intellectual playing field\u201d, which is why there are regular articles about whether people taking exams are \u201ccheating\u201d by using them. Cheat away, I say (being a hard core Transhumanist).<\/p>\n

In the world of business there is no such thing as cheating unless a judge says so. You are measured on results, no matter whether you work into the night or pop a pill and then go home early after a very productive day.<\/p>\n

In hindsight, what is remarkable is the \u201ccoincidence\u201d of having really great days after taking the drug. By that I do not mean just being more intellectually focused etc. but somehow \u201cluckier\u201d.<\/p>\n

As an aside, on the sports front it is a banned stimulant. So if you are into serious athletics bear this in mind. It\u2019s half life in the body is around 12 hours, which means that the amount in your body halves every 12 hours. There will still be some in your system a week after taking it.<\/p>\n

Finally, I am getting old and use various drugs, including this one, to boost what would in the normal course of events be a declining intellect. For the most part I don\u2019t get what are euphemistically referred to as \u201cthose senior moments\u201d of memory loss. Fuck ageing\u200a\u2014\u200aif I can I\u2019m going to cheat my way out of it or die trying!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not NZT-48, but it\u2019s the safest and nearest you are going to get to it.<\/p>\n

[If there is something like the fictional Limitless drug above, it is probably Dihexa. Google it and then ask yourself how brave you are feeling. And how rich, because it\u2019s not cheap. Another story for another day.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Dirk Bruere I often get asked about the nootropic drug Modafinil, especially online. This is my very personal view of what it\u2019s like. It\u2019s not an article that will tell you where to get it, or whether you should get it. These are just some of my experiences and opinions. First off, I am an engineer\/scientist (depending on who\u2019s asking or paying) aged 62 at the date of writing. Generally very healthy, apart from high cholesterol and a few mechanical injuries from practicing martial arts for nearly 40 years. I have used Modafinil intermittently for the past 7 years or so. Second, and this is important, my mind and metabolism is not that of a teenager. My brain is not still developing in the same sense now as someone under the age of 25. What is safe for me is not necessarily safe for others. If you read up on Modafinil, which you should if you intend to use it, you should know all the potential side effects. The only advice I can give is the same for taking any new drug\u200a\u2014\u200astart with a very small sample. Every drug has side effects, and while many people will experience none maybe you will hit the metabolic jackpot on the lottery of evil and something truly unusual and horrible will manifest. With Modafinil some people can develop a skin condition. Some people who are stupid enough to knock back a few hundred milligrams on their first hit will find their skin falling off. Not like sunburn, more like being napalmed at Chernobyl. It\u2019s very rare, but it might be you. If you do develop a rash, this is not the drug for you. Like the old AIDS ads used to say\u200a\u2014\u200adon\u2019t die of ignorance. And one other thing. You will read online about people\u2019s \u201cstacks\u201d, or the various multi-drug combinations they use. Avoid all other drugs when using a new one, and especially avoid alcohol and grapefruit juice. Yes\u200a\u2014\u200ayou read it correctly\u200a\u2014\u200agrapefruit juice. The latter contains an enzyme that stops the body breaking down many drugs, including Modafinil. People have died after knocking back their perfectly legal on-doctors-orders prescription with a glass of grapefruit juice.\u00a0 Anyway, horror show over. So, what does it friggin\u2019\u00a0feel like\u00a0now the disclaimers are out the way? Well, bear in mind that everyone will get a slightly different reaction but\u2026 It tastes disgusting. Try not to taste it. Swallow the pill with a cup of water, most of which you can use to get rid of the taste. Then, after about 15 minutes, you start to get a kind of tweaky jittery feeling almost like adrenalin but without the fear. Not as bad as a caffeine overdose. If you take it with food it kicks in a lot more smoothly up to 45 minutes later. After a while it settles down and you start to feel normal. Well, almost. It is subtle (for me) but slowly things seem a bit brighter and I feel more optimistic. Whatever problems I have recede a bit. It\u2019s like\u2026 \u201cWell, things don\u2019t seem as bad\/difficult as I thought\u2026 maybe I\u2019ll give this a try\u2026\u201d After that, I find I can focus without effort on what I am doing and time passes quickly. There is also one more interesting feature, which is that it enhances short term memory. For example, most people can remember up to seven items or numbers at a time. Modafinil can push that to eight or nine. Not terribly useful\u200a\u2014\u200aunless you are trying to juggle multiple \u201cthings\u201d in your head and keep those in place mentally, like when programming or doing complex technical stuff. Anyway, bottom line is that I just feel smarter and get more done. I am also more fluent verbally, but seldom use that feature. However, the \u201creal\u201d official use of Modafinil is to keep people awake and alert. Now, I do not find this to be as effective as some people claim. Apparently US military trials suggest it can keep people awake and intellectually unimpaired for up to 36 hours. The most I have done, using 600mg spread throughout the day, was around 30 hours. Not sure if I was \u201cintellectually unimpaired\u201d or not, but it was not a pleasant experience. It was like a zombie in the back of my mind was being dragged around screaming for sleep that would not come.\u00a0 By the way, a normal dose for me is 100mg or 200mg if I am feeling especially foolhardy. The 200 is not twice as effective as the 100. Contrary to some myths, you can sleep on it, but you have to make an effort. When you do sleep it tends to be more shallow than normal and that also, in me, precipitates lucid dreaming. A fun topic for another article\u2026 One thing you should never do is take it when you feel tired or ill. The result will be that you will feel tired and ill for much longer and be able to fully concentrate on your misery instead of work or play. After sleep you return to normal without any obvious crash or mood swings. Another popular question\u200a\u2014\u200ais it addictive? The conventional answer is \u201cno\u201d, but it does interact with the dopamine system, which is why there is a certain small but rather pleasant mood boost. Presumably this lies behind its possible use as an anti-depressant. However, since I don\u2019t suffer from depression I cannot comment. Nevertheless, there are reports of people where the drug hits them almost like cocaine, or amphetamine. Another one of those rare side effects. Do I find it addictive? No. I take at most around 100mg twice a week, usually first thing in the morning because I want to sleep normally at night. What is addictive is being on peak performance for a full day. There is also one little secret that is common to many nootropics. It is that they provide a bigger boost for normal people than they do for high functioning high IQ types like me. They tend to \u201clevel the intellectual playing field\u201d, which is why there are regular articles about whether people taking exams are \u201ccheating\u201d by using them. Cheat away, I say (being a hard core Transhumanist). In the world of business there is no such thing as cheating unless a judge says so. You are measured on results, no matter whether you work into the night or pop a pill and then go home early after a very productive day. In hindsight, what is remarkable is the \u201ccoincidence\u201d of having really great days after taking the drug. By that I do not mean just being more intellectually focused etc. but somehow \u201cluckier\u201d. As an aside, on the sports front it is a banned stimulant. So if you are into serious athletics bear this in mind. It\u2019s half life in the body is around 12 hours, which means that the amount in your body halves every 12 hours. There will still be some in your system a week after taking it. Finally, I am getting old and use various drugs, including this one, to boost what would in the normal course of events be a declining intellect. For the most part I don\u2019t get what are euphemistically referred to as \u201cthose senior moments\u201d of memory loss. Fuck ageing\u200a\u2014\u200aif I can I\u2019m going to cheat my way out of it or die trying! It\u2019s not NZT-48, but it\u2019s the safest and nearest you are going to get to it. [If there is something like the fictional Limitless drug above, it is probably Dihexa. Google it and then ask yourself how brave you are feeling. And how rich, because it\u2019s not cheap. Another story for another day.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[937,590,938],"class_list":["post-11516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-future","tag-biohack","tag-dirk-bruere","tag-modafinil"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11516"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11524,"href":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11516\/revisions\/11524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavechronicle.com\/wave\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}