Ritalin and Provigil

[Guest guest]

Bethany:

I'm sure most of the regulars here in the group are REALLY tired of

hearing; fatigue is my major problem with CMT. The best drug I found

is Provigil whose generic name is modafinal. The drug is on-label for

fatigue due to sleep apnea or shift-sleep disorder. It is not on label

for CMT, MS, MD, or any other disease. Cephalon, the marketer of the

drug paid $135M to generic drug manufacturers not to make the drug

until 2011.

The drug costs $8-9 per pill, and insurers use the off-label excuse to

deny coverage. I believe Provigil is the best drug for fatigue I have

ever been prescribed. I took 100mg in the morning and 100mg in the

afternoon. The dosage/schedule never interfered with sleeping. If you

can get it, I would try it first.

Since being denied coverage for Provigil I have tried two different

fatigue drugs, amantadene and Ritalin. Both are inexpensive, off-label

for CMT and general fatigue, but covered by my health care accountants.

Amantadene didn't work for me. For the last two months I have been

taking Ritalin success. I weigh 225 pounds and started with 10mg in

the morning and 10mg at 2:00 PM. I found the dosage/schedule

interfered with sleeping. I was able to fall asleep but woke up at

2:00AM and had difficulty falling back to sleep.

Last week I started taking 15mg of Ritalin in the morning and with a

caffeine boost with an afternoon Vault Zero, both fatigue and sleep

seem to be in balance.

Understand that Ritalin is an amphetamine and has more side effects

than Provigil, but it does work.

-- Larry