Using Provigil
Provigil is approved for people age 16 and older. Off-label Provigil uses may also include the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, and fatigue due to other causes.
Provigil® (modafinil) is a medication used to promote wakefulness. This means that it helps people stay awake and alert. It is approved to promote wakefulness in people with excessive sleepiness due to:
- Narcolepsy
- Shift work sleep disorder (SWSD), a problem in people who work night shifts or who frequently change between day and night work shifts
- Sleep apnea (known medically as obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome or OSAHS).
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Wake-Up Time with Provigil
In January 2003, US Air Force majors William Umbach and Harry Schmidt faced court-martial after a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan that killed four Canadian soldiers and wounded eight others. During a pretrial hearing, Umbach’s lawyer spilled one of the Pentagon’s dirty little secrets – the pilots had been on speed when they dropped the fatal bomb.
Their judgment was impaired, he claimed, because superiors pressured them to prepare for the mission by taking Dexedrine, a practice he described as common. The charges were dropped, but not before the revelation sparked public outrage: Why were our boys flying $30 million jets on uppers?
Effects of Provigil
The reinforcing effects of oral Provigil (0, 100, 200, and 400 mg) were assessed in six healthy adult volunteers under both performance and relaxation conditions. Performance sessions required volunteers to complete simple arithmetic problems for three 50-min blocks.
Relaxation sessions required volunteers to sit quietly in a semireclined position in a darkened room for three 50-min blocks. Two sampling sessions (one performance and one relaxation session) always preceded two self-administration sessions (one performance and one relaxation session), and the order of performance and relaxation sessions was constant within a dose condition.
Provigil and sleep loss
In general, sleep loss will result in performance deficits, including increased variability in performance, slowed physical and mental reaction time, increased errors, decreased vigilance, impaired memory, and reduced motivation and laxity. There is no consensus on the extent of impairment resulting from a given amount of sleep loss.
Depending on the performance task measured, after 17-19 h of sustained wakefulness, decrements in task performance are equivalent to, or worse than, those seen at a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%,(40) and about 20-25 h of wakefulness will result in performance decrements equivalent to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10% on some tasks. Generally, complex performance tasks seem to be more sensitive to the effects of sleep loss than simpler tasks. It is of interest to note that the legal blood alcohol concentration limit for driving in the UK, USA, and Canada is 0.08%, in Australia is 0.05%, and in Sweden is 0.02%. The decrements in performance recorded after extended wakefulness have important implications for shiftwork, since a substantial number of shiftworkers are reported to be awake for at least 24 h on the first night shift in a roster.