does Provigil help RLS?

[Helen518]

Hi-
I searched the forum for mention of provigil. It seems like some folks have taken it for daytime sleepiness. Has anyone found that it helps the RLS? My psychiatrist seems to think it may help. I took 100 mg today at 8:30 am.

I am worried about the possibility that it will wind me up, make me figity and interfere with my sleep. Also that it could depress my appetite.

What side effects have you had and did it help your RLS at all?

Thanks.

[SquirmingSusan]

I already answered you in another thread, but I'll answer here too.

For me, Provigil makes my RLS slightly worse. It doesn't raise dopamine levels like many other stimulants, and it does cause methadone to be metabolized a bit more quickly. What it does help with is daytime sleepiness. For me, at least, it doesn't make me wound up at all, though, just more awake.

[Helen518]

Susan - do you take it every day or just when you have to drive long distances or sit in a long meeting, etc . . .? I think it made mine slightly worse, but I think I could stand to use it once in a while.

My neuro though it could cause augmentation if taken regularly. .. I was confused about him using this term. Could I have misunderstood him?

[SquirmingSusan]

Helen, I was taking it every day. It has a long half life (16 hours), and is supposed to become more effective over time as it builds up in the body. It's also not supposed to cause rebound sleep.

I didn't find either of those "supposed to's" to be true for me, but things almost never work the way they're supposed to for me. (My doctor was laughing at me yesterday because I'm such a freak when it comes to side effects and just generally how meds work or don't work for me.) The effect seemed to wear off after taking it for a week or two. Then I would take a couple days off. And I and slept like crazy on those days. Then it seemed to work better again.

Now I'm taking Reboxetine and it works much better for me than Provigil did. It's like Strattera, which is a non-amphetamine ADD drug, with stimulant properties.

Unfortunately, you won't know how it works for you until you try it. But it is an anti-narcolepsy drug that's meant to be taken every day. If you need something for specific occasions, you might be better with other forms of stimulants. But then again, the Provigil might work just fine for that.

Your neuro using the term augmentation for Provigil is confusing. Is he talking about augmentation of the RLS, or of the excess sleepiness, or what? You might want to find out what he meant by that.

Honestly, I wish there was a better way to figure all this out without all of us being human guinea pigs.

[Metabolic wreck]

I take provigil occasionally--for reasons completely unrelated to RLS. However, I've noticed that on the days when I take it, my RLS seems slightly less annoying. It doesn't make it stop, but it just doesn't seem quite as bad.

The Wreck