Any and all responses are welcome!
thanks in advance the zman

I take 200mgs in the AM and 100mgs at lunch. Provigil doesn't really give me much energy but it does keep me awake. It hasn't given me any bad side effects. My doctor plans on increasing the dose, but we waiting for results from my neurologist before she changes any prescriptions. She had given me a free sample back in April when I went to Florida with my family to help me get thru the trip. It then took 2 months to clear it thru insurance, but now that I have it, it's one med that I NEVER forget to take!

Fatigue is one of my worst symptoms. I would be interested to know if this medication helps with your physical fatigue.

MS had not been ruled out or dx yet.

There was a lot of talk on mswatch website when I was trying it out.

When I saw my LLMD and was dx with lyme, he suggested I hold off on taking any more of it for now.

When I did take it, the first two days were great. I felt as if I had my strength back.

I also used it to help me get through several days of work when I was trying to return to work and still looking for answers.

I used it along with a lot of coffee and excedrin extra strength.

The down side was that I was so wired, I was not able to sleep and would sleep around the clock on my days off.

It was during the time we worked 3 days off 4 days due to holidays and then worked 4 days and off 3 days, etc. I also started back to work in the middle of the week in order to help matters.

Well, it all caught up with me and I crashed at work and couldn't get back up. They couldn't even get a blood pressure reading on me.

I slept around the clock for 2 weeks after that.

From what I have read, it helps some people and doesn't help others.

Some feel like it is the same as having lots of caffeine.

I liked it when it worked, but it didn't always work for me.

It was created for narcolepsy so it does turn something on in the system and keep it on.

I haven't used it in over a year or so. I think about using it again every now and then but haven't yet.

I think it is worth giving it a try to see how it works for you. I needed to take it very early as I found it kept me wired for about 12 hours.

On other days, it didn't help at all.

On the other hand, I have heard others say that it has given them there life back and they would not be able to work without it.

Well, it keeps me awake alright. I took half of the sample and was clearly awake for 10 hours and had a hard time getting back to sleep that night.

The trouble for me is that I should take it in the morning, but when I thin of taking it is when I'm zonked toward the afternoon. If I take it then, my sleep patterns get fouled up, and as you all know, that's what a lot of us fight all the time.

I still use it if I can remember to take it in the AM...It doesn't increase brain fog for me, but I'm going through a period with less brain fog anyway. Perhaps I'm not the right person for that piece of this.

The big challenge for lyme patients in general is to remember that we need more rest than the average person, or the person that we were before lyme. It's easy to fall into taking the provigil to sustain levels that we had before we were sick, or to sustain levels that we are capable of on our good days between herxes.

We have to be very aware of what our disease process each day when we take provigil. When I'm herxing, I won't touch the stuff. If I'm herxing I need to be sleeping as much as my body will allow, not challenging the process. It's easy for me to take it and ignore my lyme body's needs..that would lead to a huge crash for me.

I also won't take it for more than two days in a row. Just one of my little rules to keep me in touch of where I am with my symptoms.

I did notice I seemed a little wired. The package said that I was to be more alert and I found I was in more of a lyme fog all day long. I have'nt gotten much sleep either since I started the drug. It does keep me awake durring the day but I'm not sure yet about any particular energy boost.

I'll keep you posted down the road a little farther as to any side effects and or any energy level increases...If I forget next month or so will one of you be kind enough to remind me? Thanks again...the zman