[Volrath89]

True. I remember I used this back in the day when I was a pro online poker player. I would like to try again in Software, maybe to kickstart an indie project ... food for thought.

How often do you use it and have you found any side effects? (or long term effects for that matter)

[Inviz]

I use about 100mg (average amount) 2-4 days a week for the last 1.5 years, going through a very challenging project. I had a small stretch of time when my skin started drying up on the forehead and was peeling off in minor quantities, so i took a break for a month and it fixed it.

Some of the days I may not take it and not notice it, there's definitely no cravings. But during a break I felt slightly hazy when getting off it. I do notice an increase in typical stimulator tell-tale symptoms (like some jaw clenching), but i do have that from coffee as well (which i drink too). There can be days when i'm too wired up to fall asleep fast, so i may drop a 5-htp pill.

The upside is that there's a lot of times when I manage to really concentrate on some activities. Doing 8 hours shifts is trivial. People note that I am pretty responsive at the end of the working days. Quite often I manage to do some personal hobby work after a full working day too.

Modafinil doesn't have the ecstatic effects of Adderall and its friends, so working a lot can make me feel overly emotionally invested into some things that are not important in a grand picture. The stress can add up if not managed well. So I do not recommend working a lot for working's sake, there has to be a cause to pull heroic stunts like this. My excuse is to save up the money to enable myself to do other activites not related to programming later.

[bartwr]

How's your sleep and emotional state when using it like this? With an elimination half-life of 15h, 2-4 days a week it won't leave your body. I personally hated it for this reason - poor sleep, tossing and turning even with a sleep aid -> feeling emotionally unstable and even less productive the following day. Plus unable to recover from any moderate sports activity.