![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by laural on March 21, 2001, at 1:29:07
you may or may not remember me, i was diagnosed schizo-affective bipolar about 4 or5 years ago and came to this site to get help with some med problems as well as this excessive sleeping problem. people advised me to check my thyroid and/or see a neurologist. i did both. after extensive testing they put me on provigil 200 mg. i started it this morning and slept all day long. is this a normal first-day experience for an upper? if so how long does it last and if not what should i do? i'm also on celexa, depakote and zyprexa. how does this interact with provigil or other meds (mostly amphetamines i guess) used for narcolepsy (ie, how do you take an upper without messing with your dopamine levels or kicking you into mania?) help me please, laural
Posted by Sulpicia on March 21, 2001, at 16:48:05
In reply to help, just been diagnosed narcoleptic as well, posted by laural on March 21, 2001, at 1:29:07
>Hi Laural,
I don't have much to add I'm afraid. My daughter [15] has bipolar II, mostly with depression -- the kind that
makes you sleep all day. :)While waiting for the lamictal to kick in [she takes lamictal, wellbutrin, and adderall for ADD BTW], the
pdoc tried provigil as an add-on to the AD med. First 2 weeks at 200mgs it did nothing. She still slept
all day. Then increased to 400mgs in AM -- big change: she got up once in the afternoon to complain about
the terrible headaches it gave her. Did I mention she couldn't eat or drink while taking it, due to a tummy
ache? A total bust for us, and pricey too. It's supposed to last for 12 hours. And it works immediately, as in
no build up period, if it works at all.No hypomania tho. Sorry it's great for you either.
The lamictal has been wonderful for my kid but she never had mania so I would never
venture to recommend it.
Try the med checker at Dr.Koop.com maybe the other meds are doing something weird.
Lots of others have had more experience with it.I hope you feel better soon.
Posted by Becca L. on June 11, 2001, at 15:03:48
In reply to help, just been diagnosed narcoleptic as well, posted by laural on March 21, 2001, at 1:29:07
hi. you've probably received a response to this by now, but i came across your posting b/c i was doing my own research on provigil. from what i understand, it isn't a dopamine receptor agonist, either directly or indirectly, and doesn't bind to receptors for norepinephrine, serotonin, or GABA. so i'm guessing you were put on this medication (as opposed to say, cylert) b/c of your bipolar tendencies? does the provigil still make you sleepy? i have a similar problem, but also just more depressive tendencies, so i've actually settled on adderall. it's very effective but it does affect dopamine substantially. i don't know if that might be an alternative for you--maybe the depakote would offset any mania-inducing effects, but maybe it would just prevent adderall from working. i'm not sure what zyprexa is.
well anyway, good luck with everything, i hope youre doing better!
-becca
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.