Provigil test drive
Better waking through chemistry [salon]
An overextended, overmedicated insomniac turns to
Provigil, the skyrocketingly popular pill that's
been a godsend for the narcoleptic, the jet-lagged and the
just plain dog-tired.
Thomas Edison began to mass-manufacture an inexpensive
carbon light bulb, and families could keep their homes
lit longer, for cheaper. "Edison thought people used
darkness as an excuse to be lazy and unproductive,"
says Dr. Stanley Coren, a sleep expert and psychology
professor at the University of British Columbia in
Vancouver. "Since then, as a society we have been
constantly sleep deprived." In 1913, the average
person enjoyed a whopping, wonderful nine and a half
hours of sleep -- the ideal, according to Coren. Now
most of us get seven and a half, tops.
Even though Cephalon does not have approval to market
the drug for any use besides narcolepsy, physicians have
been prescribing Provigil for fatigue (as well as
depression), finding that it peps up people without the
side effects of stimulants such as Ritalin, Dexedrine
and Adderall. As it doesn't give you an instant high,
and can't be chopped up and snorted like Oxycontin.
See also the online repository of drug information, the
Vaults of Erowid, which offers information on illegal and
legal drugs, as well as the Experience Vaults, which are
like the Amazon.com customer reviews of drugs, but are
much more entertaining.