I took a trip to Tiajuana on Sunday April 5th, 2009. The objective was to visit Mexican pharmacies. The reason for visiting Mexican pharmacies is the complete lack of regulation thereof. It is possible to buy any perscription drug without empediment in Mexico. So what? Why am I interested in that?
Well, the reason goes like this: I have been falling asleep on the job lately. Right around 3:00pm in the afternoon. At this time I would experiance an almost uncontrollable power-failure. I would shutdown and start to nod off. Eatting nuts did not help. Sipping from a honey bottle did not help. Runing up and down the stairs at work did not help. Gulping 250mg of Caffeine barely got the job done. I would still feel energless and listless for hours. Now whether you understand this or not, such a condition is actually career threatening to me. We are in the midst of the worst recession since the great depression. I am a well-paid programmer in a financial sector company. Most meetings are organized in the morning. Most code-smithing takes place in the afternoon. I cannot shutdown and nod-off at 3:00pm. This is totally unacceptible. It is as if a starting quarterback in the NFL tore his rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder and couldn't pass in critical situations.
I saw a doctor about perscription meds for this problem. She wanted to refer me to her husband for gastric bipass surgery. She would not perscribe anything. It turns out her husband is out-of-network surgeon, specializing in Gastric Bipass, and he charges a ton of money for his services. She functions as the schill, pushing customers to the big money-maker cosmetic surgeon. After allowing this (and other) doctors to jack me around for several months, I finally decided to take the fucking bull by the balls and do it myself.
I had two drugs in mind as I drove to Tiajuana. The first is Ritalin (Methylphenidate), a drug much-praised by my fellow programmers. I really expected Methylphenidate to be the answer. The other was a substance I had only recently heard of vis-a-vis jetlag. The substance is known as Provigil (Modafinil). I did not expect this to be the answer. I was also hoping to get some Pramiracetam, but the Mexicans had no clue in the world what I was talking about. It was almost hilarious watching a Mexican doctor rummage back and forth between pages in a 3 year old pharamacy book looking for Pramiracetam. You won't find it there. It is too new.
I could write at length about the trip down to Tiajuana. It was a bit scarry. It was very fun. It was always interesting. It was a little infuriating. In the end, a good time was had by all, and basically got what I wanted. I would love to go back soon, and I probably will. I recommend it to one and to all. It is a tourist trap, and it is a lot of fun. Enjoy. I especially liked the St. Louis Rams Poncho I bought for $32. It is fantastic.
So now we come to the thesis point. I have been caffeine-free for more than 68 hours now. I haven't touched coffee. No Red Bull. No Stay Alert chewing gum. No 5 Hour Energy. No chocolate. No Vivarine. No NoDoz. No Redline Xtreme. No 14-Hour Energy by Nitro2Go. No Pepsi. No Coke. No Mountain Dew. No Penguine caffeine mints. I have stayed away from all that stuff. I don't need it anymore. I am far more alert and far more awake than I have been here at work in several years. I am very happy about this.
So what happened?
First, I was totally disapointed with Ritalin (Methylphenidate). I took 10mg at 1:00pm yesterday, just after lunch. I crashed and burned at 3:00pm just like before. Methylphenidate had no effect on the 3:00pm power-failure I experiance. That's right. Ritalin is absolutely and completely ineffective against whatever I am fighting. I was totally listless when I got home last night, inspite of 10mg of Ritalin. I couldn't scrape my ass off the couch with a steam shovel. I finally broke down and took 100mg of Modafinil at 6:30pm. I didn't want to waste the evening in vegitative state. It worked like magic. I was awake and alive again in 20 minutes.
This brings us to Modafinil! What a surprise! It is the perfect drug. I took my first 200mg dose at approximately 7:30pm on Sunday whilst still in Tiajuana. My buddy Jerry and his girlfriend were very tired (and a little drunk) after sampling a large 24oz Mexican beer. They wanted me to drive us home, because I was sober guy. I was tired at that point also. We had been up early and walking around all day. I popped the pill just after getting into the cab to ride back to the border. Provil brough me back to a full state of lucid consciousness and alertness that was marvelous. I drove all the way back without any problems at all. I was totally focused. Jerry and his girl slept most of the way home.
I took 100mg of Modafinil Monday morning. I was able to make it out of the appartment without caffeine to start my day for the first time in years. I was plenty sharp too. I took another 100mg around 2:00pm expecting the 3:00pm crash to happen soon. Guess what? It never happened. Monday afternoon was the first time in many months that I was fully awake and alive at 3:00pm. I was ducedly lucid and sharp at 3:30pm. It was as if I had never had any problem in the first place. Caffeine withdrawel headaches began to kick in that afternoon. The headache bothered me, but it didn't break my focus.
It has been more than 68 hours since I had my last 1mg dose of caffeine. The caffeine headaches and withdrawel are almost completely gone. The time is now 3:30pm on Wednesday and I am pretty well wide-awake. I should not have eatten at Burger King during lunch, but I did. This has made me a bit stuffed and woozy, but this is not the same as narcolepsy I used to experiance.
Which brings me to the ultimate point. I did some research into this wonderful Modafinil, and I found some very interesting things. It turns out that Modafinil was developed as an anti-narcolepsy drug. Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder (adyssomnia) characterized by overwhelming daytime drowsiness and sudden attacks of sleep. The condition is most characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), in which a person experiences extreme tiredness and possibly falls asleep during the day at inappropriate times, such as at work or school. This comes straight from wikipedia.org
If you have read this blog, does this sound at all familiar? Does that sound like yours truly? What do you think? The miraculous effect of this substance has left me seriously wondering if I am, infact, a 100% pure true-blue legitamite narcoleptic. I am wondering if I should retain the services of a Narcolepsy specialist. You can't hit the nail on the head any more accurately than this drug did. You can't fix the problem any better than this drug did. Since Modafinil is a proven Narcolepsy stopper, a guy like me just can't help but draw conclusions. This conclusion is even sharper given Ritalin's abject failure to quell my problems.
I hate doctors. I hate the FDA. I hate our fucking medical system. I hate my insurance. The system absolutely failed me. The doctors should have been able to diagnose me as a narcoleptic. I saw enough of them enough times. I should not have had to drive to Tiajuana to get Modafinil. I should not have had to discover I am a narcoleptic by myself. I should not have been victemized by a gastric bipass schill with a financial agenda. What the hell am I paying you filthy bastards for anyway? I should pocket my money and dump you fuckers. You have disapointed the hell out of me.
