Staying awake during the day can be difficult for narcoleptic patients. Besides sleeping on a regular schedule, taking naps, and avoiding certain medicines that can cause drowsiness, a prescription wakefulness-promoting medication such as modafinil may help narcoleptic patients stay alert.

Modafinil 200 Australia comes as a tablet that is taken by mouth. It is used for adults and teenagers 17 years of age or older with narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and shift work disorder.

Boosts Alertness

Modafinil improves daytime alertness in patients with excessive sleepiness resulting from OSA, SWD, or narcolepsy. This symptom of sleep disorders can be dangerous and costly, especially when it occurs while driving or operating machinery.

This drug is known to stimulate the brain’s wakefulness center and is a highly effective treatment for narcolepsy and other sleep-wake disorders, like sleep-disordered breathing (OSA), idiopathic hypersomnia, attention deficit disorder, myotonic dystrophy, and jet lag. It’s also less likely to cause the side effects of traditional stimulants, such as dextroamphetamine and methylphenidate, such as jitteriness and rebound sleepiness.

Modafinil’s waking effects have been backed up by double-blind placebo-controlled clinical studies in people with OSA, SWD, and narcolepsy. In these studies, mean sleep latency improved but did not normalize in most patients.

Reduces Fatigue

Modafinil significantly reduces fatigue in narcoleptic patients, improving their mood and health-related quality of life. The drug also boosts cognitive performance and improves decision-making. Unlike stimulants such as amphetamine or methylphenidate, modafinil has few side effects.

The drug’s wakefulness-promoting properties are due to its pharmacodynamic activity on brain chemicals that regulate sleep and wakefulness. The drug is a racemic compound, with two enantiomers that have different pharmacokinetic properties. The wake-promoting action is mediated by the R-enantiomer.

In double-blind placebo-controlled studies, 8% of Modalert Tablet-treated patients discontinued due to adverse events, compared to 3% of those receiving placebo (Roth et al 2007). These side effects are mild and typically dissipate with continued use of the drug. However, the FDA warns that this medication should not be taken by people with certain heart conditions or a history of chest pain or abnormalities on electrocardiogram (ECG). Symptoms that may indicate a serious problem include chest pain, difficulty breathing or uneven heartbeats.

Increases Energy

Modafinil is a wake-promoting agent that helps improve sleep cycles to help with conditions like narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder and obstructive sleep apnea. It has been found to increase wakefulness in patients with narcolepsy by increasing the activity of certain brain chemicals.

Unlike many stimulants, it does not cause an increase in heart rate or blood pressure and has been shown to have a lower incidence of side effects. It is also safer than methylphenidate, but it may not be as effective as amphetamine in treating symptoms of narcolepsy.

Modafinil is typically taken once or twice a day, with or without food. It does not treat the underlying causes of excessive sleepiness, so it is important to talk with your doctor about good sleeping habits and other treatment options, such as getting enough sleep and using a CPAP machine for people with sleep apnea.

Improves Concentration

Modafinil has been shown to improve cognitive performance in narcolepsy patients and in individuals with SWD. In two nine-week, placebo-controlled studies of narcolepsy patients, 200 or 400 mg/day of modafinil was found to significantly reduce mean MSLT and MWT sleep latency, but not to normalize in these studies (Mitler et al 1998; US Modafinil in Narcolepsy Multicenter Study Group 2000).

These improvements are largely due to the wake-promoting effects of Modafinil. However, a number of other narcolepsy symptoms, such as cataplexy, also improve with the use of Modafinil or related medications. Modafinil is a stimulant with less risk of addiction than many other drugs. It is commonly used with other medications to treat narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome, and shift work disorder. It is not a cure for these conditions and will only work as long as it is taken regularly.

Reduces Stress

Modafinil is in a class of drugs known as wakefulness promoting agents and is chemically unrelated to, and pharmacologically distinguishable from central nervous system stimulants such as dextroamphetamine and methylphenidate. Modafinil has been shown to improve alertness in narcolepsy patients by decreasing the time it takes to complete simple tasks such as adding numbers and subtracting them (Pauli test).

Modafinil is available in a tablet form and is usually taken once per day. It is prescribed to treat excessive sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, shift work disorder, or obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). Improvements in objective measures of sleepiness such as the MSLT and ESS were maintained over 136 weeks of open-label administration. Modafinil and the newer, purified formulation of modafinil called armodafinil have similar benefits and are safe and well-tolerated.