fluffy rambles: Armodafinil, day 1

Armodafinil, day 1

February 9, 2022 10:27 AM (2 years ago)

A few weeks ago I learned about armodafinil as an alternate non-stimulant ADHD treatment; this seemed pretty compelling to me because stimulant-based meds have always been troublesome for me for various reasons.

Unfortunately, it’s only off-label for ADHD; fortunately it’s on-label for a bunch of other conditions I have, and the theory of it working for ADHD is that it treats underlying sleep conditions that make ADHD worse, rather than treating the ADHD itself.

My insurance originally declined it because it isn’t a mainline ADHD treatment and my doctor mentioned ADHD in the authorization request (in addition to the sleep apnea, offset sleep phase, and chronic fatigue issues that it is a mainline treatment for), but I wrote an appeal reiterating that I do have conditions that it’s approved for, and also listing the mainline ADHD treatments I tried which either didn’t work or which caused severe side effects. That appeal was enough to get me approved, and I picked up my prescription yesterday.

So, today I took my first dose. Before the dose I took my blood pressure, which was a totally reasonable 119/78. After an hour it was up to 132/86. At this very moment it’s 130/93, and my head feels full of fluid, and I’m kind of dizzy and maybe a bit nauseated.

I’m hoping this clears up and settles down over the next few days. I don’t feel particularly focused right now, but I wouldn’t expect to be since it’s more about fixing the sleep-related issues that underlie my ADHD issues, and not treating the ADHD itself, right? This sure feels a lot like how Adderall affected me (except Adderall also gave me incredible hyperfocus).

Anyway I’ll definitely be monitoring my blood pressure throughout the day. As long as the systolic stays below 140 I think I’m fine (although that diastolic is pretty concerning). I’m also keeping my doctor in the loop of this, of course.

For what it’s worth, Adderall put my systolic up to, like, 180 (I forget what the diastolic was).

I am definitely very, very awake right now, in any case.

(Needless to say I’m also skipping my espresso for the next few days.)