I got my hands on a couple of tablets of armodafinil and suprisingly, I was extremely disappointed after two days of experimentation. I averaged about 4-5 hours of sleep per night over the prior 5 nights to trying it so I figured it could possibly serve me extremely well, however after dosing half of a capsule to disappointment, I followed up the next day with an entire capsule to even greater disappointment. It gave me some energy, on top of a cup of coffee that is, but my brain became foggy and it definitely did not help me to focus at all as a matter of fact it even made me unfocused. I was very optimistic about this substance after having read many positive anecdotal reports on reddit, some even comparing it to adderall, which is ABSOLUTELY ABSURD! In college, 20 mg of adderall would flood my brain so heavily with dopamine that I could study for 15 hours straight then go ace a test, although I used it very sparingly since it is an absolute disgrace of a substance of which is extremely detrimental to health in the long term. I guess I will return to back my daily coffee, theanine, methylated b-complex, lions mane, fish oil, and CBD regimen along with exercise and quality sleep of course. In hindsight, these 'harder' nootropics are most likely not worth the tax on the brain anyways.
Nice review. This goes to show even compounds like Modafinil will not work for everyone. There is actually a specific gene in the body which if you have, you'll likely be unresponsive to Modafinil. The gene has a role in breaking down Dopamine in specific parts of the brain.
What was your source for the Armodafinil? I always recommend trying product from different sources just in case you had a bad source.
EDIT: Realized I sent those to you...LOL.
Well those were definitely solid tablets. Sorry to hear. You were right in not wanting to waste so much money on a larger quantity.
I really don't think one can make up for a lack of sleep. I got a nice 12 hours last night and there's just not a nootropic out there that can provide the energy of a solid nights sleep. Armodafinil can help one to stay more alert and provide a bit of energy, but it doesn't feel natural. It is very interesting that there is a gene which causes people to be unresponsive to this substance, I wonder if one would be a nonresponser to adderall as well then?
From what I can tell that gene only effects a users responsiveness to Modafinil, especially related to lack of sleep. People with the specific gene respond very well to Modafinil under lack of sleep while people with other variations of the gene don't respond at all. Adderall is extremely strong, I imagine there are some people who are completely non responsive but probably not a lot. Adderalls effects on Dopamine are strong while Modafinil has only marginal effects. There still isn't a lot of info on how Modafinil works exactly.
Here is some info taken from
this article discussing the gene I'm talking about.
[PMID 19037200] rs4680(G;G) carriers deprived of sleep respond quite well to 2x 100mg modafinil in terms of improved vigor and well-being, and maintained baseline performance with respect to executive functioning, whereas rs4680(A;A) individuals barely responded to the drug at all.
In the future I want to do one of those genetic tests to figure out my personal gene profile. It's good data to figure out what compounds will serve you well. You can essentially determine if something will work for you just by looking at the data.