Playing go while using Modafinil/Armodafinil/Adrafinil

[Joaz Banbeck]

I've had some medical issues which are treatable with Modafinil/Armodafinil. I'm finding it to be a wonderful drug for improving my concentration.

Has anybody else used it? In particular, have you used it while playing go? If so, what were the results?

( I'm not interested in the legalities of doing so. If you are, feel free to read and contribute to this thread: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2535 )

[BlindGroup]

I know that at one point there was a study exploring whether Modafinil could be used as an ADHD med. I was prescribed it a while back for a few months and thought it helped me concentrate. This was before I discovered go. But my guess is that it would help given my experience.

[EdLee]

Just curious: what's the basic idea behind the molecular interactions, and the side effects ? ( dan-level, wikipedia-level not needed; just curious about 30k level explanation. Thanks. )

[Calvin Clark]

I'm guessing from the persons posting that this thread itself is not a TOS violation.

There was one study on chess players, covering over 3000 games. I am not really sure what to conclude from it, though. Three drugs, one of which was caffeine, all slowed the players down so they lost these 15-minute games on time. But the ones they didn't lose on time, they played better on average. I guess in chess 15 minutes SD isn't quite blitz, but I remember a quote from HKA some time ago saying 'most players lose at blitz because they play too fast'. In other words, they are not using their full 10 seconds or whatever. So the possibility may be that the drugs made the players less impulsive, though that's speculative. It would be great to have a study comparing that to just forcing the players to play slower in some other way. Anyway, throwing out the games lost on time in order to get some kind of positive result from the study seems like a questionable analysis. If the players had been studied over a long enough period time so that they could adjust to the feeling and get back to playing fast enough not to lose on time, then for all we know the results would have been equivocal.

What I will say is that I'm happy to hear you have something that will help you with your health problem. Whether or not your go is better, if you get to keep playing go longer, that's a win!

[BlindGroup]

Looks like there are now several small studies showing it is effective for ADHD: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27810669

Just curious: what's the basic idea behind the molecular interactions, and the side effects ? ( dan-level, wikipedia-level not needed; just curious about 30k level explanation. Thanks. )

Not an expert, but I think it is primarily dopenergic. Like the stimulants more commonly used for ADHD, it increases the presence of dopamine. However, the link between the neuropharmacological processes and what we experience as "focus" it not well understood at all.

[Joaz Banbeck]

... the side effects ? ...

The most notorious side effect is a headache, to which I can testify. I only let it happen once.
It is apparently due to dehydration, like headache caused by excessive alcohol use. ( I can't personally say if there is a similarity, for alcohol is not among my vices )

It is easily avoided by eating the pill with a slow-digesting meal, and by staying well hydrated. This reduces the side effects to merely having to visit the bathroom more often. ( And that is not much of a problem, because now when I come out of the bathroom I can still remember what I was doing before I went in. )


The most intriguing thing about side effects is the one that it does not have. There is no notable 'crash' or 'rebound' like there is with many other short-term dopaminergic substances.

[EdLee]

It is apparently due to dehydration, like headache caused by excessive alcohol use. ...
It is easily avoided by eating the pill with a slow-digesting meal, and by staying well hydrated. This reduces the side effects to merely having to visit the bathroom more often.

Thanks for the quick explanations. This part is similar to alcohol, from my experience.

[Joaz Banbeck]

I'm guessing from the persons posting that this thread itself is not a TOS violation...

[admin]
It is not even close. This is about the effects of a legal drug, legally obtained, on a consenting adult.
It is really not much different than discussing the effects of caffeine.

Somewhere on this site there is a thread on playing while dropping acid.
[/admin]

[BlindGroup]

Thanks for the quick explanations. This part is similar to alcohol, from my experience.

Could you imagine how much easier it would be to get people to start playing and attend go clubs if alcohol improved performance!